B2U4 Does gender matter?

2025-11-272025-11-27

词汇¶

Reading 1¶

生词

generalization

释义

n. [C] (BrE also generalisation) a statement about all the members of a group that may be true in some or many situations but is not true in every case （片面的）概括，泛论

e.g. You can't make generalizations about what men and women are like.
myth

释义

n. [C, U] an idea or story that many people believe, but which is not true （许多人相信的）错误观念，荒诞说法

e.g. Contrary to the popular myth, women are not worse drivers than men.
spouse

释义

n. [C] (fml.) a husband or wife 配偶

e.g. Please notice that spouses are welcome to the company picnic.
spousal

释义

a. (fml.) (only before noun) connected with a husband or wife; of or from a husband or wife 配偶的

e.g. Here are the 10 things you should never say in a spousal argument.
validity

释义

n. [U] the state of being logical and true 符合逻辑；正当；正确

e.g. We had serious doubts about the validity of their argument.
stem

释义

vi. (~ from) develop as a result of sth. else 源于；来自；由···引起

n. [C]（植物的）茎，梗，柄

e.g. He told the magazine in an exclusive interview that all his misfortune stemmed from a lack of tolerance toward others.
forage

释义

vi. go around searching for food or other supplies （为找到食物、补给等）四处搜寻

e.g. When it's cold and snowy outside, birds may forage for food in your backyard.
millennium

释义

n. [C] (pl. millennia /mɪˈleniə/) a period of 1,000 years 一千年；千年期

e.g. The year 2000 was celebrated as the beginning of the third millennium.
edible

释义

a. fit or suitable to be eaten; not poisonous 适宜食用的；（无毒而）可以吃的

e.g. There are many edible fruits growing wild in the coastal forest.
discard

释义

vt. get rid of sth. 扔掉；弃置

e.g. Would you help me remove the seeds from the melon and discard them?
laden

释义

a. heavily loaded with sth. 载满的；装满的

e.g. He was surprised to find that the tables were laden with food.
prehistoric

释义

a. relating to the time in history before anything was written down 史前的；有历史记载以前的

e.g. We do not have to go back to prehistoric times to witness the change in our diet.
acquisition 一词多义

释义

n. 1) [C] sth. that you buy or obtain, often to add to things that you already have 购置物；获得物

n. 2) [U] the process by which you gain knowledge or learn a skill （知识、技能的）获得，习得

e.g. The Art Society is holding an exhibition of recent acquisitions.

e.g. We need to recognize that second language acquisition is a gradual developmental process.
humid

释义

a. (of the air or climate) warm and damp （空气或气候）温暖潮湿的，湿热的

e.g. It was a hot, humid day, and the only sound was the buzzing of insects.
trait

释义

n. [C] (fml.) a particular quality in sb.'s character （某人性格中的）特性，品质

e.g. It's a human trait to joke about subjects that make us uncomfortable.
anthropologist

释义

n. [C] a person who studies anthropology 人类学家

e.g. Anthropologists study the origin, development, and functioning of human societies and cultures.
ancestral

释义

a. of, relating to, or inherited from an ancestor 祖先的

e.g. The house is the ancestral home of Baron Stourton, but after the family moved out in the 1960s it fell into disrepair.
inclined

释义

a. (be ~ to do sth.; be ~ to sth.) be likely to do sth. or behave in a particular way 有做某事的意向；倾向于做某事

e.g. They'll be more inclined to listen carefully if you don't shout.
extended

释义

a. (only before noun) long or longer than usual or expected 较长时间的；延期的

e.g. If you are going abroad for an extended period of time, you should consider renting your house out.
empirical

释义

a. (only before noun) based on experiments or experience rather than ideas or theories 以实验（经验）为依据的；经验主义的

e.g. There is strong empirical evidence to suggest that these concerns are not trivial.
justification

释义

n. [C, U] a good reason why sth. exists or is done 正当理由

e.g. I can see no possible justification for your being late.
inherit

释义

vt. have qualities, physical features, etc. that are similar to those of your parents, grandparents, etc. 经遗传获得（品质、身体特征等）

v. receive money, property, etc. from sb. when they die 继承（金钱、财产等）

e.g. Mr. Grass inherited his work ethic from his father.

e.g. He inherited a large sum of money from his grandmother about 10 years ago.
sensible

释义

a. reasonable, practical, and showing good judgment 明智的；合理的；实际的；有判断力的

e.g. People are far more sensible about what and how much they drink these days.

词组

apply to

释义

have an effect on or concern a particular person, group, or situation 适用于；对···有效

e.g. The offer only applies to flights from London and Manchester.
at all costs/cost

释义

whatever is needed to achieve sth. 不惜一切代价

e.g. I have to avoid being late for work again at all costs, or I'll lose my job.
straight away/off

释义

(BrE, spoken) immediately or without delay 立刻；马上

e.g. I wrote him a letter and posted it straight away.
in terms of

释义

(also in … terms) used to show what aspects of a subject you are talking about or how you are thinking about it 谈及；就···而言；在···方面；从···方面来说

e.g. It's a mistake to think of Florida only in terms of its tourist attractions.
with respect to

释义

(also in respect of) (fml.) concerning or in relation to sth. 关于···；就···而言

e.g. The two groups were similar with respect to income and status.
in line with

释义

similar to, or at the same level as sth. 与···相似；与···水平一致

e.g. The new policy is in line with the plans that were discussed last year.

Reading 2¶

生词

stereotype

释义

/ˈsteriəˌtaɪp/

n. [C] a belief or idea of what a particular type of person or thing is like 模式化的思想；老一套；旧框框

e.g. Current evidence indicates that older people are more healthy than popular stereotypes suggest.
prominence

释义

n. [U] the fact of being important and well-known 重要；杰出；著名

e.g. His rise to prominence would not have been possible without the war.
sentiment

释义

n. 1) [U] feelings of pity, love, sadness, etc. that are often considered to be too strong or not suitable for a particular situation 多愁善感；感情因素

n. 2) [C, U] (fml.) an opinion or feeling you have about sth. 意见；观点；感想

e.g. He was overwhelmed by sentiment as he thought of his wife.

e.g. Public sentiment is against any change to the law.
feminine

释义

having the qualities or appearance considered to be typical of women; connected with women （指气质或外貌）女性特有的；女性的

e.g. Amelia's report describes the experience from a feminine point of view.
maternal

释义

a. having feelings that are typical of a caring mother toward a child 母性的；母亲般慈爱的

e.g. She seems to have a strong maternal instinct.
excessively

释义

ad. to a much greater level or degree than seems reasonable or appropriate 过度地；过多地

e.g. The country relies excessively on borrowing from abroad.
bias

释义

n. [U, sing.] an unfair personal opinion that influences your judgment 偏见；成见；偏心

e.g. It's clear that the company has a bias against women.
periodical

释义

n. [C] a magazine, esp. one about a serious or technical subject 期刊

e.g. Readers will find a complete list of periodicals dealing with that subject.
publication

释义

n. [C, U] the act of printing a book, a magazine, etc. and making it available to the public; a book, a magazine, etc. that has been published （书刊等的）出版，发行；出版物

e.g. That professor was the author of 70 major scientific publications.
startling

释义

a. very unusual or surprising 异乎寻常的；令人惊奇的

e.g. These myths have a startling likeness to one another.
concerted

释义

a. (only before noun) done in a planned and determined way, esp. by more than one person, government, country, etc. 齐心协力的；一致的

e.g. Libraries have made a concerted effort to attract young people.
discourse

释义

n. [C] a serious speech or piece of writing on a particular subject （关于某主题的）演讲，论述，著述

e.g. Hastings responds with a lengthy discourse on marketing strategies.
quantitative

释义

a. (fml.) relating to amounts rather than to the quality or standard of sth. （数）量的；与数量有关的；定量的

e.g. We need to do a proper quantitative analysis of this problem.
representation

释义

n. [U] the fact of having sb. to speak, vote, or make decisions for you 代理；代表

e.g. Minority groups need more effective parliamentary representation.
disguise

释义

vt. 1) hide sth. or change it, so that it cannot be recognized 掩蔽；掩饰

vt. 2) change sb.'s appearance so that people cannot recognize them 装扮；假扮

e.g. The speech was seen by many as a thinly disguised attack on the president.

e.g. He disguised himself by wearing a false beard.
unconscious

释义

a. 1) (of feelings, thoughts, etc.) existing or happening without you realizing or being aware; not deliberate or controlled （感情、思想等）无意识的，未意识到的

a. 2) unable to see, move, feel, etc. in the normal way because you are not conscious 不省人事的；失去知觉的

e.g. He seems to be driven by an unconscious desire to do better than everyone else.

e.g. They found him lying unconscious on the floor.
discrimination

释义

n. [U] the practice of treating one person or group differently from another in an unfair way 歧视

e.g. Laws have got to be tougher to stop discrimination against the disabled.

词组

rise to prominence/fame/power, etc.

释义

become important, famous, powerful, etc. 变得杰出、著名、强大等

e.g. She played an important supporting role in the family as her husband rose to fame as an actor.
at stake

释义

at issue or in question 待解决的；成问题的

e.g. His own personal future was at stake.

拼写易错

a. 显著的；显而易见的

拼写

noticeable

课文¶

Reading 1¶

Why men don't like shopping and most women do

1 Do you like shopping? The answer may partly depend on one factor: whether you are male or female. Of course, it's a generalization to say, "Women like shopping and men don't" — I'm sure we all know people to whom this doesn't apply. However, there is evidence that this isn't a complete myth（全然错误的说法/完全是天方夜谭）. A survey of 2,000 British people found that men became bored after only 26 minutes of shopping, while it took women a full two hours. The survey found that 80 percent of men didn't like shopping with their partners, and that 45 percent avoided doing so at all costs（avoid doing sth. at all costs 想方设法避免做某事）. Almost half of all spousal shopping trips（夫妻俩一起出门购物） ended in arguments, with men becoming frustrated, because they bought what they needed straight away, while their partners were still looking and taking too long to make decisions.

1 你喜欢购物吗？你的回答在某种程度上取决于一点，即你是男性还是女性。当然，说“女人喜欢购物而男人不喜欢”，这是泛泛之论——我们认识的人当中肯定都有人不符合这种说法。不过，有证据表明，这一说法也不全然是错误的。一项对2,000名英国人的调查发现，男性逛商店才逛了26分钟就开始觉得无聊，而女性要逛整整两个小时后才会感到厌倦。调查称，八成男性不喜欢陪伴侣购物，45%的男性想方设法避免和伴侣一起购物。夫妻俩一起出门购物，近一半以吵架收场。让丈夫们抓狂的是，他们一下子就买到了需要的东西，而他们的伴侣却还在逛，还要花很长时间才能决定买不买。

2 If there is some validity to these generalizations（这些泛泛之论有些道理（正确）） — and if they are more than just the result of social conditioning — where could these different attitudes to shopping stem from?

2 如果这些泛泛之论有些道理的话——而且如果它们不仅仅是社会熏陶的产物——那么这些对于购物的不同态度是由什么造成的呢？

3 For hundreds of thousands of years, until around 8,000 B.C.E., all human beings lived as hunter-gatherers — that is, they survived by hunting wild animals (the man's job) and foraging for wild plants, nuts, and fruits (the woman's job).

3 约公元前8,000年之前的几十万年间，人类都是以狩猎和采集为生——也就是说，他们靠捕食野生动物（由男性承担）和寻找野生植物、坚果和果实（由女性承担）生存。

4 Beginning in the Middle East, human communities began to switch to farming（向农耕社会转变） around 8,000 B.C.E., and slowly, over the following millennia, the practice spread widely throughout Asia and Europe. But after so many hundreds of thousands of years of living as hunter-gatherers, it's no surprise that hunting and gathering are still instinctive to us. And this brings us back to shopping — because these instincts may show themselves in our shopping habits. When most women shop, they are in more of a "gathering" mode — browsing from tree to tree (or shop to shop), looking for ripe and nutritious fruits. They spend a lot of time examining the food, checking whether it is fresh and edible, and they discard quite a lot of it. At the end of the trip, they return home laden with a wide variety of foodstuffs（带着各种各样的食物满载而归） (or shopping bags).

4 公元前8,000年左右，最早在中东地区，人类社会开始向农耕社会转变。在之后的一千年间，农耕方式逐渐广泛传播到整个亚洲和欧洲大陆。不过，人类祖先作为狩猎者和采集者的历史毕竟长达几十万年，也难怪我们现在依旧保留着狩猎和采集的本能。这就把我们带回到购物这件事——因为这些本能会在我们的购物习惯中显露出来。大多数女性购物的时候，她们更多是处于一种“采集”模式——一棵树一棵树地瞧（或者一家店一家店地逛），找寻有营养的成熟果实。她们花很多的时间仔细查看食物，看看是否新鲜，是否可食用，许多食物因此被丢弃。最后，她们带着各种各样的食物（或者购物袋）满载而归。

5 In the same way, men's shopping habits may be related to their hunting heritage（和他们的狩猎传统联系起来）. This might explain why men appear to be more focused on a single task, rather than looking at different options. In prehistoric times, they had one thing in mind: Kill an animal and go home. They didn't want to waste time searching, and it was not so necessary for them to examine their food acquisitions（仔细查看已经捕获的猎物）. They just looked for animals, killed them, picked them up, and went straight home. Perhaps this rush to get home was based on the knowledge that（因为他们知道） if a hunter left an animal lying for too long, other animals or insects would start to eat it. Some dead animals would also have been heavy, and so difficult to carry around for long. Also, in hot and humid conditions, it wouldn't be long before the meat would start to go bad.

5 同样，男性的购物习惯也可以和他们的狩猎传统联系起来。这也许可以解释为什么男性似乎更专注于单项任务而不会去考虑其他选择。史前时期的男性目标明确：捕杀一只动物，然后打道回府。他们不愿意浪费时间四处搜寻，也没有必要仔细查看已经捕获的猎物。他们要做的就是：寻找动物、捕杀它们，然后捡起来径直回家。男性这么匆忙回家可能是因为他们知道，如果将猎物长时间留在地上置之不顾，会有其他动物或者昆虫来噬食。有些死去的动物也可能很重，长时间地扛着四处走会比较费劲。况且，在炎热潮湿的环境里，过不了多久，肉就会开始变质。

6 Let me repeat that these are generalizations — there are undoubtedly millions of men and women to whom these characteristics don't apply. And it may seem silly to make these connections between modern shopping habits and hunter-gatherer traits. But if there is a tendency for men and women to shop in these different ways, then it could be explained in terms of our hunter-gatherer past.

6 容我再重复一下，以上这些只是泛泛之谈——毫无疑问，有许许多多的男性女性和这些特征不沾边儿。把现代人的购物习惯和狩猎采集的特征这样联系起来似乎有些荒唐。不过，如果说男性和女性倾向于以不同的方式购物，这种倾向或许可以用我们狩猎采集的历史来解释。

7 Of course, I eventually realized that I was not the only person who had thought of it. Several years ago, anthropologists Kruger and Byker found very clear similarities between modern men's and women's shopping habits and our hunter-gatherer past. They found that women "scored higher on skills and behaviors associated with gathering … even though the environment and the objects being gathered have changed with respect to our ancestral environment. Also as predicted, men scored higher on skills and behaviors associated with hunting." They found that women were more inclined to spend extended time browsing around shopping malls, while men were more inclined to buy what they needed and then leave straight away. Their findings supply empirical evidence for（这些发现为……提供了实证（实验论据）） the connections I'm making in this article.

7 当然，我后来终于意识到，我不是唯一一个这么认为的人。几年前，人类学家克鲁格和拜克发现，现代男女的购物习惯和我们狩猎采集的历史之间存在非常明显的相似之处。他们发现，女性“在和采集相关的技能和行为上得分更高······尽管相较于我们远古的环境，不管是环境还是采集的对象都已经发生了变化。而且，不出所料，男性在和狩猎相关的技能和行为上得分更高”。他们发现，女性更有可能在购物中心逛很长时间，而男性更愿意买到需要的东西后立马离开。他们的研究结果为我在文中所阐述的两者间的联系提供了实证。

8 One good thing about this: It provides justification for（为……提供了正当的理由） our shopping habits. You can always use the excuse that you can't help liking (or not liking) shopping, because you inherited those instincts from our prehistoric past（从人类的远古经历中遗传了那些本能）. More seriously, this might also help us to overcome the impulse to（克制一时冲动，不去做某事） buy unnecessary material goods.

8 这样建立联系的好处是，它为我们的购物习惯找到了正当理由。你可以总是以此为借口，说你不由自主地喜欢（或者不喜欢）购物，因为你从人类的远古经历中遗传了那些本能。说真的，这还有助于我们克制一时冲动，不去购买不必要的物品。

9 Once you become aware of the reasons for a behavior, it becomes easier to control and overcome it. I'm not saying that we should stop shopping, but perhaps we should shop in a more sensible way and bring our buying more in line with our needs than our desires.

9 一旦你弄清楚某种行为的理由，就更容易控制和克服这种行为。我并不是说我们应该停止购物，我的意思是也许我们应该更加理性地购物，应该基于自己的需求而非欲望来进行购物。

10 But, then again, I am a man, after all.

10 不过，话说回来，我毕竟是个男的。

Reading 2¶

Women write about family; men write about war?

1 Stereotypes about women writers are as old as the books written by women. Many female authors — Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters among them — rose to prominence in the mid-19^th century, a period called "the Age of the Female Novelist." But this age also witnessed the development of narrow ideas about women writers and the topics they should write about. G. H. Lewes regarded "sentiment" as a consistent "feminine literary trait;" George Eliot, herself a woman, believed that "maternal affections" distinguished books written by women. It has been commonly believed since then that women writers are excessively emotional and can only write about things like family or feelings.

1 有关女性作家的刻板印象由来已久，就如同女性作家的作品那么久远。十九世纪中叶被称为“女性小说家时代”，其间许多女性作家纷纷崭露头角，如简・奥斯汀和勃朗特姐妹。但是，这一时代也出现了关于女性作家及其创作题材的狭隘观点。乔治・亨利・刘易斯认为，“情感”向来是“女性文学的特征”。乔治・艾略特，身为女性，也觉得“母爱”是女性作家的创作特色。此后，人们普遍认为，女性作家过于感性，因此，她们的作品仅限于家庭和情感类题材。

2 Since the early 2000s, gender inequality in the culture industry — literature, music, and film — has gained much attention. In the world of writing, gender bias has come to be seen as particularly strong. Studies showed that men appeared over 60 percent more often in some of the most influential book review periodicals. This number is valuable because it can track how often publications review books by women, but what it can't track is how reviewers then treat women's work: How they write about women and the stereotypes they help to create.

2 自二十一世纪初以来，文学、音乐和电影文化产业中的性别不平等问题引起众多关注。在文学界，性别偏见显得尤为严重。有研究结果显示，在一些最具影响力的刊物书评中男性的出现频率要比女性高60%以上。这一数据颇为重要，因为它可以用来对出版物中女性作品被评论的频率进行跟踪调查，但是该数据却无法用来跟踪了解书评人如何评论女性创作的作品：他们如何描绘女性，如何共同构建有关性别的刻板印象。

3 This is where our project began. We decided to analyze the contents of recent book reviews to see if men and women were written about differently when their books were under review. And we wanted to see if anything had changed over the last 15 years. We examined a collection of 10,287 reviews published since 2000. We labeled the genders of the reviewer and the author under review and then carried out analyses to identify language in the reviews that indicated the different genders.

3 这就是我们项目的出发点。我们决定分析最近的书评内容，看看针对男女作家的作品，评论方式是否有所不同。我们还想了解在过去的15年间评论方式是否有任何变化。我们查看了2000年之后出版的共计10,287篇书评文章，标注了书评人和被评作家的性别，然后进行了分析来识别书评中带有性别指向的语言。

4 The results are shocking. Book reviewers are three or four times more likely to use words like "husband," "marriage," and "mother" to describe books written by women between 2000 and 2009, and nearly twice as likely to use words like "love," "beauty," and "children." However, when describing books written by men, reviewers are twice as likely to use words like "president" and "leader," as well as "argument" and "theory." The results are almost too good in their confirmation of gender stereotypes. The book reviews overwhelmingly suggest that women tend to write about domestic issues and affairs of the heart, while men are more likely to write about "serious" issues such as politics.

4 测试结果令人震惊。2000到2009年间，在描述女性作家的作品时，书评人用“丈夫”、“婚姻”和“母亲”等词语的可能性要高两三倍，用“爱”、“美丽”和“孩子”等词语的可能性要高近一倍。然而，在描述男性作家的作品时，书评人用“总统”、“领导人”、“争论”以及“理论”等词语的可能性要高一倍。该结果几乎完美印证了有关性别的刻板印象。绝大多数的书评显示，女性作家往往以家庭和情感问题为创作题材，而男性作家的作品涉及政治等“严肃”话题的可能性更大。

5 We might say these results are hardly surprising. Yes, the stereotypes of women writers in book reviews are sad but predictable. But what is particularly startling about our results is that these stereotypes do not change over time: If you look at the results for the period between 2010 and 2016, the distinctive words are nearly identical. Men still write about politics and have "ideas." Women still write about "family" and obsess over love or themselves. Many people claim the situation is getting better, but these results clearly show that nothing is changing. In 2010, several periodicals made a concerted effort to review more books by women and to employ more women reviewers. In 2014, it was reported that the book reviews in these periodicals were down to a 14 percent bias toward men, and this was regarded as a sign of improvement.

5 我们或许会说，这些结果并不奇怪。确实，书评中刻板的女性作家形象虽然令人遗憾，却也是可以预料到的。不过，我们的调查结果中让人颇为意外的是，这些刻板印象并没有随着时间而改变：看看2010年到2016年间的数据结果，高频词几乎一模一样。男性作家还是写政治，还是那么富有“想法”。女性作家依然写“家庭”，依然痴迷于情感问题或沉迷于自我。很多人声称情况正在好转，但这些结果明确显示，一切都没有变。2010年，几家刊物共同努力，力图评论更多女性作家的作品，录用更多的女性评论家。2014年，据报道称，这几家刊物书评中男性的出现频率下降，只比女性高14%，而这被视为情况好转的迹象。

6 But things are, in many significant ways, not getting better at all. Although more women writers are now discussed in book reviews, the way they are talked about in the press has not changed. The discourse around gender has essentially remained the same since the 19^th century: Women writers are still being defined by their "sentimental" traits and a love of writing about "maternal" issues, while men are most often being defined by their attention to matters of science and the state.

6 但是，在很多重要方面，情况根本没有好转。尽管女性作家的受评率有所增加，但是媒体评论她们的方式并没有变化。十九世纪以来，有关性别的话语基本上没有变过：女性作家的特点依然是她们的“情感”特质，依然是她们对于生儿育女话题的钟爱；而男性作家的特点通常是他们对于科学和国家相关话题的关注。

7 Ultimately, what's at stake in these findings is not simply the question of how to reduce gender inequality in the world of letters, but also how we imagine and recognize such change. Quantitative changes in gender representation are not trivial and they provide a noticeable sense of improvement: This year, more books by women were reviewed. Yet, they may also disguise the real site of struggle: our unconscious attitudes about the idea of women writing books. Many publishers have done a great service in pursuing better gender representation. But gender representation does not necessarily equal less gender discrimination. The pattern is bigger than a head count — it's also about the patterns of ideas and words, which have proven far more enduring and unchanging than we would have thought.

7 从根本上来讲，这些研究结果不仅关乎如何减少文学界的性别不平等，而且关乎如何想象并认识这种变化。性别比例在数量上的变化并不是微不足道的，它们能够让人清楚地意识到情况已经有所改善：今年，女性作家的作品受到评论的数量有所增加。然而，这些数量上的变化也有可能掩盖了斗争的根本所在：我们潜意识中对于女性从事写作的态度。很多出版物在改善性别比例方面已经作出了很大的贡献。但是，改善性别比例并不一定等同于减少性别歧视。性别不平等的模式不只关乎人数统计——它还关乎思维模式和语言模式，而这些要比我们原以为的更加历久不变。

视听说¶

Listening & speaking¶

News report

Glasses, say some companies in Japan, are just not the right thing for women to wear at work. In recent reports, women from a range of industries described being asked by their employers not to wear glasses.

One receptionist（n. 接待员） recalled being told that she was not allowed to wear glasses, while this wasn't seen as a problem for her male colleague. A nurse developed dry eye from wearing contacts（contact，n. 隐形眼镜） for long hours but was not allowed to wear glasses either.

Why? Glasses can give a "cold impression," or cover up one's makeup, or just aren't liked by the boss, said the women interviewed by the news organizations.

There don't appear to be any official statistics on how widespread the ban is, but many women have suffered from it and are hoping to do away with dress codes（dress code，n. 衣着要求） specifically targeting women in the workplace. A petition（n. 请愿（书）） was presented in June asking the government to bar（vt. 禁止） companies from forcing women to follow unfair dress codes.

"Women are judged mostly on their appearance," a professor told a reporter this week. "That's the wrong message that these bans are sending."

Conversation

W: Oh, dear. What's wrong, Neil? Why are you crying?

M: Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that the ending of this movie makes me sad.

W: Well, Neil, you are not the only man who has cried in public. It is normal for men to cry.

M: Perhaps it's becoming more normal, but it still seems that if you are a man and you cry in public, people will talk about it as if it is strange.

W: Yeah, it is often believed that a real man doesn't cry. Crying openly is only for girls.

M: And this isn't just a social expectation. One study found that women report crying significantly more than men do — five times as often, on average, and almost twice as long per episode.

W: So the gender gap in crying does exist in our society. But historically, men often wept, and no one saw it as shameful. What makes men less willing to cry in public nowadays?

M: In the Middle Ages, most people spent their lives with people they had known since birth. If men cried, they did so with people they felt close to. But from the 18^th to the 21^st century, the population has become increasingly urbanized（a. （国家或地区）城市化的）. People are living among thousands of strangers, and they don't feel like crying in front of strangers.

W: That makes sense.

M: Then do you think men could cry whenever they want?

W: Of course. Human beings weren't designed to swallow their emotions. Suppressing（suppress，vt. 抑制，克制（感情）） your tears can be harmful to your well-being. In some cases, crying can also be a way to tell others that you need care and support.

M: Now, as a man, I feel more comfortable with crying.

Passage 1

Hello, everyone. Today I want to talk about women in technology.

Unfortunately, despite best efforts, there are still too few women in the UK's technology workforce（n. （行业的）全体从业人员）. So we've conducted some research with over 2,000 female and male A-Level and university students to better understand why so few females are choosing technology careers and what action can be taken.

Our research shows that the gender gap in technology starts at school and carries on through every stage of girls' and women's lives.

So what is putting females off? Our research shows there are two key factors at play.

Many females aren't considering technology as a career, partly because nobody is putting it forward as a possible option for them. While 33 percent of male respondents say they've had a career in technology suggested to them, the figure for females is only 16 percent. A lack of advice in schools on technology careers leaves girls with little understanding of what working in technology involves.

In addition, a shortage of female role models in technology is another major barrier. Females say tech is too male-dominated and they can't see themselves working in technology. Only 22 percent of young people we surveyed can name a famous woman working in technology.

It's really important that schools, universities, and industries work together to address this. Technology is rapidly shaping the world in which we live and work — and women need to be an equal part of that change.

Passage 2

Many people don't know the difference between gender and sex. Sex is biological（a. 生物的；与生物有关的）. Gender roles are expectations of how a person should act, dress, and talk based on their sex. The majority of people learn those roles very early on.

It's obvious that there is no clear, solid line between masculinity（n. 男子气概） and femininity（n. 女性气质）, but not for the media. The media likes to show men who are strong, brave, and independent. They have commercials for men that are rather neutral in emotion, or with fast-paced action. When have you ever seen a commercial in which the man is showing any sign of weakness that isn't meant as a joke? Most of what the media says about women is that they are nice, pretty, delicate, and emotionally expressive.

As we grow older, both sexes have a huge amount of pressure from the media to fit into their gender roles. If men show any feature that is regarded as not "masculine" enough, they are considered weak and are often not taken seriously. By contrast, our society seems gentler on girls than on boys if they don't conform to gender roles. Girls can be "tomboys,"（n. 假小子；野丫头） but that's not necessarily negative.

Can we, as a whole, stop this? I don't think so, not completely, anyway. We can't stop the media from bringing pressure to our everyday lives. That's why we need to show that there are other possible ways of expressing ourselves. This should start at home and work its way into the media.

Questions:

What does the speaker say about masculinity and femininity?
What does the speaker say about commercials which show men's weakness?
What does the speaker say about gender roles?
What should we do about gender stereotyping?

Viewing & speaking¶

Further listening¶

News report

A British author once asked: Why are men, taken on average and as a whole, funnier than women?

Well, a recent study finds that men might have a tiny edge over women in producing humor but the gap is too small to account for the stereotype. Scientists had 16 male and 16 female subjects write funny captions（caption，n. （插图的）说明文字） for 20 magazine cartoons in 45 minutes. Then the captions were rated by a different group of 34 male and 47 female subjects who didn't know the gender of the writers. Men's captions were rated higher on average than women's captions, but only by 0.11 points out of a perfect score of 5.0. The researchers also found that unfunny captions were more often wrongly attributed（attribute，vt. (~ sth. to sb.) 认为···是···所为（或说、写、作）） to women and funny ones wrongly attributed to men.

Given the tiny edge men held, why is the stereotype so deeply rooted in our society? Maybe men just make more attempts at humor. For example, fewer women win the caption competition, because fewer enter. When women do enter, however, they tend to win with fewer attempts compared to men.

Questions:

What is true about the study?

A. The study was funded by the New Yorker（《纽约客》（美国杂志）） magazine.

B. An equal number of male and female subjects participated in the study.

C. The study was conducted by a British author.

D. The subjects rated the captions without knowing the gender of the writers.

解答

答案：D（不是 B）
What do we learn from the findings of the study?
Why do fewer women win the caption competition?

Conversation

M: Ms. Smith, welcome to the News Hour. In your report, you say that many of the barriers for women that existed 20 years ago are still in place today. It's a pretty discouraging report.

W: Absolutely. Although we have made progress in primary education, we are still not there with secondary and tertiary（tertiary education，n. 高等教育） and STEM education. We are progressing in the economic participation of women, particularly in the labor force, but wage gaps between men and women still exist.

M: Given the challenges you're describing, what makes you believe that we can make the kind of progress that you think is necessary?

W: This is a tremendous（a. 极好的） time of historic opportunity, because, for the first time, the world is coming together in terms of awareness of these issues. The governments are showing much more political will than ever before. They know what needs to be done.

M: It sounds like we are really on an accelerated path to breaking down gender barriers and reaching that goal of achieving gender equality. So, what should ordinary men and women in our country do? Do we sit back and watch the rest of the world?

W: Well, obviously we still have a long way to go. Women and girls are far from getting equal treatment and participation in this country. And we need to continue to take special measures and make necessary investment in gender equality not only in our own country, but in the rest of the world.

Questions:

What does the man think about the report?
In which field have we made progress toward gender equality, according to the woman?

A.In primary education.

B.In secondary and tertiary education.

C.In political participation.

D.In business investment.

解答

答案：A（不是 C）
Why is the woman optimistic about breaking down gender barriers?

A. Because the status of women has improved tremendously.

B. Because governments are providing more financial support.

C. Because we are on an accelerated path of economic development.

D. Because the whole world is now very much aware of gender equality issues.

解答

答案：D（不是 B）
What should we do to achieve gender equality, according to the woman?

A. Display the progress that has been made.

B. Take action across the world.

C. Make the promotion of gender equality a priority.

D. Set gender equality as a goal for all countries.

解答

答案：B（不是 D）

Passage 1

What's wrong with words like "fireman," "policeman," and "chairman"? These words are gendered — they have "man" in them. Such gender-specific terms fail to recognize the women who are in these professions. These words have "man" in them because only men were allowed to work in these professions many decades ago. However, that has now changed. But many people still use these gendered terms.

Fortunately, with growing awareness of gender equality, people are now moving away from gendered terms and are using gender-neutral language, or words that do not specify（vt. 具体说明） a gender.

Now that women are able to hold these positions, using gender-neutral terms like "firefighter"（n. 消防队员） or "chair" reflects the reality that the person fighting the fire or chairing the board could be a man or a woman. In fact, the use of gender-neutral language is nothing new. It was possible, hundreds of years ago, to use the pronoun "they" in English to refer to someone in the singular（n. （词的）单数形式） without specifying a gender. This use of "they" as a gender-neutral pronoun is currently being revived.

While some may have an issue with "they" being used in a singular context, many others argue that "they" should be adopted as a standard third-person, gender-neutral pronoun in English. Apart from using "they," people can use more than one pronoun if they're not sure if the person is a man or a woman. For example, they can say "he or she" when they refer to a person.

Questions:

Why do some job titles like "fireman" and "policeman" end with "-man"?
Why do people choose to use gender-neutral language nowadays?
What does the speaker say about the use of "they" as a singular pronoun?

A. The word "they" has replaced "he / she" as a singular pronoun.

B. People have recently started to use "they" as a singular pronoun.

C. There is controversy over the use of "they" as a singular pronoun.

D. The use of "they" as a singular pronoun has been officially accepted.

解答

答案：C（不是 A）
What is the speaker's attitude toward the use of gender-neutral language?

Passage 2

I've been a stay-at-home dad for just over a year, taking care of my 15-month-old daughter. My wife has been on a solid career track since before we met. I'm a visual artist and have had random jobs. It seemed like an easy decision for me to be home with our daughter and for my wife to continue on her career path — it made more sense financially for me to take on full-time childcare rather than pay someone else to do it.

A big challenge is dealing with other people's expectations of what a stay-at-home parent should be like. I'm lucky to live in a community with a lot of parent and child meetups during the working week. My first mom friend who asked me for parenting advice almost made me cry, as I felt somebody trusted in my abilities as a parent. I also get a lot of doors held open for me, compliments（compliment，n. 夸奖；称赞） about being a good dad, etc. My wife doesn't enjoy this treatment from strangers when she's out alone with our daughter.

When people ask me how it really is being a stay-at-home parent, I tell them that it can be hard and definitely tiring and frustrating, but it's never stressful. I feel lucky to be in this situation. My wife's job stresses her out, and she's going to leave it one day, while I get to raise our child to be a good person.

Questions:

Why did the man choose to stay at home and take care of his daughter?
Why did the man almost cry when his first mom friend asked him for parenting advice?
Which of the following words can be used to describe other people's reaction to the man being a stay-at-home dad?

A. Disapproving.

B. Indifferent.

C. Positive.

D. Curious.

解答

答案：C（不是 D）
How does the man feel about being a stay-at-home dad?