全国英语等级考试PETS-3阅读练习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

参考答案：A

参考解析：推理题。从文章中得知现代社会妇女生育是综合一系列因素之后做出的决定，是艰难的选择。故选A。

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

A.totallywise

B.ahuge problem

C.arational choice

D.absolutelynecessary

参考答案：D

参考解析：细节题。从文章第1段最后一句话“But they are certainly not essential”得知，对布朗和她的朋友来说，孩子肯定不是必须的。故选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

参考答案：C

参考解析：细节题。从文章第四段第三句话“But in the past，childlessness was usually the product of poverty or disaster，of missing men in times of war.”可以得知，过去妇女不育是由于一系列不幸的因素。故选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

参考答案：D

参考解析：细节题。从文章第四段第四句话“a child is the resultof a complex combination of factors”得知，不生孩子的原因比过去更复杂。故选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

参考答案：B

参考解析：细节题。从文章第五段第三句话“Child care is expensive，and men don’t help out.”及最后一句话“Their motivations，though，may have more to do with economic factors.”可知，日本男人决定不要孩子很可能是因为财力无法承担。故选B。

参考译文

凯瑟琳·布朗，一位三十七岁的记者，每次和她三四十岁的朋友们在伦敦一间咖啡屋碰面时，她们最爱聊的话题就是“关系”：男人们怠于承担，女人们的自立，还有什么时候要孩子——或者，越来越多地谈到到底要不要孩子。“年华流逝，我要孩子的机会也在减少，但是我不会仅为了要孩子而找个人结婚，”布朗说道。对于像布朗一样的人而言，有孩子再好不过了——当然如果时机到了。但孩子肯定不是必须的。

在世界的许多地方，要孩子都不再是必须的。“从前，不要孩子这个决定对于许多社会中的男男女女都是不可理解的，”伦敦经济学院的弗朗克·哈基姆说道。年轻人正在延长他们无予无女的成年时光，推迟生儿育女的年龄，直到他们步入三十，或四十岁，或更久。

越来越多的人终生没有孩子。在德国西部，受过大学教育的女性中，百分之三十终生无子女，这一比例在下层男性中正快速增长。在英国，女性无子女的人数在二十年内翻了一番。

新近漉行的无子女潮流并没有延续历史的模式。几个世纪以来，四分之一欧洲女性无子女是很寻常的事。但是在过去，无子女常常是因为贫穷或灾害，或是因为战争时期缺少男性。如今，决定要——或是不要——孩子取决于一系列的因素，包括各类关系、事业机遇、生活方式以及经济状况。

某些情况下女性无子女可视为一种沉默的反抗形式。在日本，工作女性几乎孤立无援。照料孩子开销很大，男人不分担，并且许多公司强烈抗议妈妈级女性重新回来工作。“在日本，事业与孩子不可兼得，”作家叶石香织说道。根据最近一项研究表明，不光是女人：不想要孩子，日本的男人更不想结婚生子。日本男人考虑更多的是经济方面的原因。