Many theories concerning the causes of juvenile delinquency(crimes committed by young people) focus either on the individual or on society as the major contributing influence. Theories (91) on the individual suggest that children engage in criminal behavior (92) they were not sufficiently penalized for previous misdeeds or that they have learned criminal behavior through (93) with others. Theories focusing on the role of society suggest that children commit crimes in (94) to their failure to rise above their socioeconomic status, (95) as a rejection of middle, class values.
Most theories of juvenile delinquency have focused on children from disadvantaged families, (96) the fact that children from wealthy homes also commit crimes. The latter may commit crimes (97) lack of adequate parental control. All theories, however, are tentative and are (98) to criticism.
Changes in the social structure may indirectly (99) juvenile crime rates. For example, changes in the economy that (100) to fewer job opportunities for youth and rising unemployment (101) make gainful employment increasingly difficult to obtain. The resulting discontent may in (102) lead more youths into criminal behavior.
Families have also (103) changes these years. More families consist of one-parent households or two working parents; (104) , children are likely to have less supervision at home (105) was common in the traditional family (106) . This lack of parental supervision is thought to be an influence on juvenile crime rates. Other (107) causes of offensive acts include frustration or failure in school, the increased (108) of drugs and alcohol, and the growing (109) of child abuse and child neglect. All these conditions tend to increase the probability of a child committing a criminal act, (110) a direct causal relationship has not yet been established.
A．return
B．reply
C．reference
D．response
参考答案：D
解析： 本题要求判断选项中哪个能与in...to构成短语并符合文意。首先排除return，因为它只与介词for搭配，构成短语in return for。其次，空格所在长句意为(强调社会角色的)理论认为，孩子们犯罪是他们自己没有成功地超越现有的社会经济地位的 (94) ，根据句意，可先排除C选项in reference to，因为它表示关于……、就……而言，填入空格后明显语义不通。最后对in reply to和in response to进行比较，区别这两个短语的关键在其中心名词reply和response。reply指回答，答复，如：in reply to the letters(回信)，而response多表示一种自发的反应。这个题目的正确选项应是in response to，因为孩子们犯罪是对自己没有成功地超越现有的社会经济地位的一种自发的、本能的反应行为。