单选题 In times of economic crisis, Americans turn to their families for support. If the Great Depression is any guide, we may see a drop in our skyhigh divorce rate. But this won't necessarily represent an increase in happy marriages. In the long run, the Depression weakened American families, and the current crisis will probably do the same.
We tend to think of the Depression as a time when families pulled together to survive huge job losses. By 1932, when nearly one-quarter of the workforce was unemployed, the divorce rate had declined by around 25%from 1929. But this doesn't mean people were suddenly happier with their marriages. Rather, with incomes decreasing and insecure jobs, unhappy couples often couldn't afford to divorce. They feared neither spouse could manage alone.
Today, given the job losses of the past year, fewer unhappy couples will risk starting separate households. Furthermore, the housing market meltdown will make it more difficult for them to finance their separations by selling their homes.
After financial disasters family members also tend to do whatever they can to help each other and their communities. A 1940 book, The Unemployed Man and His Family, described a family in which the husband initially reacted to losing his job 'with tireless search for work.' He was always active, looking for odd jobs to do.
The problem is that such an impulse is hard to sustain. Across the country, many similar families were unable to maintain the initial boost in morale (士气). For some, the hardships of life without steady work eventually overwhelmed their attempts to keep their families together. The divorce rate rose again during the rest of the decade as the recovery took hold.
Millions of American families may now be in the initial stage of their responses to the current crisis, working together and supporting one another through the early months of unemployment.
Today's economic crisis could well generate a similar number of couples whose relationships have been irreparably (无法弥补地) ruined. So it's only when the economy is healthy again that we'll begin to see just how many broken families have been created.

单选题 In the initial stage, the current economic crisis is likely to ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】文章第一段第二句提到“如果经济大萧条有任何指导意义的话，那就是我们可能会发现我们国家极高的离婚率有了一定的下降”。同时作者还指出目前的危机很可能也会导致同样的结果。再联系第二、三段危机中夫妇相互扶持、共渡难关、即使不幸福也不离婚的内容以及第五段随着经济复苏，经济大萧条十年中的最后几年离婚率再次上升的事实可知，当前经济危机初始阶段可能会导致离婚率的暂时下降，故选C。

单选题 In the Great Depression many unhappy couples chose to stick together because ______.

单选题 In addition to job losses, what stands in the way of unhappy couples getting a divorce? ______

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】文章第三段指出“如今，考虑到去年的失业，更少会有不幸福的夫妻冒险分居。此外，房地产市场的崩溃会使他们靠变卖自己的房产来支付分居的经济费用变得更加困难。”也就是说，除了失业，房屋价格下跌也是阻碍夫妻离婚的原因，故选D。题干中stands in the way和文章中make it more difficult 属于同义转换。