2011年职称英语教材阅读理解新增文章英文+中文(4)

职称英语

这些人事实上已经结婚，但他们却是统计结婚与离婚率的盲区。超过50%的第一次婚姻实际上是成功的。之前数据的欺骗性在于二度与三度婚姻的离婚率要高于首次婚姻。

婚姻真的过时了吗？大多数人仍会结婚，这一事实证明不是这样的。而且事实上婚后夫妻比单身过着更健康的生活：他们压力较小，因压力产生的诸如心脏问题也相应减少。而且，婚后男性总体上较之配偶更为满意。也许，关键在于找出成功婚姻背后的秘诀并把它运用到我们所有人与人的关系中去。

*第三十八篇 Excessive Demands on Young People（B级）

Being able to multitask is hailed by most people as a welcome skill, but not according to a recent study which claims that young people between the ages of eight and eighteen of the so-called Generation M1 are spending a considerable amount of their time in fruitless efforts as they multitask. It argues that, in fact, these young people are frittering away as much as half of their time again as they would if they performed the very same tasks one after the other.

Some young people are juggling an ever larger number of electronic devices as they study. At the same time that they are working, young adults are also surfing on the Internet, or sending out emails to their friends, and/or answering the telephone and listening to music on their iPods2 or on another computer. As some new device comes along it too is added to the list rather than replacing one of the existing devices.

Other research has indicated that this multitasking is even affecting the way families

themselves function as young people are too wrapped up3 in their own isolated worlds to interact with the other people around them. They can no longer greet family members when they enter the house nor can they eat at the family table.

All this electronic wizardry is supposedly also seriously affecting young people's

performance at university and in the workplace. When asked about their perception of the impact of modem gadgets on their performance of tasks, the overwhelming majority of young people gave a favourable response.

The response from the academic and business worlds was not quite as positive. The former feel that multitasking with electronic gadgets by children affects later development of study skills, resulting in a decline in the quality of writing, for example, because of the lack of concentration on task completion. They feel that many undergraduates now urgently need remedial help with study skills. Similarly, employers feel that young people entering the work force need to be taught all over again, as they have become deskilled.

While all this may be true, it must be borne in mind4 that more and more is expected of young people nowadays; in fact, too much. Praise rather than criticism is due in respect of5 the way today's youth are able to cope despite what the older generation throw at them.

练习：

1. According to a recent study, what is probably true about the multitasking Generation M? 根据最近的研究，对于“多媒体时代”的年轻人同时进行多种任务下列哪项是正确的？

A) They are highly commended for being so effective and efficient.他们的实用和高效受到高度的赞赏。

B) They waste more time than they should save. contrary to common assumptions. 和正常的完成任务的时间相比，他们实际上浪费的时间比节省的时间还要多。（正

确答案）