Question

Your youngest son or daughter has just graduated from high school, and soon he or she will trade his or her bedroom in your home for a college residence hall. You’re starting to worry about the coming silence in your home and are wondering how you will fill the hours that you previously spent with your son or daughter attending his or her school and sporting events.

    Take heart — the empty nest “is often worse in anticipation (預料) than in day-to-day practice”, says psychologist Bert Hayslip Jr.

    Hayslip, who has studied retirement adjustment (調整) and other aging problems, such as aging sleeplessness, for many years, points out that, more often than not, children who leave do not completely cut off contact with their parents. He advises parents to think of it as a series of life events, instead of a sudden change. He also says an empty nest can cause bigger problems to surface “if a couple hasn’t looked after their marriage while raising their children”. According to Hayslip, some couples may find they no longer have anything in common once the children are out of the house.

    Thinking of an empty nest as the loss of children makes the adjustment more difficult. “With the empty-nest syndrome (綜合癥), parents actually need to deal with the loss of the parenting control over children, not with having really lost their children,” Hayslip says. “They just have to find a new way to get along with their children.”

    “Relating to their college-age children in this new way will come easily to parents as the months pass. As with many things, the passage of time heals the pain of loss,” Hayslip says.

1.What does the “empty nest” mean?

A. Children’s cutting off contact with their parents.

B. Children’s not liking spending time with their parents.

C. Children’s growing up and leaving home.

D. Children’s not accepting parents’ care and love.

2.What does the underlined word “it” in the third paragraph refer to?

A. Retirement adjustment.        B. Aging problem.  

C. Sleeplessness.                D. The reality of empty nest.

3.Why do many parents find it hard to adjust to the empty-nest life？

A. Because they think they have actually lost their children.

B. Because they often disagree with their children on many things.

C. Because their children completely cut off contact with them.

D. Because these parents don’t have anything in common.

4.According to Hayslip, what parents actually lose in an “empty nest” is _______.

A. their children’s love for them

B. their control over children

C. their interest in life

D. their contact with children 

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.C

2.D

3.A

4.B

【解析】

試題分析：當孩子高中畢業，搬到大學宿舍的時候，你有沒有一種失落感，并且開始擔心如何去面對家里即將來臨的沉寂，空曠呢？你是不是擔心如何去填充那些以前和孩子們在一起的時間呢？在本文中作者就此現象進行了深入的剖析，并且指出了家長應如何擺脫這種失落感。

1.C詞義猜測題。文章第一段提出了孩子們升入大學，從家里搬出去這一情況，然后在下文中就孩子離開家這種情況展開講述，由此推斷empty nest指的是孩子長大后離開家，從而家就像沒了小鳥的巢穴一樣，所以答案選C。

2.D詞義猜測題。根據上文children who leave do not completely cut off contact with their parents.和下文 He also says an empty nest can cause bigger problems可知作者一直在講述孩子離開家后家長會出現的一些不適應情況，由此推測 it指的是空巢問題，所以D選項正確。

3.A細節理解題。根據文章倒數第二段Thinking of an empty nest as the loss of children makes the adjustment more difficult.可知如果把孩子搬離家去外面居住看作是失去孩子的話，人們會很難去適應這種空巢生活，故A選項正確。

4.B細節理解題。由文章倒數第二段parents actually need to deal with the loss of the parenting control over children,可知Hayslip認為在空巢現象中家長失去的僅僅是家長對子女的心理控制感，故答案選B。

考點：考查社會生活類短文閱讀。