It is frequently assumed that the mechanization of work has a revolutionary effect on the lives of the people who operate the new machines and on the society into which the machines have been introduced. For example, it has been suggested that the employment of women in industry took them out of the household, their traditional sphere, and fundamentally altered their position in society. In the nineteenth century, when women began to enter factories, Jules Simon, a French politician, warned that by doing so, women would give up their femininity. Friedrich Engels, however, predicted that women would be liberated from the “social, legal, and economic subordination” of the family by technological developments that made possible the recruitment of “the whole female sex into public industry.” Observers thus differed concerning the social desirability of mechanization’s effects, but they agreed that it would transform women’s lives.
Historians, particularly those investigating the history of women, now seriously question this assumption of transforming power. They conclude that such dramatic technological innovations as the spinning jenny, the sewing machine, the typewriter and the vacuum cleaner have not resulted in equally dramatic social changes in women’s economic position or in the prevailing evaluation of women’s work. The employment of young women in textile mills during the Industrial Revolution was largely an extension of an older pattern of employment of young, single women as domestics. It was not the change in office technology, but rather the separation of secretarial work, previously seen as an apprenticeship for beginning managers, from administrative work that in the 1880’s created a new class of “dead-end” jobs, thenceforth considered “women’s work.” The increase in the numbers of married women employed outside the home in the twentieth century had less to do with the mechanization of housework and an increase in leisure time for these women than it did with their own economic necessity and with high marriage rates that shrank the available pool of single women workers, previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire.
Women’s work has changed considerably in the past 200 years, moving from the household to the office or the factory, and later becoming mostly white-collar instead of blue-collar work. Fundamentally, however, the conditions under which women work have changed little since before the Industrial Revolution: the segregation of occupations by gender, lower pay for women as a group, jobs that require relatively low levels of skill and offer women little opportunity for advancement all persist, while women's household labor remains demanding. Recent historical investigation has led to a major revision of the notion that technology is always inherently revolutionary in its effects on society. Mechanization may even have slowed any change in the traditional position of women both in the labor market and in the home.
46. Which of the following statements best summarizes the main idea of the passage?
47. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would consider which of the following to be an indication of a fundamental alteration in the conditions of women’s work?
48. Which of the following statements about many employers before the twentieth century is NOT implied in the passage?
49. Which of the following best describes the function of the concluding sentence of the passage?
问题1选项
A.The effects of the mechanization of women’s work have not borne out the frequently held assumption that new technology is inherently revolutionary.
B.Recent studies have shown that mechanization revolutionizes a society’s traditional values and the customary roles of its members.
C.Mechanization has caused the nature of women’s work to change since the Industrial Revolution.
D.The mechanization of women’s work, while extremely revolutionary in its effects, has not, on the whole, had the deleterious effects that some critics had feared.
问题2选项
A.Statistics showing that the majority of women now occupy white-collar positions.
B.Interviews with married men indicating that they are now doing some household tasks.
C.Surveys of the labor market documenting the recent creation of a new class of jobs in electronics in which women workers outnumber men four to one.
D.Census results showing that working women’s wages and salaries are, on the average, as high as those of working men.
问题3选项
A.They did employ women in factories 200 years ago.
B.They tended to employ single rather than married women.
C.They hired women only when qualified men were not available to fill the open positions.
D.They hired women to do most of the white-collar work.
问题4选项
A.It sums up the general points concerning the mechanization of work made in the passage as a whole.
B.It draws a conclusion concerning the effects of the mechanization of work which goes beyond the evidence presented in the passage as a whole.
C.It restates the point concerning technology made in the sentence immediately preceding it.
D.It qualifies the author’s agreement with scholars who argue for a major revision in the assessment of the impact of mechanization on society.
46. 【试题答案】A
【试题解析】主旨大意题。文章第一句It is frequently assumed that the mechanization of work has a revolutionary effect on the lives of the people...(人们常常认为,工作的机械化对操作新机器的人们的生活以及机器被引入的社会有着革命性的影响),提出了人们普遍认同的一种观点,认为mechanization为人们的生活和社会带来了revolutionary effect,而该段最后一句提出许多观察者不同意这种见解;之后,文章以妇女所从事工作的转变为例,进一步论证最后得出结论:Mechanization may even have slowed any change in the traditional position of women both in the labor market and in the home.(机械化甚至可能延缓了女性在劳动力市场和家庭中的传统地位的变化进程)因此,选项A“现代化对妇女工作的影响证明,普遍认同的新技术具有与生俱来的创新性这一说法站不住脚”最能概括文章的大意。B“最近的研究表明,机械化彻底改变了一个社会的传统价值观及其成员的习惯角色”和C“自工业革命以来,机械化使妇女工作的性质发生了变化”两项均与文章所持的观点相左,而D项“妇女工作的机械化虽然在其效果上极为革命性,但总体上并没有产生一些评论家所担心的有害影响”只是文章提到的一个细节,不能概括大意。
47. 【试题答案】D
【试题解析】判断推理题。题干意为:根据文章可推断作者把下列哪个看作是妇女工作条件发生根本转变的一个标志。文章第三段前半部分是说:在过去的200年里,妇女的工作发生了很大的变化,从家庭转移到办公室或工厂,后来主要成为白领而不是蓝领。然而,从根本上说,自工业革命前以来,妇女工作的条件几乎没有改变:按性别划分职业、妇女作为一个群体的工资较低、要求相对较低的技能水平和很少为妇女提供晋升机会的工作都持续存在,而妇女的家务劳动仍然要求很高。据此,只有D项“人口普查结果显示,职业妇女的工资和薪金平均与职业男子一样高”,符合作者的意图。A项“统计数据显示,现在大多数女性担任白领职位”,B项“对已婚男性的采访表明他们现在正在做一些家务”,C项“对劳动力市场的调查,记录了最近在电子行业创造了一类新的工作岗位,其中女性工人的数量比男性多4:1”,均是对文意的曲解。
48. 【试题答案】D
【试题解析】判断推理题。题干:以下关于二十世纪以前许多雇主的陈述中,哪一个不是在文章中暗示的?C项“只有当合格的男性无法填补空缺职位时,他们才雇用女性”,文中并未体现,当选。第一段第三句In the nineteenth century, when women began to enter factories(十九世纪,妇女开始进入工厂),可知A项“在十九世纪,妇女开始进入工厂”是正确的,不符合题意要求,排除;从第二段最后一句previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire(在这之前,在大多数情况下,单身女性是雇主唯一想雇佣的),可知B项“他们倾向于雇用单身妇女而不是已婚妇女”是正确的,排除;从第三段第一句Women’s work has changed considerably in the past 200 years…, and later becoming mostly white-collar instead of blue-collar work(在过去的200年里,妇女的工作发生了很大的变化……,后来主要成为白领而不是蓝领),由此可知,D项“他们雇用妇女来做大部分的白领工作”与文章内容相符,排除。
49. 【试题答案】B
【试题解析】主旨大意题。题干:以下哪一项最能描述文章结尾句的功能?找到文章结尾句Mechanization may even have slowed any change in the traditional position of women both in the labor market and in the home.(机械化甚至可能延缓了妇女在劳动力市场和家庭中传统地位变化的进程)。我们从第一段第一句就已经知道关于劳动机械化的一般观点是:工作的机械化对操作新机器的人们的生活以及机器被引入的社会有着革命性的影响,所以结尾句与一般观点不一致,因此A项“从整体上总结了文章中关于劳动机械化的一般观点”,错误。B项“得出了一个结论,即工作机械化的影响超出了本文所提出的整体证据”,符合结尾句所要表达的意思;C项“它重申了它前面一句话中关于技术的观点”,定位到它前一句话Recent historical investigation has led to a major revision of the notion that technology is always inherently revolutionary in its effects on society(最近的历史调查导致了一个重大的修正,即技术在其对社会的影响上总是具有内在的革命性),此句是对主题句的复述,与末句不一致;D项“这证明了作者同意那些主张在机械化对社会影响的评估中进行重大修订的学者的观点”,并不能从这一句话就知道作者同意那些学者的观点。