Fifty is the gateway to the most liberating passage in a woman’s life. Children are making test flights out of the nest. Parents are expected to be roaming in their recreational vehicles or sending postcards of themselves riding camels. Free at last! Women can graduate from the precarious balancing act between parenting and pursuit of a career. That has been the message of my books since I wrote New Passages 15 years ago. What I didn’t see coming was the boomerang.
With parents living routinely into their 90s, a second round of caregiving has become a predictable crisis for women in midlife. Nearly 50 million Americans are taking care of an adult who used to be independent. Yes, men represent about one third of family caregivers, but their participation is often at a distance and administrative. Women do most of the hands-on care.
It starts with the call. It’s a call about a fall. Your mom has had a stroke. Or it’s a call about your dad — he’s run a red light and hit someone, again, but how are you ever going to persuade him to stop driving? Or your husband’s doctor calls with news that your partner is reluctant to tell you： it’s cancer.
When that call came to me, I froze. The shock plunges you into a whirlpool of fear, denial, and feverish action. You search out doctors. They don’t agree on the diagnosis. You scavenge the Internet. The side effects make you worry. You call your brother or sister, hoping for help. Old rivalries flare up.
We’d like to think that siblings would be natural allies when parents falter. But the facts are quite different. Brothers bury their heads in the sand. The farther away a sister lives, the more certain she will call the primary caregiver and tell her she doesn’t know what she’s doing. A 1996 study by Cornell and Louisiana State universities concluded that siblings are not just inherent rivals, but the greatest source of stress between human beings.
There are many rewards in giving back to a loved one. And the short-term stress of mobilizing against the initial crisis jump-starts the body’s positive responses. But this role is not a short race. It usually turns into a marathon, averaging almost five years. But most solitary caregivers will wait until the third or fourth year before sending out the desperate cry，“ I can’t do this anymore! ”
1.As a writer, the author has for years focused on women’s liberation from（ ）.
2.The word “boomerang” (boldfaced in Paragraph 1) refers to（ ）.
3.To many women, the calls as described would most likely be very（ ）.
4.Your brother or sister would be angry with your request for helping to（ ）.
5.According to the author, siblings tend to（ ）.
6.The author stresses that the process of giving back to a loved one is very（ ）.
问题1选项
A.looking after their children
B.taking care of their parents
C.earning a living for their families
D.doing housework all day long
问题2选项
A.husbands and wives giving different care to their weak parents
B.women in their fifties taking all responsibilities for their families
C.the elderly becoming dependent on their middle-aged children
D.family caregiving having been shifted onto women’s shoulders
问题3选项
A.invigorating
B.distressing
C.refreshing
D.confusing
问题4选项
A.stop the quarrel between your parents
B.find your husband a better doctor
C.deal with your family problems
D.take care of your Mom or Dad
问题5选项
A.live in different places after they form their own families
B.stand on the same side when arguing with their parents
C.compete with each other for being the primary caregiver
D.shift onto each other the responsibilities for their parents
问题6选项
A.hopeless
B.rewarding
C.demanding
D.fruitless
第1题:A
第2题:C
第3题:B
第4题:D
第5题:D
第6题:C
第1题:
【选项释义】
As a writer, the author has for years focused on women’s liberation from ________. 作为一名作家，作者多年来一直关注女性从________中解放的问题。
A. looking after their children A. 照顾她们的孩子
B. taking care of their parents B. 照顾她们的父母
C. earning a living for their families C. 为家庭谋生
D. doing housework all day long D. 整天做家务
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词liberation可以定位到文章第一段第四、五句“女性可以从养育子女（parenting）和追求事业之间不稳定的平衡中毕业（graduate from）。自从15年前我写《新篇章》以来，这一直是（That has been）我书中所传达的信息。”，说明作者一直关注的是女性从养育孩子中解放的问题，因此A选项“照顾她们的孩子”正确。
【干扰项排除】
B选项“照顾她们的父母”是下文新意识到的问题，不是作者多年来一直关注的，属于出处错位；
C选项“为家庭谋生”和D选项“整天做家务”在文中没有提及，属于无中生有。
第2题:
【选项释义】
The word “boomerang” (boldfaced in Paragraph 1) refers to ________. “boomerang”一词（第一段中的粗体字）指的是________。
A. husbands and wives giving different care to their weak parents A. 丈夫和妻子对他们虚弱的父母给予不同的照顾
B. women in their fifties taking all responsibilities for their families B. 五十多岁的女性承担起家庭的所有责任
C. the elderly becoming dependent on their middle-aged children C. 老年人开始依赖他们的中年子女
D. family caregiving having been shifted onto women’s shoulders D. 照顾家庭的责任已经转移到了女性的肩上
【考查点】词汇推断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词boomerang可以定位到文章第一段最后一句“我没有看到的是boomerang。”，接着第二段对boomerang进行解释：“由于父母通常都活到90多岁，第二轮护理（a second round of caregiving）已成为中年女性的一场可预见的危机。近5000万美国人正在照顾一个曾经独立的成年人。”，说明年老的父母需要子女的照顾，boomerang的本义是“回旋镖”，在此处用来比喻本以为步入中年后摆脱的责任又回来了，现在的责任是照顾年老的父母，因此C选项“老年人开始依赖他们的中年子女”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“丈夫和妻子对他们虚弱的父母给予不同的照顾”，文中虽然提到男性和女性照顾的方式不一样，但只是问题的一个方面，属于以偏概全；
B选项“五十多岁的女性承担起家庭的所有责任”，文中说的是“男性约占家庭照顾者的三分之一，但他们的参与往往是远距离和行政性的。”，并不是女性承担所有责任，属于推理过的；
D选项“照顾家庭的责任已经转移到了女性的肩上”，文中也提到了男性也要承担照顾家庭的责任，并不是完全转移到女性的肩上，属于推理过度。
第3题:
【选项释义】
To many women, the calls as described would most likely be very ________. 对许多女性来说，文中所描述的电话很可能是非常________。
A. invigorating A. 令人振奋的
B. distressing B. 令人痛苦的
C. refreshing C. 令人耳目一新的
D. confusing D. 令人困惑的
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词calls可以定位到文章第四段第一、二句“当我接到电话时，我僵住了。这种冲击会让你陷入恐惧、否认和狂热行为（fear, denial, and feverish action）的漩涡。”，恐惧、否认和狂热都是负面的情绪，说明这些电话是令人痛苦、烦恼的，因此B选项“令人痛苦的”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“令人振奋的”和C选项“令人耳目一新的”是积极的情绪，和文章描述相反，属于反向干扰；
D选项“令人困惑的”在文中没有提及，属于无中生有。
第4题:
【选项释义】
Your brother or sister would be angry with your request for helping to ________. 你的兄弟姐妹会对你________的求助很生气。
A. stop the quarrel between your parents A. 阻止你父母之间的争吵
B. find your husband a better doctor B. 为你的丈夫找一个更好的医生
C. deal with your family problems C. 处理你的家庭问题
D. take care of your Mom or Dad D. 照顾你的父母
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词brother or sister可以定位到文章第四段最后两句“你打电话给你的兄弟姐妹，希望得到帮助。从前的竞争对手（rivalries）又开始剑拔弩张。”，你是接到父母出事的电话后打给兄弟姐妹，希望求助他们一起照顾父母，但他们对此很生气，因此D选项“照顾你的父母”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“阻止你父母之间的争吵”，B选项“为你的丈夫找一个更好的医生”和C选项“处理你的家庭问题”在文中均没有提及，属于无中生有。
第5题:
【选项释义】
According to the author, siblings tend to ________. 根据作者的说法，兄弟姐妹们倾向于________。
A. live in different places after they form their own families A. 在他们组成自己的家庭后，住在不同的地方
B. stand on the same side when arguing with their parents B. 与父母争吵时站在同一阵营
C. compete with each other for being the primary caregiver C. 互相竞争成为主要的照顾者
D. shift onto each other the responsibilities for their parents D. 把照顾父母的责任推给对方
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词siblings可以定位到文章第五段第一、二句“我们想的是，当父母出现问题时，兄弟姐妹会是天然的盟友。但事实却完全不同（quite different）。”，说明人们本以为当父母出现问题时，兄弟姐妹们会团结起来共同照顾父母，但事实与此相反，也就是说都不愿意自己照顾父母，因此D选项“把照顾父母的责任推给对方”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“在他们组成自己的家庭后，住在不同的地方”在文中没有提及，属于无中生有；
B选项“与父母争吵时站在同一阵营”，文中没有提到和父母争吵的情况，属于无中生有；
C选项“互相竞争成为主要的照顾者”，文中说的是都不愿意照顾父母，属于反向干扰。
第6题:
【选项释义】
The author stresses that the process of giving back to a loved one is very ________. 作者强调，回馈所爱的人的过程是非常________。
A. hopeless A. 无望的
B. rewarding B. 有收获的
C. demanding C. 费时费力的
D. fruitless D. 徒劳无功的
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词giving back to a loved one可以定位到文章最后一段，本段第三、四句“但这一过程不是一场短途比赛。它通常会变成一场马拉松（marathon），平均会耗费将近5年的时间。”，说明这一过程需要耗费人们许多时间和精力，因此C选项“费时费力的”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“无望的”，虽然这一过程费时费力，但并不是毫无希望的，属于推理过度；
B选项“有收获的”，虽然文中有提到“回馈所爱的人会有很多回报”，但作者强调的重点不是有回报的方面，而是它费时费力的方面，属于本末倒置；
D选项“徒劳无功的”，由最后一段第一句可知，回馈所爱的人是会有很多回报的，属于反向干扰。
