Task3: A Woman Who Chose Not to Remarry
Script
After 17 years of marriage, my husband left me for my best friend, Monica. What I had feared most became reality: I became the single parent of two young children. My daughter grew increasingly unhappy. Seven-year-old Joanna had anxiety attacks when ever she was left alone for more than a few minutes. Five-year-old Sophie would vomit every meal. Under the psychological pressure, I thought about remarriage. My friends arranged dinner with single men and invited me to parties to meet the latest “someone special”.
But later I changed my mind. A colleague of mine said, “Second marriages usually end in divorce, and children are destroyed by it.” There is some truth in his words. Research published in 2004 showed that children in blended families were no more emotionally healthy than those in single-parent families.
Not long ago, my now-teenage daughter and I went to lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant. While eating, we talked about a friend of ours who was divorcing her second husband. We were worried about how the break would harm her three children, two of whom were struggling to get free of drugs. Joanna put down her fork and looked at me. “Mom, I’m glad you didn’t remarry,” she said. “If you had divorced again, I might have tried drugs or even consider suicide.” At that moment, I realized, once again, that singleness was right choice for me.
1. What was the speaker most afraid of?
2. Which of the following is NOT true?
3. What did the speaker’s colleague say?
4. Which of the following is true?
5. If the speaker had divorced again, what might her daughter, Joanna, have done?
Kes: 1C 2.A3. B 4.B 5.B
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