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  3. More Americans are cohabiting—living together out of wedlock—than ever. Some

More Americans are cohabiting—living together out of wedlock—than ever. Some

游客2024-09-16  55
问题     More Americans are cohabiting—living together out of wedlock—than ever. Some experts applaud the practice, but others warn playing house doesn’t always lead to marital bliss. At one time in America, living together out of wedlock was scandalous. Unmarried couples who "shacked up" were said to be "living in sin". Indeed, cohabitation was illegal throughout the country until about 1970. (It remains illegal in 12 states, although the laws are rarely, if ever, enforced.) Today, statistics tell a different tale. The number of unwed couples living together has risen to a new high—more than 4.1 million as of March 1997, according to the Census Bureau. That figure was up from 3.96 million couples the previous year and represents a quantum leap from the 430,000 cohabiting couples counted in 1960.
    The bureau found that cohabiting is most popular in the 24-to-35 age group, accounting for 1.6 million such couples. Cohabitants say they live together primarily to solidify their love and commitment to each other, studies report. Most intend to marry; only 13 percent of cohabitants don’t expect to make their relationship legal. But the reality for many couples is different: Moving doesn’t lead to "happily ever after". Forty percent of cohabitants never make it to the altar. Of the 60 percent who do marry, more than half divorce within 10 years (compared with 30 percent of married couples who didn’t live together first).
    Cohabiting partners are more unfaithful and fight more often than married couples, according to research by the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society. Other studies have come to equally gloomy conclusions.
    Still, experts predict the number of cohabiting couples is likely to grow. As the children of the baby boomers come of age, they are likely to defer marriage, as did their parents. This will lead to more cohabitation and nontraditional families. Analyst Robert Knight of the Family Research Council agrees the trend will hold for the near future. Until people discover that living together has pitfalls, it won’t wane in popularity, says Knight, author of Age of Consent: The Rise of Relativism and Corruption of Popular Culture. Cohabiting has been portrayed with "careful neutrality" in the media, and Hollywood celebrities who move in and out of each other’s homes set the standard.
    But Warren Farrell, the San Diego-based author of Why Men Are the Way They Are, argues that living together is a good idea for a short period. "To make the jump from dating, when we put our best foot forward, to being married"—without showing each other the "shadow side of ourselves"—is to treat marriage frivolously, he says. [br] What does the author indicate by saying "Today, statistics tell a different tale."?
选项 A、More Americans cohabitate before marriage.
B、The experts mainly support cohabitation now.
C、Living together out of wedlock is immoral.
D、People rarely change their views on marriage.
答案 A
解析 根据题干的“Today, statistics tell a different tale．”定位到第1段。“Today，statistics tell a different tale．”起承上启下的过渡作用。上文指出，以前人们认为未婚同居是一件不光彩的事情，下文说“未婚同居的人数已经上升到一个新的高度”，可见，这句话表明美国有更多的人未婚同居，故选A。文中专家的意见分为两派，有人赞同，有人反对，所以B不对；本文只探讨了一些人关于未婚同居的看法，没有提到来婚同居者的道德问题，故排除C；从数据上看，未婚同居的人数较以前有相当的增长，证明越来越多的人可以接受未婚同居了，即人们对于婚姻的看法发生了改变．所以D不正确。
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