Passage Two

　　Questions 62 to 66 are based in the following passage.

　　"Family" is of course an elastic word. But when British people say that their society is based on family life, they are thinking of "family" in its narrow, peculiarly European sense of mother, father and children living together alone in their own house as an economic and social unit. Thus, every British marriage indicates the beginning of a new and independent family— hence the tremendous importance of marriage in British life.

　　For both the man and the woman, marriage means leaving one's parents and starting one's own life. The man's first duty will then be to his wife, and the wife's to her husband. He will be entirely responsible for her financial support, and she for the running of the new home. Their children will be their common responsibility and theirs alone. Neither the wife's parents nor the husband's, nor their brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles, have any right to interfere with them—they are their own masters.

　　Readers of novels like Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice will know that in former times marriage among wealthy families was arranged by the girl's parents, that is, it was the parents' duty to find a suitable husband for their daughter, preferably a rich one, and by skillful encouragement to lead him eventually to ask their permission to marry her. Until that time, the girl was protected and maintained in the parents' home, and the financial relief of getting rid of her could be seen in their giving the newly married pair a sum of money called a dowry(嫁妆). It is very different today. Most girls of today get a job when they leave school and become financially independent before their marriage. This has had two results: a girl chooses her own husband, and she gets no dowry.

　　62. What does the author mean by "'Family' is of course an elastic word"?

　　[A] Different families have different ways of life.

　　[B] Different definitions could be given to the word.

　　[C] Different nations have different families.

　　[D] Different times produce different families.

　　63. For an English family, the husband's duty is ________.

　　[A] supporting the family while the wife is financial

　　[B] defending the family while the wife is running the home

　　[C] financial while the wife is running the home

　　[D] independent while the wife is dependent

　　64. Everything is decided in a family ________.

　　[A] by the couple [C] by brothers and sisters

　　[B] with the help of their parents [D] with the help of aunts and uncles

　　65. What is TRUE concerning the book Pride and Prejudice?

　　[A] It is the best book on marriage.

　　[B] It is a handbook of marriage.

　　[C] It gives quite some ideas of English social life in the past.

　　[D] It provides a lot of information of former time wealthy families.

　　66. With regard to marriage in Britain, present day girls differ from former time girls in ________.

　　[A] the right to marry [C] choosing husbands

　　[B] more parental support [D] social position

　　Passage Two

　　62. B 语义题。本题主要考查从下文猜测词义的能力，即对elastic的理解。由下文But引出的并列句可猜测出英国人对家庭的概念不同于其他国家的人，由此推断，不同人对家庭的定义是不一样的，因此B正确。elastic原意为“有弹性的，非固定不变的”，而该句意为“‘家庭’是一个有多种含义的词”。

　　63. C 细节题。由文章第二段第三句可知，在英国家庭中，男人是女人的财政支柱(responsible for her financial support), 女人负责管家，所以C正确。

　　64. A 推断题。由文章第二段最后一句可知，没有任何人能干涉夫妻俩的事——他们是自己的主人，由此可知，家里的事由夫妻俩做主，所以A正确。

　　65. C 推断题。由文章第三段可知，《傲慢与偏见》讲述了当时的婚姻状况——有钱人的婚姻都由女方的父母做主，这是当时英国社会生活的一个方面，所以C正确。

　　66. D 推断题。文章第三段谈到了过去和现在的女孩在决定婚姻中地位的不同，并指出现在的女孩结婚前经济就可以独立，婚姻自由，由此可知，她们的社会地位比以前有了很大提高，所以D正确。