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It can be risky these days to suggest that there are any innate differences between men and women, other than those of anatomy. Out the window go the old notions about man and aggression, woman and submission (don’t even say the word), men and intellect, woman and instinct. If I observe that “my infant son prefers pushing a block along the floor while making car noises to cradling a doll in his arms and singing lullabies (and he does)—well, I can only conclude that, despite all our earnest attempts at nonsexist child-rearing, he has already all suffered environment contamination. Some of it, no doubt unwittingly, came from my husband and me, reared in the days when nobody winced if you recited that old saw about what little girls and boys are made of.
I do not believe, of course, that men are smarter, steadier, more high-minded than women. But or two notions are harder to shake – such as the idea that there is a thing as “men’s talk” or “women’s talk.” And that it’s natural instinct to seek out, on occasion, the company of one’s own sex, exclude members of the other sex and not feel guilty about it.
Oh, but we do. At a party I attended the other night, for instance, it suddenly became apparent that all the women were in one room and all the men were in the other. Immediately we redistributed ourselves, which was a shame. No one had suggested we segregate. The talk in the kitchen was simply, all the women felt, more interesting.
What was going in the kitchen was a particular sort of conversation that I love and that most men I know would wash and wax the car, change the oil filter and vacuum the upholstery to avoid. There is a way women talk in the company of other men. They are not at all the same.
In Paragraph 1, the author says, “It can be risky these days to suggest that there are any innate differences between men and women, other than those of anatomy.” Do you agree? Why?
I agree that it can be risky these days to suggest that there are any innate differences between men and women, other than those of anatomy. Because in a world eagerly pursuing equity, any statements about nonphysical differences between men and women would draw criticism.
（作者说到如今除了在解剖学领域，任何关于男女天生差异的话都相当危险。作者的话是有一定道理 的，在当今世界，男女平等一直是人们的追求。如果有人说关于男女生来就存在很大差异的话，极有可能 遭到多方批评和指责。）
What does “environmental contamination” (in Paragraph 1) mean? What is the figure of speech employed here?
Metaphor is employed. “Environmental contamination” here means the influence from environment.
（文章提到“...despite all our earnest attempts at nonsexist child-rearing, he has already all suffered environment contamination”，尽管我们尽力避免怀着性别差异的态度来抚养孩子，但我发现他已经受到 了“环境污染”。也就是说，作者的孩子不知不觉已经受到环境中的影响，开始有典型的男孩子行为。此处 将孩子被环境所影响的过程比作环境污染的过程。）
The author uses an anecdote in Paragraphs 3 and 4, what viewpoint does the anecdote support?
The anecdote supports that it’s natural instinct to seek out, on occasion, the company of one’s own sex, exclude members of the other sex and not feel guilty about it.
（文章第二段最后一句提到“...it’s natural instinct to seek out, on occasion, the company of one’s own sex, exclude members of the other sex and not feel guilty about it.”。紧接着第三、四段举了一个生活中的例子来支 持这一观点：聚会时总是女性在一个房间，男性在另一个房间；女性喜欢待在厨房，男性喜欢在外面洗车 等等。）