Until the 1960's, almost everyone in the U. S. followed tradition and gave all the children in the same family the same last name or surname, as it is called. But during the 60's, young parents began giving their children strange names—names like Moonglow, Eternal Peace, and Sunshine. Some states passed laws controlling the names that parents could use. But after a court case in 1981, a federal judge ruled that parents are free to give any surnames they wish to their children.
So , for the last few decades , more parents are not giving their children the family 's sur- names .Some insist that while it ' s OK for a boy to have the father ' s family name, a girl should have the mother' s family name . Thus, Philip Gaylord and Pan Zimmitti could be brother and sister. Some parents think that using family surname is old —fashioned and boring. One couple gave their son the last name Sue because they like the Johnny Cash song," A Boy Named Sue." And finally, some parents think that giving their children different surnames is just a "neat thing to do". So the first son of a New York family has the last name Washington —Lincoln, after the two famous presidents. The daughter has the last name Anthony—Tubman after two women who fought for women's rights.
This change in naming customs presents two problems. First, if each person in the family has a different last name, family records will be very confusable. It will be hard to track a person's family, and record keeping will be difficult .Second, some physiologists are afraid that different surnames will threaten family unity. Since names have an important effect on one's identify (身份) , they think brothers and sisters will not feel connected if they have different last names.
So this problem of names will get worse as new and different last names increase. Get ready to meet Welcome Baby Darling , sister of Aren't We Glad , You ' re Here and It ' s About Time.
1．In America, ________to give children different surnames these days.
A．it is allowed by the law B．it breaks the law
C．it is one of the customs D．it is unusual
2．In the second paragraph of the passage a "neat thing to do" means________.
A．a good thing to do B．a terrible thing to do
C．a dirty filing to do D．a clean thing to do
3．According to some psychologists, the different last names will let brothers and sisters feel they
are________.
A．enemies B．as close as before
C．good fiends D．separated
4．From the last paragraph, we can see the author _____this change in naming customs.
A．is for B．is against C．doesn't care D．doesn't notice