The decline of marriage: For richer, for smarter
The traditional family is now the preserve of a minority. Marriage, and its many ups and downs, still exercises a powerful hold over newspapers, magazines and the airwaves. Nearly 23m Americans watched Prince William being joined in holy matrimony to Kate Middleton. Millions more have wallowed in the break-up of Arnold Schwarzenegger's marriage after revelations that he fathered a son with a maid. And the tumescent tweets of congress man Anthony Weiner have stirred up endless speculation about the health of his own year-old marriage and the forbearance of his newly pregnant wife.
Less titillating are revelations about the sorry state of marriage across the United States. Data from the Census Bureau show that married couples, for the first time, now make up less than half (45%) of all households.
The iconic American family, with mom, dad and kids under one roof, is fading. In ever, state the numbers of unmarried couples, childless households and single-person households are growing faster than those comprised of married people with children, finds the 2010 census. The latter accounted for 43% of households in 1950; they now account for just 20%. And the trend has a potent class dimension. Traditional marriage has evolved from a near-universal rite to a luxury for the educated and affluent.
There barely was a marriage gap in 1960: only four percentage points separated the wedded ways of college and high-school graduates (76% versus 72%). The gap has since widened to 16 percentage points, according to the Pew Research Centre. A Census Bureau analysis released this spring found that brides are significantly more likely to have a college degree than they were in the mid-1990s.
“Marriage has become much more selective, and that's why the divorce rate has come down,” said Bradford Wilcox, become much more selective, and that’s why the divorce rate has come down,” said Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The project found that divorce rates for couples with college degrees are only a third as high as for those with a high-school degree.
Americans with a high-school degree or less (who account for 58% of the population) tell researchers they would like to marry, but do not believe they can afford it. Instead, they raise children out of wedlock. Only 6% of children born to college-educated mothers were born outside marriage, according to the National Marriage Project. That compares with 44% of babies born to mothers whose education ended with high school.
"Less marriage means less income and more poverty," reckons Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. She and other researchers have linked as much as half of the income inequality in family composition: single-parent families (mostly those with a high-school degree or less) are getting poorer while married couples (with educations and dual incomes) are increasingly well-off. "This is a striking gap that is not well understood by the public." she says.
Do not expect the Democratic Party, however, to make an issue of the marriage gap in next year’s elections. Unmarried women voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. "You don't want to suggest to someone who isn't married and has children that they should be married." says Ms Sawhill. “That is a denigration of their lifestyle."
1. According to the passage,( ).
2. Which of the following is True?
3. The divorce rate has come down because( ).
4. “Less marriage means less income and more poverty” is( ).
5. Unmarried women Voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama because ( ).
1.判断推理题。A:不到一半(45%)的人保留传统婚姻。根据第二段“Data from the Census Bureau show that married couples, for the first time, now make up less than half (45%) of all households (人口普查局的 数据显示已婚夫妇现在占全部家庭的比例不到一半(45%),这是首次出现这种情况)”可知A项正确。B:近2300万美国人对阿诺德施瓦辛格的婚姻破裂感到悲伤。根据第一段“Nearly 23m Americans watched Prince William being joined in holy matrimony to Kate Middleton (近 2300 万美国人收看 了威廉王子迎娶凯特•米德尔顿(Kate Middleton)的神圣婚礼)”可知B项不正确。C:这个标志性的美国家庭仍然主宰着报纸、杂志和广播。根据第 —段“Marriage, and its many ups and downs, still exercises a powerful hold over newspapers, magazines and the airwaves (婚姻、婚姻里的悲欢离合仍然强有力地占据着报纸、杂志的版面和广播电视的节目)”可排除C项。D: 未婚夫妇、无子女家庭、单身家庭增长20%。根据第三段“The latter accounted for 43% of households in 1950; they now account for just 20% (1950 年后者(有孩子的已婚夫妇组成家庭)占全部家庭的43%;现在只占20%)”可排除D项。因此,本题选A。
2.判断推理题。A:传统婚姻对现在的受过教育的富人来说是一种奢侈。根据第三段“Traditional marriage has evolved from a near-universal rite to a luxury for the educated and affluent (传统婚姻普遍被视为习俗,现在它已经进化为受教育人群和具有经济实力的人群所享有的奢侈品)”可知A项正确。B:整个美国的婚姻现状让人感到兴奋。根据第二段“Less titillating are revelations about the sorry state of marriage across the United States (美国人自己婚姻的糟糕状况则不那么令人感到 兴奋)”可排除B项。C:现在婚姻差距缩小了。第四段指出:大学毕业和高中毕业生的结婚率差距越来越大,如今已经达到16%。因此排除C项。D:拥有大学文凭的女孩更容易结婚,文章并未提及。因此,本题选A。
3.细节事实题。根据题干定位至第五段: Marriage has become much more selective, and that’s why the divorce rate has come down (选择结婚对象时更加地精挑细选,这就是为什么离婚率降低了)。因此C项“人们在选择婚姻时更加谨慎”正确。
4.判断推理题。根据题干定位至倒数第二段: Less marriage means less income and more poverty,”reckons Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (婚姻减少意味着收入减少、贫困增加”,布鲁金斯学会的资深研究员伊莎贝尔•索希尔这样认为)。因此可推测,这句活应该是“一个研究发现”的结论。因此D项正确。
5.判断推理题。最后一段最后一句指出: You don’t want to suggest to someone who isn’t married and has children that they should be married,”says Ms Sawhill. “That is a denigration of their lifestyle.”(“你别想建议某个没结婚又有小孩的人去结婚,”索希尔女士说,“那样子是对她们生活方式的诋毁”)。因A项“婚姻对她们而言是一种生活方式”正确。