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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  76
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 the Great Depression many unhappy couples chose to stick together because______.
选项 A、starting a new family would be hard
B、they expected things would turn better
C、they wanted to better protect their kids
D、living separately would be too costly
答案D
解析 题干句是第2段首句的同义转述，注意原文中的pulled together被转述为stick together。第2段首句讲我们倾向于将大萧条时期看作是家庭成员们在大规模失业的情况下齐心协力维持生活的阶段，最后两句Rather转折处给出原因with incomes decreasing and insecure jobs，unhappy couples often couldn’t afford to divorce…[D]正是对couldn’t afford to divorce的同义转述，too costly“成本太高”对应couldn’t afford“无法承担”，故[D]为答案。[A]、[B]、[C]在文中未提及，是脱离文章凭空捏造的选项，故排除。
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大学英语四级

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