Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following interview.
M: When most couples marry, they may discuss some things in advance, like how many children they want or where they want to live, but most of the day-to-day details and problems of married life are worked out after marriage. Not so with Steve and Karen Parsons, who have a fifteen-page prenuptial agreement that states the rules they must follow in almost every aspect of their married life. Today, Karen is here with us Karen, first I’d like to ask you why you decided to write this agreement. You’ve both been married before, am I right
F: Yes. I’ve been married twice, and Steve was married once before. So we have some experience about what goes wrong in a marriage.
M: And that’s why you wrote this agreement
F: Yes, we found that many problems happen when a person has different expectations from his or her spouse. We wanted to talk about everything openly and honestly before we started living together. Also, we both know how important it is to respect each other’s quirks. We’re all bothered by things that seem small to someone else. Like, it used to really bother me when my ex-hushand left his dirty clothes on the floor, so we put that in the agreement: "Dirty clothing must be put in the laundry bag. " Now Steve knows what my expectations are.
M: I’m sure that some people hearing this report will think that this contract isn’t very romantic.
F: Well, we disagree. We think it’s very romantic. This agreement shows that we sat down and talked and really tried to understand the other person. A lot of problems occur in a marriage because people don’t talk about what they want That’s right. When we disagree about something, we work out a solution that’s good for both of us. I’d much rather do that than get some "romantic" gift like flowers or candy.
M: Some of these rules sound like, well, a business agreement. Many of your rules concern money in some way … even the rules about having children.
F: In our experience, disagreements about money can cause a lot of problems, so we talked about how we want to spend our money and put that in the agreement as well.
M：So, do you spend a lot of time checking on each other to see if the rules are being followed
F：No, not at all. And we don’t argue about them, either. As a matter of fact, I think we spend less time arguing than most couples because we both know what the other person expects. We can spend our time doing things we enjoy and just being with each other.
M: What happens if one of you breaks a rule
F: We don’t think that will be a problem, no Because we’ve agreed on these rules.
M：But what if, say, you don’t want to cook dinner one night What happens
F: Well, we’ll talk about it and reach a compromise. Maybe there’s a good reason.
M：But if you break a lot of rules, all the time …
F: Then we have to ask. Is this marriage really working Because if we can’t follow our own agreement, there’s no point in making it.
M: So it sounds like you two are happy with this agreement. Do you think other couples should follow your example, and write prenuptial agreements of their own
F：It’s a lot of work to write an agreement, but I think it could be useful to a lot of people. Maybe there would be fewer divorces if everyone did this.
Question No. 11 About which of the following topics is the woman being interviewed
14().
A. The contract might bother some people.
B. The contract is very useful and romantic.
C. The contract doesn’t take much work to write.
D. The contract has to be certified by a lawyer.
