当提及六级听力时，尤其是英语六级真题听力，我们不禁会想起那些考验英语学习者听力理解能力的挑战。作为英语六级考试的重要组成部分，六级听力部分不仅要求考生能够捕捉和识别出基本的语言信息，更需要他们在有限的时间内对复杂的语境进行准确理解，并快速作出反应。小编为大家整理了2024年6月英语六级真题听力第一套Recording 2的内容，希望能对您有所帮助！

英文原文

Recording 2

录音2

As the American population grows, so does the number of American moms. But more than a century after Mother's Day became an official holiday, even as that number increases, the share of the American population who are mothers is at the lowest point in a quarter century. It's frequently noted that fertility rates are falling sharply in richer countries. But the less observed consequence of this trend is that a decline in births can also mean a decline in otherhood in general. According to my analysis of data from the Census Bureau, the decline of American motherhood is real, occurring very quickly, and may continue for some time. Yet, not only are moms making up less of the population, but their characteristics are changing too, and in a way that might be linked to their proportional decline.

随着美国人口的增长，美国妈妈的人数也在增加。但自母亲节成为官方节日的一个多世纪以来，尽管这一数字在增长，但美国人口中母亲的比例却降至25年来的最低点。人们经常注意到，富裕国家的生育率急剧下降。但这一趋势较少被观察到的后果是，出生率的下降也意味着整体“为人父母”的比例在下降。根据我对人口普查局数据的分析，美国母亲比例的下降是真实的，而且发生得非常迅速，并可能持续一段时间。然而，不仅母亲在总人口中所占的比例在下降，她们的特征也在发生变化，而且变化的方式可能与她们比例下降有关。

Moms today tend to be older than in the past. Just looking at recent years, the change in age-specific birth rates has been drastic. In just the past few years, the peak child-bearing age range for American women has advanced from that of 25 to 29 to that of 30 to 34. Meanwhile, child-bearing among women under 20 has fallen by half or more, while child-bearing among women 35 and older is rising. One positive consequence of this age shift is that a larger proportion of new mothers are economically prepared to raise children. Less positively, however, many women find that as they age, they can't have as many kids as they would like. Plus, having children later in life can increase the risk of health complications. These finer points aside, one major consequence of the older mom's trend is that fewer years of a woman's life are spent as a mother. This means that at any given time, a larger share of women, and thus of the whole population, will report not having children in government surveys. In other words, later motherhood means less motherhood.

如今的妈妈们往往比过去年纪大。仅从近几年来看，按年龄划分的生育率变化幅度很大。就在过去的几年里，美国女性的最佳生育年龄范围已经从25至29岁提高到30至34岁。与此同时，20岁以下女性的生育率下降了一半或更多，而35岁及以上女性的生育率却在上升。这一年龄转变的一个积极后果是，更大比例的新妈妈在经济上为抚养孩子做好了准备。然而，不太积极的是，许多女性发现，随着年龄的增长，她们无法拥有自己想要的孩子数量。此外，晚年生育可能会增加健康并发症的风险。抛开这些细微差别不谈，母亲年龄偏大的一个主要后果是，女性作为母亲的时间减少了。这意味着在任何时候，更大比例的女性，以及因此整个人口中更大比例的人，会在政府调查中报告自己没有孩子。换句话说，晚育意味着“为母”的时间更少。

Even as motherhood rates decline, Mother's Day, of course, will endure. In fact, despite the demographic shift, retail spending on the holiday appears to be rising. It is hard to say if Mother's Day spending is rising more than one would expect, given that the American population keeps growing. But one factor might be that the proportion of women who are the mothers of adult children is rising, and those adult children may spend more generously when it comes to celebrating the moms they no longer live with.

尽管母亲的比例在下降，但母亲节当然会延续下去。事实上，尽管人口结构发生了变化，但节日的零售支出似乎仍在上升。很难说清楚，考虑到美国人口持续增长，母亲节的支出是否比人们预期的增长得更多。但一个可能的因素是，身为成年子女母亲的女性比例在上升，而这些成年子女在庆祝不再一起生活的母亲时可能会更加慷慨。

Questions 19 to 21are based on the recording you have just heard.

问题19至21是基于您刚刚听到的录音。

Question 19: what does the speaker conclude from her analysis of the Census Bureau's data?

问题19：演讲者从她对人口普查局数据的分析中得出了什么结论？

Question 20: what does the speaker say is a positive consequence of the age shift in child bearing?

问题20：演讲者认为生育年龄变化的一个积极后果是什么？

Question 21: what might be one explanation for the rise in retail spending on Mother's Day?

问题21：母亲节零售消费增长的一个可能原因是什么？

2024年6月英语六级真题听力第一套Recording 2的发布，为考生提供了宝贵的备考资料，助力他们提升听力成绩，顺利通过考试。