单选题 The Alzheimer's Association and the National Alliance for Caregiving estimate that men make up nearly 40 percent of family care providers now, up from 19 percent in a study conducted by the Alzheimer's Association a decade ago. About 17 million men are caring for an adult. Women still provide the bulk of family care, especially intimate tasks like bathing and dressing. Many complain that their brothers are treated like heroes just for showing up. But with smaller families and more women working full-time, many men have no choice but to take on roles that would have been alien to their fathers.
Often they are overshadowed by their female counterparts and faced with employers, friends, support organizations and even parents who view caregiving as an essentially female role. Male caregivers are more likely to say they feel unprepared for the role and become socially isolated, and less likely to ask for help. 'Isolation affects women as well, but men tend to have fewer lifeline. They are less likely to have friends going through similar experiences, and depend more on their jobs for daily human contact.' Dr. Donna Wagner, the director of gerontology (老年学) at Towson University and one of the few researchers who has studied sons as caregivers, said.
In past generations, men might have pointed to their accomplishments as breadwinners or fathers. Now, some men say they worry about the conflict between caring for their parents and these other roles. In a study at three Fortune 500 companies, Dr. Donna Wagner found that men were less likely to use employee-assistance programs for caregivers because they feared it would be held against them. 'Even though the company has endorsed the program, your supervisors may have a different opinion.' Dr. Wagner said. Matt Kassin, 51, worked for a large company with very generous benefits, and his employer had been understanding. But he was reluctant to talk about his caregiving because he thought 'when they hire a male, they expect him to be 100 percent focused.' And he didn't want to appear to be someone who had distractions that detracted (破坏) from performance.
For many men, the new role means giving up their self-image as experts, said Louis Colbert, director of the office of services for the aging in Delaware County, Pa., who has shared care of his 84-year-old mother with his siblings since her Alzheimer's made it necessary. Once a year, Mr. Colbert organizes a get-together for male caregivers. The concerns they raise, he said, are different from those of women in support groups. 'Very clearly, they said they wanted their roles as caregivers validated, because in our society, as a whole, men as caregivers have been invisible,' he said.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】根据题干中的the Alzheimer's Association and the National Alliance for Caregiving定位到首段首句。推理判断题。根据定位句可知，男性家庭护理者从十年前的19%增加到了现在的近40%。由此可以推断，更多的男性正在参与到家庭护理的行列之中，因此答案为A。 [参考译文] 据阿尔茨海默病协会和全美护理联盟估计，现在从事家庭护理的人中有近40%是男性。而十年前由阿尔茨海默病协会进行的调查表明，当时这一比例为19%。目前大约有1700万男性正在从事成人护理工作。女性仍然承担着家庭看护的大部分工作，特别是像洗澡和穿衣这样很私密的事情。很多女性抱怨说，她们的兄弟只需在家里露个脸就会被当作英雄。但是，随着家庭越来越小及越来越多的女性从事全职工作，许多男性别无选择，只能承担起对他们父辈来说完全陌生的角色。通常，他们在女性护理人员面前相形见绌，还要面对上司、朋友、支持机构甚至父母异样的眼光——他们认为护理根本就是女性应该做的事情。男性护理者更有可能感到对这一角色准备不足，并在社会上被孤立，而且他们不大会像女性那样寻求帮助。唐娜·瓦格纳博士是陶森大学老年学研究主任，也是为数不多的研究儿子照顾父母的人员之一。她指出，“女性也会感到与外界隔绝，但男性与外界的联系似乎更少。男性不大可能找到与自己经历类似的朋友，他们平常与人打交道多是因为工作。” 过去几代男性或许会说自己成功地养活了全家或者养育了儿女。现在，有些男性说他们对护理父母和扮演其他角色之间产生的矛盾感到担忧。唐娜·瓦格纳博士对《财富》500强之中的三家公司进行了研究，她发现，男性不大可能求助于公司为护理人员提供的员工援助项目，因为他们害怕会因此遭到怨恨。她说：“即便公司支持这个项目，上司也可能会有异议。”51岁的马特·卡辛在一家大公司工作，公司的福利非常好，他的老板一直都通情达理。但他还是不愿意谈起自己在护理老人，因为他认为“用人单位雇用男性员工是期望他们把全部的精力用在工作上”。而他不想让人认为他有分心的事影响工作表现。宾夕法尼亚特拉华县的老人服务办公室负责人路易斯·考伯特指出，对很多男性来说，这一新角色意味着他们要放弃自己是专家的自我形象。自84岁的母亲患阿尔茨海默病以来，考伯特就和兄弟姐妹们一起照顾母亲。他每年都会为护理老人的男性组织一次聚会。他说，男性的担忧和互助小组中女性的担忧不一样。他说：“非常明显，他们说希望自己作为护理者的角色能得到认同，因为整体而言，我们的社会忽略了男性护理者。”