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  3. In times of economic crisis, Americans turn to their families for support. If the Great Depression is any guide, we may see a dr

In times of economic crisis, Americans turn to their families for support. If the Great Depression is any guide, we may see a dr

admin2012-07-21  53
问题     In times of economic crisis, Americans turn to their families for support. If the Great Depression is any guide, we may see a drop in our skyhigh divorce rate. But this won’t necessarily represent an increase in happy marriages. In the long run, the Depression weakened American families, and the current crisis will probably do the same.
    We tend to think of the Depression as a time when families pulled together to survive huge job losses. By 1932, when nearly one-quarter of the workforce was unemployed, the divorce rate had declined by around 25% from 1929. But this doesn’t mean people were suddenly happier with their marriages. Rather, with incomes decreasing and insecure jobs, unhappy couples often couldn’t afford to divorce. They feared neither spouse could manage alone.
    Today, given the job losses of the past year, fewer unhappy couples will risk starting separate households. Furthermore, the housing market meltdown will make it more difficult for them to finance their separations by selling their homes.
    After financial disasters family members also tend to do whatever they can to help each other and their communities. A 1940 book, The Unemployed Man and His Family, described a family in which the husband initially reacted to losing his job "with tireless search for work." He was always active, looking for odd jobs to do.
    The problem is that such an impulse is hard to sustain. Across the country, many similar families were unable to maintain the initial boost in morale (士气). For some, the hardships of life without steady work eventually overwhelmed their attempts to keep their families together. The divorce rate rose again during the rest of the decade as the recovery took hold.
    Millions of American families may now be in the initial stage of their responses to the current crisis, working together and supporting one another through the early months of unemployment.
    Today’s economic crisis could well generate a similar number of couples whose relationships have been irreparably (无法弥补地) ruined. So it’s only when the economy is healthy again that we’ll begin to see just how many broken families have been created.
In addition to job losses, what stands in the way of unhappy couples getting a divorce?
选项 A、Mounting family debts.
B、A sense of insecurity.
C、Difficulty in getting a loan.
D、Falling housing prices.
答案D
解析 根据题干关键词job losses和unhappy couples将本题出处定位于第3段。该段中given…引出婚姻不幸者不离婚的原因之一是job losses；Furthermore递进引出另外的原因一房地产市场的崩溃。[D]是对housing market meltdown的同义转述，故答案为[D]。原文中的meltdown对应选项中的falling，同时注意题干中的stands in the way同义转述原文中的make it more difficult。[A]、[C]在文中未提及；[B]“不安全感”是对原文中insecure jobs的曲解。
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大学英语四级

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