Question

【题目】 Ladies, if you find yourselves wandering an unknown city with a man who is questioning your directional abilities, don’t doubt yourselves.

A recent small study published in the journal Psychological Science found that the longstanding theory that women have a more difficult time reading maps wasn’t true.

Historically, men have performed better than women in studies that tested their spatial(空间的)ability. But the leading study author Margaret Tarampi and a researcher from the University of California, Santa Barbara theorized that social influences had an effect on this outcome: The cultural belief that women are worse at reading maps could be seen as a stereotype(固有模式) threat, meaning women believe they’re bad at something, so they perform poorly as a result. The researchers also theorized that women performed better at skills that involve a social element. In other words, if reading a map means helping someone else, they might perform better.

Tarampi and her team tested both theories on undergraduate students at UCSB across three separate experiments. And, indeed, the results showed that men scored better than women only when they were mentioned the stereotype of male superiority before the test.

When the researchers did not mention it and gave a social context for reading the map, women’s scores improved across the board. Women also performed better when the test maps simply included human figures, rather than just random objects and landmarks.

So ladies, next time you struggle to figure out whether you should make a left or right at the Louvre, take out your tourist map with a healthy dose of confidence.

【1】What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

A.To warn women of one of their shortcomings.

B.To introduce the topic of the passage.

C.To encourage women to read maps.

D.To state a social phenomenon.

【2】Women are thought to be worse at reading maps because of .

A.a poor sense of directionB.a lack of experience

C.a social stereotypeD.threats from others

【3】Men performed better than women in the study when .

A.they were asked to help someone else by reading a map

B.they were informed of the stereotype before the test

C.the test maps simply included human figures

D.there were social elements in the map

【4】What can be concluded from the passage?

A.Women can read maps as well as men.B.Women are better drivers than men.

C.Women always have difficulty reading maps.D.Women are better at spatial ability.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】C

【3】B

【4】A

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，主要讲述了由于社会刻板印象，女性在阅读地图时被认为更糟糕，但研究发现，女性阅读地图和男性一样好。

【1】推理判断题。根据第三段中Ladies, if you find yourselves wandering an unknown city with a man who is questioning your directional abilities, don't doubt yourselves.（女士们，如果你发现自己和一个质疑你的方向能力的男人在一个不为人知的城市游荡，不要怀疑自己。）以及下文可知，本段是为了引出文章主题。故选B。

【2】细节理解题。根据第三段中The cultural belief that women are worse at reading maps could be seen as a stereotype threat, meaning women believe they’re bad at something, so they perform poorly as a result.（认为女性不善于看地图的文化观念可能被视为一种刻板印象威胁，意思是女性认为自己在某方面不擅长，结果表现很差。）可知，女性在阅读地图时被认为更糟糕是由于社会刻板印象。故选C。

【3】细节理解题。根据第四段And, indeed, the results showed that men scored better than women only when they were mentioned the stereotype of male superiority before the test.（事实上，研究结果表明，只有当男性在测试前被提到男性优越的刻板印象时，他们的得分才高于女性。）可知，在测试之前，当他们被告知刻板印象时，男性在研究中表现优于女性。故选B。

【4】推理判断题。根据文章倒数第二段When the researchers did not mention it and gave a social context for reading the map, women’s scores improved across the board. Women also performed better when the test maps simply included human figures, rather than just random objects and landmarks.（当研究人员没有提及这一点，而是给出了阅读地图的社会背景时，女性的分数普遍提高。当测试地图只包含人类图形而不是随机的物体和地标时，女性的表现也更好。）可以得出结论，当不提及男性至上的刻板印象时，女性阅读地图和男性一样好。故选A。