Of the world’s 774m illiterate adults two-thirds are women, a share that has remained unchanged for the past two decades. But gi

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问题     Of the world’s 774m illiterate adults two-thirds are women, a share that has remained unchanged for the past two decades. But girls everywhere are beginning to catch up. Across the emerging world, 78% of them are now at primary school, an only slightly smaller proportion than boys(82%). At secondary level enrolment remains lower and girls are further behind, but things are getting better there too.
    The big surprise of the past few decades has been women’s huge advance into tertiary education. Across rich countries the share of those aged over 25 who have had some form of higher education is now 33% , against 28% of men in the same age group. Even in many developing regions they make up a majority of students in higher education.
    It is too soon to feel sorry for men. Although women now earn more first degrees, they mostly still get fewer PhDs, and if they stay on in academia they are promoted more slowly than men. Many of them are put off by the way the academic promotion system works, explains Lotte Bailyn, a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management. To get ahead, young hopefuls have to put in a huge amount of time and effort just when many women start to think about having a family, so they do not apply for senior posts. Ms Bailyn approvingly notes the recent decision by America’s National Science Foundation, which funds a big chunk of the universities’ basic research, to allow grant recipients to take a break.
    Crucially, women’s lead at first-degree level does not so far seem to have translated into better job opportunities. In a paper published earlier this year Ina Ganguli of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government concluded that the achievement of educational parity is a" cheque in the mail" that may presage more women joining the labor force, but lots of other factors—such as cultural attitudes and the availability of child care—also play a part. On its own, educational parity—even superiority—is not enough.
    Women may not be helping themselves by concentrating heavily on subjects that set them apart from men. In rich countries they account for over 70% of degrees in humanities and health, whereas the vast majority of degrees in mathematics and engineering go to men. Women with humanities degrees are less likely to be in demand for jobs in high-tech industries, which tend to pay well. At postgraduate level the gap between subjects gets even bigger. And on MBA courses, the classic avenue to senior corporate jobs, women make up only about a third of the students.
    Such differences between males and females show up quite early in life, but not nearly big enough to explain the huge differences in the choice of subject at university level. The OECD’s PISA researchers conclude that the choices have little to do with ability and may well be influenced by ingrained stereotypes. That would help to explain why they vary so much from country to country. In Japan women are awarded only 11% of all degrees in engineering, manufacturing and construction; in Indonesia their share is exactly half.
One recent decision made by America’s National Science Foundation may change the unfavorable situation for females in academic promotion because______.

选项 A、it allocates more funds to the research field predominated by females
B、it radically changes the academic promotion mechanism in universities
C、it eases the restrictions on the age of candidates applying for senior posts
D、it allows researchers to finish the project on a more flexible schedule

答案D

解析 根据题干的关键词America’s National Science Foundation锁定文章第三段的内容。文章第三段对女性在学术晋升中面临的劣势做了简单的介绍。为了职称晋升,年轻的学者们必须在人生的黄金年龄段投入大量的时间和精力搞研究,而在这个阶段恰恰是女性考虑结婚生子的阶段,这严重影响了女性的晋升速度。而美国国家科学基金会最近的一项决策受到了很多女性的欢迎,因为它允许经费申请人在完成项目的过程中提出暂停申请(…to allow grant recipients to take a break)。灵活的项目完成时间表能够帮助女性在完成学术研究的同时兼顾家庭责任,因此本题的正确答案应该选[D]。[A]错误,它利用原文中的funds a big chunk of the universities’basic research设置干扰,这个短语在原文中做定语修饰国家科学基金会,该基金会为多所大学的大量基础研究提供资金,和在女性经常从事的领域投放资金没有任何关系。[B]错误,国家科学基金的做法并没有彻底改变大学晋升机制。[C]错误,原文中并没有提到申请基金的年龄限制这个问题。
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