【答案解析】[参考范文] {{B}}A Question of Living Together Style{{/B}} Living together before marriage is now attaining a certain vogue, and becomes a national trend among young people. According to an official census, between 1980 and 1992, there was an eight fold increase in the living together style. Some people say it is a good way to test love before being formally married, other people suggest that it is a solution to the high divorce rate which has plagued Chinese families in recent years. They claim that by not making their relationship permanent they can avoid many problems brought about by divorce. In short they all believe, to eliminate the legal commitment of marriage is to eliminate the "bad" part of marriage. But I cannot share this point of view for several reasons. For one thing, it must be recognized that a strong negative attitude towards the living together style runs consistently through the mainstream of Chinese thinking which, traditionally and morally, has placed a very high premium on marriage. Whatever life-style a single male or female chooses is a matter of individual's freedom. But since they live in China, the particular society, they have to take the social attitude into consideration. What they view as a marvelous, free life-style, the public may see as an abnormality even immorality. Of course they can turn a deaf ear to what others say behind them, but they cannot escape the pressure from their families and society, the pressure they will experience anywhere and anytime. The day they enter into it, they may live in the shadow of the social censure which is a psychological burden they have to carry through their lives. For example, a postgraduate failed to get the job he applied for, simply because the company, finding the girl he was living with was not his wife, felt that his life-style smacked of indecisiveness, instability and failure on his part to accept responsibility. Who is to say whether or not the company made the fair decision? But what he may view as a sophisticated way to live, the company has the right to see as a career impediment. When it comes to individuals, furthermore, the living together style can actually spoil a good relationship between two people who intend to marry eventually. Because it is entered into out of weakness rather than strength, doubt rather than conviction, drift rather than decision, it offers unnecessary obstacles. If marriage is what you want, why commit yourself to a shaky arrangement that keeps you out of the mainstream of life? You may argue what you want is love not marriage. Then what is love? You cannot hope to find love by experimenting biologically, Neither can you build love by creating a living situation designed to test it. Love is. And when you love you must commit to it-for better or worse. Living together is not an act of love but a means of running from responsibility.