A
(2020·重庆调研)Ask 9－year－old Annie what the worst thing was that ever happened in her house last year, and she won’t tell you that it was her parents’ divorcing, although they did. No, what Annie remembers most are the horrible fights leading up to the announcement about the divorce which was, as it turned out, despite her parents’ anxiety about telling her, “not that big of a deal”. “I already knew they were not getting along well，” Annie says. “Every night after I went to bed, I would hear my parents fighting. It made me really unhappy. When they finally decided to get a divorce, all that stopped.”
Annie’s experience is more common than you might think, and there is a great deal of evidence to suggest that “staying together for the sake of the children” is not what should be encouraged, and may do more harm than good. According to psychologist Lynn Martingdale, hearing their parents arguing is often more stressful for children than separation and divorce, and if you think that your children don’t know that there’s trouble in family, then you’re kidding yourself. The home life of children whose parents have an unhappy marriage is often far from ideal, and what’s worse, parents will compound the problem by taking their unhappiness out on the children.
The Center for Moving Forward conducted a study in 2014 in which they followed 25 families whose parents had been in marriage counseling. After tracking these families for 5 years, they found that the children of the parents who eventually got divorced were not worse off than the children of those who remained together, and in some cases fared better. The study took the social and the children’s general sense of well－being into consideration.
【解题导语】 本文是一篇议论文。文章以9岁的孩子Annie的父母由于争吵导致最终离婚的叙述引入主题，接着通过论据论证了“在不幸的婚姻中，离婚并不是最糟糕的事”这一主题。
1．Why was Annie really unhappy according to paragraph 1?
A．Because her parents fought every night.
B．Because her parents finally got divorced.
C．Because her parents decided to abandon her.
D．Because her parents got along badly with her.
A 解析：细节理解题。根据第一段中的“Every night after I went to bed, I would hear my parents fighting. It made me really unhappy.”可知，Annie的父母每天晚上都吵架，这让她感到很不幸福，故A项正确。
2．Which statement may psychologist Lynn Martingdale agree with？
A．Separation and divorce will hurt the children most.
B．Keeping an unhappy marriage hurts children more.
C．Children can’t understand their parents’ marriage well.
D．Children can’t feel the unhappiness from their parents.
B 解析：推理判断题。根据第二段中的“According to psychologist Lynn Martingdale, hearing their parents arguing is often more stressful for children than separation and divorce”可知，心理学家Lynn Martingdale认为，听父母吵架对孩子来说往往比分居和离婚更有压力，据此可以判断，Lynn Martingdale认为维持不幸福的婚姻会更加伤害孩子，故B项正确。
3．What’s the function of the last paragraph in the passage?
A．To give an example of divorce.
B．To support Annie’s correct answer.
C．To further clear the author’s viewpoint.
D．To highlight the importance of the study.
C 解析：写作目的题。根据最后一段中的“After tracking these families for 5 years, they found that the children of the parents who eventually got divorced were not worse off than the children of those who remained together, and in some cases fared better.”可知，在对这些家庭进行了5年的跟踪调查后，他们发现，最终父母离婚的孩子并不比那些父母仍在一起的孩子生活得更差，在某些情况下，他们生活得更好。据此可知，最后一段旨在通过研究进一步说明本文的论点：在不幸的婚姻中，离婚不是最糟糕的选择。故C项正确。
4．What is the best title for the passage?
A．Divorce Is Good for Children
B．Divorce Is Not the Worst Thing
C．Fighting Is Often Stressful
D．Staying Together Is for Children Only
B 解析：标题归纳题。根据第一段第二句和Annie所说的话可知，对孩子们来说，父母的争吵比离婚更糟糕；结合第二段中的“there is a great deal of evidence to suggest that ‘staying together for the sake of the children’ is not what should be encouraged, and may do more harm than good”可以判断，本文的主旨是：在不幸的婚姻中，和离婚相比，父母为孩子而在一起给孩子的伤害更大。最后一段的研究也论证了这一点。故B项最适合作为本文标题。
【难句分析1】 No, what Annie remembers most are the horrible fights leading up to the announcement about the divorce which was, as it turned out, despite her parents’ anxiety about telling her, “not that big of a deal”．
分析：该句为主从复合句。句中“what Annie remembers most”为what引导的主语从句；“which was...”为which引导的定语从句，修饰先行词the divorce。
译文：不，Annie记得最清楚的是导致(她的父母)宣告离婚的可怕的争吵，尽管她的父母害怕告诉她，但是正如事实证明的那样，离婚“没什么大不了的”。
【难句分析2】 The home life of children whose parents have an unhappy marriage is often far from ideal, and what’s worse, parents will compound the problem by taking their unhappiness out on the children.
分析：该句为并列句。前一分句中“whose parents have an unhappy marriage”为whose引导的定语从句，修饰先行词children, whose在从句中作定语。
译文：父母婚姻不幸福的孩子的家庭生活往往很不理想，更糟的是，父母把他们的不幸福发泄在孩子身上，会使问题更加严重。
