Question

【题目】Women are overtaking men in education and in the workplace, a senior Government minister said yesterday – creating a new generation of stay-at-home fathers.

Universities minister David Willetts predicted relationships and traditional household structures will be transformed as the female’s power ahead, and women earn more than their male partners.

Successful women will have to “marry down” by choosing partners less qualified than them – and may increasingly select men based on how supportive they might be to their careers, rather than whether they can support them financially.

And experts say women will often become the main breadwinners, with more men staying at home to look after children. Mr. Willetts said there was clear evidence from schools that boys are “lagging behind”, and are being overtaken by female students at university．He said: “I am not against women having those advantages but there is now a rather striking gap, if you look at the statistics, where it looks as if approximately 50 percent of women are graduating from university by the time they’re 30 and perhaps about 40 percent of men.” He added: “It may lead to changes in the patterns of household living．So there are some deep questions here.” The Philadelphia-based Pew Research Centre study, published in The Atlantic magazine, suggests female graduates are being put in similar situation to that faced for some time by black women．In America, 70 percent of black women have no husband and there are twice as many black women as black men with university degrees.

Many educated British women believe there is already a dearth of traditional husbands．Claire Davis, 33, who works in financial services and lives in south London, told The Times: “I have a good job and my own flat and I can pretty much do what I want, but a lot of them I meet aren't really of the right quality. If I look at the friends I went to university with, the men don't tend to be doing as well as the women.”

【1】David Willetts’ attitude toward women’s overtaking men in education and in the workplace could be described as .

A．worried B．positive

C．supportive D．excited

【2】Claire Davis’ example is used to indicate that .

A．a lot of women prefer to be single

B．black women do not want to be married

C．women are less excellent than men in general

D．excellent women have difficulty in looking for a good husband

【3】The underlined word “dearth” in the last paragraph most probably means .

A．shortage B．respect

C．oversupply D．pride

【4】The best title of this passage would probably be .

A．Successful Women Forced to “Marry Down”

B．A Poor Generation of Stay-at-home Fathers

C．The Marriages’ Influence on Economy

D．The Advantages of the Traditional Family Pattern

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】A

【2】D

【3】A

【4】A

【解析】

试题分析：文章通过调查告诉我们：女性在教育和工作方面超过男性，以至于很难找到同等优秀的丈夫而不得不下嫁。这一现象让专家担忧。

【1】A推理判断题。 A．worried 担忧的；B．positive 肯定的；C．supportive支持的； D．excited兴奋的。根据第四段He said: “I am not against women having those advantages but there is now a rather striking gap可知David Willetts对女性在教育和工作方面强于男性这一社会现实表示担忧，故选A.

【2】D推理判断题。根据最后一段Claire Davis, 33, who works in financial services and lives in south London, told The Times: “I have a good job and my own flat and I can pretty much do what I want, but a lot of them I meet aren't really of the right quality. If I look at the friends I went to university with, the men don't tend to be doing as well as the women.”可知Claire Davis很优秀，但她发现很难找到优秀的男士，故选D.

【3】A猜测词义题。A．shortage缺乏；B．respect 尊敬；C．oversupply供给过多；D．pride骄傲。句中dearth的意思是：缺乏。句意：许多受过教育的英国女性认为已经出现了传统丈夫的缺乏现象，根据句意选A.

【4】A主旨大意题。根据文意可知文章讲述了一个事实：女性在教育和工作方面超过男性，以至于很难找到同等优秀的丈夫而不得不下嫁。A项符合文意起概括作用，故选A.