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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  62
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.
According to Dr. Silverstein, what is the cause of the problem of American families?
选项 A、The distance between children and elderly parents.
B、The conflict between independence and poor support.
C、The too much parental involvement in children’s life.
D、The frequent conflicts between different generations.
答案B
解析 根据题干中的Dr．Silverstein将本题出处定位到第三段，Silverstein对美国家庭的评论出现在该段末两句，故答案应在这两句找。该处提到，“这种家庭应该照顾自已成员的思想根深蒂固地存在于美国人的意识中。”Silverstein博士说。但是政府的支持很薄弱，又时断时续，因此我们经常觉得我们不得不面对不太和谐的后果。由此可推知，美国不和谐的家庭问题是由独立自主的思想观念和薄弱的政府支持之间的矛盾造成的，故答案为[B]。文中未提到“距离”的问题，故排除[A]；[C]是针对第三段第五句设的干扰项。文中未提到不同代人之间的冲突问题，故排除[D]。
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