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  3. Only two countries in the advanced world provide no guarantee for paid leave from work to care for a newborn child. Last spring

Only two countries in the advanced world provide no guarantee for paid leave from work to care for a newborn child. Last spring

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问题     Only two countries in the advanced world provide no guarantee for paid leave from work to care for a newborn child. Last spring one of the two, Australia, gave up the dubious distinction by establishing paid family leave starting in 2014. I wasn’t surprised when this didn’t make the news here in the United States—we’re now the only wealthy country without such a policy.
    The United States does have one explicit family policy, the Family and Medical Leave Act, passed in 1993. It entitles workers to as much as 12 weeks’ unpaid leave for care of a newborn or dealing with a family medical problem. Despite the modesty of the benefit, the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups fought it bitterly, describing it as "government-run personnel management" and a "dangerous precedent". In fact, every step of the way, as(usually)Democratic leaders have tried to introduce work-family balance measures into the law, business groups have been strongly opposed.
    As Yale law professor Anne Alstott argues, justifying parental support depends on defining the family as a social good that, in some sense, society must pay for. In her book No Exit: What Parents Owe Their Children and What Society Owes Parents, she argues that parents are burdened in many ways in their lives: there is "no exit" when it comes to children. "Society expects—and needs—parents to provide their children with continuity of care, meaning the intensive, intimate care that human beings need to develop their intellectual, emotional and moral capabilities. And society expects—and needs— parents to persist in their roles for 18 years, or longer if needed. "
    While most parents do this out of love, there are public penalties for not providing care. What parents do, in other words, is of deep concern to the state, for the obvious reason that caring for children is not only morally urgent but essential for the future of society. The state recognizes this in the large body of family laws that govern children’ welfare, yet parents receive little help in meeting the life-changing obligations society imposes. To classify parenting as a personal choice for which there is no collective responsibility is not merely to ignore the social benefits of good parenting; really, it is to steal those benefits because they accrue(不断积累)to the whole of society as today’s children become tomorrow’s productive citizenry(公民). In fact, by some estimates, the value of parental investments in children, investments of time and money(including lost wages), is equal to 20—30% of gross domestic product. If these investments generate huge social benefits—as they clearly do—the benefits of providing more social support for the family should be that much clearer.
What has prevented the passing of work-family balance laws in the United States?
选项 A、The incompetence of the Democrats.
B、The existing Family and Medical Leave Act.
C、The lack of a precedent in American history.
D、The opposition from business circles.
答案D
解析 细节题。根据题干中的work-family balance laws将本题出处定位到第二段末句。该句提到，事实上，民主党领导人试图将平衡工作和家庭的措施写进法律中，每走一步都遭到商业群体的强烈反对。由此可知，商业群体的反对阻止了平衡工作和家庭的相关法律的通过。D项“来自商业圈的反对”是对business groups have been strongly opposed的同义转述，故为正确答案。
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