They are regarded as chores by both sexes, but fall disproportionately on only one. The latest survey of time use in America suggests women still【C1】______most of the housework, spending on average an hour a day scrubbing, hoovering and shopping,【C2】______with barely 20 minutes for the unfairer sex. Standard【C3】______for this division of labour【C4】______on the pay gap between the sexes. A recent report shows women【C5】______earn about 20% less than men in America Couples can maximise earnings【C6】______the lower-paid(usually female)partner does the【C7】______work at home. But in a new paper Leslie Stratton of Virginia Commonwealth University asks【C8】______different attitudes to housework also play a【C9】______in sharing the dusting. Mr Stratton draws on data from the Time Use Survey in Britain,【C10】______shows how people spent their day and which tasks they enjoyed. Attitudes certainly【C11】______: women disliked laundry less than men. Ironing was generally dreaded; weirdly large numbers of both sexes liked shopping for food. Mr Stratton found some【C12】______for the pay-gap hypothesis. Women with higher wages did a little【C13】______work at home. A woman who earned 10% more than【C14】______ducked out of two minutes' housework per weekday. Her partner heroically【C15】______up this time at the weekend.【C16】______his wages made no difference【C17】______the extent of his efforts around the house. There is【C18】______in the idea that chores go to the lower-paid partner. But cause and effect are【C19】______. Do women do more【C20】______lower pay, or might their careers suffer from a disproportionate burden at home?
【答案解析】解析：上一段表明女方花在家务上的时间比男方多，本段即讲到这种情况跟男女收入差距的关系。空格所在句意为“最近的一项报告表明，美国女性收入______比男性低20%”。此空后一句提到the lower-paid(usually female)partner does the．．．work at home“收入较低的一方(通常为女方)做家里的活”，言下之意即女方的收入通常低于男方，由此可知本题不能填表示否定的词，可先排除A项never和D项hardly。C项gradually“渐渐地，日渐”常用于表述逐步转变的过程或状态，而文中说女性挣钱比男性少约20%，这里的比较给出具体的差值(20％)，并非描述一种渐变的动态过程，因此排除C项。B项still“仍然”表明女性现在的收人仍低于男性，符合上下文的语义逻辑。
【答案解析】解析：此空所在句大意为“收入较高的女性所做家务就——一些。”，后一句则用统计数据对该句进行说明。A woman who earned 10％more than…则对应Women with higher wages“收入较高的女性”，关键在于理解duck out of“避开”，ducked out of two minutes’house—work意即“做家务的时间会减少2分钟”，即她们所做的家务会少一点，由此推断此空选C项less。
单选题
【C14】
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】解析：10% more than表明这是一个数值的比较，跟“平均水平”作比较，符合逻辑，故选B项average“平均水平”合适。
【答案解析】解析：空格所在句的主句是There is——in the idea，后面的that引导从句作idea的同位语，表明idea的内容。文章最后两句由转折词But带出，对上述“收入差距导致男女家务分配的不相称”的观点提出了疑问，由此反推本句应该是对这一观念的肯定的、正面的陈述，故先排除A项doubt“怀疑”。B项advantage“优势，益处”，本文并没有描述这种观点有何优势，该项缺乏文章线索。C项belief“信任，信念”，通常指人的主观意念，此句为一个客观的陈述，不涉及某人的想法。D项truth“真理，事实，真实性”代入文中表示“这种……的想法有一定道理”，符合上下文语义。