I was addressing a small gathering in a suburban Virginia living room—a women’s group that had invited men to join them. Throughout the evening, one man had been particularly talkative, frequently offering ideas and anecdotes, while his wife sat silently beside him on the couch. Toward the end of the evening, I commented that women frequently complain that their husbands don’t talk to them. This man quickly nodded in agreement. He gestured toward his wife and said, “She’s the talker in our family.” The room burst into laughter; the man looked puzzled and hurt. “ It’s true," he explained. “When I come home from work I have nothing to say. If she didn’t keep the conversation going, we’d spend the whole evening in silence.
This episode crystallizes the irony that although American men tend to talk more than women in public situa-tions ,they often talk less at home. And this pattern is wreaking havoc with marriage.
The pattern was observed by political scientist Andrew Hacker in the late 1970s. Sociologist Catherine Kohler Riessman reports in her new book Divorce Talk that most of the women she interviewed——but only a few of the men—gave lack of communication as the reason for their divorces. Given the current divorce rate of nearly 50 percent, that amounts to millions of cases in the United States every year—a virtual epidemic of failed conversation.
In my own research, complaints from women about their husbands most often focused not on tangible inequities such as having given up the chance for a career to accompany a husband to his, or doing far more than their share of daily life-support work like cleaning, cooking and social arrangements. Instead, they focused on communication: "He doesn’t listen to me.” “He doesn’t talk to me.” I found, as Hacker observed years before, that most wives want their husbands to be, first and foremost, conversational partners, but few husbands share this expectation of their wives.
In short, the image that best represents the current crisis is the stereotypical cartoon scene of a man sitting at the breakfast table with a newspaper held up in front of his face, while a woman glares at the back of it, wanting to talk. (374 words)
1.What is most wives’ main expectation of their husbands?
2.Judging from the context, the phrase “wreaking havoc”(Para. 2) most probably means（ ）.
3.All of the following are true EXCEPT （ ）.
4.Which of the following can best summarize the main idea of this text?
5.In the following part immediately after this text，the author will most probably focus on（ ）.
问题1选项
A.Talking to them.
B.Trusting them.
C.Supporting their careers.
D.Sharing housework.
问题2选项
A.generating motivation
B.exerting influence
C.causing damage
D.creating pressure
问题3选项
A.men tend to talk more in public than women
B.nearly 50 percent of recent divorces are caused by failed conversation
C.women attach much importance to communication between couples
D.a female tends to be more talkative at home than her spouse
问题4选项
A.The moral decaying deserves more research by sociologists.
B.Marriage break-up stems from sex inequalities.
C.Husband and wife have different expectations from their marriage.
D.Conversational patterns between man and wife are different.
问题5选项
A.a vivid account of the new book Divorce Talk
B.a detailed description of the stereotypical cartoon
C.other possible reasons for a high divorce rate in the U. S.
D.a brief introduction to the political scientist Andrew Hacker
第1题:A
第2题:C
第3题:B
第4题:D
第5题:B
第1题:
【选项释义】
What is most wives’ main expectation of their husbands? 大多数妻子对丈夫的主要期望是什么？
A. Talking to them
A. 与她们交谈
B. Trusting them
B. 信任她们
C. Supporting their careers
C. 支持她们的事业
D. Sharing housework
D. 分担家务
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干most wives’ main expectation of their husbands可定位到第四段句尾：…most wives want their husbands to be, first and foremost, conversational partners, but few husbands share this expectation of their wives，“大多数妻子希望她们的丈夫首先成为谈话的伙伴，但很少有丈夫对妻子有这样的期望。”与A选项‘和她们谈话’相符，所以此题目选A。
【干扰项排除】
B、C、D选项原文没有提及，属于无中生有。
第2题:
【选项释义】
Judging from the context, the phrase “wreaking havoc” (Para. 2) most probably means _____. 从上下文来看，“肆意破坏”一词（第2段）很可能是指从 _____。
A. generating motivation A. 产生动机
B. exerting influence B. 施加影响
C. causing damage C. 造成损害
D. creating pressure D. 产生压力
【考查点】词汇推断题。
【解题思路】根据题干提示Para. 2和wreaking havoc可定位到第二段尾句：And this pattern is wreaking havoc with marriage. 上文提到they often talk less at home，显然丈夫的这种行为方式（this pattern）对婚姻来讲（with marriage）应该是有害的，C项“causing damage”正确；下文第三段的第二句提到…most of the women... gave lack of communication as the reason for their divorces，她采访的大多数女性——但只有少数男性——表示缺乏沟通是他们离婚的原因。所以缺乏沟通，即丈夫在家里讲话少这一行为方式是离婚的原因，显然它对婚姻造成了破坏，C选项正确。
【干扰项排除】
A、B、D选项不能通过文章推理出来。
第3题:
【选项释义】
All of the following are true EXCEPT _____. 除以下情况外，以下所有情况均属实。
A. men tend to talk more in public than women A. 男人在公共场合讲话比女人多
B. nearly 50 percent of recent divorces are caused by failed conversation B. 最近近50%的离婚是由谈话失败引起的
C. women attach much importance to communication between couples C. 女性非常重视夫妻之间的沟通
D. a female tends to be more talkative at home than her spouse D. 女性在家里往往比她的配偶更健谈
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】B选项可定位到第三段尾句：Given the current divorce rate of nearly 50 percent... 考虑到目前近50%的离婚率，美国每年有数百万起离婚案件——这实际上是一场失败对话的流行病。原文只是提到“目前美国的离婚率为50%”，但B项却说“50%的离婚是由交谈失败导致的”，所以B项错误，符合题意，属于偷换概念。
【干扰项排除】
选项A、D定位到第二段首句：…although American men tend to talk more than women in public situations, they often talk less at home.这一事件说明了一个具有讽刺意味的事实：尽管美国男人在公共场合比女人更爱说话，但他们在家里却很少说话。这种模式正在破坏婚姻。确定A选项‘男人在公共场合讲话比女人多’和D选项‘男人和妻子之间的谈话模式是不同的。’是正确的，属于反向干扰；
C选项定位到第四段第二句Instead, they focused on communication…故C项‘女人非常重视夫妻之间的沟通’正确，属于反向干扰。
第4题:
【选项释义】
Which of the following can best summarize the main idea of this text? 以下哪项最能概括本文的主要思想？
A. The moral decaying deserves more research by sociologists. A. 道德的沦丧值得社会学家更多的研究。
B. Marriage break-up stems from sex inequalities. B. 婚姻破裂源于性别不平等。
C. Husband and wife have different expectations from their marriage. C. 丈夫和妻子对他们的婚姻有不同的期望。
D. Conversational patterns between man and wife are different. D. 男人和妻子之间的对话模式是不同的。
【考查点】主旨大意题。
【解题思路】根据对整篇文章概括以及贯穿全文的关键词talkative, talk, conversation可以确定D项‘男人和女人谈话模式是不同的’符合题意。
【干扰项排除】
选项A‘道德的沦丧值得社会学家做更多的研究’文章中没有涉及，属于无中生有，排除；
选项B‘婚姻破裂源于性别不平等’根据break-up可以定位到文中的第二段，可知婚姻的破裂的原因在于沟通，这一点可以在第四段得以证明，第四段提到女性抱怨的更多的是丈夫不与她们沟通，而不是tangible inequities（实实在在的不公平）与选项不符，属于曲解原文，排除；
选项C‘夫妻双方对于婚姻的期望值不同’在第四段尾句有涉及，但太过宽泛，不够具体，属于过度推断，故排除。
第5题:
【选项释义】
In the following part immediately after this text, the author will most probably focus on _____. 在紧接本文之后的下一部分中，作者很可能将重点放在_____。
A. a vivid account of the new book Divorce Talk A. 对新书《离婚谈话》的生动描述
B. a detailed description of the stereotypical cartoon B. 对刻板卡通的详细描述
C. other possible reasons for a high divorce rate in the U.S.
C. 美国离婚率高的其他可能原因。
D. a brief introduction to the political scientist Andrew Hacker D. 政治学家安德鲁·哈克简介
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】文章最后一段简要地描述了一幅漫画情景，所以根据承上启下原则，接下来很可能会就该漫画的细节作具体阐述，以讨论此现象，所以B项正确。
【干扰项排除】
A、C、D选项不能通过文章线索推理出来。
