全國英語等級考試PETS-3閱讀練習5

WheneverCatherine Brown，a 37-year.old journalist，and her friends，professionals in their 30s and early 40s，meet at aLondon caf6，their favorite topic ofconversation is relationships：men’sreluctance to commit，wo men’s independence，andwhen to have children--or，increasingly，whether to have them at all.“With the years passing my chances of having a child godown，but I Won’t malty anyone just to have achild，”saysBrown.To people like Brown，babiesare great_if the timing is right.Butthey’re certainly not essential.

In much of the world，havingkids is no longer a given.“Neverbefore has childlessness been

an understandable decision for women and men in so many societies，”says Frank Hakim at the LondonSchool of Economics.Youngpeople are extending their child—freeadulthood by postponing children until they are well into their 30s.or even40s and beyond.

A growing share are ending up with nochildren at all.Lifetime childlessness in westernGer-many has hit 30 percent among university—educated women，and is rapidly rising among lower—class men.InBritain，thenumber of women remaining childless has doubled in 20 years.

The latesttrend of childlessness does not follow historic patterns.For centuries it was not unusual for a quarter of European women toremain childless.Butin the past.childlessnesswas usually the product of poverty ordisaster.of missingmen in times of war.Today the decision to have—or not have—a child is theresult of a complex combination of factors，includingrelationships，career

Opportunities，lifestyleand economics.

In some caseschildlessness among women can be seen as a quiet form ofprotest.InJapan，supportfor working mothers hardly exists.Childcare is expensive，men don’t help out，andsome companies strongly discouragemothers from returning to work.“In Japan，it'scareer or child，”says writer KaoriHaishi.It’s not justwomen who are deciding against children;according to a re-cent study，Japanese men are even less inclined to marry or want a child.Their motivations，though，may havemore to do with economic factors.

1、It Can beinferred that，formany women，havingbabies nowadays is __________.

A.ahard commitment

B.helpfulto their career

C.essentialfor happiness

D.anunderstandable decision

參考答案：A

參考解析：推理題。從文章中得知現(xiàn)代社會婦女生育是綜合一系列因素之后做出的決定，是艱難的選擇。故選A。

2、CatherineBrown and her friends feel that having children is not __________.

A.totallywise

B.ahuge problem

C.arational choice

D.absolutelynecessary

參考答案：D

參考解析：細節(jié)題。從文章第1段最后一句話“But they are certainly not essential”得知，對布朗和她的朋友來說，孩子肯定不是必須的。故選D。

3、In theold days。manywomen remained childless __________

A.asa quiet form of protest

B.becauseof lack of support

C.becauseof unfortunate circumstances

D.becausethey lacked social responsibility

參考答案：C

參考解析：細節(jié)題。從文章第四段第三句話“But in the past，childlessness was usually the product of poverty or disaster，of missing men in times of war.”可以得知，過去婦女不育是由于一系列不幸的因素。故選C。

4、We learnthat childlessness at present __________.

A.affectsEurope more than it does Asia

B.producesmore benefits than in the past

C.ismore a woman’s decision than a man’s

D.ismore complex in its cause than that in the past

參考答案：D

參考解析：細節(jié)題。從文章第四段第四句話“a child is the resultof a complex combination of factors”得知，不生孩子的原因比過去更復雜。故選D。

5、According to the text，when a Japanese man decides not to have children，he probably feels unable to __________.

A.helpwith housework

B.affordto have a child

C.bea responsible father

D.balancework and family

參考答案：B

參考解析：細節(jié)題。從文章第五段第三句話“Child care is expensive，and men don’t help out.”及最后一句話“Their motivations，though，may have more to do with economic factors.”可知，日本男人決定不要孩子很可能是因為財力無法承擔。故選B。

參考譯文

凱瑟琳·布朗，一位三十七歲的記者，每次和她三四十歲的朋友們在倫敦一間咖啡屋碰面時，她們最愛聊的話題就是“關系”：男人們怠于承擔，女人們的自立，還有什么時候要孩子——或者，越來越多地談到到底要不要孩子。“年華流逝，我要孩子的機會也在減少，但是我不會僅為了要孩子而找個人結婚，”布朗說道。對于像布朗一樣的人而言，有孩子再好不過了——當然如果時機到了。但孩子肯定不是必須的。

在世界的許多地方，要孩子都不再是必須的。“從前，不要孩子這個決定對于許多社會中的男男女女都是不可理解的，”倫敦經濟學院的弗朗克·哈基姆說道。年輕人正在延長他們無予無女的成年時光，推遲生兒育女的年齡，直到他們步入三十，或四十歲，或更久。

越來越多的人終生沒有孩子。在德國西部，受過大學教育的女性中，百分之三十終生無子女，這一比例在下層男性中正快速增長。在英國，女性無子女的人數(shù)在二十年內翻了一番。

新近漉行的無子女潮流并沒有延續(xù)歷史的模式。幾個世紀以來，四分之一歐洲女性無子女是很尋常的事。但是在過去，無子女常常是因為貧窮或災害，或是因為戰(zhàn)爭時期缺少男性。如今，決定要——或是不要——孩子取決于一系列的因素，包括各類關系、事業(yè)機遇、生活方式以及經濟狀況。

某些情況下女性無子女可視為一種沉默的反抗形式。在日本，工作女性幾乎孤立無援。照料孩子開銷很大，男人不分擔，并且許多公司強烈抗議媽媽級女性重新回來工作?！霸谌毡?，事業(yè)與孩子不可兼得，”作家葉石香織說道。根據(jù)最近一項研究表明，不光是女人：不想要孩子，日本的男人更不想結婚生子。日本男人考慮更多的是經濟方面的原因。