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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

admin2012-07-11  58
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.
How does the social support influence the relationships according to the study?
选项 A、The strong social support may oblige the families to care for each other.
B、The governmental support helps the children out of caring for parents.
C、The society imposes the ideology of caring for their own on the families.
D、The weaker the support is,the more harmonious the relationships will be.
答案B
解析 事实细节题。本题考查政府支持对此种关系的影响。定位句指出在一些同家没有政府照顾老人，这样家人必须要互相照顾，有时候家庭成员可能不愿意这么做。并以挪威和美国为例说明，由此推断出政府的支持主要在于帮助人们从照顾家庭中解脱出来，故答案为B)。A)“强大的社会支持迫使家人互相照顾”、C)“社会强加给每个人自己照顾自己的理念”，与原文不符，故排除；D)“支持越少，家庭关系越和谐”，此论述与文中第三段最后一句正好相反，故排除。
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