Question

       Women might have a higher position at work, but at home their careers tend to give way to their husband’s job, with women most likely to quit when both are working long hours, according to a U．S．study．

       Researcher Youngjoo Cha, from Cornell University, found that working women with a husband who worked 50 hours or more a week found themselves still doing most of the housework and the care giving and were more likely to end up quitting their jobs．

       An analysis of 8,484 professional workers and 17,648 nonprofessionals from dual-earner （雙職工） families showed that if women had a husband who worked 60 hours or more per week it increased the woman’s possibility of quitting her paid job by 42 percent．Cha said the possibility of quitting increased to 51 percent for professional women whose husbands work 60 hours or more per week, and for professional mothers the possibility they would quit their jobs jumped 112 percent．

       However, it did not significantly affect a man’s possibility of quitting his job if his wife worked 60 hours or more per week, according to the study published in the American Sociological Review in April．For professional men, both parents and non-parents, the effects of a wife working long hours were negligible, according to the study．

       “As long work-hours introduce conflict between work and family into many dual-earner families, couples often solve conflict in ways that prioritize husbands’ careers,” Cha, who used data from the U．S．Census Bureau, said in a statement．“This effect is magnified （突出） among workers in professional and managing occupations, where the criterion of overwork and the culture of looking after children tend to be strongest．The findings suggest that the popularity of overwork may lead many dual-earner couples to return to a traditional family pattern — breadwinning men and homemaking women．”

1．According to the text, we know that ______．

       A．men prefer work long hours   B．women prefer to work outside

       C．men’s careers are unimportant           D．women are more likely to quit jobs

2．The underlined word “negligible” in Paragraph 4 most probably means ______．

       A．unimportant  B．limited             C．different       D．obvious

3．Which statement is true according to the text?

       A．When there’s conflict between work and family, a husband will give up his work．

       B．Women may still do most of the housework and care for babies or children．

       C．Professional women are more likely to quit the job than professional mothers．

       D．A man’s chance of quitting jobs was influenced if his wife works long hours．

4．We can infer from the last sentence that ______．

       A．all the workers pay more attention to looking after children

       B．overwork may have no influence on dual-earner couples

       C．traditionally, men usually worked to support the family

       D．most dual-earner couples will return to a traditional family pattern

5．In which column of China Daily can you find this passage?

       A．Health      B．Life        C．Sport    D．Entertainment

Answer 1

【小題1】D

【小題2】A

【小題3】B

【小題4】C

【小題5】B