专家解析大学英语四级考试历年阅读真题(九)

　　题目问根据作者的最后一条建议，求职者应该意识到……

　　A， 美国和英国的不同教育系统。

　　B， 不同英语之间的区别。

　　C， 简历接收者对格式的喜好。

　　D， 美国与英国文化各自的特点。

　　最后一条建议是这样的：If you are submitting your resume in English, find out if the recipient (收件人) uses British English or American English because there are variations between the two versions. For example, university education is often referred to as ‘tertiary education’ in the United Kingdom, but this term is almost never used in the United States. A reader who is unfamiliar with these variations may assume that your resume contains errors.

　　直译为：如果你要提交的简历是英文的，应该弄清收件人说的是英式英语还是美式英语，因为这二者之间存在不同的地方。比如大学教育在英国被成为tertiary education，而在美国从来没有用过这个词组。读简历者如果不熟悉此类区别，将会认为你的简历存在错误。

　　这段话比较简易，不难理解，讲的是两种英语的区别可能会让读简历者产生误解。A的说法是生造出来的，在文中没有论及教育系统的区别。B的说法与文章的意思一致。C说的格式问题是第二条建议的内容，不能张冠李戴给第三条建议。D所说的文化特点过于宽泛，虽然语言也属于文化，但不能以语言来概括文化。另外，值得一提的是，英式英语不见得就代表了英国英语，在澳大利亚、加拿大以及其他很多国家，人们讲的同样是英式英语。把英式英语等同于英国英语是不对的。

　　Passage Two

　　Educating girls quite possibly yields a higher rate of return than any other investment available in the developing world. Women’s education may be unusual territory for economists, but enhancing women’s contribution to development is actually as much an economic as a social issue. And economics, with its emphasis on incentives (激励), provides guideposts that point to an explanation for why so many girls are deprived of an education.

　　Parents in low-income countries fail to invest in their daughters because they do not expect them to make an economic contribution to the family: girls grow up only to marry into somebody else’s family and bear children. Girls are thus seen as less valuable than boys and art kept at home to do housework while their brothers are sent to school-the prophecy (预言) becomes self-fulfilling, trapping women in a vicious circle (恶性循环) of neglect.

　　An educated mother, on the other hand, has greater earning abilities outside the home and faces an entirely different set of choices. She is likely to have fewer but healthier children and can insist on the development of all her children, ensuring that her daughters are given a fair chance. The education of her daughters then makes it much more likely that the next generation of girls, as well as of boys, will be educated and healthy. The vicious circle is thus transformed into a virtuous circle.

　　Few will dispute that educating women has great social benefits. But it has enormous economic advantages as well. Most obviously, there is the direct effect of education on the wages of female workers. Wages rise by 10 to 20 per cent for each additional year of schooling. Such big returns are impressive by the standard of other available investments, but they are just the beginning. Educating women also has a significant impact on health practices, including family planning.

　　26. The author argues that educating girls in developing countries is ________.

　　A) troublesome

　　B) labor-saving

　　C) rewarding

　　D) expensive(C)

　　27. By saying “... the prophecy becomes self-fulfilling...” (Lines 45, Para. 2). the author means that ________.

　　A) girls will turn out to be less valuable than boys

　　B) girls will be capable of realizing their own dreams

　　C) girls will eventually find their goals in life beyond reach

　　D) girls will be increasingly discontented with their life at home(A)

　　28. The author believes that a vicious circle can turn into a virtuous circle when ________.

　　A) women care more about education

　　B) girls can gain equal access to education

　　C) a family has fewer but healthier children

　　D) parents can afford their daughters’ education(B)