He backs up his pitch with facts. Numerous studies, includingrecent reports by the Center for the Study of Reading and the National Councilof Teachers of English, confirm that reading to children builds vocabulary,stimulates imagination, stretches the attention span, nourishes emotional development,and introduces the textures and nuances of the English language. Reading aloud is,in essence, an advertisement for learning to read. Trelease laments that elementary-school students are too oftenconditioned to associate reading with work. "We have concentrated so hardon teaching children how to read that we have forgotten to teach them to want toread, "he says. His audience is surprised to hear that only 22 percent ofeighth-graders read for fun daily, while 65 percent watch three hours or more oftelevision each day. Research also indicates that average reading proficiency dropswhen TV viewing reaches about three hours a day. Their parents'habits are nobetter: a recent survey shows a decline in newspaper readership among U.S. adults. Lest there be any doubt about the stakes involved, Treleasemakes a bold claim. Reading, he says, is the single most important socialfactor in American life today. "The more you read, the smarter you grow. The longeryou stay in school, the more money you earn. The more you earn, the better yourchildren will do in school. So if you hook a child with reading, you influence notonly his future but also that of the next generation.” Trelease found his calling not because it spoke to hisintellect, but because it nurtured his emotions. When his two children, Elizabeth andJamie were young, Trelease and his wife, Susan, fed them as many books as meals."I read to my kids because my father had read to me,"he says. "I justwanted them to have the good feelings I had had."
excites the body or mind (Para. 1)
【正确答案】：stimulates
