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

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

admin2012-05-28  60
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, 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 (老年学专家) 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(多数) 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 is said about the relationships between parents and adult children in different countries?
选项 A、Spanish parents have the closest attachment with their adult children.
B、Israelis take a negative attitude to the parents and children relationships.
C、Americans have most disharmonious parents and children relationships.
D、Norwegian people show the relationships in the friendliest way.
答案C
解析 根据题干中的parents and adult children和in different countries将本题出处定位到首段。该段首句提到，比起另外五个工业化国家中老年父母与成年子女之间关系，美国人有两倍的可能处于“不和谐”的关系之中；倒数第二句又提到，美国人的冲突最严重，由此可见，美国的父母与子女的关系是最不协调的，故答案为[C]。该段第四句提到，德国和西班牙的父母与成年子女关系较疏远，[A]的信息与之矛盾，故排除；[B]中的take a negative attitude与第六句中的indicated strong positive and negative emotions矛盾，故排除；第五句讲到，英国家庭是最和睦友善的家庭，而不是挪威，故排除[D]。
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