Passage 3
Perhaps there are far more wives than I imagine who take it for granted that housework is neither satisfying nor even important once the basic demands of hygiene and feeding have been met. But home and family is the one realm in which it is really difficult to stay free of one's upbringing and create new values. My parents' house was impeccably kept; cleanliness was a moral and social virtue, and personal untidiness, visibly old clothes, or long male hair provoked biting jocularity. If that had been all, maybe I could have adapted myself to housework on an easy-going, utilitarian basis, refusing the moral overtones but still believing in it as something constructive because it is part of creating a home. But at the same time my mother used to recant doing it, called it drudgery, and convinced me that it wasn't a fit activity for an intelligent being. I was an only child, and once I was at school there was no reason why she should have continued against her will to remain housebound, unless, as 1 suspect, my father would not hear of her having a job of her own.
I can now begin to understand why a woman in a small suburban house, with no infants to look after, who does not enjoy reading because she has not had much of an education, and who is intelligent enough to find neighborly chitchat boring, should carry the pursuit of microscopic specks of dust to the point of fanaticism in an attempt to fill hours and salvage her self-respect. My parents had not even the status-seeking impetus to send me to university that Joe's had; my mother wanted me to be “a nice quiet person who wouldn't be noticed in a crowd”, and it was feared that university education results in ingratitude (independence).
It is constantly niggling not only to be doing jobs that require so little valuable effort, but also jobs which are mainly concerned with simply keeping level with natural processes—cleaning jobs, whether of objects or people which once done are not done for good, and will have to be done all over again, just as if I have not already made the effort the next day, or even within a few hours. There is something so negative about this role that society heaps entirely up to the shoulders of women of making sure that things do not get dirty, and people do not get unhealthy. I want to believe in health as something basic, neutral, to assume that all the essentials are cared for, or at least will not magnify themselves into a full-time occupation.
Can you imagine what would happen to a man who was suddenly uprooted from a job in which he placed the meaning of his life, and delegated to a mindless task, in performing which he was also cut off fairly completely from the people who shared his interests? I think more of the men I know would disintegrate completely.
The writer's parents reacted to an untidy appearance by ________.
文章第一段第三句提到“My parents' house was impeccably kept; cleanliness was a moral and social virtue, and personal untidiness, visibly old clothes, or long male hair provoked biting jocularity.”。我父母的房子是无可 挑剔的干净，清洁是一种道德和社会美德，如果个人卫生不整洁、穿着明显的旧衣服或者男性头发长长的 不理，我的父母会给予尖刻的幽默。也就是说作者父母对不整洁会说讽刺性的话。因此选C。
The writer attributes her attitude towards housework to ________.
由文章第一段第四句可知，作者并不赞同父母把作者将清洁当作一种道德和社会美德的标准，她认为 家务是有益的，因为它是创建一个家的一部分。也就是说作者把自己对家务的态度归因于她对父母旧标准 的拒绝。因此选A。
It seems to the writer that some suburban housewives may ________.
根据文章第二段第一句“should carry the pursuit of microscopic specks of dust to the point of fanaticism in an attempt to fill hours and salvage her self-respect”可知，家庭主妇把家里打扫的一尘不染是为了填充时间以 及挽救自尊心。所以在作者看来，郊区的家庭主妇把家务当作一种充实的职业。因此选D。
The writer's parents didn't encourage her to go to university because they thought ________.
文章第二段最后一句提到“it was feared that university education results in ingratitude (independence).”父 母害怕大学教育会让她变得不孝顺，也就是独立。换句话说，父母害怕作者不再依赖他们了。即作者父母 不鼓励她去上大学的原因是他们认为大学可能会改变作者与他们之间的关系。因此选D。
The writer objects to women's role because it is so ________.
由文章第三段最后一句“I want to believe in health as something basic, neutral, to assume that all the essentials are cared for, or at least will not magnify themselves into a full-time occupation.”可知，社会把家务活 全压在妇女肩膀上，为了确保家里不脏，家人不生病。作者认为健康是基本的，生活必需关心到即可，没 必要把其放大到全职职业。也就是说作者反对妇女的这种家务活角色是因为这种角色并没有那么重要。因 此选B。