单选题 Of the world"s 774m illiterate adults two-thirds are women, a share that has remained unchanged for the past two decades. But girls everywhere are beginning to catch up. Across the emerging world, 78% of them are now at primary school, an only slightly smaller proportion than boys (82%). At secondary level enrolment remains lower and girls are further behind, but things are getting better there too.
The big surprise of the past few decades has been women"s huge advance into tertiary education. Across rich countries the share of those aged over 25 who have had some form of higher education is now 33%, against 28% of men in the same age group. Even in many developing regions they make up a majority of students in higher education.
It is too soon to feel sorry for men. Although women now earn more first degrees, they mostly still get fewer PhDs, and if they stay on in academia they are promoted more slowly than men. Many of them are put off by the way the academic promotion system works, explains Lotte Bailyn, a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management. To get ahead, young hopefuls have to put in a huge amount of time and effort just when many women start to think about having a family, so they do not apply for senior posts. Ms Bailyn approvingly notes the recent decision by America"s National Science Foundation, which funds a big chunk of the universities" basic research, to allow grant recipients to take a break.
Crucially, women"s lead at first-degree level does not so far seem to have translated into better job opportunities. In a paper published earlier this year Ina Ganguli of Harvard"s Kennedy School of Government concluded that the achievement of educational parity is a "cheque in the mail" that may presage more women joining the labor force, but lots of other factors—such as cultural attitudes and the availability of child care—also play a part. On its own, educational parity—even superiority—is not enough.
Women may not be helping themselves by concentrating heavily on subjects that set them apart from men. In rich countries they account for over 70% of degrees in humanities and health, whereas the vast majority of degrees in mathematics and engineering go to men. Women with humanities degrees are less likely to be in demand for jobs in high-tech industries, which tend to pay well. At postgraduate level the gap between subjects gets even bigger. And on MBA courses, the classic avenue to senior corporate jobs, women make up only about a third of the students.
Such differences between males and females show up quite early in life, but not nearly big enough to explain the huge differences in the choice of subject at university level. The OECD"s PISA researchers conclude that the choices have little to do with ability and may well be influenced by ingrained stereotypes. That would help to explain why they vary so much from country to country. In Japan women are awarded only 11% of all degrees in engineering, manufacturing and construction; in Indonesia their share is exactly half.

单选题 Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】判断题
[解析] 文章当中出现了很多男女教育数据方面的比较，因此很容易出现判断题。本题四个选项集中对文章前三段的内容进行考查。A错误，文章第二段中指出，女性在接受高等教育方面取得了令人瞩目的成就。在发达国家，25岁左右的受过高等教育的女性人数占33%，而同一年龄段的男性这一比例仅为28%。即使是在许多发展中国家，接受高等教育的学生中女性也占到了大多数。因此说发达国家接受高等教育的女性数量超过发展中国家不正确。B正确，虽然文章指出在女性接受高等教育方面有了显著的进步，甚至有超越男性的趋势，但是取得博士学位的女性人数仍然低于男性(Although women now earn more first degrees, they mostly still get fewer PhDs)。C错误，文章第一段第一句话提到“Of the world"s 774m illiterate adults two-thirds are women, a share that has remained unchanged for the past two decades”。全世界的文盲人口中有三分之二是女性，这一比率在过去20年中基本没有改变，并不是说全世界的文盲率在过去20年中没有改变。D错误，文章第一段指出，在新兴国家，78%的女性都能够接受小学阶段的教育，这一比例仅略低于男性比例。而中学阶段的入学率数据显示受教育女性所占比例远低于男性。因此男女在小学和中学阶段的入学率仍有差异，而不是机会均等。

单选题 One recent decision made by America"s National Science Foundation may change the unfavorable situation for females in academic promotion because ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】细节事实题
[解析] 根据题干的关键词America"s National Science Foundation锁定文章第三段的内容。文章第三段对女性在学术晋升中面临的劣势做了简单的介绍。为了职称晋升，年轻的学者们必须在人生的黄金年龄段投入大量的时间和精力搞研究，而在这个阶段恰恰是女性考虑结婚生子的阶段，这严重影响了女性的晋升速度。而美国国家科学基金会最近的一项决策受到了很多女性的欢迎，因为它允许经费申请人在完成项目的过程中提出暂停申请(...to allow grant recipients to take a break)。灵活的项目完成时间表能够帮助女性在完成学术研究的同时兼顾家庭责任，因此本题的正确答案应该选D。A错误，它利用原文中的funds a big chunk of the universities" basic research设置干扰，这个短语在原文中做定语修饰国家科学基金会，该基金会为多所大学的大量基础研究提供资金，和在女性经常从事的领域投放资金没有任何关系。B错误，国家科学基金的做法并没有彻底改变大学晋升机制。C错误，原文中并没有提到申请基金的年龄限制这个问题。

单选题 By comparing education parity to a "cheque in the marl", Ina Ganguli means that ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】句子理解题
[解析] 根据题干的人名和考查的短语锁定文章第四段的内容。安娜·甘谷丽的研究显示教育机会均等取得的成就好像是a cheque in the mail，这里甘谷丽将educational party比为cheque in the mail的意思是说，教育机会均等就好像是一张“还未兑现”的支票，有更多的女性接受教育长期来看必然会提升女性的就业人数，但是短期内是否见效不得而知，因为社会的歧视和家庭的责任也可能阻碍女性就业的步伐。因此本题的正确答案应该选B。A错在financial payback这个短语，这里甘谷丽讨论的是女性就业人数的问题，而不是教育机会均等带来的经济回报的问题。C错误，虽然第四段的第一句话指出women"s lead at first-degree level does not so far seem to have translated into better job opportunities，“女性在学历水平方面取得的进步还没有转化为更好的工作机会”，但是男女面对同一份工作时的竞争力并不是甘谷丽这里主要想说明的问题。D错误，the benefits in disguised forms和the cheque in the mail是两个意思完全不同的短语，前者指的是“以隐蔽的形式得到的回报(塞翁失马，焉知非福)”，而后者指“未兑现的承诺或好处”。

单选题 The article mentions the following gaps between male and female in education over rich countries except that ______.

单选题 The contrast between Japanese women and Indonesian women in the last paragraph suggests that ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】例证题
[解析] 文章倒数第二段提到了男女在专业选择方面表现出的倾向性，最后一段集中讨论这种倾向性出现的原因。在作者看来，男女之间确实存在学科优势方面的差异，但是这种差异绝对还没有大到左右男女专业选择的倾向的地步。为了说明到底是哪种因素在男女专业选择方面起到了决定性作用，作者列举了日本和印度尼西亚的数据。在日本，拥有工程、制造和建筑学位的女性仅占11%，而在印度尼西亚女性恰好占一半。数据的对比说明了“the choices have little to do with ability and may well be influenced by ingrained stereotypes”，“选择的差异性与能力基本无关，可能跟根深蒂固的传统观念有关”。因此，本题的正确答案应该选D。A错误，国与国之间在女性选择专业方面出现如此大的差异，绝对不可能是由于能力造成的，只可能是文化的影响。B错误，男女偏科的问题各国皆有，但是男女擅长不同的科目对他们选择专业的影响在各国就不尽相同。C利用culture一词设置干扰，原文讨论的是文化对于女性选择专业的影响，而不是文化对女性在与数学科学相关的科目上表现不尽如人意的影响。