Passage Three

　　Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage.

　　In the past, American families tended to be quite large. Parents raising five or more children were common. Over the years, the size of the family has decreased. One reason for this is an increase in the cost of living. On the average, children attend schools for more years than they used to, making them financially dependent on their families. Moreover, children nowadays are better dressed and have more money to spend on entertainment. The parents usually take the responsibility for all the expenses. Meanwhile, families are less close than they used to be. More and more American mothers work away from home.

　　The breakup of the family occurs when the parents divorce. A lot of children in the U.S. live part of their young lives with only one parent. Broken families usually result in problems for children and parents alike. Children blame themselves when their parents separate. They grow up feeling unsettled as they are moved back and forth between parents. Usually one parent is responsible for raising the children. These single parents must care for the children’s emotional and psychological needs while also supporting them financially. This is very demanding and leaves very little time for the parent’s own personal interests. Single parents often marry other single parents. In this type of family, unrelated children are forced to develop brother or sister relationship.

　　The situations of many American families today are not good. However, recent signs indicate that things are getting better. The divorce rate is declining. The rate of childbirth is rising. Perhaps Americans have learned how important families are.

　　11. In the past, American families tended to be ______.

　　A. quite small

　　B. medium-sized

　　C. quite large

　　D. small

　　12. To parents who take the responsibility for children’s expenses, the cost of living increases because ______.

　　A. children attend school for less years

　　B. children are worse dressed

　　C. children have more interests nowadays

　　D. children spend more money on entertainment

　　13. What problems would broken families bring to children and parents respectively?

　　A. Children grow up feeling unsettled and parents didn’t pay much attention to children.

　　B. Children grow up feeling free and one parent is responsible for raising the children.

　　C. Children are moved back and forth between parents and the single parent is busy working to make money to support himself or herself.

　　D. Children grow up feeling unsettled, and the parents have little time for his or her own interests because one parent is too busy taking care of children.

　　14. According to the author, the situations of American families in the future may ______.

　　A. become worse

　　B. remain the same

　　C. get better

　　D. keep unchanged

　　15. The title of the article might be ______.

　　A. American Children

　　B. American Families

　　C. American Mother

　　D. American Parents

　　Passage Four

　　Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.

　　In a family where the roles of men and women are not sharply separated and where many household tasks are shared to a greater or lesser extent, notions of male superiority are hard to maintain. The pattern of sharing in tasks and in decisions makes for equality and this in turn leads to further sharing. In such a home, the growing boy and girl learn to accept equality more easily than did their parents and to prepare more fully for participation in a world characterized by cooperation rather than by the “battle of the sexes”.

　　If the process goes too far and man’s role is regarded as less important—and that has happened in some cases—we are as badly off as before, only in reverse.

　　It is time to reassess the role of the man in the American family. We are getting a little tired of “Momism” — but we don’t want to exchange it for a “neo-Popism”. What we need, rather, is the recognition that bringing up children involves a partnership of equals. There are signs that psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and specialists on the family are becoming more aware of the part men play and that they have decided that women should not receive all the credit

　　nor the blame. We have almost given up saying that a woman’s place is in the home. We are beginning, however, to analyze man’s place in the home and to insist that he does have a place in it. Nor is that place irrelevant to the healthy development of the child.

　　The family is a co-operative enterprise for which it is difficult to lay down rules, because each family needs to work out its own ways for solving its own problems.

　　Excessive authoritarianism(命令主義) has unhappy consequences, whether it wears skirts or trousers, and the ideal of equal rights and equal responsibilities is pertinent (相關的，中肯的) not only to healthy democracy, but also to a healthy family.

　　16. The danger in the sharing of household tasks between the mother and the father is that ______.

　　A. the role of the father may become an inferior one

　　B. the role of the mother may become an inferior one

　　C. the children believe that life is a battle of sexes

　　D. sharing leads to constant arguing

　　17. The author states that bringing up children ______.

　　A. is mainly the mother’s job

　　B. belongs to the duties of the father

　　C. is the job of schools and churches

　　D. involves a partnership of equals

　　18. The ideal of equal rights and equal responsibilities is ______.

　　A. fundamental to a sound democracy

　　B. not pertinent to a healthy family

　　C. responsible for Momism

　　D. what we have almost given up

　　19. According to the author, the father’s role in the home is ______.

　　A. minor because he is an ineffectual parent

　　B. irrelevant to the healthy development of the child

　　C. pertinent to the healthy development of the child

　　D. identical to the role of the child’s mother

　　20. Which of the following statements would the author be most likely to agree with?

　　A. A healthy, co-operative family is a basic ingredient of a healthy society.

　　B. Men are basically opposed to sharing household chores.

　　C. Division of household responsibilities is workable only in theory.

　　D. A woman’s place in the home now is the same as that in the past.

　　II. Speed Reading. (10 points, 1 point for each)

　　Directions: Skim or scan the following passages. Decide on the best answers and then write

　　the corresponding letters on your Answer Sheet.