Question

Educating Girls Is a Real Lifesaver

Clare Short knows it. Every developing economist knows it. The World Bank knows it. The education of girls is the surest way to reduce poverty.

The reason is simple. All the evidence shows that taking girls out of the fields and homes, and putting them behind desks, raises economic productivity, lowers infant and maternal(產(chǎn)婦) death rates, reduces birth rates, and improves environmental management.

Why, then, are 90 million primary school-age girls around the world not in school? For the same reason that when Charles Dickens was writing David Copperfield 150 years ago girls were absent from the British education system: Men in power mostly prefer it that way, or are not interested enough in changing the situation to commit energy and money to doing so.

The countries with the poorest record for having women in positions of power or influence have the worst figures for girls’ education. High-profile intervention(介入) by organizations such as the World Bank has begun successfully with several countries, and more of the same will probably be needed to bring change in conservative, male-run states.

Even if there were no development payoff from gender equality in schools, the education of girls would still be a cause worth fighting for. Education is a human right, and the denial of it to girls is a scar on the community in the twenty-first century.

To be born a girl in a rural area in Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia, Morocco, Togo, or Sudan — half a dozen of the most shameful performers — means being condemned to a life without school, education, or clean water, marriage and babies coming too early, too many births, children who die of preventable diseases, backbreaking work in the fields, subordination(從屬) to husband and his family, and an early death.

Every year, almost 12 million children under the age of five needlessly die of infectious diseases associated with poverty. But each additional year spent by their mothers in primary school lowers the risk of premature child deaths by about 8 percent. In Pakistan, an extra year of school for 1,000 girls could prevent sixty infant deaths.

With women and girls being the main farmers in Africa and southern Asia, their education offers a chance to develop more efficient farming practices, improve output, and raise awareness of the ecological needs of the land with tree planting and farming. Therefore, the world community cannot afford to ignore this avenue of change.

1.Which is Not the reason why educating girls reduces poverty?

A. It improves environmental management.

B. It raises economic productivity.

C. It creates more children.

D. It lowers maternal death rates.

2.What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A. The poor economy at that time.

B. Girls’ absence from school.

C. Energy and money.

D. The education of girls.

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. The countries where women have great influence and are in power always do worse in girls’ education.

B. Some organizations such as the World Bank haven’t taken the lead in girls’ education.

C. Some girls in Sudan and Indonesia are bound to live a life without education when they are born.

D. Each extra year of school for girls has nothing to do with the birthrate and maternal deaths.

4.How many more infants will survive when 100 girls stay in school for another year?

A. 5 B. 6 C. 8 D. 12

5.What does the author think of girls’ education?

A. essential B. terrible

C. indifferent D. helpless

 

Answer 1

1.C

2.B

3.C

4.B

5.A

【解析】

試題分析：本文講述女孩教育在提高生產(chǎn)，降低嬰兒和產(chǎn)婦死亡率，改善環(huán)境管理方面起著重要的作用，這是世界所共認的，在尼泊爾，印度尼西亞、摩洛哥、多哥或蘇丹這些地方女孩不能接受很好的教育，會使經(jīng)濟落后，所以要重視女孩的教育問題。

1.C 細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第一段提到All the evidence shows that taking girls out of the fields and homes, and putting them behind desks, raises economic productivity, lowers infant and maternal(產(chǎn)婦) death rates, reduces birth rates, and improves environmental management女孩可以提高生產(chǎn)，降低嬰兒與產(chǎn)婦死亡率，提高環(huán)境管理，沒有提到C項，故選C項。

2.B 細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第三段提到For the same reason that when Charles Dickens was writing David Copperfield 150 years ago girls were absent from the British education system: Men in power mostly prefer it that way,在狄更斯寫的大衛(wèi) 科波菲爾這本書中提到，女孩不接受教育，男人在某些方面是很喜歡的，故選B項。

3.C 細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第三段提到To be born a girl in a rural area in Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia, Morocco, Togo, or Sudan — half a dozen of the most shameful performers — means being condemned to a life without school, education, or clean water, marriage and babies coming too early, too many births, children who die of preventable diseases, backbreaking work in the fields, subordination(從屬) to husband and his family, and an early death在尼泊爾，印度尼西亞、摩洛哥、多哥或蘇丹，一些女孩出生在農(nóng)村地區(qū)，就意味著注定過著，沒有教育，沒有清潔飲用水，早婚等等問題，故選C項正確。

4.B 細節(jié)理解題，根據(jù)倒數(shù)第二段In Pakistan, an extra year of school for 1,000 girls could prevent sixty infant deaths可知1000中可以避免60個嬰兒早亡，故選B項。

5.A 細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)最后一段提到Therefore, the world community cannot afford to ignore this avenue of change.可知國際社會不能忽視女孩教育這一重要的變化，故選A項對女子的教育是十分有必要的。

考點：社會現(xiàn)象類閱讀。