单选题 Mother Knows the Best?
Once while being prepped for a television interview, I was chatting with the host about stay-at-home fathers. I made the point that one reason we're seeing more stay-at-home dads may be that it's no longer a given that a man makes more money than his wife. Many families now take earning power into account when deciding which parent will stay home.
At that point, one of the male crew members commented, almost to himself but loud enough for my benefit, "It should be the better parent who stays home." A lot .of guys say things like that. Usually it's code for, "My wife (read: any woman) is the better parent."
I was a stay-at-home father for eight years, so his declaration made me bristle. It implied that our family's choice could only have been correct if I was a "better" parent than my wife.
I think men shoot themselves in the foot with this kind of thinking. I suppose an argument could have been made that when I began staying home my wife was the "better" parent: She had spent more time with Ry, could read him better and calm him more quickly. And given a choice, he'd have picked her over me. But as she was the more employable one, my wife went out to work and looked after our son.
Know what? I caught up. Because of the increased time I spent with him. I soon knew Ry well, understood what he needed and could look after him more or less as well as my wife could. Actually, the experience helped me unlock one of the world's great secrets: Women are good at looking after children because they do it. It's not because of any innate female aptitude or a mother's instinct— which I think is mostly learned anyway. It's because they put in the time and attention required to become good at the job.
Women obviously get a biological head start from giving birth and nursing. But over the long term experience is more important. When I got the experience myself, I was good, too. As good? I don't know. Who cares? Children are not made of glass, other people ale capable of looking after them besides Mom.

单选题 Which of the following does the first paragraph imply?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 根据常识和背景知识判断A(男人不再被给予留在家里的机会)太绝对，成为答案的可能性较小；D(越来越多的男人决定留在家里照顾孩子)更是好像没有听说过，所以推测D成为答案的可能性也较小。该段段落中间(第2句)提到了“money(与B中的核心词earning呼应)”，该句是答案相关句：I made the point that one reason we're seeing more stay-at-home dads man dads may be that its no longer a given that a man makes more money than his wife.(越来越多的爸爸留在家里可能是因为男人不一定比女人赚钱多)，该句内容与B一致。

单选题 the author decided to stay at home to look after their son eight years ago because______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 利用题干中的their son(核心词)和eight years ago(特征结构)作为答案线索，这样发现答案相关句：(第3段)1wasastay-at-home father for eight years，so his declaration made me bristle．．．I suppose an argument could have been made that when I began staying home my wife was the“better”parent：She had spent more time with Ry, could read him better and calm him down quickly．) …But as she was more employable one, my wife went out to work and I looked after our son．(但是因为我妻子更容易被招聘、更容易找到工作，所以她出去工作，而我留在家里照顾儿子)该划线句内容揭示答案B(他的妻子找工作更容易)。

单选题 Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a thing that a good parent should do with his or her child?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 借助选项中的核心词/结构(spending more time， school， reading stories， calm him down)作为答案线索，发现这些结构大部分都集中在以下的句子中：I suppose an argument could have been made that when I began staying home my wife Was the“better”parent：She had spent more time with Ry. could read him better and calm him down quickly．．对比备选项判断只有B的内容在该句中没有出现，因此答案选择B。

单选题 Women generally are better than men at taking care of children because______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 借助常识猜测答案可能是C。也可以借助原文：留意文章中提到有关“妇女擅长…… good at”的结构，这样发现答案相关句：(第5段)Women are good at looking after their children because they do it．It is not because of any innate female aptitude or a mother's instinct—which I think is mostly learned anyway．It's because they put in the time and attention required to be good at the job．划线句内容直接揭示了C (妇女花了更多的时间和孩子在一起)是答案。