单项选择题

Greg Focker, played by Ben Stiller, represents a generation of American kids (1) in the 1980s on the philosophy that any achievement, however slight, (2) a ribbon. (3) replaced punishment; criticism became a dirty word. In Texas, teachers were advised to (4) using red ink, the colour of (5) . In California, a task force was set up to (6) the concept of self worth into the education system. Swathing youngsters in a (7) shield of self-esteem, went the philosophy, would protect them from the nasty things in life, such as bad school grades, underage sex, drug abuse, dead-end jobs and criminality.
(8) that the ninth-place ribbons are in danger of strangling the (9) children they were Supposed to help. America’s (10) with self-esteem—like all developments in psychology, it gradually (11) its way to Britain—has turned children who were (12) with (13) into adults who (14) at even the mildest brickbats. Many believe that the feel-good culture has risen at the (15) of traditional education, an opinion espoused in a new book, Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can’t Read, Write, or Add, by the conservative commentator Charles Sykes.
Not only that, but the foundations (16) which the self-esteem industry is built are being (17) as decidedly shaky. Roy Baumeister, professor of psychology at Florida State University and once a self-esteem enthusiast, is now (18) a revision of the populist orthodoxy. "After all these years, I’m sorry to say, my recommendation is this: forget about self-esteem and (19) more on self-control and self-discipline," he wrote recently. "Recent work suggests this would be good for the individual and good for society—and might even be able to (20) some of those promises that self-esteem once made but could not keep."

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1.1（）

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