阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

　　During the twentieth century there has been a great change in the lives of women. A woman marrying at the end of the nineteenth century would probably have been in her middle twenties, and would be likely to have seven or eight children, of whom four or five lived till they were five years old. By the time the youngest was fifteen, the mother would have been in her early fifties and would expect to live a further twenty years, during which chance and health made it unusual for her to get paid work. Today women marry younger and have fewer children. Usually a woman's youngest child will be fifteen when she is forty－five years and is likely to take paid work until sixty.”

　　This important change in women's life has only recently begun to have its full effect(影响)on women's economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school and took a full－time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school－leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Many more afterwards(后来)return to full－time or part－time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship(关系)in marriage, with the husband accepting a greater share(份额)of the duties and satisfactions(满意)of family life.

1．We are told that in a family about 1900 ________.

[　　]

A．few children died before they were five

B．seven or eight children lived to be more than five

C．the youngest child would be fifteen

D．four or five children died when they were five

2．One reason with the woman of today may take a job is that she ________.

[　　]

A．is younger when her children are old enough to look after themselves

B．does not like children herself

C．needn't worry, about food for her children

D．can be free from family duties when she reaches sixty

3．Many girls are now likely to ________.

[　　]

A．give up their jobs after they are married

B．leave school as soon as they can

C．marry so that they can get a job

D．continue working until they are going to have a baby

4．According to the passage, it is now quite common for women to ________.

[　　]

A．stay at home after leaving school

B. marry men younger than themselves

C．start working again late in life

D．marry while still at school

Being a good parent is harder now than it has ever been before. In pressurized modern lives, demands to be a fulfilled individual, a good partner and a good worker, take no account of being a good parent. We haven’t left space for the nurturing parents who are expected to provide what children need. As a result, many families in the western world just don’t work.

       Something will have to change. With luck, people in the future will only have children if they really want them. That should mean parenthood is seen as a much more positive promise than it is now, that parents are socially supported, and are admired for doing a good job.

       The problem is that in the last generation or so we’ve come to assume that women should want and be able to everything that by tradition men have done at the same time as pretty well everything that by tradition women have done. And it’s just not possible. Since adopting a male life style is demonstrably only another form of submission（顺从）, quite a number of highly educated and economically privileged（优越的）women are now choosing to take career breaks so as to be at home with their children for longer than that poor 18 weeks.

       The most welcoming trend in parenting is that men are participating more and more, even that is not free of conflict, however. Intellectually（理智上）, women want men to be equal parents and do their share. But there’s often a contradictory（矛盾的）emotion because children are the last fort of the female power in the family. “I want him to help me but this is my region and being better at it is one of the new things I’ve got as a female.” In truth, although they haven’t had generations of practice, there’s no reason why men can’t raise children as well as women. Men left to cope after bereavement or divorce, as well as some who take on the role of principal career within a partnership, are already doing it.

16.Why is it more difficult today to be good parents?

       A. Because parents don’t want to face the pressure of rearing children.

       B. Because children are in dependent and don’t need to be taken care of.

       C. Because husbands and wives have little time to talk to each other.

       D. Because people want to fulfill their own dreams, leaving no time to look after children.

17. We can learn from the passage that _______.

       A. people in future will not be as interested in children as people at present

       B. parenthood will be considered as a positive commitment as it is now

       C. women do better in rearing children than men

       D. parents will receive admiration for taking good care of children

18. Nowadays, a lot of highly educated and economically privileged women ________.

       A. tend to stay at home for more than 18 weeks

       B. tend to adopt a male life style

       C. tend to quit their jobs and stay at home

       D. tend to be submissive wives

19. It seems that in parenting , women ________.

       A. are contradictory in their thoughts.                B.demand equality between sexes

       C. tend to leave children to their husbands.         D. often quarrel with their husbands

20. The underlined word “bereavement” in the para 4 probably means _________.

       A. departure of his wife.                                          B. death of his wife

       C. return of his wife                                         D. annoyance of his wife