Too young to be famous? - Unit 11

C2 Proficiency · Multiple Choice Reading · Close-up C2 Workbook, National Geographic Learning

You are going to read an article about the phenomenon of child stars. For questions 1–6, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

The machine that is celebrity culture has given us the meteoric rise and fall of the child actor, with plenty of cautionary tales to point to and ask if something should have been done to protect them. Recently, the Chinese government took the extreme and unprecedented measure of banning the children of celebrities from appearing in any type of reality TV programming, in an effort to prevent the manufacturing of child stars. It would appear that perhaps limiting the exposure a child has to fame serves to protect and ensure a solid, stable upbringing. Upon closer examination of the phenomenon of the child star, we see examples both of success and failure. How many of each do we have? Is there a disproportionately high amount of failure in the lives of child actors if we look at the statistics and compare their problems with those of ordinary people? We see a child star fail and we immediately blame fame, but what about the success stories of other child actors such as Jodie Foster, Dame 'Judi'Dench and Leonardo DiCaprio, all of whom got their start as young children? Are we to credit fame for their success in the same way we blame it for others' failures? In the case of the latter, these are the stars we know about, all the worst-case, long-lasting fame, even top-acting award winners. Child stars are not always destined to eternally seek the limelight; however, so there are many cases of success stories that people often don't know about. Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie Bucket in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, went to pursue a doctorate in veterinary medicine. Shirley Temple, the leading box-office star in the 1930s from the age of seven, became a politician and the first female US ambassador. The presence of fame is undoubtedly uncertain, even for Polish child stars and identical twin brothers Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, grew up acting and were respectively elected president and prime minister of Poland, positions they held at the same time. Really, though, it's the catastrophic demise that we hear about, not just of child actors, of course, but when it does happen to them, we feel a mixture of sorrow and disbelief. But given that there is no conclusive scientific evidence to support the claim that fame and celebrity culture ruin the lives of child actors, the best thing we could do is to recognise that protections for child actors may need to go further than the broad restrictions exercised by China.

It is a view fully endorsed by the author.

It will prevent the phenomenon of child stars.

It will prohibit children from acting in films.

It's something they've never done before.

What can be said about the measure taken by the Chinese as regards child stars?

are better equipped to handle fame than adults.

never learn coping skills when they are famous young.

may or may not suffer harmful effects of fame.

are destined to be abnormal adults if they are famous young.

In the second paragraph, the author implies that children

He is not certain it was born of good intentions.

He agrees with the implementation of the ban.

He thinks it is useless in the case of reality TV.

He believes the intention is to control the media.

How does the author view the government ban in the third paragraph?

fame is to blame for the problems of child stars.

fame is unlikely to have a role in the failure of a star.

the fame of some stars shows it has no harmful effect.

the failure of certain stars means that fame is harmful.

In the fourth paragraph, the author suggests that

child actors are capable of achieving anything they want.

fame can repel some from a long acting career.

a more exhaustive study of the subject is necessary to evaluate it.

success can open the door to other positions in life.

The author presents the examples in the fifth paragraph to demonstrate that

nothing can protect a child from the dangers of fame.

taking measures to help children cope with fame is worth considering.

our belief in the dangers of fame is greater than the danger itself.

children should be educated in how to deal with fame.

The author concludes by saying that

Too young to be famous?

Available as a free printable PDF worksheet with an optional answer key.

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