2014年6月英语阅读真题之长篇阅读(卷二)

2014-11-28 16:07:51 字体放大:  

arrangements pose a second threat to women's progress: they make employers cautious about hiring women for full-time positions at all. Offering a job to a man is the safer bet. He is far less likely to take a year of parental leave and then return on a reduced work schedule for the next eight years.

F. I became aware of the trials of career-focused European women a few years ago when I met a post-doctoral student from Germany who was then a visiting fellow at Johns Hopkins. She was astonished by the professional possibilities afforded to young American women. Her best hope in Germany was a government job--prospects for women in the private sector were dim. "In Germany," she told me, "we have all the benefits, but employers don't want to hire us."

G. Swedish economists Magnus Henrekson and Mikael Stenkula addressed the following question in their 2009 study: why are there so few female top executives in the European egalitarian (平等主义的) welfare states? Their answer: "Broad-based welfare-state policies hinder women's representation in elite competitive positions."

H. It is tempting to declare the Swedish policies regressive (退步的)and hail the American system as superior. But that would be shortsighted. The Swedes can certainly take a lesson from the United States and look for ways to clear a path for their ambitious female careerists, But most women are not committed careerists. When the Pew Research Center recently asked American parents to identify their "ideal" life arrangement, 47 percent of mothers said they would prefer to work park-time and 20 percent said they would prefer not to work at all. Fathers answered differently: 75 percent preferred full-time work. Some version of the Swedish system might work well for a majority of American parents, but the United States is unlikely to fully embrace the Swedish model. Still, we can learn from their experience.

I. Despite its failure to shatter the glass ceiling, Sweden has one of the most powerful and innovative economies in the world. In its 2011-2012 survey, the World Economic Forum ranked Sweden as the world's third most competitive economy; the United States came in fifth. Sweden, dubbed the "rockstar of the recovery" in the Washington Post, also leads the world in life satisfaction and" happiness. It is a society well worth studying, and its efforts to conquer the gender gap impart a vital lesson though not the lesson the Swedes had in mind.

J. Sweden has gone farther than any other nation on earth to integrate the sexes and to offer women the same opportunities and freedoms as men. For decades, these descendants of the Vikings have been trying to show the world that the right mix of enlightened policy, consciousness raising, and non-sexist child rearing would close the gender divide once and for all. Yet the divide persists.

K.A 2012 press release from Statistics Sweden bears the title "Gender Equality in Sweden Treading (踩)Water" and notes:

The total income from employment for all ages is lower for women than for men.

One in three employed women and one in ten employed men work part-time.