【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 1-3
There are many reasons why family life in Britain has changed so much in the last fifty years. The liberation of women in the early part of the twentieth century and the social and economic effects of World War II had a great impact on traditional family life. Women became essential to industry and the professions. During the war they had worked in factories and proved their worth, now, with the loss of millions of men, their services were indispensable to the nation.
More recently, great advances in scientific knowledge, and particularly in medicine have had enormous social consequences. Children are better cared for and are far healthier. Infant death rate is low. Above all, parents can now plan the size of their family if they wish through more effective means of birth control.
Different attitudes to religion, authority and tradition generally have also greatly contributed to changes in family life. But these developments have affected all aspects of society. It is particularly interesting to note that the concept of "the family" as a social unit has survived all these challenges.
What is this passage mainly about?
此题考核的是考生确定中心思想的能力。本文第一句就开宗明义，点明了全篇的主题。下文围绕这一主题具体讲述many reasons，其中包括A、B、C项。答案为D。
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] Why did British women become indispensable to industry after World War II ?
此题测试的是细节辨认能力。本题有一定的难度，考生会很快排除C项和D项，因为文章并未涉及这些内容，而在A项和B项中犹豫不决。短文中虽然提到了During the war，they had proved their worth(战争中她们已证明了自己的价值)，但这并不是在二战后，而且也不能成为回答本题的原因。相反，with the loss of millions of men, their Services were indispensable to the nation中的with结构正是表示原因。答案为A。