8 . Young adults in Singapore can often live with their parents into their 30s. They are encouraged by the government, which is fond of praising family values. Housing policy makes it difficult for young people to live independently. Almost 80% of Singaporeans live in subsidized (补助的) public housing. They cannot have a flat of their own until they marry or turn 35.
Yet a small but growing number of Singaporeans are resisting the nanny state (保姆式国家): Between 1990 and 2020, the number of those under 35 who lived alone or with non-family members grew from 33,400 to 51,300. Since they do not qualify for public housing, they must rent in the private sector. One factor is that Singaporeans are getting married later. In 1980, the average ages at which men and women married were 27 and 24; today, they are 30 and 29. A growing number choose not to marry at all. For others, it was COVID-19 that pushed them out of the nest. Serene Chee, a 25-year-old lawyer, did not greatly mind living with her parents until travel restrictions and work-from-home policies kept her stuck at home all the time. In June, Ms Chee and a friend moved into an apartment together.
Living on your own is not easy. First, you must inform your parents. It took Lydia Yang, an illustrator who was then 28, three months to gather the courage Then you must learn to pay bills and do basic chores. When Lenne Chai, a photographer, moved out seven years ago at the age of 23y she did not know how to cook.
Life on your own can be lonely. Ms Yang found it “a bit depressing”, particularly during the lockdown. But living apart may improve relationships. Both Ms Yang and Ms Chai said that they got on better with their parents after moving out. When living together, they paid each other little attention. Now their weekly visits are “quality time”, said Ms Chai. When Ms Chee’s parents came to her flat for dinner recently, they were impressed by how tidy it was.
1. What’s the attitude of the government to family values?
| A．Negative. | B．Supportive. | C．Objective. | D．Subjective. |
2. What makes it hard for young people to live by themselves?
| A．Housing policy. | B．The spread of COVID-19. |
| C．Parents’ disagreement. | D．The limited private apartments. |
3. What can we know from Paragraph 2?
| A．A growing number of people have enough money to hire nannies. |
| B．People need to rent houses because they have qualification for public housing. |
| C．More and more people don’t want to get married because of economic pressure. |
| D．COVID-19 is one of the reasons why many people don’t want to live with their parents. |
4. What is the last paragraph mainly about?
| A．The definition of “quality time”. | B．The positive effect of living alone. |
| C．The loneliness of living independently. | D．The parents’ attitude to children’s independence. |
