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  3. The government will be told next month that a stark new class divide is opening between career women and mothers who give up wor

The government will be told next month that a stark new class divide is opening between career women and mothers who give up wor

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问题     The government will be told next month that a stark new class divide is opening between career women and mothers who give up work to become housewives.
    While career mums are able to build on the increased "social capital" or status that a modern education and equal access to the workplace have afforded them, stay-at-home mothers rapidly lose their social status.
    The new study of social mobility and its conclusion that middle-class women are becoming increasingly "polarised" will be presented at a Cabinet Office meeting later this month by Professor Jonathan Gershuny, a leading sociologists.
    He will say that while reforms in equal opportunities legislation over the past 30 years have improved women’s life chances, all the gains can be lost at the point when they have children if they are unable to afford nurseries or nannies.
    "When they enter the labor force, young men and women now have similar level of educational attainment, but from the first child’s birth a new dynamic emerges", said Gershuny.
    "In almost all cases where childcare is unaffordable, the woman withdraws (from work). And the withdrawal means a progressive reduction in accumulated work experience, perhaps the loss of a promotion, so the wife’s capital falls".
    Critics claim the constant emphasis on equal economic attainment for men and women is feeding the divorce rate and destroying family life. In addition, many mothers choose to stay at home to ensure that they, rather than an outsider, play the main role in bringing up their children.
    While women’s place in the class system is increasingly determined by their ability to afford children, the declining social status of stay-at-home mums may be accentuated by the break-up of local communities, itself partly a product in increased social mobility.
    The importance of access to child-care and the determining effect it can have on women’s lives is leading them to delay the age at which they have their first child. Many middle-class women do not even consider having their children until they are into their thirties.
    Researchers say that other social changes have made the life of the stay-at-home mother even less attractive. Greater social mobility means relatives are now less likely to be available to offer help.
    Danielle Stewart, 41, form south London, is a member of the "superwomen" tribe and has two children, Francesca, 7, and Isabelle, 4, she earns more than ￡150,000 a year, of which she spends ￡24,000 a year on a nanny.
    "I am a strong woman who is giving my girl a great example. The intellectual inspiration of work has been fantastic, and I think if I had stayed at home and given up work I would not have got that".
    Gershumy’s research suggests that career women like Stewart, who are able to afford childcare, almost always come from well-to-do backgrounds. It suggests that the old British class system where privilege and status are passed down the generations is still very much alive.
选项 A、middle-class women are undergoing opposing division.
B、middle-class women prefer to go to the Poles of the world.
C、middle-class women are becoming more and more popular.
D、middle-class women have more and more problems.
答案A
解析 本题考查词义辨析。polarise，"使两极分化"。文章首段"a stark new class divide is opening between career women and mothers who give up work to become housewives"．第二段再次明确这样的对比。第三段正式提出是由于社会流动性所造成的这种社会地位的两极分化。
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