Many critics of the current welfare system argue that existing welfare regulations lead to family instability.They believe that those regulations，which exclude most poor husband-and-wife families from Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) assistance grants，contribute to the problem of family dissolution.Thus，they conclude that expanding the set of families that can eligibly get such grants would result in a marked strengthening of the low-income family structure.

　　If all poor families could receive welfare，would the incidence of instability change markedly? The answer to this question depends on the relative importance of three types of potential welfare recipients.The first is the“cheater”—the husband who is reported to have abandoned his family，but in fact disappears only when the social worker is in the neighborhood.The second consists of a loving husband and devoted father who，sensing his own inadequacy as a family supporter，leaves so that his wife and children may enjoy the relative benefit provided by public assistance.There is very little evidence that these two types are significant.

　　The third type is the unhappily married couple，who remain together out of a sense of economic responsibility for their children，because of the high costs of separation，or because of the consumption benefits of marriage.This group is large.The formation，maintenance，and dissolution of the family is in large part a function of the relative balance between the benefits and costs of marriage as seen by the individual members of the marriage.Since the family performs certain functions society regards as vital，a complex network of social and legal process has evolved to reinforce marriage.Much of the variation in marital stability across income classes can be explained by the variation in costs of dissolution imposed by society，such as division of property，and child support.

　　Marital stability is related to the costs of achieving an acceptable agreement on family consumption and production and to the prevailing social price of instability in the marriage partners‘social-economic group.Expected income exerts pressures on family instability by reducing the cost of dissolution.To the extent that welfare is a form of government-subsidized AFDC payments，it reduces the costs of separation and guarantees a minimal standard of living for wife and children.So welfare opportunities are a significant determinant of family instability in poor neighborhoods，but this is not the result of AFDC regulations that exclude most intact families from coverage.Rather，welfare-related instability occurs because public assistance lowers both the benefits of marriage and the costs of its breach by providing a system of government-subsidized payments.

　　1.Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of the passage?

　　[A] Welfare restrictions do not contribute to low-income family instability.

　　[B] The most significant kind of welfare recipients is not the“cheating”father.

　　[C] The divorce rate is bound to fall when welfare benefits are cut.

　　[D] Government welfare payments lead directly to growing divorce rate.

　　2.The tone of the passage can best be described as____.

　　[A] confident and optimistic

　　[B] scientific and detached

　　[C] discouraged and alarmed

　　[D] polite and sensitive

　　3.All of the following are mentioned by the author as factors tending to sustain a marriage EXCEPT____.

　　[A] the social class of the married couple

　　[B] the cost involved in divorce

　　[C] the loss of property upon divorce

　　[D] the greater consumption possibilities of married people

　　4.With which of the following statements about marriage would the author most likely agree?

　　[A] Marriage is largely shaped by powerful but impersonal economic and social forces.

　　[B] Marriage has a greater value to higher income groups.

　　[C] Society has no interest in encouraging people to remain married to one another.

　　[D] Marriage will gradually give way to other forms of social organization.

　　5.The passage would most likely be found in a____.

　　[A] basic economics text

　　[B] book on the history of welfare

　　[C] religious literature on the importance of marriage

　　[D] scholarly journal devoted to public policy questions

　　參考答案：

　　1.[A] 文章第一段先引出對(duì)現(xiàn)行福利政策持批評(píng)態(tài)度的人的觀點(diǎn)，他們認(rèn)為現(xiàn)行政策引起了家庭的分裂。第二、三段對(duì)這一問(wèn)題進(jìn)行了具體分析。第四段是全文的結(jié)論，全文旨在說(shuō)明的觀點(diǎn)最清楚地闡述在本段最后兩句。

　　2.[B] 意為：科學(xué)與客觀的。作者對(duì)福利政策與家庭的穩(wěn)定性的關(guān)系做了具體的分析，認(rèn)為福利政策不是造成低收人家庭關(guān)系破裂的直接原因。分析有理有據(jù)，有說(shuō)服力。

　　3.[A] 第三段提到第三類人，這些人雖然婚姻生活不幸福，但因?yàn)榭紤]到對(duì)孩子的經(jīng)濟(jì)責(zé)任而不離婚，因?yàn)殡x婚代價(jià)太高(選擇項(xiàng)[B]表達(dá)的內(nèi)容)，而生活在一起消費(fèi)上可以有很多好處(選擇項(xiàng)[D]表達(dá)的內(nèi)容)。本段最后一句提到了(離婚時(shí))分財(cái)產(chǎn)的問(wèn)題。

　　4.[A] 參閱第三段第三、四、五句，尤其是第四段第一句。第四段第一句提到?jīng)Q定婚姻穩(wěn)定與否的兩個(gè)方面：經(jīng)濟(jì)和社會(huì)因素。[D]中g(shù)ive way to意為：讓位于。

　　5.[D] 意為：用于探討政府政策問(wèn)題的學(xué)術(shù)雜志。本文探討了政府的福利政策對(duì)婚姻穩(wěn)定性的影響，分析有理有據(jù)，文章的措辭很富有學(xué)術(shù)味道。

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