任务型阅读练习十二篇

有用

原创江苏09高考英语任务型阅读练习十二篇

（一）

At the beginning of the twentieth century, many people thought that the American family was

falling apart. A century later, we know that this was not the case. However, although the family is

still alive in the United States, its size and shape were very different 100 years ago.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, there were mainly two types of families in the United

States: the extended and the nuclear. The extended family usually includes grandparents, parents,

and children living under the same roof. The nuclear family consists of only parents and children.

Today there are many different kinds of families. Some people live in “traditional” families,

that is, a stay-home mother, a working father, and their own biological children. Others live in

two-paycheck families, single-parent families, adoptive or foster, families, blended families

(where men and women who were married before marry again and combine the children from

previous marriages into the new families），childless families, and so on.

What caused the structure of the family to change? In the early 1900s the birthrate began to

fall and the divorce rate began to rise. Women were suddenly choosing to go to college and take

jobs outside the home. In the 1930s and 1940s, many families faced serious financial, or money

problems during the Great Depression, when many people lost their jobs. During World War II

（1939-1945)，5 million women were left alone to take care of their homes and their children.

Because many men were at war, thousands of these "war widows" had to go to work outside their

home.

During the next ten years, the situation changed. There were fewer divorces, and people

married at a younger age and had more children than the previous generation. It was unusual for a

mother to work outside the home during the years when her children were growing tip. Families

began leaving cities and moving into single-family homes in the suburbs. The traditional family

seemed to be returning.

In the years between 1960s and 1990s, there were many important changes in the structure of

the family. From the 1960s to the early 1970s, the divorce rate doubled and the birthrate fell by

half. The number of single-parent families tripled, and the number of couples living together

without being married doubled again. In fact, the single-parent household, once unusual, has

replaced the "traditional" family as the typical family in the States. If we can judge from history,

however, this will probably change again in the twenty-first century.

The Changes of the American Family

有用

（二）

The family sphere(范围) used to be defined by its isolation from the public realm. There was

the public male realm（领域）of "rational accomplishment" and cruel competition, and the private

female and child-rearing sphere of home, intuition（直觉）and emotion. The private realm was

supposed to be isolated from the realities of adult life. For both better and worse, television and

other electronic media tend to break down the difference between those two worlds. The

membrane around the family sphere is much more permeable(可渗透的). TV takes public events

and transforms them into dramas that are played out in the privacy of our living rooms, kitchens

and bedrooms.

Parents used to be the channel through which children learned about the outside world. They

could decide what to tell their children and when to tell it to them. Since children learn to read in

stages, books provide a kind of natural screening process, where adults can decide what to tell and

not tell children of different reading abilities. Television destroyed the system that separated adult

from child knowledge and separated information into year-by-year slices for children of different

ages. Instead, it presents the same information directly to children of all ages, without going

through adult filters.

So television presents a real challenge to adults. While a parent can read a newspaper without

sharing it with children in the same room, television is accessible to everyone in that space. And

unlike books, television doesn't allow us to flip（翻转）through it and see what's coming up. We

may think we're giving our children a lesson in science by having them watch the Challenger take

off, and then suddenly they learn about death, disaster and adult mistakes.

Books allow adults to discuss privately what to tell or not tell children. This also allows

parents to keep adult material secret from children and keep their secret keeping secret. Take that

same material and put it on The Today Show and you have 800,000 children hearing the very

有用

things the adults are trying to keep from them. "Television takes our kids across the globe before

parents give them permission to cross the street."

More importantly, children gradually learn that adults are worried and anxious about being

parents. Actually, television has also places families under a lot of stress.

How Television Changes Childhood?

（三）

Some people believe that greed and selfishness has become the basis of modern society, and

we should return to the old traditions of family and community then we will have a better life. To

what extent do you agree or disagree with the above opinion?

In this fast-paced world, many values are undergoing major changes. While people

traditionally prioritize caring, sharing and generosity in life and work, modern people seem to be

more self-absorbe …… 此处隐藏：5494字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……