36. The survey about childhood in the Third World shows that the struggle for survival is long and
hard. But in the rich world, children can 36 from a different kind of poverty — of the spirit.
37 , one Western country alone now sees 14, 000 attempted suicides ( 自杀 ) every year by
children under 15, and one child 38 five needs psychiatric (心理) advice.
There are many good things about 39 in the Third World. Take the close and constant
relation between children and their parents, relatives and neighbours for example. In the West, the
very nature of work puts distance between 40 and children. But in most Third World villages
mother and father do not go miles away each day to work in offices. 41 , the child sees
mother and father, relations and neighbours working 42 and often shares in that work.
A child 43 in this way learns his or her role through joining in the community's 44 :
helping to dig or build, look after animals or babies -- rather than 45 playing with water and
sand in kindergarten, keeping pets 46 playing with dolls.
These children may grow up with a less oppressive sense of space and time than the 47
children. Their sense of days and time has a lot to do with the change of seasons and positions of
the sun or the moon in the sky. Children in the rich world, 48 , are provided with a watch as
one of the 49 signs of growing up, so that they can 50 along with their parents about
being late for school times, meal times, bed times, the times of TV shows …
Third World children do not usually 51 to stay indoors, still less in highrise apartments
(公寓) . Instead of dangerous roads, "keep off the grass" signs and "don't speak to strangers",
there is often a sense of 52 to study and play. Parents can see their children outside rather
than observe them 53 from ten floors up.
54 , twelve million children under five still die every year through hunger and disease.
But childhood in the Third World is not all 55