The number of female bosses of large firms remains stubbornly small. Not single one on France’s CAC 40 share index or on Germany’s DAX index is run by a woman. In America, only 15 chief executives of Fortune 500 companies are women. Britain does better, but not much: five of the FTSE-100 firms have female bosses.
On July 6th the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for EU-wide legislation stipulating that at least 40% of seats on listed companies’ supervisory boards will be reserved for women by 2020. This does not oblige member states to do anything, but it reflects a spreading mood. The German government is considering whether to impose quotas. America is not, but new rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission will require firms to reveal what, if anything, they are doing to increase diversity at the top table.
Viviane Reding, the EU commissioner for justice, argues that compulsion is the only way to overcome entrenched discrimination. In March, she posted a “Women on the Board Pledge for Europe” on her website. Only seven companies have signed up so far.
There is a powerful business case for hiring more women to run companies. They are more likely to understand the tastes and aspirations of the largest group of consumers in the world, namely women. They represent an underfished pool of talent. McKinsey, a consultancy, recently looked at 89 listed companies in Europe with a very high proportion of women in senior management posts and compared their financial performance with the average for firms in the same industry. It found that these firms enjoyed a higher return on equity, fatter operating profits and a more buoyant share price. The authors described the correlation between promoting women and doing well as “striking”, though they admitted that they could not prove what was causing what. It is possible that firms that are already doing well tend to hire more female directors. On the other hand, a study by Amy Dittmar and Kenneth Ahem of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan found that firms that were forced to increase the share of women on their boards by more than ten percentage points saw one measure of corporate value (the ratio of market capitalization to the replacement value of assets, known as Tobin’s Q) fall by 18%.
If quotas aren’t the answer, what is? The question is fiendishly complex. In most rich countries, women do as well as men or even better at school and university. In America, most new master’s degrees are awarded to women. Women also hold more than half of the entry-level jobs at American blue-chip companies.
But corporate women start to fall behind their male peers right from the beginning. They are less aggressive than men when negotiating their first salary and every subsequent pay rise. Linda Babcock of Carnegie Mellon University found that her male graduate students secured starting salaries 7.6% higher than her female graduate students. In general, men are four times more likely to ask for a pay rise than women are. Compounded over time, this makes a huge difference.
The higher you gaze up the corporate ladder, the fewer women you see. According to Catalyst, a researcher in New York, women are 37% of the middle managers in big American firms, 28% of the senior managers and a mere 14% of executive-committee members.
The way patronage and promotion work within the corporate world may count against women. Nearly all the executives who rise to the top have had a powerful backer, according to Sylvia Ann Hewlett, the author of “The Sponsor Effect”, a report for the Harvard Business Review. Yet women often fail to cultivate what Ms.’ Hewlett calls “relationship capital”. They hesitate to call in favors for fear of seeming pushy. And many are afraid of the gossip that a close relationship with a senior male colleague might provoke.
No doubt all of this plays its part. But a much bigger obstacle to putting more women in boardrooms is that so many struggles to balance work and a family. Partly because it is so tricky to juggle kids and a career, many highly able women opt for jobs with predictable hours, such as human resources or accounting. They also gravitate towards fields where their skills are less likely to become obsolete if they take a career break, which is perhaps one reason why nearly two-thirds of new American law graduates are female but only 18% of engineers.
Some governments try hard to help women combine a career and family. France and the Scandinavian countries help with child care. Creches and nurseries are subsidized. State schools will hang on to the little monsters well into the evening. This contrasts starkly with American and British schools, which boot them out long before an adult’s work day is over. American parents must also square the circle of ultra-short holidays for grown-ups and absurdly long ones for kids.
Women bring unique strengths to a company, reckons Lisa Gersh, the boss of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, a merchandising and media firm founded by a lifestyle guru. They are more collaborative than men, says Ms. Gersh, and better at multitasking. Those with children quickly become efficient. They know that they have to be home at a certain time.
1. Which of the following best summarizes the main focus of this passage?
2. Which of the following statements can be inferred true according to the passage?
3. All of the following are believed to account for the disproportionate representation of women in business top EXCEPT（ ）.
4. Which of the following is NOT the advantage of career women according to the passage?
5. To highlight his/her points and convince the readers, the author of this passage mainly relies on（ ）.
问题1选项
A.The dilemma of business women.
B.The discrimination against women in the field of business.
C.The concern about the fact that top women executives are so few and why it is so
D.How to eradicate the discrimination against women in business and the effect
问题2选项
A.Scandinavian countries are more egalitarian and feminine than Britain and USA
B.People unanimously welcome the quotas system to incorporate more women into the boardroom.
C.Women who benefit from quotas practice invariably promote the development of their businesses.
D.American women are in general the best educated and also the most equally treated in business.
问题3选项
A.Women are held back by the dilemma of dealing with family and work.
B.The powerful backers available to successful men are denied of women.
C.Women don’t enjoy the same opportunity for better education than men.
D.Women are less aggressive and lag behind their counterparts from the very beginning of their career.
问题4选项
A.Cooperative
B.Multitasking
C.Efficient
D.flextime
问题5选项
A.data and figures
B.personal experiences
C.assertions based on personal observations
D.appealing to readers’ sentiments and emotions
第1题:C
第2题:A
第3题:C
第4题:D
第5题:A
第1题:
【选项释义】
Which of the following best summarizes the main focus of this passage? 以下哪个选项最能概括这篇文章的主要内容？
A. The dilemma of business women. A. 商界女性的困境。
B. The discrimination against women in the field of business. B. 在商业领域对女性的歧视。
C. The concern about the fact that top women executives are so few and why it is so. C. 对高层女性管理人员很少这一事实的关注以及其原因。
D. How to eradicate the discrimination against women in business and the effect. D. 如何根除商业领域对女性的歧视以及影响。
【考查点】主旨大意题。
【解题思路】根据文章第一段第一句：The number of female bosses of large firms remains stubbornly small（大公司的女性一把手的数量屈指可数），以及本段最后一句：In America, only 15 chief executives of Fortune 500 companies are women. Britain does better, but not much: five of the FTSE-100 firms have female bosses（在美国，财富500强企业中只有15位首席执行官是女性。英国做得更好，但也没好多少：富时100指数成分股公司中有5家是女性老板），由此可知本文关注的是公司中女性高层管理人员很少这一问题，后面第五、六、七、八段则分析了这一问题的原因，由此可知本文的主要内容是“对高层女性管理人员很少这一事实的关注以及其原因”，所以正确答案为C选项。
【干扰项排除】
A选项：“商界女性的困境”，该选项是第八、九段的主要内容，属于以偏概全；
B选项：“在商业领域对女性的歧视”，文章在谈及高层女性任职比例低这个问题时，顺带提到了歧视，但并未对歧视现象进行展开论述，该选项属于无中生有；
D选项：“如何根除商业领域对女性的歧视以及影响”，根据第三段第一句：Viviane Reding, the EU commissioner for justice, argues that compulsion is the only way to overcome entrenched discrimination（欧盟司法专员维维亚娜·雷丁认为，强制是克服根深蒂固的歧视的唯一途径），可知该选项是第三段提及的内容，属于以偏概全。
第2题:
【选项释义】
Which of the following statements can be inferred true according to the passage? 根据这篇文章，可以推断出以下哪个说法是对的？
A. Scandinavian countries are more egalitarian and feminine than Britain and USA. A. 斯堪的纳维亚国家比英国和美国更加平等，对女性更友好。
B. People unanimously welcome the quotas system to incorporate more women into the boardroom. B. 人们一致欢迎将更多女性纳入董事会的配额制度。
C. Women who benefit from quotas practice invariably promote the development of their businesses. C. 从配额制实践中受益的女性无一例外地促进了她们企业的发展。
D. American women are in general the best educated and also the most equally treated in business. D. 美国女性总体上是受教育程度最高的，同时也是在企业中受到最平等对待的。
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据A选项中的关键词Scandinavian countries定位文章倒数第二段。根据倒数第二段关键信息：Some governments try hard to help women combine a career and family. France and the Scandinavian countries help with child care...This contrasts starkly with American and British schools, which boot them out long before an adult’s work day is over（一些政府努力帮助女性兼顾事业和家庭。法国和斯堪的纳维亚国家帮助照顾儿童……这与美国和英国的学校形成了鲜明的对比，在这些学校里，孩子们在成年人一天的工作结束之前就被赶出去了），结合第九段第二句：But a much bigger obstacle to putting more women in boardrooms is that so many struggle to balance work and a family（但让更多女性进入董事会的一个更大的障碍是，很多女性都在努力平衡工作和家庭），由此可知法国和斯堪的纳维亚国家的举措可以帮助女性减少进入董事会的障碍，使得竞争更加公平，对女性更友好，所以A选项说法正确，答案为A选项。
【干扰项排除】
B选项：“人们一致欢迎将更多女性纳入董事会的配额制度”，原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
C选项：“从配额制实践中受益的女性无一例外地促进了她们企业的发展”，根据第四段结尾部分关键信息：On the other hand, a study…found that firms that were forced to increase the share of women on their boards by more than ten percentage points saw one measure of corporate value (the ratio of market capitalization to the replacement value of assets, known as Tobin’s Q) fall by 18%（另一方面，一项研究发现，那些被迫在董事会中增加女性比例超过10个百分点的公司，其一项公司价值衡量指标（即市值与资产重置价值之比，即Tobin’s Q）下降了18%），由此可知并不是都促进了公司的发展，该选项属于曲解原文；
D选项：“美国女性总体上是受教育程度最高的，同时也是在企业中受到最平等对待的”，根据第一段最后两句关键信息：In America, only 15 chief executives of Fortune 500 companies are women. Britain does better, but not much（在美国，财富500强企业中只有15位首席执行官是女性。英国做得更好，但也没好多少），可知美国做得比英国差，并不是最平等的，该选项属于曲解原文。
第3题:
【选项释义】
All of the following are believed to account for the disproportionate representation of women in business top EXCEPT _____. 以下所有内容都被认为是女性在企业高层任职比例过低的原因，除了_____。
A. Women are held back by the dilemma of dealing with family and work. A. 女性被处理家庭和工作的两难问题所拖累。
B. The powerful backers available to successful men are denied of women. B. 成功的男性可以得到的强大的支持，女性却无法得到。
C. Women don’t enjoy the same opportunity for better education than men. C. 女性没有享受到和男人一样的机会去接受更好的教育。
D. Women are less aggressive and lag behind their counterparts from the very beginning of their career. D. 女性没有那么强势，从事业的一开始就落后于她们的男同事。
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据第五段关键信息：In most rich countries, women do as well as men or even better at school and university. In America, most new master’s degrees are awarded to women（在大多数富裕国家，女性在中学和大学的表现和男性一样好，甚至更好。在美国，大多数新的硕士学位都授予了女性），由此可知：在大多数富裕国家，女性可以享受到接受良好教育的机会，甚至在接受教育上表现比男性更好。然而，在美国这样的富裕国家，女性在高层的任职比例仍然很低，因此“女性没有享受到和男人一样的机会去接受更好的教育”不是女性高层任职比例低的原因，正确答案为C选项。
【干扰项排除】
A选项：“女性被处理家庭和工作的两难问题所拖累”，根据第九段第二句：But a much bigger obstacle to putting more women in boardrooms is that so many struggle to balance work and a family（但让更多女性进入董事会的一个更大的障碍是，很多女性都在努力平衡工作和家庭），可知该选项属于反向干扰；
B选项：“成功的男性可以得到的强大的支持，女性却无法得到”，根据第八段关键信息：Nearly all the executives who rise to the top have had a powerful backer, according to Sylvia Ann Hewlett…Yet women often fail to cultivate what Ms.’ Hewlett calls “relationship capital”. They hesitate to call in favors for fear of seeming pushy（作者西尔维娅·安·休利特表示，几乎所有升到高层的高管都有一个强大的靠山……然而，女性往往无法培养休利特所说的“关系资本”。她们不愿寻求帮助，因为害怕显得有压迫感），可知该选项属于反向干扰；
D选项：“女性没有那么强势，从事业的一开始就落后于男性同事”，根据第六段前两句：But corporate women start to fall behind their male peers right from the beginning. They are less aggressive than men when negotiating their first salary and every subsequent pay rise（但公司里的女员工从一开始就落后于她们的男同事。她们在协商第一份薪水和之后的升职加薪都没有男性那么强势），可知该选项属于反向干扰。
第4题:
【选项释义】
Which of the following is NOT the advantage of career women according to the passage? 根据这篇文章，以下哪项不是职业女性的优势？
A. CooperativeA. 合作性强
B. MultitaskingB. 多任务性
C. EfficientC. 高效
D. FlextimeD. 弹性时间
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据选项中的关键词Cooperative、multitasking可以确定答案所在区域为最后一段。根据最后一段关键信息：They are more collaborative than men, says Ms. Gersh, and better at multitasking. Those with children quickly become efficient（格什表示，女性比男性更善于合作，更善于同时处理多项任务。那些有孩子的人自然更加有效率），由此可知在上述职业女性的优势中，不包含“弹性时间”，所以正确答案为D选项。
【干扰项排除】A、B、C选项均属于反向干扰。
第5题:
【选项释义】
To highlight his/her points and convince the readers, the author of this passage mainly relies on _____. 为了强调他/她的观点并说服读者，这篇文章的作者主要依靠_____。
A. data and figures A. 数据和数字
B. personal experiences B. 个人经验
C. assertions based on personal observations C. 基于个人观察的论断
D. appealing to readers’ sentiments and emotions D. 吸引读者的情绪和情感
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据文章中出现了较多数字，以及引用了相当一部分学者的研究，由此可知作者是依靠数据和数字来强调他/她的观点的，所以正确答案为A选项。
【干扰项排除】B、C、D选项均属于曲解原文。
