2012年考研英语阅读基础训练及答案(八)

Text 8

The traditional belief that a woman’s place is in the home and that a woman ought not to go out to work can hardly be reasonably maintained in present conditions. It is said that it is a woman’s task to care for the children, but families today tend to be small and with a year or two between children. Thus a woman’s whole period of childbearing may occur within five years. Furthermore, with compulsory education from the age of five or six her role as chief educator of her children soon ceases. Thus, even if we agree that a woman should stay at home to look after her children before they are of school age, for many women, this period would extend only for about ten years.

It might be argued that the house-proud woman would still find plenty to do about the home. That may be so, but it is certainly no longer necessary for a woman to spend her whole life cooking, cleaning, mending and sewing. Washing machines take the drudgery out of laundry, the latest models being entirely automatic and able to wash and dry a large quantity of clothes in a few minutes. Refrigerators have made it possible to store food for long periods and many pre-cooked foods are obtainable in tins. Shopping, instead of being a daily task, can be completed in one day a week. The new man-made fibers are more hardwiring than natural fibers and greatly reduce mending, while good ready-made clothes are cheap and plentiful.

Apart from women’s own happiness, the needs of the community must be considered. Modern society cannot do well without the contribution that women can make in professions and other kinds of work. There is a serious shortage of nurses and teachers, to mention only two of the occupations followed by women. It is extremely wasteful to give years of training at public expense only to have the qualified teacher or nurse marry after a year or two and be lost forever to her profession. The training, it is true, will help her in duties as a mother, but if she continued to work, her service would be more widely useful. Many factories and shops, too, are largely staffed by women, many of them married. While here the question of training is not so important, industry and trade would be seriously short of staff if married women did not work.

23. The author holds that ________.

[A] the right place for all women, married or otherwise, is the home, not elsewhere

[B] all married women should have some occupation outside the home

[C] a married woman should give first priority to her duties as a mother(B)

[D] it is desirable for uneducated married women to stay at home and take care of the family

24. A house-proud woman ________.

[A] would devote her whole life to her family

[B] would take her own happiness and that of her family as her chief concern

[C] would still need some special training at public expense to help her in her duties as a housewife(D)

[D] would take full advantage of modern household appliances

25. According to the author, modern society ________.

[A] can operate just as well even without women participation

[B] has been greatly hampered in its development by the shortage of women nurses and women teachers

[C] cannot operate properly without the contribution of women(C)

[D] will be seriously affected by the continuing shortage of working women in heavy industries and international trade

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