In both rich and poor countries, poverty most often has a feminine face. It is bad enough in America: according to the Census Bureau 14.1% of women live in poverty, compared with 11.1% of men. In the developing world, the situation is much worse. By some estimates 70% of the world's poor are women and the depth of their deprivation, which often involves subsisting on less than $2 a day, makes American poverty look positively benign.
The World Bank would like this to change. Late in February, together with the OECD and several European governments, it convened a conference in Berlin on increasing the economic power of women. The bank reckons that restricting women's participation in the economy is not merely unfair, but bad economics. To put matters right it has released a “Gender Action Plan”, which calls for better data and a harder push for World Bank schemes that seek to move women into the economic mainstream.
Currently, the World Bank says that women earn an average of 22% less than men, and have much less access to credit; in Africa, for example, they receive just 1% of the credit going to the agricultural sector. Changing this could have an enormous impact on deprivation around the world. This is why Grameen Bank, among other poverty-fighting institutions, has chosen to focus its efforts on women. Almost all of its borrowers are women, and the micro-lender tries to ensure that its loans raise the economic status of women within their families by ensuring, for example, that ownership of houses built with Grameen loans staying with the women.
There is also evidence that giving women more financial power fosters economic development. Where men control most of the finances, it is more likely that households will distribute what they have unequally between male and female children, leaving the female family members with insufficient resources to meet basic needs. This, in turn, can hinder development of both mind and body. Giving women economic power can significantly alter decision-making in ways that improve general welfare. Households where women contribute a significant portion of the revenue spend more money on food and childcare and less on alcohol and tobacco.
But the World Bank may have cause and effect reversed. Does liberating women promote economic growth or does economic growth spur women's liberation? In an economy where adding economic value involves muscle power, women are bound to be paid less, and valued less, than men even before the effects of childbirth and childcare are taken into account. And in most societies, lower economic value translates into reduced social and political status.
The experience of developed countries certainly seems to indicate that economic growth is profoundly liberating for women. As the value of brute force falls opportunities in the labour market for women grow. Modern contraceptives, and labour-saving appliances, make it easier for them to take paid work. And with that comes economic and political power. There is a strong argument that women's liberation movement owes less to the “feminine mystique” than to the dishwashers and washing machines that reduced household drudgery. If so the bank would do better to concentrate on spurring economic growth rather than fretting about gender.
注(1):本文选自Economist, 03/03/2007
注(2):本文习题命题模仿对象2004年真题Text 1。
1. Why does the author claim that poverty has a feminine face?
2. Which of the following is NOT the oppinion of the World Bank?
3. The expression “translate into” (Line 5, Paragraph 5) most probably means _______.
4. What is the author’s attitude towards World Bank’s interpretation of female poverty?
5. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
篇章剖析
本文是一篇以女性贫困为话题的议论文。第一段简单介绍了当前世界上关于女性的贫困问题;第二段世界银行指出女性经济地位低导致了其贫困状况,第三、四段通过事例和理论分析来进一步论证上述观点;第四、五段为作者对于世界观点的反驳,认为女性没有得到彻底解放才是其贫困问题的根本原因。
词汇注释
deprivation [9depri`vei`En] n. 剥夺
subsist [sEb`sist] v. 生存, 存在, 供养
alter [`C:ltE] v. 改变
contraceptive [9kCntrE`septiv] n. 避孕品, 避孕用具
难句突破
Almost all of its borrowers are women, and the micro-lender tries to ensure that its loans raise the economic status of women within their families by ensuring, for example, that ownership of houses built with Grameen loans staying with the women.
主体句式
结构分析
句子译文
题目分析
1.C. 推理题。从文章第一段中可以推断,所谓的“贫穷总带着女性的面具”意指女性的贫困率要高于男性。
2.A. 细节题。B、C和D选项的内容分别可以在文章第二、三、四段中找到。同时,文章第二段第一句话就指出,世界银行要努力改变女性高贫困率这一状况,因此A选项不是世界银行的意见。
3.D. 语义题。从文章第四段最后一句中可以看出,translate into前后存在因果关系,因此答案为D。
4.B. 态度题。文章第四段作者称世界银行将整个问题的因果关系本末倒置了,这说明作者对世界银行就妇女贫困问题作出的解释持反对态度。
5.C. 细节题。文章第五和六段都涉及到了相关论述,如“妇女解放运动……应该归功于减轻家务负担的洗碗机和洗衣机”等,答案显然为C。
参考译文
发达国家的经验看起来意味着经济增长引发了根本性的妇女解放。随着蛮力价值的下降,劳动力市场为女性提供了更多的机会。现代避孕用品、省力的工具使得女性更容易得到带薪工作,于是随之而来的就是她们的经济和政治实力。有一种观点认为,妇女解放运动的成功并不是由于所谓的“女性的神秘性”,而应该归功于减轻家务负担的洗碗机和洗衣机。倘若如此,世界银行更应该注重促进经济增长而不是操心性别问题。