Question

On 8th March this year, events marking International Women’s Day (IWD) were held in many countries around the world. In most countries the events have a political tone: they tend to celebrate the advances women have made towards economic, social and political equality with men, and to press for change in those areas of life where there is still progress to be made.

In other countries, meanwhile, 8th March is traditionally more about expressing an appreciation of women: it is a day on which men give presents to their wives, girlfriends and mothers, and it therefore has some similarities with St Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.

Back in 1911, the first IWD events in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland were certainly political. They were protests by women against forms of gender discrimination that would now be unthinkable in most parts of the world: almost nowhere were women allowed to vote, and Finland was the only country with any female members of a national parliament. The general expectation worldwide, across different continents and cultures, was that women would spend their lives largely in the home, devoting themselves to looking after their husbands and children. The rate of women who had paid employment was far lower than today, and when women did go out to work they typically earned very little, meaning they were economically dependent on men.

A century later, gender inequality in employment—particularly pay inequality—is still one of the hottest issues IWD tries to draw attention to: it remains common, of course, for women to earn less than men for doing exactly the same job.

Limited educational opportunities (there are many countries in which girls generally stay fewer years in school than boys) and domestic violence towards women have also been highlighted by events surrounding IWD in recent years.

And yet, as the IWD website notes, ______________________. As just one example, to return to the issue of women elected to office, the change over the last hundred years has been significant. Since 1911, when the small group of women in the Finnish parliament (nineteen of them, to be exact) were the only females in public office worldwide, the governments of more than fifty different countries have been led by women. In 2011, at least one country in every continent has a female leader, including high-profile examples such as Brazil (Dilma Rousseff), Germany (Angela Merkel) and Australia (Julia Gillard).

1.According to the passage, which of the following is true?

A. 100 years ago, women were not allowed to work outside.

B. IWD is equal to St Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day in some countries.

C. Finland was the first country with female employment.

D. Pay inequality is a hot issue for IWD.

2.Which word below is closest in meaning to the phrase “press for” in Paragraph 1?

A. prevent    B. urge    C. express    D. want

3.Which of the following is the missing sentence in the first line of the last paragraph?

A. distinctive differences do exist between men and women

B. the achievements are beyond people’s expectations

C. there’s still a long way to go to achieve the set goals

D. alongside the ‘negatives’ there are plenty of ‘positives’

4.We can conclude from the passage that ________.

A. the progress in gaining equality in the last century seems to be too slow

B. the concept of equal pay for equal work is completely accepted in practice

C. much has been achieved in gender equality, but still there is space for improvement

D. one or two female leaders can’t stand for women’s social status on the whole

Answer

the advances women have made towards economic, social and political equality with men, and to press for change in those areas of life where there is still progress to be made.☞C选项much has been achieved in gender equality, but still there is space for improvement ☞关键词the advances，still progress和much has been achieved，still there is space for improvement。

【解析】本文是说明文。本文介绍了三八妇女节的由来，并说明虽然现在在男女平等方面已经取得了很大成就，但仍然有很大的改善空间。

1.D 细节理解题。根据第一段中“A century later, gender inequality in employment—particularly pay inequality—is still one of the hottest issues IWD tries to draw attention to:”可知，性别歧视尤其是薪水的不平等仍是国际妇女节关注的热门话题。故选D。

2.B 词义猜测题。根据文中“they tend to celebrate the advances women have made towards economic, social and political equality with men, and to press for change in those areas of life where there is still progress to be made.”可知，在妇女节时大多数的国家会庆祝女性在经济，社会和政治争取与男性平等权利的成就，并且推进其他方面有待改善的工作。故press for的意思是“推进”，与urge意思相近，故选B。

3.D 推理判断题。根据最后一段所填空白处上下文的内容，可知该句起过渡作用。总结上文的消极情况，引领下文的乐观方面的介绍。故选D。

4.C 推理判断题。根据全文内容可推断出，在男女平等方面已经取得了很大成就，但仍然有很大的改善空间。其他选项较片面。故选C。

【名师点睛】推理判断主要的解题策略有：

（1）根据不同文体，推断目的意图。不同的文章可能有不同的写作目的，通常作者的写作目的有以下三种：1) to entertain readers（娱乐读者，让人发笑），常见于故事类的文章。2) to persuade readers（说服读者接受某种观点）常见于广告类的文章。3) to inform readers（告知读者某些信息）多见于科普类﹑新闻报道类﹑文化类或社会类的文章。高考阅读试题设计到各类文章，而以议论文为主，文章的主题句、核心句往往会直接或间接地表明作者的态度立场；阅读理解中也有说明文、描述文。前者因为其体裁的客观性，所以作者的态度也往往采取中立。而后者因为其文章观点往往不直接提出，而且作者写作时也常带有某种倾向性，所以，阅读时要善于根据文章的文体来学会推断作者的情感态度和目的。

（2）根据用词风格，推断情感态度。一篇好的文章，其用词风格常常直接流露或蕴含作者的内心世界和情感态度。所以阅读时要善于捕捉表达或暗示情感态度的词句或短语，捕捉那些烘托气氛，渲染情感的词句，进而很好地洞察作者的思想倾向，是支持、反对抑或中立？对于选项而言，要分清选项中的褒义词、中性词和贬义词，以此对照全文。如：1）表示褒义的词语：positive赞成的，supporting支持的，praising赞扬的，optimistic乐观的，admiring羡慕的，enthusiastic热情的等；2）表示中性的词语：uninterested无兴趣的，不感兴趣的； neutral中立的；impersonal不带个人感情的；subjective主观的；objective客观的等；3）表示贬义的词语：disgusted感到恶心的，厌恶的；critical批评的；negative 否定的，反对的；suspicious怀疑的；tolerant容忍的，忍让的；worried 担忧的等。

（3）根据写作思路，推断段落发展。不同的文体，写作思路和写作手法也不尽相同。做题时，要善于体会作者的写作思路，揣摩作者的谋篇布局，从宏观上左右文章的结构框架；同时，还要把握作者行文时所运用的修辞手段，如对比、举例、下定义等。通过梳理写作思路，明晰写作手法，即可对文章的发展作出比较科学合理的推断和预测。

（4）根据事实细节，推断合理信息。推理题要求在理解原文表面文字信息的基础上，作出一定判断和推论，从而得到文章的隐含意义和深层意义。推理题所涉及的内容可能是文中某一句话，也可是某几句话，但做题的指导思想都是以文字信息为依据，既不能做出在原文中找不到文字根据的推理，也不能根据表面文字信息做多步推理。也就是说，要做到判断有据, 推论有理, 忠实原文。切忌用自己的观点代替作者的本意，切忌片面思考，得出片面结论。例如：本题中的第2小题：

4.C【解题剖析】此题属于推理判断题中的（4）根据事实细节，推断合理信息。答案需要从文章第一段中的In most countries the events have a political tone: they tend to celebrate the advances women have made towards economic, social and political equality with men, and to press for change in those areas of life where there is still progress to be made.进行推断。

【答案定位】根据文章第一段中的In most countries the events have a political tone: they tend to celebrate the advances women have made towards economic, social and political equality with men, and to press for change in those areas of life where there is still progress to be made.可知，妇女在经济、政治和社会方面与男人趋于平等有了很大进步，但仍然有许多需要进步的地方。

【推理关系】题干We can conclude from the passage that ________.☞文章内容In most countries the events have a political tone: they tend to celebrate the advances women have made towards economic, social and political equality with men, and to press for change in those areas of life where there is still progress to be made.