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2019年上半年大学英语四级阅读理解：More surprising
More surprising， perhaps， than the current difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving. As Skolnick notes， Americans are a marrying people： relative to Europeans， more of us marry and we marry at a younger age. Moreover， after a decline in the early 1970s， the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing. Even the divorce rate needs to be taken in this pro- marriage context： some 80 percent of divorced individuals remarry. Thus， marriage remains by far the preferred way of life for the vast majority of the people in our society.
What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family. Twenty- five years ago， the typical American family consisted of the husband， the wife， and two or three children. Now， there are many marriages in whichcouples have decided not to have any children， and there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife’s previous marriage， or the husband’s， or both. Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage； sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses .
Thus， one can find every type of tamely arrangement. There are marriages without children； marriages with children from only the present marriages； marriages with“full - time”children from both the present and former marriages； marriages with“full- time”children from the present marriage and“part- time”childrenfrom former marriages. There are stepfathers， stepmothers， half- brothers and half-sisters. It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents！ These are enormous changes from the traditional nuclear family. But even so， even in the midst of all this， there remains one constant： most Americans spend most of their adult lives married.
练习题：
Choose correct answers to the question：
calling Americans a marrying people the writer means that ________.
icans are more traditional than Europeans
B More Americans prefer marriage and at a younger age than European
divorced individuals remarry
iage is the most important part of American life
the first paragraph we can know that ____
itional marriage now runs into difficulty
iage rate has been rising since the 1970
iage rate in Europe is rather low
pean marry when they are quite old
h of the following can be presented as the picture of today’s American families？
A. There are no nuclear families any more.
B. A family usually consists of only a husband ，a wife and two or three children
C. a child usually has four grandparents
D. Many types of family rearrangements have become socially acceptable.
4. “Part-time ”children ____
part-time job to earn their living
d all of their time with one parent from the previous marriage
shared between the two former spouses
quite unusual even in the U.S.A
though great changes have taken place in the structure of American families， ________ .
A. the functions of marriage remain unchanged
B. most Americans prefer a second marriage
C. the vast majority of Americans still have faith in marriage
D. nuclear family is alive and thriving
1.[B] 事实细节题。本题考查特殊符号处。作者在第1段第2句很清楚地在Americans are a marrying people后面用冒号引出对这一说法的解释。对比选项A与选项B，就可发现选项A不够完整。
2.[A] 推理判断题。第1段第1句的主语揭示了答案应为选项A。选项B与原文第1段第3句的陈述不符，选项C和D均无原文依据。
3.[D] 推理判断题。本题涉及第2段的理解，该段第1句是一个主语从句，也可视为该段的主题句，点出了本段的主题是nuclear family，该段其他句子描述了什么是nuclear family。本题其实考査哪个选项是对nuclear family的正确描述，明白了第2段的结构后，找出正确答案就不难了。
4.[C] 推理判断题。在最后一段第1句中，通过对比full-time和part-time的本义，以及联系上下文讲到的家庭现象，可以推断出part-time children应是指时不时和父亲或母亲生活的小孩，由此可见，选项C是正确答案。 选项A毫无原文依据，B明显错误，题干中问的是part-time children，故显然不可能spend all of their time，否则修饰语就应该是full-time，选项D与“It is not all that unusual…”相悖。
5.[C] 推理判断题。文章结尾处暗示了答案。原文并未讨论婚姻的功能，故选项A不对，选项B并无依据，选项D有悖第2段第1句的意思。
2019年上半年大学英语四级阅读理解：A friend of mine
A friend of mine， in response to a conversation we were having about the injustices of life， asked me the question， “Who said life was going to be fair， or that it was even meant to be fair？” Her question was agood one. It reminded me of something I was taught as a youngster： life isn’t fair. It’s a disappointment， but it’s absolutely true. One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves， or for others， thinking that life should be fair， or that someday it will be. It’s not and it won’t be.
One of the nice things about surrendering to the fact that life isn’t fair is that it keeps us from feeling sorry for ourselves by encouraging us to do the very best we can with what we have. We know it’s not “life’s job”to make everything perfect： it’s our own challenge. Surrendering to this fact also keeps us from feeling sorry for others because we are reminded that everyone is dealt a different hand； everyone has unique strengths and problems in the process of growing up， facing the reality and making decisions； and everyone has those times that they feel unfairly treated.
The fact that life isn’t fair doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do everything in our power to improve our own lives or the world as a whole. To the contrary， it suggests that we should. When we don’t recognize or admit that life isn’t fair， we tend to feel pity for others and for ourselves. Pity， of course， is a self-defeating emotion that does nothing for anyone， except to make everyone feel worse than they already do. When we do recognize that life isn’t fair， however， we feel compassion for others and for ourselves. And compassion is a heartfelt emotion that delivers loving-kindness to everyone it touches. The next time you find yourself thinking about the injustices of the world， try reminding yourself of this very basic fact. Youmay be surprised that it can make you out of self-pity and into helpful action.
练习题：
Choose correct answers to the question：
author thought of his friend＇s question as a good one， because _______.
A. he also wanted to know who held such an opinion
B. it made him recall something during his childhood
C. like his friend， he also thought life was unfair
D. he learned something from the question as a youngster
endering to the fact that life isn＇t fair will ________.
A. keep us from making everything perfect
B. keep us from doing everything in our power
C. make us face challenges in the life bravely
D. make us know it＇s our duty to perfect things
second paragraph of the passage mainly discusses _______.
A. it＇s nice to accept the injustice of life
B. it＇s nice to surrender to the life
C. we should not surrender to the life
D. we should not feel sorry for ourselves
the last paragraph， “this very basic fact” refers to the fact that ________.
A. you should not pity for others
B. life isn＇t and won＇t be fair
C. sympathy is a heartfelt emotion
D. pity is a self-defeating emotion
the passage， we can learn that the author＇s attitude to life is ________.
A. positive B. negative C. Self-pity D. indifferent
1.[C] 推理判断题。本题考查隐含的因果关系。第1段破折号后面的内容为隐含的原因，由此可见C为本题正确选项A没有原文依据，选项B与结论并无合理的因果关系，选项D对原文有曲解，原文是说这个问题使作者想起了年轻时候的往事，而并不是选项D中说的leam from the question。
2.[D] 事实细节题。本题考查复合句的理解。第2段首句中 do the very best we can 与第2句We know…it’s our challenge表明选项D为本题正确答案。本题最具干扰性的是选项C，其中的challenge在第2句明确提到，但是此处的challenge不是指挑战生活，而是指本句第一个分句中提到的“让所有事情完美”。
3.[A] 主旨大意题。本段第1句是主题句，理解这个同位语从句是关键，只有选项A表达了这一句的意思。要注意其中surrender的宾语是the fact that life isn’t fair，而不是life，这样就可以否定最具干扰性的B选项了。
4.[B] 词义推断题。本题考查this所指的理解。最后一段倒数第2句中，this very basic fact指的是本句的从句中的the injustices of the world，另外，短语the fact that life isn’t fair在文中反复出现，是本文的主题，因此结合上下文可以推出答案。其余三项虽然在文中均有提及，但只是个别细节，并非作者反复强调的中心话题。
5.[A] 观点态度题。作者批评了自怜的情绪，提出对他人要有同情心，强调承认生活不公平并不是向生活妥协，而是将我们从自我怜悯中摆脱出来，采取一些有积极意义的行动，由此可见，作者对生活的态度是积极的，即选项A。
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