Reading Comprehension
Directions: Read the following passage. Choose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D for each question.

（1）I've known the mother sitting in front of me at this parent-teacher conference for years, and we have been through a lot together. I have taught three of her children, and I like to think we've even become friends during our time together. She's a conscientious mother who obviously loves her children with all of her heart. I've always been honest with her about their strengths and weaknesses, and I think she trusts me to tell her the truth. But when she hits me with the concern that's been bothering her for a while, all I can do is nod, and stall for time.
（2）"Marianna's grades are fine; I'm not worried about that, but she just doesn't seem to love learning anymore.” She’s absolutely right. I’d noticed the same thing about her daughter over the previous two or three years, and I have an answer, right there on the tip of my tongue, for what has gone wrong.
（3）The truth 一 for this parent and so many others 一 is this: Her child has sacrificed her natural curiosity and love of learning at the altar of achievement, and it's our fault. Marianna's parents, her teachers, society at large 一 we are all implicated in this crime against learning. From her first day of school, we pointed her toward that altar and trained her to measure her progress by means of points, scores, and awards. We taught Marianna that her potential is tied to her intellect, and that her intellect is more important than her character. We taught her to come home proudly bearing as championship trophies, and college acceptances, and we inadvertently taught her that we don't really care how she obtains them. We taught her to protect her academic and extracurricular perfection at all costs and that it's better to quit when things get challenging rather than risk marring that perfect record. Above all else, we taught her to fear failure. That fear is what has destroyed her love of learning. 

（4）Marianna is very smart and high-achieving, and her mother reminds her of that on a daily basis. However, Marianna does not get praised for the diligence and effort she puts into sticking with a hard math problem or a convoluted scientific inquiry. If that answer at the end of the page is wrong or if she arrives at a dead end in her research, she has failed — no matter what she has learned from her struggle. And contrary to what she may believe, in these more difficult situations she is learning. She learns to be creative in her problem-solving. She learns diligence. She learns self-control and perseverance. But because she is scared to death of tailing, she has started to take fewer intellectual risks.