Having a husband means an extra seven hours of housework each week for women, ac

Having a husbandmeans an extra seven hours of housework each week for women, according to a newstudy. For men, getting married saves an hour of housework a week. “It’s a well-knownpattern,” said lead researcher Frank Stafford at University of Michigan’sInstitute for Social Research. “Men usually work more outside the home, whilewomen take on more of the housework.” 

He points outthat differences among households（家庭）exist. But in general,marriage means more housework for women and less for men. “And the situationgets worse for women when they have children,” Stafford said.  

Overall, timesare changing in the American home. In 1976, women busied themselves with 26weekly hours of sweeping-and-dusting work, compared with 17 hours in 2005. Menare taking on more housework, more than doubling their housework hours from sixin 1976 to 13 in 2005.  

Single women intheir 20s and 30s did the least housework, about 12 weekly hours, while marriedwomen in their 60s and 70s did the most-about 21 hours a week.  

Men showed asomewhat different pattern, with older men picking up the broom more often thanyounger men. Single men worked the hardest around the house, more than that ofall other age groups of married men.  

Having childrenincreases housework even further. With more than three children, for example,wives took on more of the extra work, clocking about 28 hours a week comparedwith husbands’10 hours.  

1.According tothe “well-known pattern” in Paragraph 1, a married man___________.  

A. takes onheavierwork             B.does more housework 

C. is the mainbreadwinner           D. is the master of the house 

2.How many hoursof housework did men do every week in the 1970s? 

A. About23.                     B. About 26.  

C. About13.                      D. About y.  

3.What kind ofman is doing most housework according to the text? 

A. An unmarriedman.              B. An older married man.  

C. A youngermarried man.           D. Amarried man with children.  

4.What can weconclude from Stafford’s research? 

A. Marriagegives men more freedom.  

B. Marriage haseffects on job choices.   

C. Houseworksharing changes over time.  

D. Havingchildren means doubled housework.  

试题答案

【答案】

1.C；

2.D；

3.A；

4.C。

【解析】B篇阅读理解的文字风格诙谐但有实际的描述了一个很普遍的社会问题：男女角色在家庭责任承担上随着时期的不同而发生变化。这是一篇展示社会问题类型的文章。作者通过描绘不同时期的男女---单身---婚后---孩子出生等阶段他们角色和责任承担的改变。

从文字设计上看，影响考生理解完整意思的因素并不多，整篇文章文字比较通顺流畅。难度并不大。但是在45、46题的理解上，部分考生会出现问题。