Question 23 is based on the recording you have just heard.

        I would like particularly to talk about the need to develop a new style of aging in our own society. (22) [Young people in this country have been accused of not caring for their parents the way they would have in the old country. ]And this is true. (23) [But it is also true that old people have been influenced by an American ideal of independence and autonomy.] So we live alone, perhaps on the verge of starvation, in time without friends. But we are independent. This standard American style has been forced on every ethnic group, although there are many groups for whom the ideal is not practical. It is a poor ideal and pursuing it does a great deal of harm. This ideal of independence also contains a tremendous amount of unselfishness.

        In talking to today’s young mothers, I have asked them what kind of grandmothers they think they are going to be. I hear devoted loving mothers say that when they are through raising their children, they have no intention of becoming grandmothers. (24) [They are astonished to hear that in most of the world, throughout most of its history, families have been three- or four-generation families, living under the same roof.] We have overemphasized the small family unit—father, mother, small children. We think it is wonderful if grandma and grandpa, if they’re still alive, can live alone. We have reached the point where we think the only thing we can do for our children is to stay out of their way. And the only thing we can do for our daughter-in-law is to see as little of her as possible. Old people’s nursing homes, even the best one, are filled with older people who believe the only thing they can do for their children is to look cheerful when they come to visit. (25) [So in the end, older people have to devote all their energies to not being a burden. ]

        We are beginning to see what a tremendous price we’ve paid for our emphasis on independence and autonomy. We’ve isolated old people and we’ve cut off the children from their grandparents. One of the reasons we have as bad a generation gap today as we do is that grandparents have stepped out. Young people are being deprived of the thing they need most—perspective—to know why their parents behave so peculiarly and why their grandparents say the things they do.

23. What does the speaker say about old people in the United States?（关于美国的老年人，讲话者说了什么？）

解析：D。录音开头在说完年轻人受到的指责后，转而表明老年人的思想：但老年人也确实受到了美国独立自主理念的影响。D项的a sense of对应录音中的an...ideal of，independence and autonomy属于原词复现，故D项为正确答案。

错项排除：A项利用录音中的perhaps on the verge of starvation的意思设置干扰，但这只是假设老年人在极端情况下，也有着愿意独立生活的意识，并没有说老年人难以独立生活，故A项错误。录音中并未提及老年人是否指望得到家人的照顾，也没有提及过去的美好时光，故B、C两项排除。