单选题
Sensational at the time, Brown's counsel seems sensible now. Certainly both sexes have taken it to heart, marrying later, divorcing readily and living alone in larger numbers than ever before. In America more than half of all adults are single and roughly one out of seven lives alone. Worldwide, the number of solo dwellers has climbed from 153m in 1996 to 202m in 2006—a 33% jump in a decade, according to Euromonitor International, a market analyst. Yet little is known about the wider social effects of this unprecedented boom, writes Eric Klinenberg, a sociologist at New York University. His new book 'Going Solo' offers a comprehensive look at the lures and perils of living alone. Mr. Klinenberg parts with those who see the rise of solo living as yet another sign of the decline of civic society. Now that marriage is no longer the ticket to adulthood, a desire to live alone is perfectly reasonable, he writes. Young adults view it as a rite of passage, a period of personal growth before possibly settling down. Its cultural acceptance has helped to liberate women from bad marriages and oppressive families, granting them a space to return to civic life. Solitary living need not mean solitude. The author offers evidence that people who live alone are often more socially active than their cohabitating peers. The 'communications revolution' has allowed more people to experience the pleasures of social life from the comforts of home, and cities with high numbers of singletons enjoy a thriving public culture of bars, cafés and restaurants. Urban officials are now eager to lure professional singles—known to both work and play hard—in the hope that they will stimulate the local culture and economy. Living alone is easy enough for the young and solvent; less so for the elderly, frail and poor. Mr. Klinenberg came to this story while working on a book about the lethal Chicago heatwave of 1995, when hundreds of people died alone at home, out of touch with friends and neighbours. The trend for solo living can too easily morph into social isolation, particularly for men, who are less adept than women at making and sustaining connections. Other bugbears include loneliness, discrimination (in the workplace, the tax code and so on) and workaholism.
单选题
What can we infer from the first paragraph?
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】细节推理题。根据题干中的infer和the first paragraph定位第一段。第一段主要是说明独居的现象越来越普遍，独居的人越来越多。选项A，C，D并不能从第一段得出，选项B越来越多的人喜欢独居，从第一段给出的增长数据不难得出，选项B是正确的。因此正确答案是B。
单选题
Why can the cultural acceptance liberate women from bad marriages and oppressive families?
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】细节推理题。根据题干中的the cultural acceptance和liberate定位第二段第四句。意思是文化上对独居的接受帮助妇女从不幸的婚姻和受压迫的家庭解放出来，为保障她们重返公民生活提供空间。选项A，B，D在文中并未被提及。选项C的意思是文化上对独居的接受让别人在社会生活中接受离异妇女。这和文章意思相符。因此正确答案是C。