单选题
A full-time job doesn't have to destroy all
hope of family dinners or afternoon playtime. Women can increase
their chances of getting on the new mommy track through successful negotiation
both at work and at home. After lawyer Lindsay Androski Kelly,
30, decided she would work only at a firm that allowed flexible hours, she
specifically asked about family-friendly policies during job interviews. While
Kelly's approach worked for her, Michelle Goodman, warns against asking for
flexibility too early, before proving oneself on the job. "You do need to pay
your dues a little bit," she says. She recommends researching companies ahead of
time to find out whether they're known for family-friendly
arrangements. Pat Katepoo, founder of WorkOptions.com, which
offers guidance on achieving customized work arrangements, suggests first
pitching a trial period. "Even if supervisors are nervous about a nontraditional
arrangement, they will feel some sense of control if there's a backdoor option
for stopping it." Putting the proposal in writing with clear explanations of how
the job will still get done also helps, Katepoo says. In her experience, if
employees have worked for a manager for at least one to two years, are reliable
performers, and have a trusting relationship with their manager, they have an 80
percent chance of at least getting a trial period. Regardless
of the schedule, setting boundaries-such as having a policy against meetings
after 5 p.m. -is key, says Mary Ann Mason, co-author of Mothers on the Fast
Track: How a New Generation Can Balance Family and Careers. She also urges women
not to wait too long before having children. For some fields, especially those
that require extensive training such as academia or medicine, it's easier to
have small children earlier, rather than during what Mason calls the "make
or break" years between ages 30 and 40. Women working in
low-skilled jobs, on the other hand, usually find flexibility only by lucking
into employers who accept it, says Leslie Morgan Steiner, editor of Mommy
Wars. "Men and women at the lowest income levels don't have any leverage,"
she says. Women across the economic spectrum benefit from
support at home. Leslie Bennetts, author of The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving
Up Too Much?, encourages women to find a way to continue working throughout
motherhood: "Women must insist that their husbands share everything." Many
women appear to be doing just that: A University of Maryland study found that
the time men spent on housework almost doubled between the 1960s and 1990s, by
which time they were doing one third of it.
单选题
"New mommy track" in the first paragraph is probably featured as
A. achieving great success in the negotiation work.
B. striking the balance between family life and full-time job.
C. increasing their chances of getting a full-time job.
D. avoiding wasting time in fancily dinners and afternoon
playtime.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】
单选题
By saying "You do need to pay your dues a little bit" (Lines 4-5,
Paragraph 2), Michelle memos that women
A. have to learn to live on their own by paying bills themselves.
B. should ask for flexible hours once they apply for the job.
C. must work hard to prove themselves before asking for flexibility.
D. must pay attention to the family-friendly policies during job
interviews.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】
单选题
According to Pat Katepoo, women are more likely to get a trial period
when they
A. keep on asking the manager for a trial period.
B. provide backdoor options to the manager.
C. explain how they will get the job done to the manager.
D. perform well and win the trust from the manager.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】
单选题
Which of the following is true according to the text?
A. Mary Ann Mason urges women to have children earlier.
B. Steiner holds that women working in low-skilled jobs can't have any
flexible hours.
C. Pat Katepoo believes that setting boundaries in the working place is very
important.
D. Michelle Goodman encourages women to ask for flexibility as soon as
possible.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】
单选题
Leslie Bennetts' comments suggest that working women
A. should give up working throughout motherhood.
B. must let their husbands do everything in the family.
C. must let their husbands double the time they spend on housework.
D. should let their husbands share housework in the family.