单选题 I don"t ever want to talk about being a woman scientist again. There was a time in my life when people asked constantly for stories about what it"s like to work in a field dominated by men. I was never very good at telling those stories because truthfully I never found them interesting. What I do find interesting is the origin of the universe, the shape of space-time and the nature of black holes.
At 19, when I began studying astrophysics, it did not bother me in the least to be the only woman in the classroom. But while earning my Ph. D. at MIT and then as a post-doctor doing space research, the issue started to bother me My every achievement—jobs, research papers, awards—was viewed through the lens of gender (性别) politics. So were my failures. Sometimes, when I was pushed into an argument on left brain versus (相对于) right brain, or nature versus nurture (培育), I would instantly fight fiercely on my behalf and all womankind.
Then one day a few years ago, out of my mouth came a sentence that would eventually become my reply to any and all provocations: I don"t talk about that anymore It took me 10 years to get back the confidence I had at 19 and to realize that I didn"t want to deal with gender issues. Why should sexism be yet another terrible burden on every female scientist? After all, I don"t study sociology or political theory.
Today I research and teach at Barnard, a women"s college in New York City. Recently, someone asked me how many of the 45 students in my class were women. You cannot imagine my satisfaction at being able to answer, 45.I know some of my students worry how they will manage their scientific research and a desire for children. And I don"t dismiss those concerns. Still, I don"t tell them "war" stories. Instead, I have given them this: the visual of their physics professor heavily pregnant doing physics experiments. And in turn they have given me the image of 45 women driven by a love of science. And that"s a sight worth talking about.
单选题 What the author finds interesting is ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题干意为“令作者感兴趣的是”。根据interesting一词定位至第一段最后一句,即作者感兴趣的是对天体物理学方面的研究。因此,B选项(她对天体物理学的研究)符合题意。故B为正确答案。
单选题 From Paragraph 2, we can infer that people would attribute the author"s failures to ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 推理题。题干意为“根据第二段,我们可以推断出,人们将作者的失败归咎于”。根据failures一词定位至第二段第四句,联系前一句可知,作者的失败与成功都会被人归咎于作者性别为女性。因此,A选项(作者是女性这一事实)符合题意,故A为正确答案。
单选题 While doing her Ph.D. and postdoctoral research, the author is bothered by ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题干意为“读博士和博士后期间,作者受到的困扰”。根据题干Ph.D. and post-doctoral research定位原文至第二段第二句,句中的the issue即指上句中的to be the only woman in the classroom。由此推知,困扰作者的是人们对女科学家持有偏见。C选项(人们对女科学家的歧视)与其意思一致,故C为正确答案。
单选题 The author feels great satisfaction when talking about her class because ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 推理题。题干意为“谈到她的授课班级时,作者感到莫大的欣慰是因为”。根据satisfaction一词定位至第四段第二、三句,由此推知,作者对班里有如此多的女同学从事科学研究感到欣慰。D选项(相比于从前有更多的女同学从事科学研究)与其意思一致,故D为正确答案。
单选题 In the last paragraph, the image the author presents to her students suggest ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 推理题。题干意为“在最后一段中,作者展现给她的学生的形象暗示了”。根据题干定位原文至最后一段,其中倒数第三句提到,作者试图呈现给学生的形象是为了消除第四句中提到的学生们的担心,即如何才能在做科学研究的同时照顾好孩子。C选项(女人能够协调好科研工作和家庭之间的关系)与其意思一致,故C为正确答案。