Text 1 The period of adolescence, i.e., the period between childhood and adulthood, may be

Text1

Theperiodofadolescence,i.e.,theperiodbetweenchildhoodandadulthood,maybelongorshort,dependingonsocialexpectationsandonsociety’sdefinitionastowhatconstitutesmaturityandadulthood.Inprimitivesocietiesadolescenceisfrequentlyarelativelyshortperiodoftime,whileinindustr ialsocietieswithpatternsofprolongededucationcoupledwithlawsagainstchildlabor,theperiodofadolescenceismuchlongerandmayincludemostoftheseconddecadeofone’slife.Furthermore,thelengthoftheadolescentperiodandthedefinitionofadulthoodstatusmayc

hangeinagivensocietyassocialandeconomicconditionschange.ExamplesofthistypeofchangearethedisappearanceofthefrontierinthelatterpartofthenineteenthcenturyintheUnitedStates,andmoreuniversally,theindustr ializationofanagriculturalsociety.

Inmodernsociety,ceremoniesforadolescencehavelosttheirformalrecognitionandsymbolicsignificanceandtherenolongerisagreementastowhatconstitutesinitiationceremonies.Socialoneshavebeenreplacedbyasequenceofstepsthatleadtoincreasedrecognitionandsocialstatus.Forexample,gradeschoolgraduation,highschoolgraduationandcollegegraduationconstitutesuchasequence,andwhileeachstepimpliescertainbehavioralchangesandsocialrecognition,thesignificanceofeachdependsonthesocio-economicstatusandtheeducationalambitionofthei

ndividual.Ceremoniesforadolescencehavealsobeenreplacedbylegaldefinitionsofstatusroles,right,privilegesandresponsibilities.Itisduringthenineyearsfromthetwelfthbirthdaytothetwenty-firstthattheprotectiveandrestr ictiveaspectsofchildhoodandminorstatusareremovedandadultprivilegesandresponsibilitiesaregranted.Thetwelve-year-oldisnolongerconsideredachildandhastopayfullfarefortr ain,airplane,theaterandmovietickets.Basically,theindividualatthisage

loseschildhoodprivilegeswithoutgainingsignificantadultr ights.Attheageofsixteentheadolescentisgrantedcertainadultr ightswhichincreaseshissocialstatusbyprovidinghimwithmorefreedomandchoices.Henowcanobtainadriver’slicense;hecanleavepublicschools;andhecanworkwithouttherestr ictionsofchildlaborlaws.Attheageofeighteenthelawprovidesadultr esponsibilitiesaswellasri

ghts;theyoungmancannowbeasoldier,buthealsocanmarrywithoutparentalpermission.Attheageoftwenty-onetheindividualobtainshisfulllegalrightsasanadult.Henowcanvote,hecanbuyliquor,hecanenterintofinancialcontr acts,andheisentitledtorunforpublicoffice.Noadditionalbasicrightsareacquiredasafunctionofageaftermajoritystatushasbeenattained.Noneoftheselegalpro

visionsdetermineatwhatpointadulthoodhasbeenreachedbuttheydopointtotheprolongedperiodofadolescence.

41.Theperiodofadolescenceismuchlongerinindustr ialsocietiesbecause________.

[A]thedefinitionofmaturityhaschanged

[B]theindustr ializedsocietyismoredeveloped

[C]moreeducationisprovidedandlawsagainstchildlaboraremade

[D]ceremoniesforadolescencehavelosttheirformalrecognitionandsymbolicsignificance

正确答案：C
41.[C]意为：人们所受的教育增多以及反童工法的制定根据题干直接定位到第一段第二句while…部分，它指出，（相对原始社会），工业社会中青春期变长有两方面的原因：教育期的延长和反童工法的制定。所以，正确选项为[C]。[A]的干扰来自于第一段第一句。它提到，“青春期的长短取决于不同社会对成熟和成年的定义”。接着第二句就比较了原始社会和工业化社会。从这两句其实我们可以推出这两种社会对成熟的定义必定不同。但第二句已经明确指出了具体原因，因此[C]为最佳答案。[B]工业化社会更加发达，文中未提。[D]是工业社会中关于青春期变化的现象，而非青春期变长的原因。