沪江小编：英语四级考试，阅读是很让大家头疼的一块。题量大，时间少，理解难，选项长，于是很容易产生畏惧心理。其实，阅读并不像想象中的那么难，只要掌握了正确的方法，加上勤读多练，提高效率，征服阅读，指日可待。而沪江小编就为大家详细分析历年四级真题中的阅读部分，各种方法，各种技巧对号入座，供大家参考练习。

真题可能每位备考四级的同学都做过，那么，真题做完后，你有没有思考过为什么这些题你做对了，又为什么那些题你做错了吗？每一题的答案你都能清楚地知道是怎么来的吗？如果你从没想过以上问题，从现在开始，就跟小编一起重新再做一遍真题，仔仔细细来分析每一道题，探寻出题思路，摸索答题技巧， 最终成为考场上的阅读达人！

【真题测试】Passage Four

Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.

Psychiatrists (精神病专家) who work with older parents say that maturity can be an asset in child rearing-older parents are more thoughtful, use less physical discipline and spend more time with their children. But raising kids takes money and energy. Many older parents find themselves balancing their limited financial resources, declining energy and failing health against the growing demands of an active child. Dying and leaving young children is probably the older parents’ biggest, and often unspoken, fear. Having late-life children, says an economics professor, often means parents, particularly fathers, “end up retiring much later.” For many, retirement becomes an unobtainable dream.

Henry Metcalf, a 54-year-old journalist, knows it takes money to raise kids. But he’s also worried that his energy will give out first. Sure, he can still ride bikes with his athletic fifth grader, but he’s learned that young at heart doesn’t mean young. Lately he’s been taking afternoon naps (午睡) to keep up his energy. “My body is aging,”says Metcalf. “You can’t get away from that.”

Often, older parents hear the ticking of another kind of biological clock. Therapists who work with middle-aged and older parents say fears about aging are nothing to laugh at. “They worry they’ll be mistaken for grandparents, or that they’ll need help getting up out of those little chairs in nursery school,” says Joann Galst, a New York psychologist. But at the core of those little fears there is often a much bigger one: “that they won’t be alive long enough to support and protect their child,” she says.

Many late-life parents, though, say their children came at just the right time. After marrying late and undergoing years of fertility (受孕) treatment, Marilyn Nolen and her husband. Randy, had twins. “We both wanted children,”says Marilyn, who was 55 when she gave birth. The twins have given the couple what they desired for years, “a sense of family.” Kids of older dads are often smarter, happier and more sociable because their fathers are more involved in their lives. “The dads are older, more mature,” says Dr. Silber, “and more ready to focus on parenting.”

36.Why do psychiatrists regard maturity as an asset in child rearing?

A) Older parents are often better prepared financially.

B) Older parents can take better care of their children.

C) Older parents are usually more experienced in bringing up their children.

D) Older parents can better balance their resources against children’s demands.

37.What does the author mean by saying “For many, retirement becomes an unobtainable dream” (Lines 7-8, Para. 1)?

A) They are reluctant to retire when they reach their retirement age.

B) They can’t obtain the retirement benefits they have dreamed of.

C) They can’t get full pension unless they work some extra years.

D) They have to go on working beyond their retirement age.

38.The author gives the example of Henry Metcalf to show that ________.

A) older parents should exercise more to keep up with their athletic children

B) many people are young in spirit despite their advanced age

C) older parents tend to be concerned about their aging bodies

D) taking afternoon naps is a good way to maintain energy

39.What’s the biggest fear of older parents according to New York psychologist Joan Galst?

A) Approaching of death.

B) Slowing down of their pace of life.

C) Being laughed at by other people.

D) Being mistaken for grandparents.

40.What do we learn about Marilyn and Randy Nolen?

A) They thought they were an example of successful fertility treatment.

B) Not until they reached middle age did they think of having children.

C) Not until they had the twins did they feel they had formed a family.

D) They believed that children born of older parents would be smarter.

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