第三章阅读理解
第五节阅读理解强化练习
Reading Comprehension 1
Passage 1
“ Family” is of course an elastic word. But when British people say that their society is based on family life, they are thinking of “family” in its narrow, peculiarly European sense of mother, father and children living together alone in their own house as an economic and social unit. Thus, every British marriage indicates the beginning of a new and independent family—hence the tremendous importance of marriage in British life. For both the man and the woman, marriage means leaving one´s parents and starting one´s own life. The man´s first duty will then be to his wife, and the wife´s to her husband. He will be entirely responsible for her financial support, and she for the running of the new home. Their children will be their common responsibility and theirs alone. Neither the wife´s parents nor the husband´s, nor their brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles, have any right to interfere with them—they are their own masters.
Readers of novels like Jane Austen´s Pride and Prejudice will know that in former times marriage among wealthy families were arranged by the girl´s parents, that is, it was the parents´ duty to find a suitable husband for their daughter, preferably a rich one, and by skillful encouragement to lead him eventually to ask their permission to marry her. Until that time, the girl was protected and maintained in the parents´ home, and the financial relief of getting rid of her could be seen in their giving the newly married pair a sum of money called a dowry. It is very different today. Most girls of today get a job when they leave school and become financially independent before their marriage. This has had two results. A girl chooses her own husband, and she gets no dowry.
1. What does the author mean by “Family is of course an elastic word”?
A.Different families have different ways of life.
B. Different definitions could be given to the word.
C. Different nations have different families.
D.Different times produce different families.
2. For an English family, the husband´s duty is ____.
A. supporting the family while the wife is financial
B. defending the family while the wife is running the home
C. financial while the wife is running the home
D. independent while the wife is dependent
3. Everything is decided in a family ____.
A.by the coupleB. with the help of their parents
C. by brothers and sistersD. with the help of aunts and uncles
4. What is true concerning the book Pride and Prejudice?
A. It is the best book on marriage.
B. It is a handbook of marriage.
C. It gives quite some idea of English social life in the past.
D. It provides a lot of information of formertime wealthy families.
5.With regard to marriage in Britain, present-day girls differ from former time girls in ____.
A. the right marryB. more parental support
C. choosing husbandsD. social position
1.【答案】B。
【解析】此句主要是考察对elastic这个单词的理解，elastic的意思是“有弹性的，可伸缩的，不是固定不变的”，整句话的意思是“家庭当然不是一个固定不变的概念”，在这一段的后面也写了不同时期的家庭和婚姻状况，从此可知“family”一词的含义也是不同的。
2.【答案】C
【解析】从文中可找出关键句“The man´s first duty...”和“responsible for her financial support”，此句意思是“男人应是女人的财政支柱”，financial的意思是“财政的，金融的”。注意“responsible for her...running of the new home”是关键句。
3.【答案】A
【解析】由第一段最后一句“neither...nor...nor...have any right to interfere with them.”此处的“them”是指夫妻俩，neither...nor...是否定形式，即说……都没有权力干涉夫妻俩的事情，——他们是自己的主人，故此题的正确答案是A。
4.【答案】C
【解析】分析本文第二段可知，《傲慢与偏见》这本书中讲述了当时的婚姻状况，当时有钱人之间的婚姻都是由女方父母做主，并且父母给新婚夫妇一些钱做嫁妆之后就不再管他们的经济问题，这是当时英国社会生活的一个方面。（北京安通学校提供）
5.【答案】C
【解析】从第二段中开始部分可知过去的女孩的社会地位，从后半部分可知现在的女孩的社会地位比以前有很大提高，表现在结婚前就可以自己在经济上独立，可以自己选择丈夫，可以不要dowry(嫁妆)，这些方面都属于社会地位方面。
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