Passage Two

Dr. Mary Jo Bane is the associate director of the Center for Research on Women. Her recent study found “surprising evidence of the persistence of American commitments to family life”, which cast doubt on some common myths about American family.

Myth 1: The American Family is Dying Because of the Soaring Divorce Rate.

According to Dr. Bane’s study, the American family is changing, not dying. It is becoming smaller and the divorce rate is high. But Dr. Bane says that despite the high divorce rate, marriage has never been more popular. The majority of divorced people re-marry, but only 2%marry more than twice. Most marriages last a long time, and a large proportion of divorces are from teenage marriages. Depending on the specific situation, there’s often good reason for teenage marriages to break up.

Myth 2: Working Mothers are Destroying the Family by Neglecting Their Children.

“There’s no evidence that children receive less attention from mothers who work outside the home than from mothers working inside the home,” says Dr. Bane. “You have to divide the time into different categories: simple physical function and educational time or development time when a mother plays with the child. So far we haven’t seen the amount of educational or development time vary much, whether or not the mother works outside the home.” In fact, Dr. Bane finds evidence that working mothers, especially in the middle class, try to compensate for working by setting aside time exclusively for their children. “They probably read more to their children and spend more time in planned activities with them than nonworking mothers do.” says Dr. Bane.

21. Dr. Mary Jo Bane’s study seems to suggest that _________.

A. Americans are persistent in career

B. Americans are serious with their families

C. American families are all breaking up

D. American families are perfect as usual

22. It can be inferred that the common myths of American family consider family life to be _________.

A. in great danger

B. quite wonderful

C. changing too fast

D. very satisfying

23. According to the article, which of the following is true about marriage and divorce?

A. Divorced people never consider a second marriage.

B. Teenage couples often divorce out of no reason.

C. Less and less people plan to get married.

D. Very few people have a third or fourth marriage.

24. For the children whose mothers go out to work, __________.

A. it is better to have mothers at home

B. almost no attention is paid to them

C. no less attention is paid to them

D. a lot of time is spent playing games

25.Compared with nonworking mothers, working mothers________.

A. spare less time to stay with their children

B. do more educational activities with children

C. do very little simple physical housework

D. avoid disturbing their work by family duties

21.B 22. A 23. D 24. C 25. B