2011年职称英语阅读理解(综合类)新增文章(打印版).docVIP

2011年职称英语综合类类阅读理解新增文章篇目 第八篇 The State of Marriage Today *第三十八篇 Excessive Demands on Young People +第四十七篇 Spoilt for Choice 注： 1、+表示A级文章；*表示B即文章；其他为C级文章； 2、2011年词汇部分与2010年教材相比未作任何变化。 第八篇 The State of Marriage Today Is there something seriously wrong with marriage today? During the past 50 years，the rate of divorce in the United States has exploded：almost 50％of marriages end in divorce nowand the evidence suggests it is going to get worse．If this trend continues．it will lead to the breakup of the family，according to a spokesperson for the National Family Association．Some futurists predict that in l 00 years．the average American will marry at least four times．and extramarital affairs will be even more common than they are now． But what are the reasons for this，and is the picture really so gloomy? The answer to the first question is really quite simple：marriage is no longer the necessity it once was．The institution of marriage has been based for years partly on economic need．Women used to be economically dependent on their husbands as they usually didn’t haveobs outside the home．But with the rising number of women in well—paying jobs，this is no longer the case，so they don’t feel that they need to stay in a failing marriage． In answer to the second question，the outlook may not be as pessimistic as it seems．While the rate of divorce has risen，the rate of couples marrying has never actually fallen very much，so marriage is still quite popular．In addition to this．many couples now cohabit and don’t bother to marry．These couples are effectively married，but they do not appear in either the marriage or divorce statistics．In fact．more than 50％Of first marriages survive．The statistics are deceptive because there is a higher number of divorces in second and third marriages than in first marriages． So is marriage really an outdated institution? The fact that most people still get married indicates that it isn’t．And it is also true that married couples