Parents have to do much less for their children today than they used to do, and home has become much less of a workshop. Clothes can be bought ready made, washing can go to the laundry, food can be bought cooked, canned or preserved, bread is baked and delivered by the baker², milk arrives on the doorstep, meals can be had at the restaurant, the workers' canteen (食堂), and the school dining-room.

It is unusual now for father to pursue³ (从事) his trade or other employment⁴ at home, and his children rarely, if ever, see him at his place of work. Boys are therefore seldom trained to follow their father's occupation, and in many towns they have a fairly wide choice of employment and so do girls. The young wage-earner often earns good money, and soon acquires a feeling of economic indepen-dence. In textile⁵ (纺织的) areas it has long been customary⁶ for mothers to go out to work, but this practice has become so widespread that the working mother is now a not unusual factor in a child's home life, the number of married women in employment having more than doubled in the last twenty-five years. With. mother earning and his older children drawing substantial⁷ wages, father is seldom the dominant⁸ (支配的) figure that he still was at the beginning of the century. When mother works¹, eco-nomic advantages increase, but children lose something of great value if mother's employment prevents her from being home to greet them when they return from school.

1. The writer compares home to a workshop because _____.

A. fathers often pursue employment at home

B. parents have to make food and necessity⁹ themselves for their daily-life

C. many families produce goods at home for sale

D. both fathers and mothers in most families are workers

2. The writer says that home has become much less of a workshop. He means _____.

A. in the past, home was more like a workshop

B. home is much more of a workshop now

C. home workshops are becoming fewer and fewer

D. home was less like a workshop in the past

3. The chief reason that boys are seldom trained to follow their father's occupation is _____.

A. that children nowadays rarely see their fathers at their place of work

B. that fathers do not like to pursue employment at home any more

C. that there is a wide choice of employment for children

D. that children also like to have jobs outside

4. What makes father no longer be the only dominant person in a family?

A. With their earning, mother and children do not need to depend on father for their life.

B. There are many choices of employment for mothers and children.

C. Father does much less for his children today than he used to-

D. The number of married women in employment has increased greatly now.

KEY: 1-4 CACA