单选题 Anthropologists commonly distinguish three forms of marriage: monogamy, the marriage of one man to one woman, polygyny, the marriage of one man to two or more women, and polyandry, the marriage of one woman to two or more men. Polygyny and polyandry are often linked under the single term "polygamy" , a marriage of one individual to two or more spouses.
Though there are many societies which permit, or even encourage, polygamous marriages, it does not follow, in such societies,that every married individual, or even that a majority of them, has more than one spouse, Quite the contrary is true, for in most, if not all, of so called polygamous societies monogamy is statistically the prevailing form. The reason for this is clear: the proportion of male to female births in any human society is roughly the same, and if this proportion is maintained among the sexually mature, a preponderance of plural marriages means that a considerable number of either men or women must remain unmarried. No society can maintain itself under such conditions; the emotional stresses would be too great to be survived. Accordingly, even where the cultural ideals do not prohibit plural marriages, these may occur on any notable scale only societies where for one reason or another, one sex markedly outnumbers the other. In short, monogamy not only prevails in most of the world's societies, either as the only approved form of marriage or as the only feasible form, but it may also prevail within a polygamous society where, very often, only a minority of the population can actually secure more than one spouse.
In a polygynous household the husband must supply a house and garden for each of his wives. The wives live with him in turn, cooking and serving fur him during the period of his visit. The first wife takes precedence over the others. Polyandry is much rarer than polygyny. It is often the result of a disproportion in the ratio of men to women.
In sum, polygamy is not, as so frequently indicated, universally a result of human immorality. It is simply not true, in this aspect of euhure as in many others, that people who follow patterns of culture deemed immoral in our society are thereby lacking in morality. Our ideal and compulsory pattern of marriage, which holds that monogamy is the only appropriate form of marriage, is not shared by all peoples, even by some of those who regularly practice monogamy. In a great many societies, monogamy is only one possible form of marriage, with polygyny or polyandry as perfectly possible, though less frequent, alternatives.

单选题 A marriage between several men and women should be called______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 文章开头介绍了几种不同的婚姻形式,monogamy(一夫一妻制)、polygon(一夫多妻制)、polyandry(一妻多夫制),但并未提到几个男人和几个女人的婚姻形式,故正确选项为D。
单选题 According to the second paragraph, in societies that encourage polygamous marriages,______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干定位文章第二段有关polygamous marriages的内容,其中提到,尽管很多社会都认可,甚至鼓励多个配偶的婚姻形式,但这并不意味着在这样的社会中,这样的婚姻形式占据主导地位,因为婚姻形式要受性别比例的局限,因此即使是在多配偶婚姻的社会,一夫一妻制也是最常见的婚姻形式,由此可知,D选项表述正确。A选项“多配偶婚姻是主要的婚姻形式”、B选项“大多数人通常都有许多配偶”和c选项“男人的比例通常比女人大得多”均不合题意。故正确选项为D。
单选题 The author believes that plural marriages occur on substantial scales only in societies in which______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 由题干关键词plural marriages可以定位到文章第二段,其中提到“即使文化观念不禁止多配偶婚姻,这种情况还是只会大规模出现在人口性别比例出于某种原因极端失调的社会中”,结合选项可知,B的内容表述正确。故正确选项为B。
单选题 According to the third paragraph, polyandry______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干定位可以找到文章第三段,该段主要讲一夫多妻社会中的夫妻关系,其中提到,一妻多夫制相比起一夫多妻制要罕见得多,C选项表述一致。A选项“意味着丈夫要给他的妻子们提供生活所需”属于一夫多妻的情况;B选项“是一种传统婚姻,第一个丈夫占主导地位”在文中未曾提及;D选项“通常是女人比男人多的结果”同样属于一夫多妻的情况,表述都是错误的。故正确选项为C。
单选题 We can infer from the last paragraph that______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 作者在最后一段总结道:多配偶的婚姻制度并不像很多人认为的那样是不道德的。其言外之意就是:大多数人认为多配偶的婚姻制度是不道德的,A选项表述与其相符。B选项“那些不支持一夫一妻为主要婚姻形式的社会都是不道德的”过于绝对,文中没有根据;C选项“在许多社会中,一夫多妻或一妻多夫制是可以替换的婚姻形式”,文中说的是二者中的一个可能会和一夫一妻制交相更替,所以也是错误的;D选项“作者生活在一个多配偶婚姻得到承认的社会”在文中未曾提及。故正确选项为A。