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  3. Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbirth are transforming the lives of American children. In the postwar generation more than 80 pe

Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbirth are transforming the lives of American children. In the postwar generation more than 80 pe

admin2010-07-19  69
问题    Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbirth are transforming the lives of American children. In the postwar generation more than 80 percent of children grew up in family with two biological parents who were married to each other. By 1980 only 50 percent could expect to spend their entire childhood in an intact family. If current minds continue, less than haft of all children born today will live continuously with their own mother and father throughout childhood. Most American children will spend several years in a single mother family. Some will eventually live in step-parent families, but because step-families are more likely to break up than intact (by which I mean two-biological parent) families, an increasing number of children will experience family breakup two or even three times during childhood.
   According to a growing body of social-scientific evidence, children in families disrupted by divorce and out-of wedlock birth do worse than children in intact families on several measures of well-being. Children in single-parent families are six times as likely to be poor. They are also likely to stay poor longer. Twenty-two percent of children in one parent families will experience poverty during childhood for seven years or more, as compared with only two percent (children in two-parent families. A 1988 survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found that children in single-parent families are two to three times as likely as children in two-parent families to have emotional and behavioral problems. They are also more likely drop out of high school, to get pregnant as teenagers, to abuse drugs, and to be in trouble with the law. Compared with children in intact families, children from disrupted families are at a much higher risk for physical or sexual abuse.
   Contrary to popular belief, many children do not "bounce back" after divorce or remarriage. Difficulties that are associated with family breakup often persist into adulthood. Children who grow up in single-parent or step-parent families are less successful as adults, particularly in file two domains of life—love and work—that are most essential to happiness. Needless to say, not all children experience such negative effects. However, research shows that many children from disrupted families have a harder time achieving intimacy in a relationship, forming a stable marriage, or even holding a steady job.
   Despite this growing body of evidence, it is nearly impossible to discuses in family structure without giving rise to angry protest. Many people see the discussion as no more than an attack on struggling single mothers and their children: Why blame single mothers when they are doing the very best they can? After all, few parent are indifferent to the painful burden their decision to end a marriage or a relationship imposes on their children. Many take the hazardous step toward single parenthood, as a last resort, after their best efforts to hold a marriage together have failed. Consequently, it can seen particularly cruel and unfeeling to remind parents of the hardships their children might suffer as a result of family breakup. Other people believe that the dramatic changes in family structure, though regrettable, are impossible to reverse. Family breakup is an inevitable feature of American life, and anyone who thinks otherwise is yielding to nostalgia or trying to turn back to the clock. Since these new family forms are here to stay, the reasoning goes, we must give respect to single parents, not criticize them. Typical is the view expressed by a Brooklyn woman in a recent letter to The New York Times: "Let’s stop moralizing or blaming single parents and unwed mothers, and give them the respect they have earned and the support they deserve."
   Such views are not to be dismissed. Indeed, they help W explain why family structure is such an explosive issue for Americans. The debate about it is not simply about the social-scientific evidence, although that is surely an important part of the discussion. It is also a debate over deeply held and often conflicting values. How do we begin to reconcile our long-standing belief in equality and diversity with m impressive body of evidence that suggests that not all family structures produce outcomes for children? How can we square traditional ideas of public support for dependent women and children with a belief in women’s right to pursue freedom and independence in child-bearing and child-rearing? How do we support the freedom of adults to pursue individual happiness in their private relationships and at the same respond to the needs of children for stability, security, and permanence in their family lives? What do we do when the interests of adults and children conflict? These are difficult issues at stake in the debate over family structure.
   If we fail to come to m with the relationship between family structure and child wellbeing, then it win be increasingly difficult to improve children’s life prospects, no matter how many new programs the federal government funds. Nor will we be able to make progress in bettering school performance or reducing crime or improving the quality of the nation’s future work force—all domestic problems closely connected to family breakup. Worse, we may contribute to the problem by pursuing policies that actually increase family instability and breakup. (867 words)
The point of the debate over family structure lies in ______.
选项 A、whether we should believe in equality and diversity
B、how parents should pursue their individual happiness
C、why we should meet the needs of children for a happy family
D、how the breakup of the families threatens the well being of children
答案D
解析 从上下文可见，作者对家庭结构的讨论主要是围绕破裂的家庭会在多方面影响孩子的健康成长的。因此D项正确。
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