Too many vulnerable child-free adults are being ruthlessly(无情的)manipulated into parent-hood by their parents, who think that happiness among older people depends on having a grandchild to spoil. We need an organization to help beat down the persistent campaigns of grandchildless parents. It's time to establish Planned Grandparenthood, which would have many global and local benefits.
Part of its mission would be to promote the risks and realities associated with being a grandparent. The staff would include depressed grandparents who would explain how grandkids break lamps, bite, scream and kick. Others would detail how an hour of baby-sitting often turns into a crying marathon. More grandparents would testify that they had to pay for their grandchild's expensive college education.
Planned grandparenthood's carefully written literature would detail all the joys of life grandchild-free: a calm living room, extra money for luxuries during the golden years, etc. Potential grandparents would be reminded that, without grandchildren around, it's possible to have a conversation with your kids, who—incidentally—would have more time for their own parents.
Meanwhile, most children are vulnerable to the enormous influence exerted by grandchildless parents aiming to persuade their kids to produce children. They will take a call from a persistent parent, even if they're loaded with work. In addition, some parents make handsome money offers payable upon the grandchild's birth. Sometimes these gifts not only cover expenses associated with the infant's birth, but extras, too, like a vacation. In any case, cash gifts can weaken the resolve of even the noblest person.
At Planned Grandparenthood, children targeted by their parents to reproduce could obtain non-biased information about the insanity of having their own kids. The catastrophic psychological and economic costs of childbearing would be emphasized. The symptoms of morning sickness would be listed and horrors of childbirth pictured. A monthly newsletter would contain stories about overwhelmed parents and offer guidance on how childless adults can respond to the different lobbying tactics that would-be grandparents employ.
When I think about all the problems of our overpopulated world and look at our boy grabbing at the lamp by the sofa, I wish I could have turned to Planned Grandparenthood when my parents were putting the grandchild squeeze on me.
If I could have, I might not be in this parenthood predicament(窘境). But here's the crazy irony. I don't want my child-free life back. Dylan's too much fun.
单选题 What's the purpose of the proposed organization Planned Grandparenthood?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】文章第1段第2句讲到，我们需要一个组织来杀杀那些执意坚持抱孙子的父母的气势。接下来一句则讲“是时候建立Planned Grandparenthood了”，可见该组织的目的在于说服人们不要执意坚持要孙子。D中的insisting on having grandchildren是对原文the persistent campaigns的同义改写，为本题答案。
单选题 Planned Grandparenthood would include depressed grandparents on its staff in order to _____.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】第2段第2句指出Planned Grandparenthood组织的工作人员应该包括沮丧的祖父母，他们会向人们解释孙子孙女如何打破灯具、乱咬乱叫、拳打脚踢。结合末句提到的“更多的祖父母会作证说明他们还必须为孙子孙女支付昂贵的大学费用”，可知B符合文意。
单选题 According to the passage, some couples may eventually choose to have children because _____.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】第4段介绍了绝大部分子女很容易被说服生育孩子的原因，第1句和第3句分别讲述父母的威逼与利诱，符合选项A中“胡萝卜加大棒政策”的含义。其他选项文中没有提到。
单选题 By saying "... my parents were putting the grandchild squeeze on me"(Lines 2-3, Para. 6), the author means that_____.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】题干句子出自第6段，原文使用了虚拟语气，说“当时我父母逼着我生孩子的时候，要是我能够求助于Planned Grandparenthood就好了”，实际上作者并没有得以求助，由此可以推断作者被逼迫生育小孩，答案为A。选项D利用原文our boy grabbing at the lamp by the sofa制造干扰。
单选题 What does the author really think of the idea of having children?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】最后一段作者讲到，如果她当时求助于Planned Grandparenthood的话，可能就不会陷入现在为人父母的窘境中。随后又讲到她又不想回到没有孩子时的生活。可见作者对有小孩这件事是一分为二的，虽觉得麻烦，但也有令人欣慰的东西，选项C的表述符合文意。