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  3. Compared with elderly parents and adult children in five other industrialized nations, Americans are twice as likely to have " d

Compared with elderly parents and adult children in five other industrialized nations, Americans are twice as likely to have " d

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问题     Compared with elderly parents and adult children in five other industrialized nations, Americans are twice as likely to have " disharmonious" relationships, a new multinational study has found. And we’re correspondingly less likely to have " friendly" relationships marked by strong affection and relatively free of conflict. The study of nearly 2,700 parents over age 65 .published recently in The Journal of Marriage and Family , turned up significant national differences. German and Spanish parents described relationships with their adult children as more detached. The English reported the most friendly families. Israelis operated with a high degree of ambivalence (正反感情并存), meaning they indicated strong positive and negative emotions. Norwegians placed somewhere in the middle. And Americans took the prize for conflict—defined as a higher incidence of arguing and criticism. "American families can be characterized by greater strain," said Merril Silverstein,a social gerontologist (研究老年医学的专家) at the University of Southern California and the study’s lead author.
    Let’s not overstate our conflict. Most American parents—51 percent of the United States sample— still managed to maintain positive connections with their children, and so did a plurality of those surveyed in other countries. Though the survey didn’t attempt to point reasons for discord, the researchers have some theories. They chose countries with very different social policies and with a variety of cultural values relating to families,and they believe these play a role.
    " Though it might be invisible, our choices and our emotions are shaped by the options that are available or not available to us," said Dr. Silverstein. " And that’s influenced by where we live. " In countries without strong governmental support for the elderly, for example," families are compelled to care for each other, and it forces them into situations they might not want to be in," Norwegians, for instance, enjoy virtually lifetime state assistance. They don’t have to be as deeply involved in their parents’ care as, say, Spaniards or Americans. " The idea that families should care for their own is deep-rooted in U. S. ideology," Dr. Silverstein said. But government support is weaker,with more gaps,so we frequently feel we have to face the not-always-harmonious consequences.
    Cultural variations also enter the equation. In Spain, a far higher proportion of the elderly participants—22.5 percent—lived with their children than was the case in the other nations,a situation that; might ease feelings of detachment. As for the English, they have strong social supports, but they also have a cultural tendency to inhibit the expression of strong negative emotion. Israelis, on the other hand, let it all hang out.
What do we learn about the relationships between parents and adult children in the study?
选项 A、Friendly relationships are characterized by deep affection arid less conflict.
B、The relationships turn up to have universal sameness among the nations surveyed.
C、English people display the relationships in conflicting way.
D、American people are most likely to promote the relationships.
答案A
解析 主旨大意题。本题考查研究中有关父母和成年子女之间的关系。第一段主要介绍了此项研究，指出老年父母和子女的关系呈现国际差异，具体在于所调查的几个国家皆有各自特点。定位句指出我们很难实现一致认为的那种以深厚感情与相对无冲突为特征的“友好”家庭关系。也就是说，深厚感情与相对无冲突是公认的友好家庭关系的特征，答案为A)。B)“被调查的各个国家的家庭关系相同”、C)“英国人在此种关系上的表现为冲突”和D)“美国人最有可能促进此种关系”均与原文意思相反，故排除。
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