Your youngest son or daughter has just graduated from high school, and soon he or she will

Your youngest son or daughter has just graduated from high school, and soon he or she will trade his or her bedroom in your home for a college residence hall. You’re starting to worry about the coming silence in your home and are wondering how you will fill the hours that you previously spent with your son or daughter attending his or her school and sporting events.
Take heart — the empty nest “is often worse in anticipation (预料) than in day-to-day practice”, says psychologist Bert Hayslip Jr.
Hayslip, who has studied retirement adjustment (调整) and other aging problems, such as aging sleeplessness, for many years, points out that, more often than not, children who leave do not completely cut off contact with their parents. He advises parents to think of it as a series of life events, instead of a sudden change. He also says an empty nest can cause bigger problems to surface “if a couple hasn’t looked after their marriage while raising their children”. According to Hayslip, some couples may find they no longer have anything in common once the children are out of the house.
Thinking of an empty nest as the loss of children makes the adjustment more difficult. “With the empty-nest syndrome (综合症), parents actually need to deal with the loss of the parenting control over children, not with having really lost their children,” Hayslip says. “They just have to find a new way to get along with their children.”
“Relating to their college-age children in this new way will come easily to parents as the months pass. As with many things, the passage of time heals the pain of loss,” Hayslip says.
【小题1】What does the “empty nest” mean?A．Children’s cutting off contact with their parents. B．Children’s not liking spending time with their parents. C．Children’s growing up and leaving home. D．Children’s not accepting parents’ care and love.【小题2】What does the underlined word “it” in the third paragraph refer to? A．Retirement adjustment. B．Aging problem.C．Sleeplessness.D．The reality of empty nest.【小题3】Why do many parents find it hard to adjust to the empty-nest life？ A．Because they think they have actually lost their children. B．Because they often disagree with their children on many things. C．Because their children completely cut off contact with them. D．Because these parents don’t have anything in common.【小题4】According to Hayslip, what parents actually lose in an “empty nest” is . A．their children’s love for them B．their control over children C．their interest in lifeD．their contact with childrenC

(答案→)C 解析：当孩子高中毕业，搬到大学宿舍的时候，你有没有一种失落感，并且开始担心如何去面对家里即将来临的沉寂，空旷呢？你是不是担心如何去填充那些以前和孩子们在一起的时间呢？在本文中作者就此现象进行了深入的剖析，并且指出了家长应如何摆脱这种失落感。【小题1】C词义猜测题。文章第一段提出了孩子们升入大学，从家里搬出去这一情况，然后在下文中就孩子离开家这种情况展开讲述，由此推断empty nest指的是孩子长大后离开家，从而家就像没了小鸟的巢穴一样，所以答案选C。【小题2】D词义猜测题。根据上文children who leave do not completely cut off contact with their parents.和下文 He also says an empty nest can cause bigger problems可知作者一直在讲述孩子离开家后家长会出现的一些不适应情况，由此推测 it指的是空巢问题，所以D选项正确。【小题3】A细节理解题。根据文章倒数第二段Thinking of an empty nest as the loss of children makes the adjustment more difficult.可知如果把孩子搬离家去外面居住看作是失去孩子的话，人们会很难去适应这种空巢生活，故A选项正确。【小题4】B细节理解题。由文章倒数第二段parents actually need to deal with the loss of the parenting control over children,可知Hayslip认为在空巢现象中家长失去的仅仅是家长对子女的心理控制感，故答案选B。

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