Marianne Hardwick was timid and unadventurous, her energy consumed by physical activity and longing, her intelligence by indecisiveness, but this had less to do with the inborn characteristics of her weaker sex ( as her father, Creighton Montgomery, called it)  than with the enfeebling(使人衰弱的)  circumstances of her upbringing. Creighton Montgomery had enough money to mould (塑造) his daughters according to his misconceptions that girls were not meant to fend for themselves so he protected them from life. What is to say is that Marianne Montgomery grew up without making any vital choices for herself. Prevented from acquiring the habits of freedom and strength of character which grow from decision-making, very rich girls, whose parents have the means to protect them in such a crippling fashion, are the last representatives of Victorian womanhood. Though they may have the boldest manners and most up-to-date ideas, they share their great grandmothers’ humble dependence.
Most parents these days have to rely on their force of personality and whatever love and respect they can inspire to exert any influence over their children at all, but there is still an awful lot of parental authority that big money can buy.  Multi- millionaires have more of everything than ordinary people, including more parent power, and their sons and daughters have about as much opportunity to develop according to their own inclinations(意向) as they would have had in the age of absolute monarchy (君主专制) .
The rich still have families. The great divide between the generations is the state of the lower and middle classes, whose children begin to drift away as soon as they are old enough to go to school. The parents cannot control the school, and have even less say as to what company and ideas the child will be exposed to; nor can they isolate him from the public mood, the spirit of the age. It is an often heard complaint of the middle-class mother, for instance, that she must let her children watch television for hours on end every day if she is to steal any time for herself. The rich have no such problems; they can keep their offspring busy from morning to night without being near them for a minute more than they choose to be, and can exercise almost total control over their environment.
As for schooling, they can handpick tutors with sound views to come to the children, who may never leave the grounds their parents own, in town, in the country, by the sea, unless for an exceptionally secure boarding school or a well- chaperoned (伴护着的)  trip abroad.  It would have been easier for little Marianne Montgomery to go to Cairo than to the nearest newsstand.
The author implies that Marianne Hardwick’s timidity were closely associated with ______.

A．the inborn characteristics of the weaker sex

B．the conditions where she was brought up

C．the consumption of her energy

D．her physical activity and longing

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．Rich girls always share their ideas with their grandmothers.

B．Wealthy children learn at home instead of going to school.

C．Middle-class mothers usually steal time for their children.

D．Rich parents may have more control over their children than the middle-class parents do

What can we know about Creighton Montgomery's daughters from the passage?

A．They did not have up-to-date ideas.

B．They were unintelligent.

C．They did not have much freedom.

D．They had no physical activity.

It can be learned from the passage that multimillionaires’ children have ______.

A．little opportunity to develop according to their own inclinations

B．absolute opportunity to develop according to their own inclinations

C．more opportunity to develop according to their own inclinations than ordinary children

D．as much opportunity to develop according to their own inclinations as ordinary children

What is the main idea of this passage?

A．The rich control their children's lives without being near them.

B．The generation gap only occurs in the lower and middle classes.

C．Rich parents have more authority over their children than poor parents.

D．Rich girls who are being overprotected by their parents are rather dependent.

科目 英语   题型 阅读理解   难度 中等

知识点： 日常生活类阅读