“I was not exceptional at all,” Claudia Goldin once told me of her time as an economics PhD student at the University of Chicago. But as the course progressed, she said, “I felt like lightbulbs were going on in my head.” On October 9 the brightness of those lights was confirmed, as she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes”.
Goldin found men relatively dull, at least as a topic of study. Their labour was uniform compared to that of women, who might switch between caring for children, toiling (辛苦工作) in the family businesses or sweating somewhere else. But this complexity was harder to measure. According to America’s historical statistics, for example, their occupation was often unhelpfully listed as “wife”. So Goldin set out to measure their work properly.
The standard pattern of development was once that as countries got richer, women were pulled into the labour market. But by painstakingly stitching together different data sets, Goldin established that America’s path was more complicated, and that growth in the 1800s coincided with women moving away from work other than domestic labour.
Why? For a start, factory jobs were harder to combine with childcare than, say, sewing at home. And richer families could afford to spare women the indignity of toil. Goldin argued that stigma (污名) reinforced this, or the idea that “only a husband who is lazy and neglectful of his family would allow his wife to do such labour.” Later the stigma faded — the office clerk job of the 20th century was easier, and consistent with the impression of a supportive spouse. With the arrival of tight labour markets in the 1950s, discriminatory policies against hiring married women were virtually abandoned.
Today, women still work and earn less than men. As social norms have shifted and real barriers have fallen, Goldin says that most of the remaining gender gaps facing college-educated women are due to something else. So-called “greedy jobs” reward round-the-clock work and are conflicting with being on call for children. Perhaps men should also share the family burden and allow their partners to be more professionally involved instead.
1. How does Claudia Goldin find women’s domestic labour?| A．Complicated to understand. | B．Tricky to assess. |
| C．Less changeable than men’s work. | D．More valuable than men’s career. |
| A．They took an active part in workforce. |
| B．They were comfortable enough not to work. |
| C．They stood a good chance in office jobs. |
| D．They were still stuck in household chores. |
| A．To explain the current gender gaps. |
| B．To introduce the employee reward system. |
| C．To call on men to stay at home. |
| D．To expose the greedy nature of capitalists. |
| A．Gender Pay Gap Research Wins the Nobel Prize in Economics |
| B．How Goldin Transformed Our Understanding of Women’s Work |
| C．Women’s Century-Long Journey Toward Equality |
| D．Do Greedy Jobs Cause the Gender Pay Inequality |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Upskilling is the future—but it must work for everyone
Automation and job replacement will be one of the most significant challenges for the global economy of the coming decades. A 2017 Mckinsey report established that 375 million workers will need to switch occupational categories by 2030. The World Economic Forum suggests that by 2022, automation will replace 75 million jobs globally—but create 133 million new ones.
Research into the likelihood that a job will be impacted by digitization has largely focused on the “automatability” of the role and the following economic regional and political effects of this. What this research doesn’t take into account is something more important for the millions of taxi drivers and retail workers across the globe: their likelihood of being able to change to another job that isn’t automatable. Recent research suggests that the answer to this may be that the skills that enable workers to move up the ladder to more complex roles within their current areas might be less important than broader skills that will enable workers to change across divisions.
In July, Amazon announced that it would spend $700 million retraining around 30% of its 300,000 US workforce. While praiseworthy, it will be interesting to see the outcome. In the UK, the National Retraining Scheme has largely been led by employers, meaning that those on zero-hours contracts and part-time workers—often low-skilled—will miss out. Governance will be a crucial element of ensuring that such schemes focus on individuals and life-long learning, rather than upskilling workers into roles that will soon also face automation.
According to the Mckinsey report, “growing awareness of the scale of the task ahead has yet to translate into action. Public spending on labour-force training and support has fallen for years in most member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development,” which impacts more than just the low-skilled and poorly compensated.
The global impact of automation is also put into relief by research demonstrating that, between 1988 and 2015, income inequality increased throughout the world. Billions of people do not have the essentials of life as defined by the UN Sustainable Development goals.
Alongside climate change, automation is arguably tech’s biggest challenge. As with globalization, governments and employers—and us workers—ignore its potential consequences at risk to ourselves.
1. It can be known from Paragraph 2 that .| A．recent research has found ways to face automation |
| B．broad skills are of great significance in changing jobs |
| C．regional economy can affect the automatability of a job |
| D．it is even harder for workers to move up the social ladder |
| A．Supportive. | B．Critical. |
| C．Skeptical. | D．Sympathetic. |
| A．Less spending on training. | B．A slowdown of globalization. |
| C．Social unrest and instability. | D．An increase in income inequality. |
| A．argue the urgency of creating new jobs | B．compare globalization with automation |
| C．analyze the automatability of certain jobs | D．stress the importance of upskilling workers |
【推荐2】He's an old cobbler with a shop in the Marais, a historic area in Paris. When I took him my shoes, he at first told me: “I haven't time. Take them to the other fellow on the main street; he'll fix them for you right away.”
But I'd had my eye on his shop for a long time. Just looking at his bench loaded with tools and pieces of leather, I knew he was a skilled craftsman. “No,” I replied, “the other fellow can't do it well.”
“The other fellow” was one of those shopkeepers who fix shoes and make keys “while-U-wait” -- without knowing much about mending shoes or making keys. They work carelessly, and when they have finished sewing back a sandal strap you might as well just throw away the pair.
My man saw I wouldn't give in, and he smiled. He wiped his hands on his blue apron, looked at my shoes, had me write my name on one shoe with a piece of chalk and said, “Come back in a week.”
I was about to leave when he took a pair of soft leather boots off a shelf.
“See what I can do?” he said with pride. “Only three of us in Paris can do this kind of work.”
When I got back out into the street, the world seemed brand-new to me. He was something out of an ancient legend, this old craftsman with his way of speaking familiarly, his very strange, dusty felt hat, his funny accent from who-knows-where and, above all, his pride in his craft.
These are times when nothing is important but the bottom line, when you can do things any old way as long as it “pays”, when, in short, people look on work as a path to ever-increasing consumption (消费) rather than a way to realize their own abilities. In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest satisfaction from pride in a job well done.
1. Which of the following is true about the old cobbler?| A．He was equipped with the best repairing tools. |
| B．He was the only cobbler in the Marais. |
| C．He was proud of his skills. |
| D．He was a native Parisian. |
| A．nowadays you can hardly find anyone like him |
| B．it was difficult to communicate with this man |
| C．the man was very strange |
| D．the man was too old |
| A．realize their abilities | B．gain happiness |
| C．make money | D．gain respect |
| A．craftsmen make a lot of money | B．whatever you do, do it well |
| C．craftsmen need self-respect | D．people are born equal |
The worst time to look for a job is when you feel desperate and must have a new one immediately.
Identify at least two different roles. You do not have to be qualified for these positions today, nor do they have to exist in your company. However, these roles should be related to your current skill set. They are career options that look interesting.
Subscribe to a career specific magazine. Knowledge is power in the workplace. All businesses must stay relevant to their customers in order to win the competitions and increase revenue (收益). Reading about industry trends, advancements and success stories keeps you in touch with market conditions. This information allows you to see which companies and professionals are leading the pack. You can follow their examples in your own workplace.
Do exceptional work. In any role, there is a way to perform at your best. Look for ways to deliver a top performance. Show up early, be flexible to new assignments, have a positive attitude, cooperate with other departments, pay attention to the little details.
Be professionally curious. Talk to people about their careers. Learn more about how success is measured in other roles, departments and companies. Ask people their thoughts on different industries.
As in all things in life, getting in front of a difficult task early is always less stressful than reacting to a career surprise. Changing jobs is to be expected. No matter how secure you feel today, the time will come when either you or your employer decide it is time to change.
| A．If you associate with distinguished people, you are likely to find yourself with better opportunities. |
| B．Challenge yourself to expand your business knowledge through interactions with people at regular time. |
| C．In addition, the chances, if any, are low that you can find a satisfactory job in an economic situation like this. |
| D．Once you have a couple of targets, think about why and what interests you. |
| E．That is to say, the people you keep company with determine your character development. |
| F．Job searching under pressure often results in nervous interviewing and decision-making from relatively few options. |
【推荐1】Are you sick of going to bed late and waking up tired? Then grab your hiking boots and a tent. A new study suggests that couple days of camping in the great outdoors can reset your circadian clock and help you get more sleep.
The circadian clock, more commonly known as the body clock, is an internal system that tells our bodies when it’s time to go to sleep and when it’s time to wake up. Scientists track this clock by measuring the amount of melatonin circulating in person’s blood at any given time.
In a healthy sleeper, melatonin levels rise few hours before bedtime, stay high through the night, and then settle back down when it’s time to wake up.
In our modern society, however, most of us stay up many hours past sunset and would probably sleep in many hours after sunrise if we could. And the trouble is, your melatonin levels may still be high when your alarm clock goes off in the morning, which leads to grogginess. It may also have other health consequences as well, such as diabetes, overweight and heart disease.
Professor Kenneth Wright of the University of Colorado in the US wanted to see if our body clocks can be reset by a short stay in nature. His team recruited 14 physically active volunteers in their 20s and 30s. Nine went on weekend camping trip, while the other five stayed home.
At the end of the weekend, the researchers reported that in just two days, the campers’ body clocks had shifted so that their melatonin levels began to rise more than an hour earlier than they did before they left on the trip. By contrast, the body clocks of the group that stayed home shifted even later over the course of the weekend.
“This tells us we can reset our clocks fast.” Wright said.
Therefore, if you want to change your sleep patterns you could try to increase your exposure to natural light during the day and decrease the amount of artificial light you see at night. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always camping.
1. The author wrote this article mainly to ________.| A．explain how not sleeping encourage is bad for our health |
| B．inform us of a possible way to adjust the circadian clock |
| C．analyze how the circadian clock influence our sleeping habits |
| D．explain how the circadian clock is connected with melatonin levels |
| A．tiredness | B．excitement | C．refreshment | D．pressure |
| A．The body cocks of the two groups didn’t show much difference. |
| B．The body clocks of those who stayed at home remained the same. |
| C．Those staying outdoors reset the clock inside their bodies over a short period. |
| D．Changes to the circadian clock don’t necessarily affect melatonin levels in our bodies. |
| A．set an alarm clock to go off every morning |
| B．try to reduce melatonin levels at night |
| C．spend weeks sleeping outdoors |
| D．expose ourselves to more natural light in the day and less at night |
【推荐2】When the weather gets cold, we can put on more clothes, stay next to a fireplace, turn on the air conditioner or simply travel to a warmer city to spend the winter – people have many different ways of coping with the cold.
But things are not as easy for plants. Unlike humans, plants can’t move to escape the cold or generate heat to keep themselves warm. So how do they manage to survive the freezing winter?
It turns out that plants have their own strategies too, said a study published on Dec 22 in the journal Nature.
According to researcher Amy Zanne of George Washington University, US, the cold is a big challenge for plants. Their living tissues can be damaged when they freeze. “It’s like a plant’s equivalent to frostbite (冻疮),” Zanne told Science Daily. Also, the process of freezing and thawing (解冻) can cause air bubbles to form in the plant’s water transport system. “If enough of these air bubbles come together as water thaws they can block the flow of water from the roots to the leaves and kill the plant,” she explained.
To live through cold weather, plants have developed three traits, according to the study. Some plants, such as oak trees, avoid freezing damage by dropping their leaves before the winter chill sets in – effectively shutting off the flow of water between roots and leaves – and growing new leaves and water transport cells when the warm spring returns.
Other plants, pine trees for example, protect themselves by narrowing their water transport cells, which makes it easier for cells to travel among air bubbles.
The third strategy is also the most extreme – some plants die on the ground in winter and start growing as new plants from seeds when conditions get warmer.
However, the study also found that these smart strategies were developed very slowly – over millions of years of evolution. This leads scientists to worry that plants may not be able to deal with human-caused climate change, which has only started occurring over the past few decades.
Scientists are hoping that this study can help people find possible ways to save plants from the threat of climate change.
1. What is the article mainly about?| A．Why plants are not afraid of the winter chill. |
| B．The ways that plants survive cold weather. |
| C．Changes in plants’ water transport system in winter. |
| D．How plants evolve to keep up with climate change. |
| A．it produces more living tissues to stay alive |
| B．its leaves quickly fall out and its roots begin to die |
| C．its water transport cells are narrowed |
| D．its water transport system could be blocked |
| A．By dropping their leaves before winter. |
| B．By narrowing their water transport cells. |
| C．By widening their water transport cells. |
| D．By dropping seeds on the ground so that the new trees can grow in the spring. |
| A．Plants may not be able to adapt to the increasingly cold climate. |
| B．Human activities might have a great impact on the pace of plants’ evolution. |
| C．Plants may not be able to evolve fast enough to adapt to human-caused climate change. |
| D．The strategies plants develop are not good enough to protect them against cold. |
【推荐3】Plant breeding(育种) is the science of changing the characteristics of plants in order to produce desired ones. Genes in a plant are what determine what type of characteristics it will have. Plant breeders try to create a specific outcome of plants and potentially new plant varieties by changing the genes of the plants through breeding, which is making new plants from parents of different varieties or species.
People all over the world are arguing about its benefits and disadvantages. Some people use the technology to produce desired characteristics of plants and animals. Other people are concerned that the genetically engineered plants may harm the environment and worried that they may be dangerous for people to eat.
There are many reasons for changing plants in this way. International development agencies believe that breeding new crops is important for ensuring food security by developing new varieties that are higher yielding, disease-resistant, drought----tolerant or regionally adapted to different environments and growing conditions. For example, some genetically engineered plants can live through frost or draught. As a result, farmers can make more profit because fewer plants will die.
Some genetically engineered plants are more nutritious. They have less fat,taste better or stay fresher than non-genetically engineered plants. This will allow people to buy better-quality fruit and vegetables. Some can resist natural pests and viruses spread by insects. This reduces the amount of chemical needed to kill pests, which is helpful to the environment.
However, genetically engineered plants can cause unexpected problems. Genetically engineered plants that resist pests may pass on that characteristic to a wild relative. This may cause the wild plant to spread fast, because pests are not naturally killing it. They can also harm animals. A type of corn has been developed which kills a species of insect that destroys it. The pollen(花粉) from this corn, however, can also kill monarch butterflies----the most beautiful of all butterflies, which do not harm the corn.
Genetic engineering is a very new science and we have a lot to learn about the good it can do and the damage it can cause. The main concern is that not enough tests are being done to ensure it is safe.
1. According to the passage, what is the objective of plant breeding?| A．To change the genes of plants. |
| B．To produce preferable plant varieties. |
| C．To beautify the environment. |
| D．To assess the value of the practice. |
| A．Because food is of better quality. |
| B．Because drought and frost hardly happen. |
| C．Because farmers can make more money. |
| D．Because higher production is guaranteed. |
| A．Less harmful chemicals are used. |
| B．They can adapt to different environments. |
| C．Some beautiful butterflies are killed. |
| D．The food they produce taste better or stay fresher. |
(①= Paragraph 1,②=Paragraph 2,③=Paragraph 3, ④=Paragraph4，⑤=Paragraph 5，⑥= Paragraph 6)
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
【推荐1】Rumors(谣言): we’ve all heard some and we’ve all spread some. In more traditional times they shook entire families. Today, they circulate differently because the way we share information has also changed.
The fact is that rumors have great potential to upset things, whether socially or personally. We don’t enjoy being on the receiving end of one, since they usually don’t have good intentions.They are somewhat veiled(掩饰的) messages.
Normally rumors are oral messages: word of mouth. The paradox(自相矛盾) is that there is no evidence to support rumors, but the more people share it, the more they see it as true. To finish defining rumors, we think that they follow certain very clear laws. Secrecy: The source is unknown. There is also a proven phenomenon that human beings usually forget the source of a message before they forget its content. Certainty: We hardly question rumors simply because of the mental effort involved. On the other hand, no one likes to doubt a person who convinces us that the information they spread is true. Change: It acts like a tree. New rumors branch out to fill in the gaps left by the initial rumor.
Another property of rumors is that they tend to become viral. Each receiver is at the same time a potential transmitter of the information. The receiver often adds their own opinion. Their manner and tone of transmitting it also changes it.
How can we end rumors? The answer is as simple as it is impossible: preventing people from communicating. A more realistic response is equally difficult, although less than the first one. It is that we should be critical of the information we receive. We should ask ourselves if the source is reliable. Ask (if possible) the person you heard it from whether they also trust the information. We should also think about if the rumor benefits someone, and if that someone started the rumor.
One rumor to be especially cautious of is a rumor about groups relatively unable to defend themselves. That’s why we say, “History is always told by the victors.” The first payment the defeated must make is to accept the victor’s version of the story.
1. What’s the author’s attitude towards rumors?| A．Critical. | B．Positive. | C．Approving. | D．Cautious. |
| A．We have all heard some and believed them. |
| B．We’re happy to be the receiving end of them. |
| C．They may have negative influence on society. |
| D．They often hide good intentions in the messages. |
| A．Rumors keep changing, just as trees change their color. |
| B．Rumors are deeply rooted in reality, like tree roots in the earth. |
| C．New rumors have gaps, like the space between tree branches. |
| D．New rumors grow out of the original, like branches out of a trunk. |
| A．Something easily spread. | B．Something acceptable. |
| C．Something easily defended. | D．Something beneficial. |
【推荐2】The starting point of herd immunity (群体免疫) for COVID-9 is still uncertain , but many epidemiologists (流行病学家) believe it will be reached when between 60 percent and 80 percent of the population has been infected and develops resistance. A lower level of immunity in the population can slow the spread of a disease somewhat, but the herd immunity number represents the point where infections are generally less likely to turn into large outbreaks.
Studies that use the tests to examine only a small quantity of population, often called serology (血清学) surveys, are being undertaken around America and the world. The purpose of these new studies is to look for antibodies (抗体) in people’s blood, proteins produced by the immune system that indicate a past infection.
An advantage of the tests is that they can pick out people who may have been infected and didn’t know they were sick. A disadvantage is that the tests are sometimes wrong---and several studies, including a notable one in California, have been criticized for not taking the possibility of inaccurate results into consideration or for not representing the whole population.
While these studies are far from perfect, many countries, including parts of Sweden, are on track to achieve so-called herd immunity from the novel coronavirus-caused COVID-19 disease within weeks. In general, they give a better sense of how far the coronavirus has truly spread and its potential for spreading further. The starting point of herd immunity may differ from place to place, depending on factors like density and social interaction.
1. What do we know about herd immunity number from the text?| A．The higher level of it, the better. |
| B．The lower level of it, the worse. |
| C．It is a point indicating a small number of infections. |
| D．It is a point indicating little chance of large outbreaks. |
| A．People who are sick. |
| B．People who are always healthy. |
| C．People who were once infected. |
| D．People who were killed by the disease. |
| A．The contents of the studies. |
| B．Two sides of the studies. |
| C．The procedure of the studies. |
| D．The results of the studies. |
| A．He or she supports them. |
| B．He or she doubts their authority. |
| C．He or she thinks them perfect. |
| D．He or she partially believes in them. |
【推荐3】A new study warns that more than a fifth of all reptile (爬行动物) species are threatened with extinction, which may have a bad impact on the planet.
The largest ever analysis of the state of the world’s reptiles, published in Nature, has showed that 21% of the reptile species are facing extinction. The study says from lizards to snakes, such a loss could have disastrous impacts on ecosystems around the world.
Although many reptiles live in dry environments such as deserts, most species occur in forests, where they suffer from threats such as logging of land for agriculture.30% of the forest-dwelling reptiles are at risk of extinction, compared with 14% in dry habitats. Hunting is also a major threat to reptiles, especially turtles and crocodiles, many of which are at risk of extinction. Another major contributing factor is the introduction of invasive species.
“If we removed reptiles, it could change ecosystems fundamentally, with unfortunate knock-on effects, such as increases in pest insects,” said Neil Cox, co-leader of the study. “Biodiversity, including reptiles, supports the ecosystem services that provide a healthy environment for people.”
Our hope is that this first-ever assessment of the world’s 10,000-plus reptiles helps put them in the spotlight and goes some way to highlighting this diversity, and just how much we have to lose. As well as controlling rats, mosquitoes and other pests, reptiles deliver many other benefits. “They help spread seeds, especially in island environments,” said researcher Hoffmann. “We’ve also achieved many medical advances from studies of reptiles.”
The results of the study are not all doom and gloom. Scientists have found, surprisingly, that if they set out to protect places where threatened birds, mammals and amphibians (两栖动物) live together, they’ll meanwhile protect many more threatened reptiles.
1. Which is the main concern raised by the new study?| A．The overpopulation of reptiles. | B．The loss of reptiles. |
| C．The sharp increase in reptile species. | D．The disastrous influence of reptiles on nature. |
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．Their benefits. | B．Their habitats. |
| C．Their living habits. | D．Their health problems. |
| A．Disappointing. | B．Odd. | C．Satisfactory. | D．Amazing. |
