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さて今度は内容一致英文読解問題攻略に参りましょう。この形式の読解問題は大意や主題を問う「マクロ」の問題と詳細を問う「ミクロ」の問題があります。大体はバランスよく出題されるのですが、今回の英検1級は後者の問題が中心に出題されています。もし前者のマクロタイ
プの問題であれば、「速読」によって大意をつかみ、「木を見ず森全体を見る」のがいいのですが、後者のミクロタイプの問題の場合は「精読」を必要とするので厄介です。
今回の英検の内容一致問題の1つ目は子育てを専門家に任せるか、親がすべきかということに関する5段落からなるパッセージです。
まずは問題にチャレンジしてみましょう。制限時間は10分です。
The
Maturation of Child Development |
(第1パラグラフ)
|
Since the early twentieth century, experts on child development have dished
up a
confusing and often conflicting stew of advice that has more often followed
cultural,
moral, and economic trends than solid scientific evidence. "It wasn't
firm data that drove
child-rearing expertise, but changing Q.32social
concerns that seemed to
dictate its swerves and
emphases," says Ann Hulbert in her book Raising
America.' Experts, Parents, and a
Century of Advice About Children. |
|
(第2パラグラフ)
|
The field was born from the process of industrialization, when families
were confronted with a number of dramatic and disorienting shifts. Q.32 Amid
this confusion, reformers called on scientists to provide parents with
advice on how to prepare their
children for this
harsh new world. Many intellectuals in the Progressive Era were infatuated
with science
and professionalism, looking as they were for something to replace the
religious strictures
and traditions of the Victorian Age. Q.34The
scientific approach got a further boost when newly
devised IQ tests showed that half of all U.S. Army recruits in World War
I fell below
normal intelligence levels, scaring a nation into believing they were raising
intellectual
lightweights.
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(第3パラグラフ)
|
The idea that child rearing required extensive knowledge sat well with
the swelling
ranks of college-educated women, who hoped to reconcile their scholarly
interests with the
often mundane requirements of mothering. But it wasn't long before child
rearing was
viewed as too important to be left to the individual. "It is beyond
the capacity of the
individual parent to train her child to fit into the intricate, interwoven,
and interdependent social and economic system we have developed," said
one university president in 1930.
Another trend, the breakdown of the extended family, reinforced the role
of the expert,
since grandmothers and aunts were no longer on hand to dish out daily advice.
Sociologist
Frank Furedi believes that Q.34the overreliance on experts can be blamed
not only on the
breakdown of communities in which elders shared responsibility for molding
the behavior
of youngsters but also on the tendency of the press to exaggerate stories
about violence,
health scares, and accidents. |
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(第4パラグラフ)
|
Q.33 The
pendulum of advice offered by experts has swung between two poles,
the strict
and the permissive. The push to prepare children for the harsh and impersonal
industrial
world led the way for experts to claim that too much motherly love was
counterproductive. The pendulum swung the other way during World War II, when it was feared
children
were suffering from a lack of care from working mothers. A loathing for
Nazism and the
"
authoritarian personality" also drove American families to nurture
their children so that
they wouldn't develop into little Hitlers. Q.33World-renowned baby expert
Dr. Benjamin
Spock developed his approach at this time, decrying coercive child-rearing
practices and
espousing greater love and freedom for both parents and children. |
|
(第5パラグラフ)
|
Ironically, it is experts like
Ann Hulbert who are now asking why Americans have
relied so heavily on experts for child-rearing advice. Several
new books are exploring the
question of why Americans are so anxious and so eager for "expert
advice " As
sociologists and others show how advice has changed along with
the mores of the times,
it has become evident that there is more to child-rearing advice
than just raising children. |
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(32) |
|
What helped lead to
the birth of the field of child development m the early twentieth
century? |
|
1. |
Parents became concerned that
their children would become too hardened
by the harsh realities of the industrialized world. |
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2. |
Intellectuals believed that traditions would
be lost during the rapid changes
of industrialization. |
|
3. |
The government and the military realized that
scientific methods of child
rearing were failing. |
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4. |
Some people began to worry that parents were
not providing their children
with the skills necessary for modern lifestyles. |
(33) |
|
How did the two world
wars affect child-rearing practices? |
|
1. |
The first led to an emphasis on
science while the second resulted in parents
becoming more loving toward their children. |
|
2. |
The first pushed parents to rely on experts,
'while the second encouraged
parents to develop their own coercive child-rearing practices. |
|
3. |
Both made parents concerned that they weren't
spending enough time with
their children. ' |
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4. |
Both showed the increasing importance of
scientific data in the development
of effective child-rearing practices. |
(34) |
|
Which of the following
did NOT encourage the increasing role of professional
advice on child rearing? |
|
1. |
The decline of traditional communities
in the modern world. |
|
2. |
The use of IQ tests on U.S. Army recruits. |
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3. |
The media's tendency to sensationalize stories
about violence and illness. |
|
4. |
The research by experts into the causes of
anxiety among American parents. |
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