单选题
In the rarefied world of the corporate board, a good network matters.
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often involves word-of-mouth recommendations: getting on a
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is easier if you have the right connections. New research suggests men use
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better than women.
Marie Lalanne and Paul Seabright of the Toulouse School of Economics
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the effect of a network on
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using a database of board members in Europe and America. They find that if you were to compare two executive directors,
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in every way except that one had 200 ex-colleagues now
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boards and the other 400, the latter,
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, would be paid 6% more. For non-executives the gap is 14%.
The really
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finding concerns the difference between the sexes. Among executive-board members, women earn 17% less than their male
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. There are plenty of plausible explanations for this
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, from interruptions to women"s careers to old-fashioned
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. But the authors find that this pay gap can be fully
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by the effect of executives" networks. Men can leverage a large network into more senior positions or a seat on a more
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board; women don"t seem to be able to.
Women could just have
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connections with members of their networks. "Women seem more inclined to build and rely on only a few strong relationships," says Mr. Seabright. Men are better at developing
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acquaintances into a network, and better at maintaining a high personal
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through these contacts. Women may, of course, also be hurt by the existing
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of men on boards and a male
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for filling executive positions with other men. But a tendency to think of other men first will be
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if talented women don"t stay on the radar.
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查名词词义辨析。空格处位于第二段首句。由此段第二句最后的“would be paid 6%more(所付报酬高出6%)”可以推断，此处作者用数字论证了人脉对薪酬的影响。选项C中remuneration意为“薪酬；酬劳”，符合文意，故为正确答案。
选项A中claim意为“索赔；索款”，选项B中reparation意为“赔偿；赔款”，二者都不是通过劳动所得的报酬，与文意不符，故排除；选项D中allowance意为“津贴；补助”，含有被救济的意思，也不符合此处的语境。
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查形容词词义辨析。空格处位于第二段第二句。本题的解题关键是理解句中的“in every way except that(在各个方面，除了……)”，就是说除了that后所指的不同方面，其他方面都是相同的，将选项A中identical代入空格处，句子意为“他们发现……，在各个方面都相同的条件下……”，符合正常逻辑，故该选项为正确答案。
选项B中similar意为“类似的”，表示仍含有细微的差异，在逻辑上不够严谨；选项C中differential意为“差异的”，与文意相反；选项D中distinctive表示“有特色的”，既然每个方面都各有特点，那就无需比较了，故也应排除。
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查动词词组辨析。空格处位于第二段第二句。由前一句中的状语“using a database of board members(利用董事会成员的数据)”可以推断此处的比较对象也是董事会成员。选项B中sit on意为“成为……的一员”，与boards搭配意为“成为董事会成员”，符合文意，故为正确答案。
选项A中sit by意为“坐视不管，无动于衷”，选项C中sit for意为“为……做模特”，均与文中主题无关，故排除；选项D中sit in一般与on构成固定搭配“sit in on sth.”，意为“列席(会议)；旁听(课)”，故也应排除。
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 本题考查词组辨析。空格处位于第二段第二句。由空格后的would可知，薪酬的比较结果只是一个大概的数据，选项D中on average意为“平均”，将其代入空格处，符合文意，故为正确答案。
选项A中in common意为“共有(的)”，与文中“比拥有200位类似同事的人薪酬高出6%”相矛盾，故排除；选项B中by contrast意为“相比之下，与之相比”，与该句中的“compare two executive directors(将两位执行董事进行比较)”的表述重复，故排除；选项C中at hand意为“在手头；即将发生”，与文意无关，故排除。