单选题 {{B}}Text 4{{/B}}
Women, according to Chairman Mao, hold up half the sky—but {{U}}in California some are better rewarded for this effort than others.{{/U}} According to a new study from the Public Policy Institute of California, Asian women born in the United States outstrip all their sisters in terms of earning power.
The average hourly wage for American-born Asian ladies in 2001 (the latest year with reliable figures) was $19.30, with American-born whites coming next. On the bottom rungs of the ladder came Latinas: if born abroad, they earned a mere $10.40 an hour (though this was comfortably above California's then $6.25 minimum wage); if born in America, they managed $15.10 an hour.
Education is the biggest reason for the ethnic disparities. Some 55% of California's American-born Asian women have at least a bachelor's degree, and an impressive 84% of them either have jobs or are looking for them. By contrast, only 14% of American-born Hispanic women have a bachelor's degree and only 74% of them are in the labour market. Meanwhile, Latinas born abroad are often condemned to low-paying jobs by an even inefficient education or a poor knowledge of English. Much the same can be said of Asian women born in South-East Asia, a category that includes refugees from Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. The institute calculates that they earned an average of $15.80, almost $1 less than other foreign-born Asians.
But education is not the only factor in play for California's women. Larger families make it more difficult for Latinas to go out to work in the first place; blacks often live too far away to commute to well-paid jobs; and just as Asians may benefit from high expectations, so other groups may suffer from low ones.
The institute makes an attempt, heroic or politically correct, to adjust for such factors, imagining, for example, that a foreign-born Latina has the same family structure, education and place of residence as the average Californian woman. That brings the average wage for foreign-born Latinas up to a more respectable $15.20; yet American-born Asians still {{U}}rule the roost{{/U}}. But before the golden girls get too happy, the institute reckons that Californian women of all sorts tend to earn roughly 20% less than their menfolk do.
单选题 What can be inferred from "...in California some are better rewarded for this effort than others"?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推理判断题。“…in California some are better rewarded for this effort than others”是接上文而说的，意思是“在加利福尼亚，有些妇女报酬要高一些”。这个others究竟指谁，要联系下文判断。下文马上举例说，在美国出生的亚裔妇女要比其姐妹们能挣钱，那么这个others指的应该是其他地方的妇女，故选D。
单选题 Which one is not the reason why American-born Asian women are paid better than Latinas?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推理判断题。从文章第三、四、五段中可以看出美国出生的亚裔妇女比拉美裔妇女工资高的主要原因是她们有良好的教育，其次还因为拉美裔妇女家庭规模大，居住地离工作地点很远，选项中只有C在文中没有提到，故选C。
单选题 In the following statements, which One is true about Latina born abroad?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】事实细节题。A不符合文意，文中并未提到她们受到不公正的待遇，只是由于一些客观原因薪水偏低；B也不正确，根据第二段“this was comfortably above California's then $6.25 minimum wage”，可以看出她们工资高于加州最低水平；第三段“Latinas born abroad are often condemned to low-paying jobs by an even inefficient education or a poor knowledge of English.”一句提到她们英语水平低，因此C是正确的；D项不正确，最后一段的研究表明，即使她们和一般的加州妇女条件一样，工资还是比亚裔妇女低。故选C。
单选题 What does it mean by "rule the roost "(Line 4, Last paragraph)?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】猜词题。根据文章前半部分，美国出生的亚裔妇女平均丁资为$19.30。即使拉丁裔妇女拥有相同的条件，还是有差距。因此，“That brings the average wage for foreign-born Latinas up to a more respectable $15.20；yet American-born Asians still rule the roost.”中，rule the boost的意思是“亚裔妇女工资独占鳌头”，D最为贴切。
单选题 Who are "the golden girls"?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推理判断题。文中最后一句话意思为“这些得宠的女性也不能高兴得太早，因为研究所认为所有加利福尼亚妇女比其男同事工资少20％”，这些golden girls就是幸运的人，也就是赚钱最多的，从上文中可以看出golden girls指的是American-born Asian women，故选B。