It used to be——in popular imagination, if not always in reality——that it was the man of the house who toted the tool belt, fixing a leaky faucet here and repairing a hole in the drywall there, while overseeing home improvements, from new bookshelves to room additions. It seemed part of our evolutionary development as a tool—using species that it was men, alone, who would prowl the aisles of hardware stores.
Demographics change. Women account today for fully half of the U.S.S140 billion retail hardware and home improvement industry sales in the United States. They have been motivated by the do-it-yourself movement that began in the early 1980s, and by changing economic and social realities that have made women more self-reliant. Home improvement television shows, specialty magazines, teaching clinics, and even websites cater to these do-it-yourselfers, understanding that women are the “instigators” of home improvement projects whether or not there is a man in the house. The common wisdom in the industry is that women have significant control not only over selection of products, but also over the household budget.
1.Which of the following can best sum lip the passage?
2.Women are taking up home repairs more and more just because （ ）.
3.We can guess from context clues that the word 4lo tote” means （ ）.
4.Which of the following statements is true?
问题1选项
A.Women now can work on home improvement all by themselves, not needing men’s help.
B.Women are now becoming experts at home improvement.
C.It’s women, not men, who now go to hardware stores.
D.Women are born better at home repairs.
问题2选项
A.men are unwilling to do it
B.women have been found to be more talented at it
C.women are affected by certain thoughts and movement
D.woman want to demonstrate that they are superior to men
问题3选项
A.to repair
B.to carry
C.to sell
D.to buy
问题4选项
A.Women haven't taken up home improvement at all
B.Nowadays, men don’t work on home improvement any more.
C.More and more women now make efforts to become do-it-yourselfers.
D.Men can’t be the instigator of home improvements.
1.主旨大意题。文章最主要讨论的是女性所扮演的角色的变化:之前不参与家居环境改进相关的工作，现在主要依靠自己对家居环境进行改进，并决定产品的选择和家庭预算。因此B项“如今，女性变得善于进行家居环境改进”比较能概括文章大意。
2.细节事实题。第二段指出: They have been motivated by the do-it-yourself movement that began in the early 1980s, and by changing economic and social realities that have made women more self-reliant (受20世纪80年代初期的‘自己动手’运动的推动 和变化的经济社会现实的影响，女性更多的是依靠自己)。故选C项 “女性受到了某些思想和运动的影响”。
3.词义题。“to tote”出现在第一句: It used to be——in popular imagination, if not always in reality——that it was the man of the house who toted the tool belt, fixing a leaky faucet here and repairing a hole in the drywall there, while overseeing home improvements, from new bookshelves to room additions (过去,…的通常是一个家庭中的男性，虽然现实不一定如此，但至少在大家的观念里是这样的。包括在这儿修理一个漏水龙头，在那儿填补干墙上的一个洞，与此同时还要监督家居的环境改进，从购置新书架到其他房间布置物)。分析句子可知, who toted the tool belt作定语修饰 “男性”,通过后面的 “在这儿修理一个漏水龙头…”推断toted the tool belt应该表示 “携带工具腰带”,因此四个选项中与“to tote”意思最接近的应该是B。
4.判断推理题。第二段指出: They have been motivated by the do-it-yourself movement that began in the early 1980s, and by changing economic and social realities that have made women more self-reliant (受20世纪80年代初期的‘自己动手’运动的推动和变化的经济社会现实的影响，女性更多的是依靠自己),由此推断C项“如今，越来越多的女性努力成为自己动手者”符合原文。
