In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list (A、B、C、

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问题 In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list (A、B、C、D、E、F、G……) to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are several extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. (10 points)

    It’s not just an American phenomenon: Across the globe, single-parent homes are on the rise. Numbers for one-parent families increased from England to Australia during the 1990s, mirroring demographic shifts reflected in the U.S. census.
    Just as in America, those shifts raised new questions about how involved government should be in helping single-parent families, which often are less well-off financially than those led by a married mom and dad.
(41)______
    Annie Oliver, a 32-year-old single mother from Bristol, England, thinks so. "You wouldn’t believe how becoming a single parent suddenly made me a second-class citizen," said Oliver, who struggles to keep a full-time job and give the extra care her disabled son needs.
(42)______
    By comparison, 9.8 million house-holds, or 9 percent of all U.S. households were headed by an adult raising a child alone or without a spouse. The 1990 census showed 26 percent of homes were led by a married mother and father, and 8 percent of homes were led by a single parent.
    Similar increases occurred in other countries, though data from those countries are not directly comparable to U.S. census figures because of methodology differences.
(43)______
    Single parent households in Australia rose from 5.8 percent in 1990 to 7.6 percent in 1999.
    Other countries that saw large increases, according to the Organization:
—Belgium, 1.8 percent of households in 1990 to 2.7 percent in 1999;
—Ireland, 1.8 percent to 2.8 percent;
—Luxembourg, 1.3 percent to 2.2pereent.
(44)______
    Those countries tend to have greater acceptance of single parenting because there are fewer nearby family members to disapprove, Riche said.
    Lone-parent family households in Japan increased from 5.1 percent in 1990 to just 5.2 percent in 1999.
(45)______
    "The position of one-parent families in any given country is very much a gender issue—women’s opportunities, especially working-class women on low income," said Sue Cohen, coordinator of the Single Action Parents Network in England.

A. In the United States, the 2000 census showed 24.8 million, or nearly 24 percent of the nation’s 105:5 million house-holds, were traditional two-parent homes.
B. Should single parents be afforded tax breaks to help pay for child care? Should employers be monitored to make sure flexible work-hours are offered?
C. Countries with increases in single-parent homes are often those where the nuclear family structure—just Mom, Dad and the kids—is more common than an extended, multigenerational family living under one roof, said demographer Martha Farnsworth Riche, a former Census Bureau director.
D. In the United Kingdom, lone-parent family homes increased from 3.3 percent of all households in 1990 to 5.5 percent in 1999, according to data compiled by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It did not specify whether children in those homes were younger than 18.
E. Some research suggests children raised in two-parent families are better off than those who rely on one.
F. Rates were relatively unchanged during the same period in Greece, Italy and Portugal. These countries tend to think more conservatively about family makeup, and there is more pressure to avoid divorce or unmarried parenthood, Riche said.
G. "Most of the research linking single-parenthood to children’s school performance has been done with single nations," says Dr. Suet-ling Pong, associate professor of education and sociology and demography. "We do not know much about the impact of single parenthood across cultures and countries."


选项

答案A

解析 空白处的下文以"By comparison"开始,表明空白处与下文是非常明确的对比关系。下文主要介绍当前美国单亲家庭的数量和比例,那么空白处也应该是数量和比例,虽然选项A,D均含有比例,而且D项放在这里好像没什么问题(英美两国的对比),但注意下文也需要谈到单亲家庭数量增长的国家,如果本题选D项,下题则无法选出答案(A项不可能放在下题空白处)。再来考虑A项,它与空白处下文是美国"two-parent homes"与 "single-parent homes"数量的对比。实际上,如果细心的话,可以发现空白处下文中的"9.8 million"正是A项中"105.5 million"的"9 percent"(空白处下文)。由此,我们可以确定A项正确。
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