Question

  Contrary to the impression that grandmothers are delighted to help their grown daughters and care for their grandchildren, a study of multigenerational families shows that many older women hate the frequent demands that the younger generations make on their time and energy.

  “Young women with children are under a lot of pressure these days, and they expect their mothers to help them pick up the pieces,” noted Dr. Bertram J. Cohler, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago. “This is often the strongest source of complaint on the part of Grandmother, who has finished with child caring and now has her own life to live. Grandmothers like to see their children and grandchildren, but on their own time.”

  Dr. Cohler is director of a study, sponsored by the National Institute of Aging, of 150 workingclass families that live in a Midwestern suburb. He and Dr. Henry U. Gruebaum of Harvard Medical School, have already completed their study of four such families in New England.

  Dr. Cohler tells of a middle-aged Boston woman who works as a cook all week and for her parish (教区) on Sundays. Every Saturday, her one day off, her daughter and family visit, expecting mother to make lunch, shop, and visit. “That's not how she wants to grow old,” said Dr. Cohler, who was told by the older woman, “My daughter would never speak to me if she knew how angry and unhappy I get.”

  In all the four New England families studied, the older women disliked the numerous phone calls and visits from their grown daughters, who often turned to the mothers for advice, physical resources, love, and companionship as well as baby-sitting services. “American society keeps increasing the burdens for older people, particularly those in their 50s and 60s,” Dr. Cohler said in an interview here. “They're still working and they're taking care of their grown children and maybe also their aged parents. Sometimes life gets to be too much.”

Which of the following is closest in meaning to the expression “pick up the pieces” in the second paragraph?

   A. Save a bad situation.              B. Put children's toys in their proper places.

   C. Gather up pieces of clothing.       D. Keep the room in good order.

The middle-aged Boston woman ______.

   A. expects her mother to cook lunch for her

   B. enjoys the room in good order  

   C. visits an older woman every Saturday

   D. works six days a week

The passage is mainly about ______.

   A. young women's inability to look after their children

   B. Grandmothers' attitudes toward helping their grown daughters

   C. average American women's family life

   D. grandmother should give more help to their daughters

From Dr. Cohler's study we may reach the conclusion that ______.

   A. daughters should be independent of their old grandmothers

   B. grandmother should give more help to their daughters

   C. mothers and daughters should support each other

   D. daughters should be more considerate toward their mothers

Answer 1

【小题1】A

【小题2】D

【小题3】B

【小题4】D

解析:

略