单选题 Empowering workers constitutes the first step toward a stronger economy and stronger citizenry. It is a vital step toward overcoming inequality in American society. During the 1980s, the need for better wages for all workers increased as women, traditionally secondary earners, assumed greater responsibility for their own and their children"s well-being. Yet the ability to raise families to a decent living standard through wage work decreased; real wages fell for most workers. And the Federal Government enacted no new policies to facilitate the integration of work and family, as working women and working families suffered a loss in political power as well.
Black Or Hispanic women are four times as likely to be low-wage workers as are white men with comparable skills and experience. White women are more than three times as likely as white men to be low-wage workers, and black or Hispanic men more than one-and-a-half times as likely. More than half of all low-wage workers are the only wage workers in their families, or live alone.
Employment no longer provides an escape from poverty. More than eight million working adults are poor; two million of them work full-time, year-round. More than seven million poor children have at least one working parent. When that one working parent is a low-wage worker, the children have no better chance of escaping from poverty than if the parent were not working at all; more than two-fifths of such children are poor.
Even if generous income assistance were available, the wages employers pay would be held to a minimum. In addition, policies such as tax credits for working parents do nothing to increase the political power of working women and men.
Our research shows that unionization is among the most effective strategies for raising pay, especially for women and minority men. Being a union member, or being covered by a collective-bargaining agreement, raised 1984 wages by $ 1.79 per hour for Hispanic men, $ 1.32 for black men, $ 1.26 for Hispanic women, $ 1.01 for black women, $ 0.68 for white women, and $ 0.41 for white men, when all other factors, such as occupation, industry, firm size, education and experience were held constant. In percentage terms, the union increase was more than 15 percent for blacks and Hispanics, 11 percent for white women, and 4 percent for white men.

单选题 During the 1980s, women started to play a more important role in

单选题 According to Paragraph 2, who are most likely to be poor?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 第二段第二句话对白人女性、白人男性、有色人种的女性、有色人种的男性的工资作了比较，根据该段内容可知，黑人或者西班牙裔的女性成为低工资劳动者的可能性要比具有同等技能和经验的白人男性高4倍。白人女性成为低工资劳动者的可能性要比白人男性高3倍，两种比较的参照标准都是白人男性，因此成为低工资劳动者可能性最高的人群是黑人或西班牙裔女性，她们属于有色人种，故选A。

单选题 According to Paragraph 3, having a job

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] A、D选项的内容在文中均没有体现，根据第三段第一句“Employment no longer provides an escape from poverty.”可知，就业不再意味着就可以摆脱贫穷，说明就业在以前可能可以摆脱贫穷，故B选项错误；根据第三段第三句“More than seven million poor children have at least one working parent.”可知，超过七百万贫穷孩子的父母至少有一方有工作，因此，父母有工作并不意味着孩子们会变得富有，故选C。

单选题 The term "unionization" (Line 1, Paragraph 5) refers to

单选题 What is the theme of the text?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 根据第一段第一句和第二句“Empowering workers constitutes the first step toward a stronger economy and sponger citizenry. It is a vital step toward overcoming inequality in American society.”可知，增加劳动者的自主权是繁荣经济和增强公民意识的第一步，而其对破除美国社会中的不平等现象至关重要，接下来通篇都在讲不同人种及性别之间工资的差异，所以本文主要是在讲述劳动者工资之间的不平等性，故选B。