'Parents today want their kids spending time on things that can bring them success, but

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 26 to 30.

"Parents  today  want  their  kids  spending  time  on  things  that  can  bring  them  success,  but   (26) ______, we've stopped doing one thing that's actually been a proven predictor of success-and that's household chores," says Richard Rende, a (27) ______ psychologist in Paradise Valley, Ariz, and co-author of forthcoming book “Raising Can-Do Kids." Decades of studies show the benefits of chores-academically, emotionally and even professionally. Giving children household chores at an early age (28) ______ to build a lasting sense of mastery, responsibility and self-reliance, according to research by Marty Rossman, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota. In 2002, Dr. Rossman analysed data from a longitudinal study (29) ______ followed 84 children across four periods in their lives - in preschool, around ages 10 and 15, and in their mid-20s. She found that young adults who began chores at ages 3 and 4 were more likely to have good relationships with family and friends, to achieve academic and early career success and to be self-sufficient, as compared with those who didn't have chores or who started them as teens. Chores also teach children how to be empathetic and responsive to (30) ______ needs, notes psychologist Richard Weissbourd of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

(26)....................

• A. ironically
• B. however
• C. brutally
• D. therefore