3. Listen to the text and answer the questions:

1. According to the speaker, how many recent studies have found that punishment is not the best way to influence behavior?

1. twelve

2. twenty

3. two

4. three

2. According to the speaker, how many groups of children did scientists test for their research?

1. three

2. two

3. more than two

4. less than three

3. According to the speaker, how many college students did play a version of the game known as the Prisoner's Dilemma?

1. two

2. two hundred

3. about two hundred

4. more than two hundred

4. What is the game known as the Prisoner's Dilemma based on?

1. the tension between the interests of two individuals and a group

2. the tension between the interests of an individual and a group

3. the tension between the interests of two hundred individuals and a group

4. the tension between the interests of an individual and two groups

5. According to the speaker, how many children were involved into the study?

(A) more than eight hundred

(B) one thousand and five hundred

(C) more than seven hundred

(D) more than one thousand and five hundred

3. Now go to the printed version of the text and follow the speaker when listening. After listening answer the following questions:

1. Two of the following are mentioned in the text as different groups involved in the study EXCEPT

1. researchers

2. children

3. college students

4. scientists

2. Three educational institutions are mentioned in the text EXCEPT

1. University of New Hampshire

2. Harvard University

3. University of California

4. Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden

Reading

3. Look at the word highlighted in paragraph 4 of the text. Mark the answer choice that is closest in meaning to the word successful.

1. unsuccessful

2. best

3. cooperative

4. productive

3. Look at the word highlighted in paragraph 4 of the text. Mark the answer choice that are closest in meaning to the word appeared.

1. performed

2. happened

3. was published

4. looked

3. Look at the word highlighted in paragraph 8 of the text. Mark two answer choices that are closest in meaning to the word common.

1. universal

2. frequent

3. vulgar

4. widespread

3. Look at the highlighted word in paragraph 8 of the text. Choose the word or phrase in the bold text that the word they refers to.

1. Murray Strauss and Mallie Paschall

2. Research and Evaluation

3. children

4. the University of New Hampshire and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation

Text: Punishment or Reward: Which Works Better on Behavior?

1. Two recent studies have found that punishment is not the best way to influence behavior.

2. One showed that adults are much more cooperative if they work in a system based on rewards. Researchers at Harvard University in the United States and the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden did the study.

3. (1) They had about two hundred college students play a version of the game known as the Prisoner's Dilemma. The game is based on the tension between the interests of an individual and a group. (2) Each player could win points for the group, so they would all gain equally. But each player could also reward or punish each of the other three players, at a cost to the punisher. (3)

4. Harvard researcher David Rand says the most successful behavior proved to be cooperation. The groups that rewarded it the most earned about twice as much in the game as the groups that rewarded it the least. And the more a group punished itself, the lower its earnings. The group with the most punishment earned twenty-five percent less than the group with the least punishment. The study appeared last month in the journal Science.

5. The other study involved children. It was presented last month in California at a conference on violence and abuse.

6. Researchers used intelligence tests given to two groups. More than eight hundred children were ages two to four the first time they were tested. More than seven hundred children were ages five to nine. The two groups were retested four years later, and the study compared the results with the first test. Both groups contained children whose parents used physical punishment and children whose parents did not.

7. The study says the IQs - or intelligence quotients - of the younger children who were not spanked were five points higher than those who were. In the older group, the difference was almost three points.

8. Murray Strauss from the University of New Hampshire worked with Mallie Paschall from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. Professor Strauss has written extensively about physical punishment of children. He says the more they are spanked, the slower their mental development. He also looked at average IQs in other nations and found them lower where spanking was more common.

9. What do you think are the best ways to correct misbehavior? Share your comments at voaspecialenglish.com.

comprehension:

10. Now read the whole text and decide whether these statements are true (T❒), false (F❒) or information is not available (N/A❒) in the text:

1. Physical punishment is the best way to influence children’s behavior. T❒ F❒ N/A❒

2. One of the recent studies showed that adults are much more cooperative if they work in a system based on rewards. T❒ F❒ N/A❒

3. A child's behavior is affected by many factors - biological, social, emotional and environmental. T❒ F❒ N/A❒

4. Harvard researcher David Rand says the most successful behavior proved to be competition. T❒ F❒ N/A❒

5. Keeping a positive attitude can be difficult, especially when you're around negative people. T❒ F❒ N/A❒

6. Researchers tested only those groups of children whose parents used physical punishment to influence their behavior. T❒ F❒ N/A❒

7. Researchers tested only those groups of children whose parents used rewards to influence their behavior. T❒ F❒ N/A❒

11. The following sentence can be added to the text: The students played in groups of four. Where would it best fit in the text? Possible sentence positions are marked with (1), (2), (3).