【英语时差8,16】外婆担心外孙被宠坏

Dear Annie:

My daughter allows her 8-year-old son to stay up late at night, watch adult TV and eat lots of sweets. She strongly resents any suggestion that this is not a good thing.

The 15-year-old son spends a vast amount of time text messaging, listening to music or watching TV. His conversational¹ skills are poor and his grades are not good. On several occasions, money has disappeared from purses when the boys were present, and I am terrified to think what the money is purchasing.

If I try to talk to my daughter, I risk being excluded from her life. But if things don't improve, her family will fall apart. What can I do? － Troubled Grandma

Dear Grandma:

Your daughter's parenting skills could use some improvement, and yes, it's possible those kids will grow up to be overweight, undereducated crooks², but she needs to see it for herself. Your daughter knows you disapprove³ of the way she is raising her children, and that could be part of the problem. Frankly⁴, the sons' recreational and food habits are not uncommon⁵, and we wouldn't go overboard with disapproval⁶. Stealing and poor grades are of greater concern. Stop criticizing your daughter, and when the grandchildren are in your house, set reasonable rules and enforce them. Modeling good parenting is the best you can do.

1 conversational   

adj.对话的，会话的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a conversational style.该文是以对话的形式写成的。
• She values herself on her conversational powers.她常夸耀自己的能言善辩。

2 crooks   

n.骗子( crook的名词复数 )；罪犯；弯曲部分；（牧羊人或主教用的）弯拐杖v.弯成钩形( crook的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The police are getting after the crooks in the city. 警察在城里追捕小偷。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cops got the crooks. 警察捉到了那些罪犯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 disapprove   

v.不赞成，不同意，不批准

参考例句：

• I quite disapprove of his behaviour.我很不赞同他的行为。
• She wants to train for the theatre but her parents disapprove.她想训练自己做戏剧演员，但她的父母不赞成。

4 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

5 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

6 disapproval   

n.反对，不赞成

参考例句：

• The teacher made an outward show of disapproval.老师表面上表示不同意。
• They shouted their disapproval.他们喊叫表示反对。