公共英语三级考试阅读练习（二）

        In shopping malls, the assistants try to push you into buying "a gift to thank her for her unselfish love". When you log onto a website, a small pop-up invites you to book a bouquet for her.Commercial warmth and gratitude are the atmosphere being spread around for this special Sunday in May.

        1 The popularity of Mother' s Day around the world suggests that Jarvis got all she wanted. In fact, she got more enough to make her horrified.

        2 They buy, among other things,132 million cards. Mother's Day is the No.1 holiday for flower purchases. Then there are the various commodities, ranging from jewelry and clothes to cosmetics and washing powder, that take advantage of the promotion opportunities. Because of this, Jarvis spent the last 40 years of her life trying to stop Mother' s Day. One protest against the commercialization of Mother' s Day even got her arrested--for disturbing the peace, interestingly.

        3 As Ralph Fevre, a reporter at the UK newspaper The Guardian, observed, traditionally "motherhood is something that we do because we think it' s right. " But in the logic of commercialism, people need something in exchange for their time and energy. A career serves this purpose better.

        4 So they work hard and play hard. Becoming a mother, however, inevitably handicaps career anticipation.

        5 According to The Guardian, there are twice as many child-free young women as there were a generation ago. Or, they put off the responsibility of parenting until later in their lives.

        So, Fevre writes that the meaning of celebrating Mother' s Day needs to be updated: "It is to persuade people that parenting is a good idea and to honor people for their attempt to be good people. "

        A. According to a research by the US card company Hallmark,96 percent of American consumers celebrate the holiday.

B. But what's more, commercialism changes young people's attitude towards motherhood.

        C. Obviously, the best gift will be a phone call or a visit.

        D. The American version of Mother's Day was thought up as early as 1905, by Anna Jarvis, as a way of recognizing the real value of motherhood.

        E. In addition, women are being encouraged to pursue any career they desire.

        F. As a result, motherhood has suffered a huge drop in status since the 1950s.

        G. Nowadays Mother's Day become more and more commercialization.

        参考译文

        在购物商场里，售货员极力向你推销，“买一件礼物去感谢她无私的爱吧。”当你登录到一个网站的时候，一个弹出式菜单要你为她订一束花。在这个五月份特别的星期天里，洋溢着充

满商业化的热情和感激的气氛。

        美国版本的母亲节在1905年由贾维斯提出，作为一种认同母爱真正价值的方式。母亲节在全世界的流行表明贾维斯成功达到了目的。事实上，她得到的还要多，多得使她感到害怕。

        根据美国贺曼卡片公司的调查显示，96%的美国消费者在庆祝这个节日。在各种商品之中，卡片的销售量达到l_32亿张。母亲节的鲜花销售量在所有节日中住列第一。还有其他各种各样

的商品，从珠宝、衣服到化妆品、洗衣粉，都利用这个机会提高销售量。由于这个原因，贾维斯在她生命的最后40年中一直努力阻止庆祝母亲节。有趣的是，在一次抵制母亲节商业化的抗议

中，她竟然以破坏和平的名义被捕。

        并且，商业化使得年轻人改变了做母亲的态度。正如英国报纸《卫报》记者劳尔夫·斐吾尔评论的一样，传统意义上“选择做母亲是因为我们认为这是正确的”。但从商业逻辑看来，人们

需要一些东西来交换由此而付出的时间和精力。一份事业更适合这个目标。

        另外，女性被鼓励去追求任何她们想要的事业。因此她们努力工作。努力玩。然而成为一个母亲就不可避免地会阻碍事业的发展。

        结果是，女性地位自20世纪50年代以来有了巨大的下降。据《卫报》报道，当今没有孩子的年轻女性是上一代的两倍。或者她们把做母亲的责任推迟到更晚一些。

        于是斐吾尔写道，庆祝母亲节的意义需要被更新。“它的意义在于说服人们去相信为人父母是一个崇高的信念，并且要尊重有意成为善者的人们。”

        答案及解析

        1.【答案】D

        【解析】选项D中出现了两处词语与空格后句中的词语形成呼应Mother's Day，Javis，因此D可能是答案。空格后句中的she在空格前句中有指代的内容：指代Anna Javis，故选D.

        2.【答案】A

        【解析】选项A中有两个词与空格后句中的词语呼应：cards，holiday，因此A是答案。

        3.【答案】B

        【解析】空格处需填一个与后句有转折关系的句子，选项B "But what's more"表示意思的转折，所以选B. ’

        4.【答案】E

        【解析】选项中只有E有指代人的复数名词(women)能成为空格后句中代词they的指代内容，因此E是答案。

        5.【答案】F

        【解析】从句意上看，选项F是概括句，空格后句是用具体的数字对F进行解释，F符合题意，故选F.