Question

    The early lack of exposure to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) can be harmful to achieving gender balance in these fields. It begins when we are young and continues throughout our time in high school.

While at home, girls generally don’t get to experience the level of exposure or encouragement in STEM fields that boys do. It is often subtle, but it’s the first obstacle that faces and confuses so many women. Boys, on the other hand, get on their path, and are encouraged to do so, generally earlier than girls. For example, boys are more often given science sets as toys, which spark an interest in these subjects.

In school, boys are often pushed in school to take the more challenging math and science classes. So if we want to attract the best and brightest minds into the fields that will advance us as a people, a country, and a planet, we can no longer look to only half of the population. Young girls cannot possibly consider opportunities they do not know exist. If girls are not exposed to certain subject and career paths, they are highly unlikely to elect to follow them in college.

Our bias(偏见) toward girl, either from families or from schools is so rooted in our culture that we often don’t even recognize it. While the situation has changed greatly in the past 20 or 30 years, there is still a sense that girls aren’t as good at math, for instance, even though there is almost no evidence to support such a belief.

It is important that as a society we deal with gender stereotypes long before young people are faced with a decision to declare or choose a major in college. Without making efforts to break them, we are limiting the potentials of our youth, both male and female. Providing the necessary resources, exposure, and encouragement would help young women understand that their gender shouldn’t determine the career path they choose, and that pursuing a STEM career does not make them less feminine.

1.According to the passage, not many girls grow to enter STEM fields because ________.

A.girls are not as good at STEM as boys

B.girls do not like to take science classes

C.girls get fewer chances to know about STEM

D.girls seldom survive the high pressure positions

2.The underlined word “it” in Para.4 refers to ________.

A.this bias B.our culture

C.the situation D.a sense

3.The main purpose of the passage is to ________.

A.show girls’ potentials in STEM fields

B.praise women’s contributions to STEM fields

C.describe the present gender bias in STEM fields

D.call for more involvement of women in STEM fields

4.Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

CP：Central Point P：Point Sp：Sub-point C： Conclusion

A. B.

C. D.

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.D

4.D

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。本文介绍了没有很多女性进入STEM领域工作，是因为她们没有什么机会接触这方面的知识。是由于我们的文化导致对女性的偏见，呼吁多一些女性参与STEM领域的工作。

1.细节理解题。根据第二段中While at home, girls generally don’t get to experience the level of exposure or encouragement in STEM fields that their male counterparts do.(而在家里，女孩们通常不会像她们的男同学那样在STEM领域受到那么多的关注和鼓励。)可知，没有很多女性进入STEM领域工作，是因为她们没有什么机会接触这方面的知识。故选C。

2.代词指代题。根据第四段第一句Our bias(偏见) toward girl, either from families or from schools is so rooted in our culture that we often don’t even recognize it.(我们对女孩的偏见，无论是来自家庭还是来自学校，都深深植根于我们的文化中，以至于我们常常都没有意识到这一点。)可知，此处用代词it指代Our bias。故选A。

3.推理判断题。根据最后一段句子中Providing the necessary resources, exposure, and encouragement would help young women understand that their gender shouldn’t determine the career path they choose, and that pursuing a STEM career does not make them less feminine.(提供必要的资源、接触机会和鼓励可以帮助年轻女性认识到，她们的性别不应该决定她们选择的职业道路，追求STEM职业并不会让她们变得不那么女性化。)可知，文章呼吁在STEM领域多一些女性。故选D。

4.文章结构题。文章第一段提出话题：现在女性在STEM领域的很少是因为早年没有接触到这方面的知识。第二段讲的是在家里的情况；第三段是在学校的情况；第四段把上两段总结起来说；第五段是文章的总结。故选D。