Flying with Children

A recent survey asked travelers if parents or flightcrew should be stricter about the behaviour of young fliers, including babies,on board. Most emailed stories of kids behaving badly and put the blame on permissive parents.

It’s true that small children and babies in a cramped cabin can be a nightmare. Hereare a few of the responses:

‘I’ve had enough of kids who kick the back of my seatwhile the parent looks elsewhere.’

‘It drives me insaneto be surrounded by families talking loudly and passing food, drink, toys,clothes, etc., back and forth.’

‘Families with kids have every right to fly, but theyneed to respect my rights to a pleasant environment and flight.’

The idea of family-only sections on aircraft wasmentioned by many respondents. But families may not enjoy crying babies anymore than other passengers.

So what is the role of the crew in keeping peace on aplane? A mother and her screaming baby were recently escorted from a planebecause the purser considered that other passengers could not hear the safetyinstructions announcement. Perhaps that was a little harsh.

‘It’s a delicatesituation,’ one experienced flight attendant says. ‘If parents don’t controlkids, flight attendants have to do what they think is best. Every situation isdifferent. Cabin crew can ask parents to control their children, but that isoften the beginning of “Mind your own business” or “Have you got children?” or “Whatdo you know about kids?” Trying to parent another person’s misbehaving childcan be quite a problem. In 15years, I’ve never had an unruly child on board who was travelling with a hands-on parent.’

Airlines sometimes have cards of colouring books tooccupy children on board. A few airlines even provide child-friendly tables andchairs and toys at the gate areas to keep small passengers happy beforeboarding. And one flight attendant was very clear: ‘Kids are members of thepublic like everyone else, and they often have to go places. I’d always preferto have ten babies on board than on drunk!’

(Reference: English for Cabin Crew)

 

                         New Words and Expressions

permissive  [pə′misiv]                               adj. 容许的，放任的

insane   [in′sein]                                       adj. 疯狂的，精神病的

harsh   [hɑ:ʃ]                                            adj. 严厉的，严格的

delicate  [′delikət]                                      adj. 微妙的

unruly  [ʌn′ru:li]                                        adj. 任性的，难控制的

a hands-on parent                                        n. 负责任的父母，亲身父母

 

Task 1 Talk about the following questionsafter reading the material and do some extended discussion.

1.    Giveexamples from the text of the kind of behaviour that can annoy adultpassengers.

2.    Whatsolutions are proposed or outlined in the text?

3.    Do youagree that the action of the purser towards the mother and baby was a littleharsh? Why (not)?

4.    Haveyou ever had experience flying with children? How did you feel?

 

Task 2 Reorder the letters to find words thatyou’ve learned.

1. elsia __________       2. cucpyo ________ 

3. ecneidrexpe _________  4. roscte _________

5. iduilq ___________     6. ceruysti ___________

7. gaflier __________      8. niexeam ___________ 

9. citmedos __________    10. nocittirrse ___________

 

 

Learn more professional terms for your further study.

sink  [ siŋk ]                                                       n. 水槽

waste bin                                                               垃圾桶

flight deck                                                             航空母舰的飞行甲板，驾驶舱

latch  [ lætʃ ]                                                     n. 门闩，弹簧锁

slide  [ slaid ]                                                     n. 充气滑梯

smoke hood                                                           防烟面罩

observersseat                                                       观察位(前舱)

ditching  [ 'ditʃiŋ ]                                             n. 水上迫降

telescopicviewer                                                  门孔

soapdispenser                                                       给皂器

survival kit                                                            救生品

dry chemicalextinguisher                                    干粉灭火器

water evacuation                                                   水上逃生

landevacuation                                                     陆上逃生