单选题 One of the earliest changes experienced by newly modernizing countries is the reduction of infectious disease through the diffusion of public health technology. Public health technology lowers the death rate, especially among infants and children, causing rapid population growth. Since most of the people of less developed nations live in rural areas that cannot absorb the increased population, unemployment presses people off the land. They tend to migrate into urban areas where newly developing industry and commerce and modern consumer goods and services offer hope for employment and a better life. Unfortunately, the opportunities are more apparent than real; and often the transition is more painful than pleasant.
In the courses of the transition from agrarian life to modern urban living, the family undergoes major changes in function, structure, relations, and style. Functionally the family changes from a production unit to a consumption unit. No longer is there need for a large multi-worker household to operate the family's farm interests, and the extended family household changes to the one containing only a core nuclear family. In the city children become economic liabilities rather than economic assets, and eventually families have fewer of them. Wives lose their functions as producers and maintainers of the labor force and become free to pursue extra household activities.
The modern economy forces work outside the home away from kinfolk. Not only the father but also the mother is forced into the marketplace or factory to obtain enough money for the family to survive in a pecuniary economy. Without the extended family household, no one remains at home to supervise children, so they are left on their own. They may be sent into the streets to earn money. Daily life becomes filled with more secondary than primary relations. There is an erosion of family control over individual members.
Scarce urban housing forces overcrowding in both dwelling and neighborhood. Dense structures with common halls, stairways, and utilities cause more intensive contact with neighbors than in rural villages. Loss of rural courtyards, over rooms, and large family areas drives group activities such as cooking, eating, and sitting into small rooms or city streets. More positively, household furnishings change as families are able to acquire the high-status accoutrements of modern living such as kerosene burners for cooking ( replacing dung cakes) and beds (instead of mats).

单选题 Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. The spread of public health technology reduced infectious disease.
B. The reduction of infectious disease lowered the birthrate.
C. The lower death rate encouraged the population to grow faster.
D. The larger population created greater employment pressure.

单选题 By "wives lose their functions as producers and maintainers of the labor force", the author means that ______.
A. many women are no longer able to join the labor force
B. many women become too weak to work
C. many women refuse to have children
D. the major job for women is no longer to give birth to and bring up children

单选题 The first sentence of Paragraph 3, "The modern economy forces work outside the home away from kinsfolk" means that ______.
A. the forces of modern economy operate beyond the influence of the family
B. the forces of modern economy are going out of the family
C. modern economy forces work to go out of the family
D. modern economy forces work which is outside the home to move away from family members

单选题 Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. In today's city life, nobody is willing to stay home to supervise children.
B. Today's city family has very weak control over its members.
C. Extended families from the countryside survive only in mutual activities.
D. All immigrants from abroad need help from relatives to become independent.

单选题 According to the author, it is good that ______.
A. neighbors in cities have more intensive contact with one another than rural people.
B. group activities such as cooking, eating, and sitting take place in small rooms or city streets.
C. families are able to acquire the high-status accoutrements of modern living
D. there is a cultural lag in the US