Question

It may not be news to parents of teenage girls, but researchers have confirmed that no one can stop their 16-year-old daughter from deciding how the family spends its money.
The willpower and determination of teenage girls give them a big say in how a family’s money is spent on everything from food and meals to mobile phones, and, of course, clothes. Teenage boys did not show up at all in the analysis, which was designed to find out the influence of young people on household spending.
The findings on the spending power of teenage girls were calculated from Office for National Statistics records of family spending during the 1980s and 1990s. Researchers examined how much money went on services and leisure goods in different kinds of homes. They checked spending on food, restaurant meals, alcohol, tobacco, services, heating, transport, clothes and sports in 2,745 British families.
They found that teenage girls in the UK typically played an active role in family decisions about the allocation（分配）of household resources. But older children— those over the age of 21 who are still living with their parents—appear to have no say in household decisions.
They also tried to calculate to what extent the bargaining power of a teenager affected family budgets. “Every parent knows that children, even at a very early age, have their own preferences with regard to consumption, researchers said. “But children are only interested in a limited range of goods—mainly sweets and toys—and parents are able to use punishment to reduce their children’s bargaining power or remove it.”  When they become teenagers, however, girls are much more independent and they are capable of earning their own money, which improves their bargaining power in family decisions.
The researchers could not explain why girls have more influence over spending while the evidence for boys is much less conclusive. However, this study could be of great significance to market research and how marketers target children.
【小題1】 From the passage we can learn that            .

A．teenage girls have more influence over family budgets than teenage boys

B．teenage boys don't want to decide on household spending

C．teenage boys have some influence over household

D．teenage girls have weaker willpower and determination than teenage boys

【小題2】What does the underlined part “give them a big say” in the second paragraph mean?

A．Make them dare to say something.

B．Make them want to know.

C．Make them say something meaningful.

D．Make their influence stronger.

【小題3】It appears that household decisions are NOT affected by        .

A．girls living with parents

B．girls over 21

C．girls over 12

D．girls living alone

【小題4】How can parents reduce children’s bargaining power?

A．By persuading them

B．By offering them sweets or toys.

C．By threatening to punish them.

D．By allocating household resources.

Answer 1

【小題1】A
【小題2】D
【小題3】B
【小題4】C

解析試題分析：
【小題1】A 細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章最后一段girls have more influence over spending while the evidence for boys is much less conclusive.說(shuō)明女孩對(duì)家庭花費(fèi)的影響比男孩要大，故A正確。
【小題2】D 推理題。根據(jù)本句The willpower and determination of teenage girls give them a big say in how a family’s money is spent on everything在通讀全文可知在家庭花費(fèi)方面女孩子比男孩更有發(fā)言權(quán)影響更大故D正確。
【小題3】B 細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)第四段3,4行But older children— those over the age of 21 who are still living with their parents—appear to have no say in household decisions.說(shuō)明B正確。
【小題4】C 細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第二段3,4,5三行But children are only interested in a limited range of goods—mainly sweets and toys—and parents are able to use punishment to reduce their children’s bargaining power or remove it.”說(shuō)明C正確。
考點(diǎn)：考查文化類短文閱讀
點(diǎn)評(píng)：：文章介紹了在家里女孩對(duì)于家庭花費(fèi)的影響要比男孩要大得多，并分析了原因。考生在閱讀文章時(shí)要抓住每一段的中心思想和所持觀點(diǎn)，要求考生關(guān)注細(xì)節(jié)和上下文。提高判斷推理能力。