单选题 The girls in their sixth grade class in East Palo Alto, California, all have the same access to computers as boys. But researchers say, by the time they get to high school, they are victims of what the researchers call a major new gender (性别) gap in technology. Janice Weinman of the American Association of University Women says, "Girls tend to be less comfortable than boys with the computer. They use it more for word processing rather than for problem solving, rather than to discover new ways in which to understand information."
After re-examining a thousand studies, the American Association of University Women researchers found that girls make up only a small percentage of students in computer science classes. Girls consistently rate themselves significantly lower than boys in their ability and confidence in using computers. And they use computers less often than boys outside the classroom.
An instructor of a computer lab says he"s already noticed some differences. Charles Cheadle of Cesar Chavez School says, "Boys are not so afraid they might do something that will harm the computer, whereas girls are afraid they might break it somehow."
Six years ago, the software company Purple Moon noticed that girls" computer usage was falling behind boys. Karen Gould says, "The number one reason girls told us they don"t like computer games is not that they"re too violent, or too competitive. Girls just said they"re incredibly boring."
Purple Moon says it found what girls want, characters they can relate to and story lines relative to what"s going on in their own lives. Karen Gould of Purple Moon Software says, "What we definitely found from girls is that there is no intrinsic (固有的) reason why they wouldn"t want to play on a computer; it was just a content thing."
The sponsor of the study says it all boils down to this: the technology gender gap that separates the girls from the boys must be closed if women are to compete effectively with men in the 21st century.

单选题 According to the passage, girls are victims of the gender gap in technology because ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。答案在第一段。由“...by the time they get to high school, they are victims of what the researchers call a major new gender (性别) gap in technology. ”和“Gills tend to be less comfortable than boys with the computer. ”可知C为正确选项。A和D为具体细节，是针对这一原因的进一步说明。而根据文章第一句可知在六年级的时候女孩和男孩在计算机方面机会相同，而到高中以后就不是这样了，故B也可排除。

单选题 Girls often feel ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。根据第四段最后一句可知，女孩不喜欢电脑游戏，不是因为觉得太暴力、竞争性太强，而是她们觉得电脑游戏太无聊(boring)，故A为正确选项。B选项可根据上题分析排除掉。而根据第一段的最后一句可知，女孩们使用计算机更多的是进行文字处理，故C可排除。而D选项是最大的一个干扰项，由文章第三段的最后一句可知，女孩在使用计算机时老是担心会把它弄坏，而选项D是说女孩担心使用计算机，这是一种偷换概念。

单选题 The research on girls and computers is ______.

单选题 The software company seems to think ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 推断题。答案可从第四段和第五段得出。如第五段最后一句“What we definitely found from girls is that there is no intrinsic (固有的) reason why they wouldn"t want to play on a computer; it was just a content thing. (这家软件公司通过对女孩的了解发现，女孩不喜欢玩电脑游戏并不是因为某些固定的原因，而是她们认为这只是游戏的内容问题。)”。故可推知软件公司似乎认为：如果他们改变了游戏软件的内容的话，女孩可能会对其更感兴趣。故C为正确选项。

单选题 The gender gap needs to be closed because ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。答案在最后一段的最后一句“the technology gender gap that separates the girls from the boys must be closed if women are to compete effectively with men in the 21st century. ”，本句意为“如果女性想要在21世纪的竞争中取得优势的话，这种由于性别的不同而产生的技术鸿沟必须得到消除”，言外之意就是在21世纪应用计算机的能力非常重要。故答案为D。