More and more Americans are living alone. Some live alone because of divorce or the death of a partner. _ 1 _According to a recent U. S. census (人口普查)， 25 percent of all households in the U. S. are made up of just one person. This is a dramatic change from the extended families of just a couple of generations ago.

　　The typical person living alone is neither old nor lonely. __2 __The majority of these people have chosen to live alone. They are responding to decreasing social pressure to get married and have a family.

　　It's now socially acceptable， even fashionable， to live alone. As people get better jobs and become financially independent， it becomes possible for them to maintain a one-person household. __3__However， people who do get married are marrying at a later age and divorcing more often.

　　The number one reason given by most people for living alone is that they simply enjoy doing what they want when they want to do it. "Living alone is a luxury，" says Nina Hagiwara， 338. "Once you do it， you can't ever go back to living with others." David C-Debaca， 46， agrees. __4 __

　　Children think that being grown up means being able to do exactly as they please. __5 __ The chance to discover whether that freedom is as wonderful as it sounds is a chance more and more Americans are taking.

　　A There's more pressure to get married nowadays.

　　B The growing number of women with good jobs has done much to increase the number of people living alone.

　　C However， even more people are living alone because they have chosen to.

　　D It seems that many grown-ups today are realizing that childhood dream.

　　E In facts， a quarter of the 23 million single people in the U. S. are under the age of 35.

　　F He says， "I like being by myself.

　　参考答案： C　 E　 B　 F　 D

　　答案解析：

　　1.在第一段开始，作者就提到"越来越多的美国人过着单身生活"，紧接着后面讲述了"Some live alone because of divorce or the death of a partner""一些人过着单身生活的原因是离婚或者配偶的去世。"在ABCDEF这几个选项中，只有C选项与前文相照应，因为C选项提到了美国人过单身生活的其他原因。所以答案选择C.

　　2.从第二段的第一句话，我们不难看出本段叙述单身生活的人群。第一句话指出"典型的单身者既不是老年人也不是离异者"，那么在其后面肯定是讲这些典型的单身者到底是谁。在几个选项里面，只有E提到了人群，即"事实上，在美国，2300万单身者中，有四分之一的人处于35岁以下".故答案选择E.

　　3.第三题可以用排除法解决。首先本段主要讲，单身生活被社会所接受以及各种成因，主要是因为人们得到了更好地工作，经济上更加独立等。不过文中没有提及pressure(压力)，childhood dream(儿时梦想)，故排除A和D;而F中的He没有前后呼应的主语，故将其排除。只有B选项与本段内容相符。

　　4.第四段的倒数第二句话提到了一个人物David C-Debaca，所以能与人物相呼应的只有F选项中的He.

　　5.第五段一开始便提到了children，所以在几个选项中不难看出只有D与之有关，因为D选项提到了Childhood dream.