【答案】More surprising, perhaps, than the current

阅读理解。

More surprising, perhaps, than the current difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage

itself is alive and thriving (兴盛). As Skolnick notes, Americans are marrying people-relative to

Europeans, more of us marry and we marry at a younger age. Moreover, after a decline in the early

1970s, 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 80 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 consisted 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 previous 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.

Thus, one can find the very type of family arrangement. There are marriages without children; marriages with children from only the present marriage; 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 the unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents! There are

enormous changes from the traditional nuclear family. But even so, even in the midst of all this, one thing

remains constant: most Americans spend most of their adult lives married.

1. By calling Americans marrying people the author means that ______.

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

B. Americans expect more out of marriage than Europeans

C. there are more married couples in USA than in Europe

D. Americans are more traditional than Europeans

2. Which of the following can be presented as the picture of today's American families?

A. A typical American family consists of only a husband and a wife.

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

C. Americans prefer to have more kids than before.

D. There are no nuclear families any more.

3. Even though great changes have taken place in the structure of American families ______.

A. the functions of marriage remain unchanged

B. most Americans prefer a second marriage

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

D. marriage is still enjoyed by all Americans
答案
1-3: ABC
考点名称：日常生活类阅读
日常生活类阅读的概念：

日常生活这一话题主要涉及人们衣食住行等方面的活动。这一话题的选材主要针对人们日常的工作，生活以及学习情况。做这一类题时，最主要的是要把握好人物的活动内容，时间和地点。

日常生活类阅读题答题技巧：

【题型说明】

该类文章内容涉及到人们的言谈举止、生活习惯、饮食起居、服饰仪表、恋爱婚姻、消遣娱乐、节日起源、家庭生活等。文章篇幅短小，追根溯源，探索各项风俗的历史渊源，内容有趣。命题也以送分题为主，如事实细节题、语义转换题、词义猜测题和简单推理判断题等。虽然这类文章读起来感觉轻松，试题做起来比较顺手，但绝不能掉以轻心。因为稍不留神，就会丢分。

【备考提醒】

为了保证较高准确率，建议同学们做好以下几点：

1、保持正常的考试心态。笔者在教学中发现，越是容易的试题，同学们越是容易失分。为什么呢？因为在这种情况下，同学们极易产生麻痹思想，认为题目好做，就不引起高度重视，于是思维不发散、不周密。而命题人就是利用同学们的这一弱点，设计陷阱题。所以，无论试题难易与否，我们都要保持正常的考试心态。试题容易，不欣喜；试题难，不悲观。

2、根据前面讲到的方法，认认真真、细细心心做好事实细节题。

3、做好语义转换题。这类题是根据英语中一词多义和某些词语在文中能表达一定的修辞意义的原则而设计的。要求同学们解释某生词的含义，确定多义词或短语在文中的意思，确认文中的某个代词所指代的对象，或者对英语中特有的表达、格言、谚语进行解释。这种题要求同学们一定要根据上下文猜测词义或理解句子，切不可望文生义。

4、做好简单推理判断题。简单推理判断题要以表面文字为前提，以具体事实为依据进行推理，做出判断。这种推理方式比较直接，只要弄清事实，即可结合常识推断出合理的结论。