Question

According to a new US study, couples who expect their children to help care for them in old age should hope they have daughters because they are likely to be twice as attentive overall.

The research by Angelina Grigoryeva, a sociologist at Princeton University, found that, while women provide as much care for their elderly parents as they can manage, men do as little as they can get away with and often leave it to female family members.

Using data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, a study which has been tracking a cross-section of over-50s for the last decade, she calculated that women provide an average of 12.3 hours a month of care for elderly parents while men offer only 5.6 hours.

“Whereas the amount of elderly parent care daughters provide is associated with limitations they face, such as employment or childcare, sons’ caregiving is associated only with the presence or absence of other helpers, such as sisters or a parent’s spouse(配偶),” she explained.

“Sons reduce their relative caregiving efforts when they have a sister, while daughters increase theirs when they have a brother.”

“This suggests that sons pass on parent caregiving responsibilities to their sisters.”

In the UK, the 2011 census(人口普查) showed that there are now around 6.5 million people with caring responsibilities — a figure which has risen by a tenth in a decade.

But many are doing so at the risk of their own health. The census showed that those who provide 50 hours or more of care a week while trying to hold down a full-time job are three times more likely to be struggling with ill health than their working counterparts(相对应的人) who are not careers.

1.Where can you probably find the text?

A. In a popular science journal.    B. In a heal care guideline.

C. In a physics textbook.    D. In a tour booklet.

2.According to the study we know that ________.

A. American couples are preferring daughters to sons a lot

B. sons are twice likely as daughters to care for parents in old age

C. having a brother makes women less likely to do their fair share

D. men tend to take less care of their parents than women

3.Which of the following statements is true?

A. The number of people providing care has increased by 6.5 million.

B. More people have left behind their work to look after the elderly.

C. Many people who both work and care others can be threatened by health problems.

D. People shouldn’t take much responsibility to care for the old.

4.What’s the attitude of the author in the article?

A. Positive.    B. Subjective.    C. Objective.    D. Negative.

Answer

1. A

2. D

3. C

4. C

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。研究表明在照顾年迈的父母方面，性别差异影响着子女照顾父母时间的长短。其中，女儿比儿子更愿意付出时间照顾年迈的父母。家中有姐妹的男性常常将照看老人的责任推给其姐妹。

1.推理判断题。由文章可知这是一篇科普文，介绍了子女性别差异对父母被照顾时间长短的影响，因此文章应该来自于科学期刊，故选A。

2.细节理解题。根据第二段“while women provide as much care for their elderly parents as they can manage, men do as little as they can get away with and often leave it to female family members.”（女性尽其所能地为年迈的父母提供照顾，但男性尽其所能做到的却很少，而且往往把照顾工作留给女性家庭成员。）可知，研究表明男性比女性对父母照顾得更少，故选D。

3.推理判断题。根据最后一段“The census showed that those who provide 50 hours or more of care a week while trying to hold down a full- time job are three times more likely to be struggling with ill health than their working counterparts(相对应的人) who are not careers.”可知，做全职工作的同时还要照顾他人的人更容易产生健康问题，故选C。

4.观点态度题。通读全文可知，文章通过分析各种研究及数据得出相关结论，并没有涉及主观观点，因此态度是客观的，故选C。