阅读理解 It's an annual argument. Do we or do we not go on holiday? My partner says no because the boiler could go, or the roof fall off, and we have no savings to save us. I say you only live once and we work hard and what's the point if you can't go on holiday.
The joy of a recession means no argument next year—we just won't go. Since money is known to be one of the things most likely to bring a relationship to its knees, we should be grateful. For many families the recession means more than not booking a holiday. A YouGov poll of 2,000 people found 22% said they were arguing more with their partners because of concerns about money.
What's less clear is whether divorce and separation rates rise in a recession—financial pressures mean couples argue more but make splitting up less affordable. A recent research shows arguments about money were especially damaging to couples. Disputes were characterized by intense verbal aggression, tended to be repeated and not resolved, and made men, more than women, extremely angry.
Kim Stephenson, an occupational psychologist, believes money is such a big deal because of what it symbolizes, which may be different things to men and women. "People can say the same things about money but have different ideas of what it's for," he explains. "They'll say it's to save, to spend, for security, for freedom, to show someone you love them." He says men are more likely to see money as a way of buying status and of showing their parents that they've achieved something: "The biggest problem is that couples assume each other knows what's going on with their finances, but they don't. There seems to be more of a taboo about talking about money than about death. But you both need to know what you're doing, who's paying what into the joint account and how much you keep separately. In a healthy relationship, you don't have to agree about money, but you have to talk about it."

单选题 21.What does the author say about vacationing?

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】文章首段以作者和自己的配偶之间关于是否应该度假的争论作为引子，引出文章话题。在他们各自的意见中，作者提到自己的观点是：I say you only live once and we work hard and what’s the point if you can’t go on holiday．恰好对应了第一题的信息，即作者对假期的看法是怎样的。故选项[D]正确。

单选题 22.What does the author mean by saying "money is known...to bring a relationship to its knees" (Paragraph 2)?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】根据题干定位至第二段第二句。句中的bring a relationship to its knees是指“让……下跪，认输”。所以既然是让感情下跪，也就是说在金钱面前，两人的感情受到严重考验。选项[B]提到争执，这里主要指针对金钱的争执会破坏夫妻之间的感情，符合题意。选项[A]不相关，而且用了all过于绝对，本文作者并没有对金钱与作恶之间的关系进行讨论。选项[C]和[D]也因为同样的原因而不符合题意。

单选题 23.The YouGov poll of 2,000 people indicates that in a recession______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】根据题干关键词定位至原文第二段第四句：A YouGov poll of 2,000 people found 22％said they were arguing more with their partners because of concerns about money．不难理解本句的意思就是在说由于经济萧条，夫妻双方针对钱方面的争执越发多起来。对应选项[C]。选项[B]和[D]都具有比较强的干扰性，但是通过第三段的第一句都可以排除。应特别注意选项[B]的it is more expensive for couples to split up与文章中的splitting up less affordable并不是一个意思。

单选题 24.What does Kim Stephenson believe?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】题目涉及心理学家的观点，而根据原文第四段第一句的表述：Kim Stephenson…believes money is such a big deal…，which may be different things to men and women可以明确看出选项[A]符合题意。本段下面的内容也一直在强调男女对于金钱的看法不同给他们带来的问题。选项[B]， [C]和[D]或者以偏概全，或者虽然文中提到，但并非是Kim着重强调的观点。