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  3. Every Sunday morning millions of Indians settle down with a cup of tea and the special weekend issues of their newspapers, just

Every Sunday morning millions of Indians settle down with a cup of tea and the special weekend issues of their newspapers, just

admin2010-03-26  67
问题     Every Sunday morning millions of Indians settle down with a cup of tea and the special weekend issues of their newspapers, just as Americans do. But here, with the marriage season approaching, many of them turn quickly to a Sunday feature that is particularly Indian-- columns and columns of marriage advertisements in which young people look for husbands and wives.
    "Beautiful Brahman girl wanted for bank officer from well-connected family", one says. "Vegetarian man (doctor, engineer preferred) for church-educated girl with light complexion", says another. "Solid 25-year-old, salary four figures, wants tall, charming, educated Punjabi (旁遮普人)" says a third.
    This is a relatively modern change in the age of old custom of the arranged marriage. Thousands of advertisements published each week increasingly reflect social changes that are coming to this traditional society. For example, although women are still usually described in terms of appearance, or skills in "the wifely arts", information about their earning power is entering more and more of the advertisements. This reflects the arrival in India of the working wife.
    Divorce, which used to be almost unheard of in India, is sometimes now mentioned in the advertisements as in the case of a woman whose advertisement in a New Delhi newspaper explained that she had been "the innocent party" when her marriage broke up.
    As a sign of the slight loosening of the rigid caste (社会阶层) system, a number of advertisements promise "caste not important", or "girl’s abilities will be main consideration". The majority of them, however, still require not only caste, such as Brahman or Kshatriya, but also a certain home region or ethnic origin.
    In a land where light skin is often regarded as socially preferable, many also require that a woman have a "wheat-color" complexion or that a man be "tall, fair and handsome".
    Advertisements are placed and eagerly read by a wide range of people in the upper classes, mostly in cities. Many of them receive dozens of answers. "There’s nothing embarrassing about it", explained a Calcutta businessman advertising for a son-in-law. "It’s just another way of broadening the contacts and increasing the possibility of doing the best one can for one’s daughter".
    Because of high unemployment and a generally poor standard of living here, one of the best attractions a marriage advertisement can offer is a permit to live abroad, especially in Canada or the United States. A person who has one can get what be wants. One recent Sunday in Madras, for example, a Punjabi engineer living in San Francisco advertised for "a beautiful slim bride with lovely features knowing music and dance". And a man whose advertisement said that he had an American immigration permit was able to say, "Only girls from rich, well-educated families need apply".
What can we learn from the Calcutta businessman?
选项 A、It is a good idea to place marriage advertisements in the newspaper.
B、It is a bad idea to place marriage advertisements in the newspaper.
C、It is embarrassing if anyone answers such advertisements.
D、It is embarrassing if no one answers such advertisements.
答案A
解析 本题属推理题，问“从Calcutta 商人的例子可得知什么”。短文第七段提到"’There’s nothing embarrassing about it.’ ..."，即该商人队为刊登征女婿的广告没什么可尴尬的，他还认为"’It’s just another way of broadening the contacts and increasing the possibility of doing the best one can for one’s daughter.’"，也就是说广告征婚可以拓宽接触
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