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同学们，今天我们来学习一篇关于父母与工作压力的英语四级阅读文章。这篇文章探讨了现代家庭中父母工作压力对孩子的影响，以及如何缓解这些压力。通过这篇文章，我们不仅可以提高阅读理解能力，还能学到一些关于家庭与工作的英语表达。
When I was a kid, I never knew what my parents—or anyone else—did for a living. As far as I could tell, all grownups had mysterious jobs that involved drinking lots of coffee and arguing about Richard Nixon. If they had job-related stress, they kept it private. Now American families are expected to be more intimate. While this has resulted in a lot more hugs, "I love you," and attendance at kids' football games, unfortunately we parents also insist on sharing the frustrations of our work lives.
While we have complained about our jobs or fallen asleep in car-pool lines, our children have been noticing. They are worried about us. A new survey, "Ask the children," conducted by the Families and Work Institute of New York City, queried more than 1,000 kids between the ages of 8 and 18 about their parents' work lives. "If you were granted one wish to change the way your parents' work affected your life," the survey asked kids, "what would that wish be?" Most parents assumed that children would want more time with them, but only 10% did. Instead, the most common wish (among 34%) was that parents would be less stressed and tired by work.
Allison Kevin is the mother of three young children and a professional in the growing field of "work/ life quality", Kevin counsels employees who are overwhelmed by their work and family obligations to carefully review their commitments—not only at the office but at home and in the community too—and start paring them down. "It's not about getting up earlier in the morning so you can get more done," she says. "It's about saying no and making choices."
We can start by leaving work, and thoughts of work, behind as soon as we start the trip home. Do something to get yourself in a good mood, like listening to music, rather than returning calls on the cell phone. When you get home, change out of your work clothes, let the answering machine take your calls, and stay away from e-mail. When your kids ask about your day, tell them about something good that happened. (In the survey, 69% of moms said they liked their work, but only 42% of kids thought their mothers really did.)
Parents can also destress by cutting back on their children's activities. If keeping up with your kid's schedule is killing you, insist that he chooses between karate lessons and the theater troupe. Parents should also sneak away from work and family occasionally to have some fun. I keep a basketball in the trunk of my car. I might never be able to fix everything at work or at home, but at least I can work on my jump shot.
文章开头作者回忆了自己的童年，提到小时候并不知道父母的工作内容，也不了解他们的工作压力。然而，现代家庭更加亲密，父母不仅分享生活中的快乐，也会向孩子倾诉工作中的烦恼。孩子们因此感到担忧，他们最希望的是父母能够减少工作带来的压力和疲惫。
文章还提到，父母可以通过减少工作负担、调整家庭活动等方式来缓解压力，从而改善家庭关系。
mysterious (神秘的)
intimate (亲密的)
frustration (挫折)
query (询问)
overwhelmed (不堪重负的)
commitment (承诺)
paring down (减少)
destress (减压)
ambitious (有雄心的)
以下是文章后的五道选择题及其解析：
1. Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?
A. Kids Say: Chill. B. Kids Stress Parents.
C. Parents Complain about Work. D. Parents Get in Good Mood.
解析： 文章主要讨论孩子们对父母工作压力的担忧，以及他们希望父母能够减少压力。因此，最佳标题是 A. Kids Say: Chill.
2. The author mentions her own childhood experience to show that _______.
A. she never understood why her parents had odd jobs and argued about the president
B. she didn't know what her parents did to earn money to support the family when she was young
C. she did understand why the American became more and more close and hugged a lot
D. she could see that the American parents keep the stress and tiredness from work to themselves
解析： 作者提到自己童年时并不知道父母的工作内容，也不了解他们的工作压力。因此，正确答案是 B. she didn't know what her parents did to earn money to support the family when she was young。
3. We can infer from the second paragraph that nowadays the children _______.
A. are very anxious about their parents for their hard work
B. are looking forward to being with their parents
C. are very considerate about their parents
D. are very ambitious to change their parents' work
解析： 第二段提到孩子们对父母的工作压力感到担忧，因此可以推断出 A. are very anxious about their parents for their hard work。
4. The phrase "paring them down" in the third paragraph most likely means _______.
A. gathering the work and family duties together
B. matching the work quality to life quality
C. decreasing the defeating commitments
D. denying to fulfill their work and family obligations
解析： "paring them down" 的意思是减少负担，因此正确答案是 C. decreasing the defeating commitments。
5. Which of the following is NOT the way to destress the parents' heavy burden?
A. Forgetting about the job as soon as leaving the office.
B. Reducing participating the activities for the office.
C. Sharing with the children some happy experience.
D. Taking part more actively in community activities.
解析： 文章提到减少工作负担、调整家庭活动等方式来缓解压力，但并未提到积极参与社区活动。因此，正确答案是 D. Taking part more actively in community activities。
提示：在做阅读理解时，注意抓住文章的主旨和细节，结合上下文理解生词的含义。多练习，你的阅读能力一定会不断提高！
