单选题 When I was growing up, our former neighbors, whom we'll call the Sloans, were the only couple on the block without kids. It wasn't that they couldn't have children; according to Mr. Sloan, they just chose not to. All the other parents, including mine, thought it was odd-even tragic. So any bad luck that befell the Sloans-the egging of their house one Halloween; the landslide that sent their pool careering to the street below-was somehow attributed to that fateful decision they'd made so many years before. "Well, " the other adults would say, "you know they never did have kids." Each time I visited the Sloans, I'd search for signs of insanity, misery or even regret in their superclean home. yet I never seemed to find any. From what I could tell, the Sloans were happy, maybe even happier than my parents, despite the fact that they were childless.
My impressions may have been swayed by the fact that their candy dish was always full, but several studies now show that the Sloans could well have been more content than most of the traditional families around them. In Daniel Gilbert's 2006 book Stumbling on Happiness, the Harvard professor of psychology looks at several studies and concludes that marital satisfaction decreases dramatically after the birth of the first child-and increases only when the last child has left home. He also ascertains that parents are happier grocery shopping and even sleeping than spending time with their kids. Other data cited by 2008's Gross National Happiness author, Arthur C. Brooks, finds that parents are about 7 percentage points less likely to report being happy than the childless.
The most recent comprehensive study on the emotional state of those with kids shows us that the term "bundle of joy" may not be the most accurate way to describe our offspring. "'Parents experience lower levels of emotional well-being, less frequent positive emotions and more frequent negative emotions than their childless peers, "says Florida State University's Robin Simon, a sociology professor who's conducted several recent parenting studies, the most thorough of which came out in 2005 and looked at data gathered from 13, 000 Americans by the National Survey o1 Families and Households." In fact, no group of parents — married, single, step or even empty nest — reported significantly greater emotional well-being than people who never had children. It's such a counterintuitive finding because we have these cultural beliefs that children are the key to happiness and a healthy life, and they're not."
Parents may openly lament their lack of sleep, hectic schedules and difficulty in dealing with their surly teens, but rarely will they cop to feeling depressed due to the everyday rigors of child rearing. "If you admit that kids and parenthood aren't making you happy, it's basical blasphemy, "says Jcn Singer, a stay-at-home mother of two from New Jersey who runs the popular parenting blog MommaSaid. net. "From baby-lotion commercials that make motherhood look happy and well rested, to commercials for Disney World where you're supposed to fccl like a kid because you're there with your kids, we've made parenthood out to be one blissful moment after another, and it's disappointing when you find out it's not."
Is it possible that American parents have always been this disillusioned? Anecdotal evidence says no. In pre-industrial America, parents certainly loved their children, but their offspring also served a purpose-to work the farm, contribute to the household. Children were a necessity. Today, we have kids more for emotional reasons, but an increasingly complicated work and social environment has made finding satisfaction far more difficult. A key study by University of Wisconsin-Madison's Sara McLanahan and Julia Adams, conducted some 20 years ago, found that parenthood was perceived as significantly more stressful in the 1970s than in the 1950s; the researchers attribute part of that change to major shifts in employment patterns. The majority of American parents now work outside the home, have less support from extended family and face a deteriorating education and health-care system, so raising children has not only become more complicated-it has become more expensive. Today the U. S. Department of Agriculture estimates that it costs anywhere from $134, 370 to $ 237, 520 to raise a child from birth to the age of 17-and that's not counting school or college tuition. No wonder parents are feeling a little blue.

单选题 Why does the author mention "the egging of their house" and "the landslide"?

A. Because the Sloans are regretful of their fateful decision.
B. Because people think that having no kids makes them unlucky.
C. Because their fateful decision makes their life tragic.
D. Because the weather is not good.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】推断题。本题考查考生对文中所提具体实例的理解。人们认为类似于“the egging of their house”和“the landslide”这样的厄运会降临在斯隆一家的头上，其原因是他们数年前做出的给他们带来厄运的决定——不生小孩(…attributed to that fateful decision they'd made so many years before.)，这只是其他有孩子的家庭的看法，因此选项[B]“人们认为他们没有孩子会给他们带来霉运”正确。 [避错] [A]认为“斯隆一家后悔做了给他们带来厄运的决定”，与原文不符，他们并没有后悔，相反作者发现，虽然他们没有孩子，但是他们的生活比有孩子的家庭充满快乐(From what I could tell, the Sloans were happy, maybe even happier than my parents, despite the fact that they were childless.)。[C]选项认为“他们的决定使他们的生活充满悲剧色彩”，与事实不符，这种观点只是周围家庭对斯隆一家错误的看法，因此不正确；[D]选项“由于天气不好”是干扰项，与原文不相关。

单选题 What does the author aim to convey in Paragraph 2?

A. It aims to verify the author's view is not superficial.
B. It aims to confirm the parents are happier when spending time with kids.
C. Parents with kids are 7% less happy than the childless.
D. Marital satisfaction would increase after the last child left home.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】细节题。本题考查作者在第二段所要表达的意思。通过第二段第一句可以看出，作者首先就自己对斯隆一家的印象提出质疑，他认为斯隆一家生活得很快乐可能是由于他所见到的表面现象的误导而致一他们家的糖果盘总是满满的，为了证明他的观点的正确性，作者引用研究实例证明了他的观点并非是错误的，通过数据显示，家庭随着孩子的到来幸福指数下降，随着孩子的离开幸福指数又开始上升，所以本题[A]选项“目的在于证明作者的观点不是肤浅的”正确。 [避错] [B]意思是说“目的是为了证明父母和孩子在一起时会更快乐”，与原文“He also ascertains that parents are happier grocery shopping and even sleeping than spending time with their kids.(他也同样发现，父母在购物甚至是睡觉时会比和孩子在一起感到更快乐)”一句的意思相反，因此错误；[C]选项意思是“有孩子的父母和没有孩子的父母相比，他们的幸福程度相差7%”，与该段最后一句不符；[D]“婚姻的满意值会在最后一个孩子离开家后升高”只是支持作者观点的一个论据，并不是本段所要表达的主要内容，因此不符合题意。

单选题 Which is CORRECT according to Jen Singer's blog?

A. Buying baby-lotion commercials will bring parents' happiness.
B. Parents with kids will have the happy moment one after another.
C. Parents will realize things are not what they seem to be.
D. Children may make parents feel young.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】推断题。本题要求考生就Jen Singer的博客内容进行推理判断，找出正确的选项。通过原文可以看出，Jen Singer在博客中先提到了作为父母在与孩子相处的过程中可能得到的快乐，例如商业广告中，购买婴儿乳液可能会使母亲看起来很幸福，此外到迪士尼为孩子购买商品可能会使他们觉得自己也回到童年，因此我们眼中的父母会快乐不断，但是当你发现事实并不是这样的时候你会感到非常沮丧(From baby-lotion commercials that make motherhood look happy and well rested…we've made parenthood out to be one blissfuI moment after another, and it's disappointing when you find out it's not.)，因此可以推断出，Jen Singer最后否定了之前列举的作为父母可能享受到的快乐。因此本题[C]“父母会意识到事情并不像表面看上去的那样”正确。 [避错] [A]“购买儿童乳液等商品广告会给父母带来快乐”，[B]“有孩子的父母会拥有接连不断的幸福时刻”[D]“孩子会使父母感到年轻”三项都是作者否定的内容，全部排除。

单选题 How arc the pre-industrial parents different from the parents today?

A. Their children are happier than those today.
B. The children were a necessity to them.
C. They have kids for emotional reasons.
D. Children make them more stressful.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】细节题。本题考查前工业时代的父母与当今父母的不同之处。本题可以定位到文章最后一段的开头部分，这部分内容指出，前工业时代的父母养育儿女的重要目的是共同承担家庭负担，孩子能够为农场工作，帮助做家务(…but their offspring also served a purpose-to work the farm, contribute to the household.)，因此孩子是家庭生活的必要组成部分，选项[B]“孩子是家庭的必要成员”正确。 [避错] 选项[A]意思是“那时的孩子比现在的孩子快乐”，这一点文中并没有提到，文中只是说明了两个时代父母之间的情感差异，因此错误；[C]“他们生孩子是出于情感因素”选项与原文内容相反，原文指出当今的父母生儿育女主要出于情感因素，而非前工业时期的父母，[D]选项“孩子使他们更有压力”也是错误的。