The most important divide in America today is class, not race, and the place where it matters most is in the home. Conservatives have been banging on about family breakdown for decades. Now one of the nation’s most prominent liberal scholars has joined the chorus.
Robert Putnam is a former dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and the author of Bowling Alone(2000), an influential work that lamented the decline of social capital in America. In his new book, Our Kids, he describes the growing gulf between how the rich and the poor raise their children.
Among the educated elite the traditional family is thriving: fewer than 10% of births to female college graduates are outside marriage—a figure that is barely higher than it was in 1970. In 2007 among women with just a high-school education, by contrast, 65% of births were non-marital. Race makes a difference: only 2% of births to white college graduates are out-of-wedlock, compared with 80% among African-Americans with no more than a high-school education, but neither of these figures has changed much since the 1970s. However the non-marital birth proportion among the high-school-educated whites has quadrupled, to 50%, and the same figure for college-educated blacks has fallen by a third, to 25%. Thus the class divide is growing even as the racial gap is shrinking.
Upbringing affects opportunity. Upper-middle-class homes are not only richer (with two professional incomes) and more stable: they are also more nurturing. In the 1970s, there were practically no class differences in the amount of time that parents spent talking, reading and playing with toddlers. Now the children of college-educated parents receive 50% more of what Mr. Putnam calls “Goodnight Moon” time (after a popular book for infants).
Working-class parents, who have less spare capacity, are more likely to demand that their kids simply obey them. In the short run this saves time, in the long run it prevents the kids from learning to organize their own lives or think for themselves. Poor parenting is thus a barrier to social mobility, and is becoming more so as the world grows more complex and the rewards for superior cognitive skills increase.
Stunningly, Mr. Putnam finds that family background is a better predictor of whether or not a child will graduate from university than 8th grade test scores. Kids in the richest quarter with low test scores are as like to make it through college as kids in the poorest quarter with high scores.
Mr. Putnam suggests a grab-bag of policies to help poor kids reach their potential such as raising subsidies for poor families, teaching them better parenting skills, improving nursery care and making after-school baseball clubs free. He urges all 50 states to experiment to find out what works. A problem this complex has no simple solution.
1.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to Mr. Putnam’s new book?
2.“Goodnight Moon” time (Line 5, Para. 4) refers to the time of（ ）.
3.We can infer that working-class parents（ ）.
4.What does Mr. Putnam’s finding about test scores suggest?
5.In the passage, the author mainly discusses（ ）.
问题1选项
A.Marital birth rate almost keeps unchanged among college graduates.
B.Non-marital births have been decreasing among high-school graduates.
C.African-Americans have given birth to more non-marital children.
D.More high-school-educated whites have children before marriage.
问题2选项
A.providing opportunity for kids
B.giving more nourishment to kids
C.being involved in the education of kids
D.reading popular books to infants
问题3选项
A.tend to be more strict with child
B.forbid kids to think independently
C.overlook changes of the society
D.need training for education
问题4选项
A.Students from rich families don’t need to study hard.
B.Parental education affects kids’ academic results greatly.
C.Kids in poor families can hardly graduate from colleges.
D.Family background can make up for academic flaws.
问题5选项
A.how parents should bring up their children
B.how family background influences schooling
C.what the greatest barrier to social mobility is
D.various classes educate kids differently
第1题:A
第2题:C
第3题:D
第4题:B
第5题:B
第1题:
【选项释义】
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to Mr. Putnam’s new book? 根据帕特南先生的新书，以下哪项陈述是正确的？
A. Marital birth rate almost keeps unchanged among college graduates A. 大学毕业生的婚姻生育率几乎保持不变
B. Non-marital births have been decreasing among high-school graduates B. 高中毕业生的非婚生育率在下降
C. African-Americans have given birth to more non-marital children C. 非裔美国人生育了更多的非婚生子女
D. More high-school-educated whites have children before marriage D. 更多受过高中教育的白人在婚前就有了孩子
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据选项中的关键词Non-marital births、college graduates可以定位答案所在区域为第三段。根据第三段关键信息：However the non-marital birth proportion among the high-school-educated whites has quadrupled, to 50%（然而，高中毕业的白人的非婚生育率翻了两番，达到50%），由此可知高中毕业的白人的非婚生育率上升了，因此可推测：有更多的受过高中教育的白人在婚前就有了孩子，所以正确答案为D选项。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“大学毕业生的婚姻生育率几乎保持不变”，原文没有提及“大学毕业生的婚姻生育率”，该选项属于无中生有；
B选项“高中毕业生的非婚生育率在下降”，根据第三段关键信息：However the non-marital birth proportion among the high-school-educated whites has quadrupled, to 50%（然而，高中毕业的白人的非婚生育率翻了两番，达到50%），可知：高中毕业的白人的非婚生育率上升了，由此可推测整个高中毕业生的非婚生育不会下降，该选项与原文不符，说法错误，属于反向干扰；
C选项“非裔美国人生育了更多的非婚生子女”，根据第三段关键信息：Race makes a difference: only 2% of births to white college graduates are out-of-wedlock, compared with 80% among African-Americans with no more than a high-school education（种族造成了差异：白人大学毕业生的非婚生率只有2%，相比之下，高中以下学历的非裔美国人的非婚生率为80%），原文只提及了高中以下学历的非裔美国人的非婚生率为80%，无法推出非裔美国人生育了更多的非婚生子女，该选项说法错误，属于反向干扰。
第2题:
【选项释义】
“Goodnight Moon” time (Para. 4) refers to the time of ______. “晚安，月亮”时间（第4段）是指______的时间。
A. providing opportunity for kids A. 为孩子提供机会
B. giving more nourishment to kids B. 给孩子更多的营养
C. being involved in the education of kids C. 参与孩子的教育
D. reading popular books to infants D. 给婴儿读通俗读物
【考查点】语义推断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词Para. 4可以定位答案所在区域为第四段。根据第四段关键信息：In the 1970s, there were practically no class differences in the amount of time that parents spent talking, reading and playing with toddlers. Now the children of college-educated parents receive 50% more of what Mr. Putnam calls “Goodnight Moon” time（在20世纪70年代，父母花在与幼儿交谈、阅读和玩耍上的时间几乎没有阶级差异。如今，父母受过大学教育的孩子获得的“晚安，月亮”时间要多出50%），可知此处的“晚安，月亮”时间是指前文的“父母花在与幼儿交谈、阅读和玩耍上的时间”，因此可推测是指“父母参与孩子教育的时间”，所以正确答案为C选项。
【干扰项排除】A、B、D选项均属于曲解原文。
第3题:
【选项释义】
We can infer that working-class parents ______. 我们可以推断工人阶级的父母______。
A. tend to be more strict with child A. 往往对孩子比较严格
B. forbid kids to think independently B. 禁止孩子独立思考
C. overlook changes of the society C. 忽视社会的变化
D. need training for education D. 需要教育培训
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词working-class parents可以定位答案所在区域为第五段。根据第五段关键信息：Working-class parents, who have less spare capacity, are more likely to demand that their kids simply obey them. In the short run this saves time, in the long run it prevents the kids from learning to organize their own lives or think for themselves. Poor parenting is thus a barrier to social mobility（工人阶级的父母没有那么多的空闲时间，他们更有可能要求他们的孩子简单地服从他们。从短期来看，这节省了时间，从长远来看，这阻碍了孩子们学会组织自己的生活或独立思考。因此，糟糕的父母教育是社会流动的障碍），由此可知：工薪阶层父母对孩子的养育方式不正确，会给社会流动带来障碍，因此可推断工人阶级的父母需要接受培训，所以正确答案为D选项。
【干扰项排除】A、B、C选项均属于曲解原文。
第4题:
【选项释义】
What does Mr. Putnam’s finding about test scores suggest? 普特南先生关于考试成绩的发现说明了什么？
A. Students from rich families don’t need to study hard A. 来自富裕家庭的学生不需要努力学习
B. Parental education affects kids’ academic results greatly B. 父母的教育对孩子的学习成绩影响很大
C. Kids in poor families can hardly graduate from colleges C. 贫困家庭的孩子很难从大学毕业
D. Family background can make up for academic flaws D. 家庭背景可以弥补学习上的缺陷
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词Mr. Putnam’s finding about test scores可以定位答案所在区域为第六段。根据第六段：Stunningly, Mr. Putnam finds that family background is a better predictor of whether or not a child will graduate from university than 8th grade test scores. Kids in the richest quarter with low test scores are as like to make it through college as kids in the poorest quarter with high scores（令人惊讶的是，帕特南先生发现家庭背景比八年级考试成绩更能预测一个孩子是否能从大学毕业。来自最富裕地区、考试分数低的孩子和来自最贫穷地区、考试分数高的孩子一样有可能顺利完成大学学业），结合上面两段对不同阶层参与教育和教育方式的差别可知，这能够反映出父母的家庭教育对孩子学业成绩的影响，所以正确答案为B选项。
【干扰项排除】A、C、D选项均属于曲解原文。
第5题:
【选项释义】
In the passage, the author mainly discusses ______. 在这篇文章中，作者主要讨论了______。
A. how parents should bring up their children A. 父母应该如何教育子女
B. how family background influences schooling B. 家庭背景如何影响学校教育
C. what the greatest barrier to social mobility is C. 社会流动的最大障碍是什么
D. various classes educate kids differently D. 不同阶层教育孩子的方式不同
【考查点】主旨大意题。
【解题思路】根据第一段第一句：The most important divide in America today is class, not race, and the place where it matters most is in the home（当今美国最重要的分歧是阶级，而不是种族，而最重要的分歧是在家里），可知文章一开始就提出了最重要的分歧是阶级，且在家里的分歧最大；结合第二段最后一句：In his new book, Our Kids, he describes the growing gulf between how the rich and the poor raise their children（在他的新书《我们的孩子》中，他描述了富人和穷人抚养孩子的方式之间日益扩大的鸿沟），结合文章后文提到了良好教育的精英阶层、中上阶层的家庭，以及工人阶级的父母，可知文章的重点讨论了“不同阶层教育孩子的方式不同”，所以正确答案为D选项。
【干扰项排除】A、B、C选项均属于曲解原文。
