Lesson 9

Answers to the Questions

V. 1. C 2. B 3. C 4. A 5. A

VI.

1．One third of the kids in the U.S. are now born illegitimate. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan offers the single scariest pre-diction about the U.S. future: Early in the next century, unless they change, 1 out of every 2 American children will be born out of wedlock. Illegitimacy rates have already soared past the 50 percent mark in seven of the U.S. 20 largest cities: Balti-more, Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Washington.

2．Compared with adolescents in two-parent households, the children with single parents are twice as likely to drop out of high school and twice as likely to have a child before the age of 20. About half of them live in poverty, and startling numbers grow up amid violence, drugs and sexual abuse.

3．To fix the welfare mess, the U.S. should demand more re-sponsibility on the part of recipients and make short-term in-vestments in the recipients'future.

4．People need greater wisdom in their approach to illegitimacy. The whole society should be pressing forward on many fronts, searching for answers they haven't yet found. Certainly, far more emphasis must be placed upon fatherhood. Child care must be dramatically improved, parenting skills must be taught and job opportunities must be expanded.

5．The more immediate solution to illegitimacy is welfare reform. The U.S. government should grant governors more responsibility and insist that welfare recipients become more self-reliant, but also be prepared to spend more money and exercise more national leadership.

Outline

I. The marshmallow test (Paragraphs 1-3)

(1) The way of the test

(2) Stanford's application of the test and findings

(3) The importance of the early home years

II. Situation for huge numbers of kids (Paragraphs 4-5)

(1) Sharp increase of illegitimates

(2) Grave consequences for kids growing up with single parents

III. Discussion about the solutions to the problem (Paragraphs 6-8)

(1) No clear solution to unwed motherhood at present

(2) The effect of the Welfare Reform Bill: Doing exactly the opposite

(3) The idea of turning welfare over to the states Result: shrinking of children's benefits in many states

IV. Author's suggestion (Paragraphs 9-10)

(1) Emphasis on fatherhood

(2) Getting it right on welfare reform