Passage 3

学霸导读　治疗多动症是否有特效药？面对多动症儿童，家长和教师应当怎么做？

Watch young children in a school class. You will often notice that there are three or four—especially boys who cannot sits s 1 . They have trouble paying attention to the teacher for longer than a few minutes， and they seem to forget things the teacher tells them. What is the matter with them？ Many doctors think they need medicine， so they give the children a drug c 2 Ritalin （ 利他林 ）. It is supposed to help them settle down and pay better attention. It works，　but it is also dangerous. Ritalin has some bad side effects， and it can even kill children who take it too much. Because of the serious side effects of Ritalin， many people think it is not good for　children.

Ritalin seems to affect both a child’s mind and body. The drug does help children calm down and focus， but some scientists claim （ 声称 ） that Ritalin decreases the f low of blood to the b 3 . This affects a child’s thinking and memory， and makes it more diff icult to learn. Scientists also think that the drug might l 4 a child’s ability to grow and cause sleeping problems. Another problem is that children can take too much of the drug. Some children like the way the drug makes　t 5 feel， so they take more than they should. They know this is wrong， but they cannot stop， much the same as people who cannot stop smoking. A third problem is that doctors do not know if the drug is really safe or not. Doctors do not know what happens to children who take this drug for a long time. They do not know if these children show side effects after they grow up. Ritalin might help when children are young but are there bad effects l 6 in life？ Because nobody knows for sure， some scientists say that Ritalin should not be used.

Today, some doctors and teachers say that there are better ways than drugs to help children with attention problems. One good idea is to give children better food and make sure they get more rest. Another way to help children with attention problems is to f ind teachers who have special training with a 7 children. Such teachers know how to help these children learn. Another idea is for parents and teachers to simply be patient. Most children’s attention will improve naturally as they get older. Parents and teachers just have to give these children time to　develop.

1.__________2.__________3.__________4.__________5.__________6.__________7.__________

高频词汇

suppose /sə'pəʊz/　v. 认为，推断，料想

be supposed to do sth. 应当做某事；一般认为

settle down　安顿下来，习惯新环境

side effect　副作用