Question

More surprising,perhaps, than the present difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving.As Skolnick notes,Americans are a marrying people: relative to Europeans, more of us marry and we marry at a younger age. Moreover, after a drop in the early 1915s,the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing. Even the divorce rate needs to be taken in this pro?marriage context: some 30 percent of divorced individuals remarry. Thus, marriage remains by far the preferred way of life for the vast majority of people in our society.

What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family. Twenty?five years ago, the typical American family was made up of a husband, a wife, and two or three children.Now,there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children. And there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife’s former marriage, or the husband’s, or both.Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage; sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses (配偶).

Thus, one can find every type of family arrangement. There are marriages without children; marriages with children from only the persent marriage;  marriages with “full?time” children from both the present and former marriages; marriages with “full?time” children from the present marriage and “part?time” children from former marriages. There are stepfathers, stepmothers, half?brothers, and half?sisters.It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents! These are great changes from the traditional nuclear family.But even so, even in the midst  of all this, there remains one constant: Most Americans spend most of their adult lives married.

13.By calling American marrying people the author means that .      

A.Americans are more traditional than Europeans  

B.Americans expect more out of marriage than Europeans

C.there are more married couples in U.S.A. than in Europe

D.more of Americans,as compared with Europeans, prefer marriage and they accept it at a younger age

14.Divorced Americans        .

A.prefer the way they live 

B.will most likely remarry   

C.have lost faith in marriage          

D.are the vast majority of people in the society

15.Which of the following can be presented as the picture of today’s American families?

A.Many types of family arrangements have become socially acceptable.

B.A typical American family is made up of only a husband and a wife.

C.Americans prefer to have more kids than before.     D.There are no nuclear families any more.

16.“Part time”children        .

A.spend some of their time with their half brothers and some of their time with their half?sisters

B.spend all of their time with one parent from the previous marriage

C.are shared between the two former spouses          D.cannot stay with “full?time” children

17.Even though great changes have taken place in the structure of American families, .

A.the vast majority of Americans still have faith in marriage

B.the functions of marriage remain unchanged      

C.most Americans prefer a second marriage   

D.most divorced Americans would rather not remarry

Answer 1

13-17  DBACA

解析:

13.  根据第一段第二句，“As Skolnick notes, Americans are a marrying people:relative to Europeans, more of us marry and we marry at a younger age”, D为正确答案。

14. 第一段最后一句明确指出，“大约30%的离婚者再婚。我们社会绝对大多数人更喜欢过婚姻生活。”A、C、D的表述与事实不符。

15. 美国社会接受多种类型的家庭组合方式。文章第二、三段指出，目前美国家庭的组合方式与传统的核心家庭相比发生了很大的变化。这种变化反映在孩子与家庭成员的关系上。分析四个选项，B、D与事实不符；家庭结构的变化不能说明传统的核心家庭不存在了，因此D的观点太片面。

16. “Part\|time children”是指父母离婚后由父母交替抚养的孩子。第二段最后一句指出了离婚家庭的两种孩子，即“part\|time children”和“full\|time children”。根据第三段的描述，“full\|time children” 是指夫妻双方目前的孩子，或目前与现父母住在一起的前婚的孩子；“part\|time children” 则是由离婚父母交替抚养的孩子。由此判断，C是正确的；A、D不对；B所说的是“full\|time children”

17. 第一段最后一句和第三段最后一句为本文的主题句，即大多数美国人喜欢过婚姻生活，而且过着婚姻生活。这是不变的事实（constant）。由此看出，美国人对婚姻是有信心的。本文没有涉及B和C的观点