A
(2020·滁州高三模拟)
Growing Pains
The term “adulting” started as a sort of joke—whenever a millennial(千禧一代) would do something ageappropriate, this was an act of “adulting”. Now, though, millennials obviously require training in being an adult.
Rachel Flehinger has cofounded an Adulting School, which includes online courses on simple sewing, conflict resolution and cooking. The cause for such classes is that many millennials haven’t left childhood homes—in America 34 percent of adults aged 18 to 34 still lived with their parents as of 2015, up from 26 percent a decade before.
There’s a good deal of truth to this. If you’re living at home, with Mom and Dad doing their best to spoil(溺爱) you, you’re less likely to know how to do laundry, cook or balance a checkbook. Dependency_breeds_enervation.
But living at home doesn’t necessarily lead to dependency. As of 1940, more than 30 percent of 25 to 29yearolds lived at home with parents or grandparents. They were adulting, even while living at home. Parents expected their kids to do chores, to prepare for life. Instead of blaming living at home, then, we have to blame our style of parenting. The truth is that we’ve simply become lazier as parents.
So what’s the real problem?
We’re more likely to let our kids crash on our couches(长沙发) than tell them to get a job and pay rent. We don’t push our kids to build families of their own, as life expectancy has increased, so has adolescence. Americans aren’t expected to start building a life, particularly middleand upperclass Americans, until they’re nearing their 30s. Then the question is how we can encourage young people to “adult” in noncircumstancedriven fashion.
【解题导语】 千禧一代的孩子接受着父母的宠爱，他们很多人不知道如何洗衣、做饭、管理生活收支，不能独立；所以有必要在他们成人之前培训他们缝纫、解决冲突、烹饪等简单的生活技能。事实上，是父母的养育方式导致孩子不能独立，父母应当让孩子去承担他们的责任。
1．What does the last sentence “Dependency breeds enervation.” in the third paragraph mean?
A．Parents would like to do housework by themselves.
B．Present kids are too lazy to do housework.
C．Dependency makes kids unable to do things.
D．Kids depend on their parents.
C 解析：句意理解题。根据第三段第二句可知，如果你住在家里，爸爸妈妈竭尽全力溺爱你，你就不太可能知道如何洗衣服、做饭或平衡收支。画线句为进一步的总结，据此可推知，画线句意在表达：过度依赖父母会使孩子丧失做事情的能力。故C项正确。
2．Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A．Millennials would like to be trained in being an adult.
B．Parents are too lazy to do chores.
C．Millennials don’t adult because they still live in their childhood homes.
D．In the 1940s kids were adulting even when they were living at home.
D 解析：细节理解题。根据第四段第二、三句可知，自20世纪40年代起，有超过30%的25至29岁的人与父母或祖父母一起住在家里；但即使和家人同住，他们也很成熟。故D项正确。
3．Which of the following statements is the main idea of the passage?
A．“Adulting” is hard, but only because parents are too lazy to teach their kids.
B．Millennials should leave home early to adult.
C．Americans aren’t expected to start building a life until they’re nearing their 30s.
D．Adulting schools with online courses are popular.
A 解析：主旨大意题。根据第四段尾句“The truth is that we’ve simply become lazier as parents.”并结合全文其他内容可知，本文主要论述了由于父母的过分宠爱和懒得教孩子们生活技能，现在许多千禧一代的孩子不能独立，不知道如何洗衣、做饭、管理生活收支等。故A项正确。
4．According to the passage, what will be written about next?
A．The government should put off the age of adulthood.
B．Parents should leave kids in charge of society.
C．Parents should put responsibility on young people.
D．Pushing kids to adult is painful for parents.
C 解析：推理判断题。根据本文最后一句可知，接下来的问题是，我们如何鼓励年轻人以非环境驱动的方式“成年”。据此可推知，下文将介绍家长如何鼓励孩子们承担生活的责任。故C项正确。
