These young adults established a trend of early marriage and relatively large families that went for more than two decades and caused a major but temporary __3__ reversal of long-term demographic patterns.
From the 1940s through the early 1960s, Americans married at a high rate and at a younger age than their __4__
Europe counterparts. __5__ Less noted but equally more significant, the men and women who formed __6__ families between 1940 and 1960 nevertheless reduced the divorce rate after a __7__ postwar peak; their marriages remained intact to a greater extent than did that of __8__ couples who married in earlier as well as later decades.
Since the United States __9__ maintained its dubious distinction of having the highest divorce rate in the world, the temporary decline in divorce did not occur in the same extent in Europe. __10__ Contrary to fears of the experts, the role of breadwinner and homemaker was not abandoned.
參考答案及解析:
1. 將height改為high/peak。
整句話的大意為他們把男女的婚齡降了下來，使出生率達到了20世紀的高峰。
high可以用作名詞，意為“高峰”，“高水準(zhǔn)”，“紀錄”。
height可以作“極點，頂點”解釋。例如：The height of cleverness is to conceal one’s cleverness。
2. 將第二個不定冠詞a 去掉。
steady decline 意為持續(xù)的下降，前面不用加冠詞。又如：years of hard work。根據(jù)語感可以判斷出來。
3. 在went后加on，或?qū)ent改為lasted。
此處是“持續(xù)”的意思，所以可以用went on 或者last來表達。
4. 將high改為higher。
此處意為美國人結(jié)婚率比以前提高了，有與戰(zhàn)前相比的意思，因此應(yīng)用比較級。
5. 將Europe改為European。
6. 刪掉more。此處的大意為戰(zhàn)后離婚率也下降了，這個現(xiàn)象不大有人注意，但同樣也很重要。另外，more與equally相矛盾。
7. 將nevertheless改為also或者刪掉nevertheless。
此處上下文之間不是轉(zhuǎn)折關(guān)系，而是遞進關(guān)系。
8. 將that 改為those。
此處的代詞應(yīng)指marriages這個復(fù)數(shù)名詞，因此應(yīng)用those。此處考察代詞與先行詞一致的問題。
9. 將Since改為Although/Though/While。此處是轉(zhuǎn)折關(guān)系，不是因果關(guān)系。
10. 將in改為to。短語to the extent是固定搭配。
