Question

Facebook and Twitter have become a significant threat to marriage – with social media now a factor in an increasing number of divorce cases, say lawyers.

One in seven married individuals have considered divorce because of their spouse’s（配偶） postings of Facebook or other online sites, according to research. A similar percentage admit that they search online for evidence of their spouse’s disloyalty, while nearly one in five say they have daily quarrels because of the way their husband or wife uses social media. The research was assigned by law firm Gordon in response to an increase in the number of its clients who said that Facebook, Skype, Snapchat, Twitter or other social media sites had played a part in their divorce.

Andrew Newbury, of law firm Gordon, said: ‘Social media is the new marriage. Five years ago Facebook was rarely mentioned in the context of a marriage ending, but now it has become common.” Social media, specific pictures and posts on Facebook, are now being routinely raised in divorces.’ The survey by Censuswide among 2011 husbands and wives, found the most common reasons for checking their spouse’s social media accounts were to discover who they were talking to, who they were meeting and where they were going. A quarter of the married people said the resulting suspicions led to quarrels at least once a week, and 17 percent said such quarrels were daily events.

Arguments were caused by contact with former partners, by the sending of secret messages, and by the posting of ‘inappropriate’ pictures. Some 14 percent said they looked at their spouse’s social media with the specific intention of detecting evidence of adultery（出轨）.

1.The underlined word “disloyalty” in Paragraph 2 probably means _______.

A. affection          B. discomfort

C. dishonesty           D. violence

2.What might checking spouse’s social media accounts result in?

A. The couple let out secrets quickly.

B. The couple lost trust between each other.

C. All the couples quarreled at least once a week.

D. The couple felt comfortable about their relationship.

3.By saying “Social media is the new marriage minefield”, Andrew means that _______.

A. a new marriage needs social media field

B. social media is a good thing to marriage

C. social media is a new field of communication

D. marriage ending will be caused by social media

4.What can be the best title for the passage?

A. Facebook, a Multifunctional Tool

B. Social Media, a Threat to Marriage

C. Posting Pictures is Killing Marriage

D. Argument about Social Media Sites

Answer

1.C

2.B

3.D

4.B

【解析】

试题分析：这篇文章的主要目的是告诉读者在美国的社交媒体成为了影响夫妻婚姻破裂的重要因素。

1.C考查猜测词义题。A. affection喜爱，感情；B. discomfort不舒服；C. dishonesty不诚实；D. violence暴力，根据前文的divorce和下文while后5%的夫妇经常吵架，由此推测是“不诚实”。可知选C项。

2.B 考查判断推理题。根据文章第三段的第三句话One in seven married individuals have considered divorce because of their spouse’s（配偶） postings of Facebook or other online sites, according to research7个已婚人士中的有一人因为社交媒体的事情离婚，以及第三段的…found the most common reasons for checking their spouse’s social media accounts were to discover who they were talking to, who they were meeting and where they were going由此推断他们都是上网查找对方他们和谁谈话，在见谁，要去哪里，由此推断夫妇双方由此失去了彼此的信任，故选B。

3.3】D考查句意理解题：根据第三段的句子Five years ago Facebook was rarely mentioned in the context of a marriage ending, but now it has become common.”五年前在婚姻结束时很少提及脸谱网，现在非常常见，可知社交媒体变成了婚姻的雷区，会导致婚姻破裂。故选D。

4.B考查主旨大意题：通读全文，并根据文章第一段的Facebook and Twitter have become a significant threat to marriage脸谱网和维特已经成为婚姻的一重大威胁。故选B。

【名师点睛】

猜词悟义，扫除阅读拦路虎。

猜词是应用英语的重要能力。它不但需要准确无误地理解上下文，而且要有较大的泛读量，掌握或认识较多的课外词汇。我们要学会“顺藤摸瓜”，通过构词，语法，定义，同位，对比，因果，常识，上下文等线索确定词义。

a. 定义法

It will be very hard but also very brittle...that is, it will break easily. 从后面的解释中我们可以了解到brittle 是“脆”的意思。如：1.5.C考查猜测词义题。A. affection喜爱，感情；B. discomfort不舒服；C. dishonesty不诚实；D. violence暴力，根据前文的divorce和下文while后5%的夫妇经常吵架，由此推测是“不诚实”。可知选C项。

b. 同位法

They traveled a long way, at last got to a castle, a large building in old times. 同位语部分a large building in old times 给出了 castle 的确切词义，即“城堡”。

c. 对比法

She is usually prompt for all her class, but today she arrived in the middle of her first class. but一词表转折，因此but 前后的意思正相反。后半句的意思是她今天“第一节上了一半才来”，因此反向推理，可得出她平时一向“准时”的结论。

d. 构词法(前缀、后缀、复合、派生等)

Perhaps, we can see some possibilities for next fifty years. possibility 是 possible 的同根名词， 据此可以断定 possibility 意思是“可能性”。

e. 因果法

The lack of movement caused the muscles to weaken. Sometimes the weakness was permanent. So the player could never play the sport again. 从后面的结果“永远不能再运动”中，可以推测 permanent 的意思为“永远的，永久的”。

考点：新闻报道类阅读理解