Question

【題目】 Ladies, if you find yourselves wandering an unknown city with a man who is questioning your directional abilities, don’t doubt yourselves.

A recent small study published in the journal Psychological Science found that the longstanding theory that women have a more difficult time reading maps wasn’t true.

Historically, men have performed better than women in studies that tested their spatial(空間的)ability. But the leading study author Margaret Tarampi and a researcher from the University of California, Santa Barbara theorized that social influences had an effect on this outcome: The cultural belief that women are worse at reading maps could be seen as a stereotype(固有模式) threat, meaning women believe they’re bad at something, so they perform poorly as a result. The researchers also theorized that women performed better at skills that involve a social element. In other words, if reading a map means helping someone else, they might perform better.

Tarampi and her team tested both theories on undergraduate students at UCSB across three separate experiments. And, indeed, the results showed that men scored better than women only when they were mentioned the stereotype of male superiority before the test.

When the researchers did not mention it and gave a social context for reading the map, women’s scores improved across the board. Women also performed better when the test maps simply included human figures, rather than just random objects and landmarks.

So ladies, next time you struggle to figure out whether you should make a left or right at the Louvre, take out your tourist map with a healthy dose of confidence.

【1】What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

A.To warn women of one of their shortcomings.

B.To introduce the topic of the passage.

C.To encourage women to read maps.

D.To state a social phenomenon.

【2】Women are thought to be worse at reading maps because of .

A.a poor sense of directionB.a lack of experience

C.a social stereotypeD.threats from others

【3】Men performed better than women in the study when .

A.they were asked to help someone else by reading a map

B.they were informed of the stereotype before the test

C.the test maps simply included human figures

D.there were social elements in the map

【4】What can be concluded from the passage?

A.Women can read maps as well as men.B.Women are better drivers than men.

C.Women always have difficulty reading maps.D.Women are better at spatial ability.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】C

【3】B

【4】A

【解析】

本文是一篇說明文，主要講述了由于社會刻板印象，女性在閱讀地圖時被認為更糟糕，但研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，女性閱讀地圖和男性一樣好。

【1】推理判斷題。根據第三段中Ladies, if you find yourselves wandering an unknown city with a man who is questioning your directional abilities, don't doubt yourselves.（女士們，如果你發(fā)現(xiàn)自己和一個質疑你的方向能力的男人在一個不為人知的城市游蕩，不要懷疑自己。）以及下文可知，本段是為了引出文章主題。故選B。

【2】細節(jié)理解題。根據第三段中The cultural belief that women are worse at reading maps could be seen as a stereotype threat, meaning women believe they’re bad at something, so they perform poorly as a result.（認為女性不善于看地圖的文化觀念可能被視為一種刻板印象威脅，意思是女性認為自己在某方面不擅長，結果表現(xiàn)很差。）可知，女性在閱讀地圖時被認為更糟糕是由于社會刻板印象。故選C。

【3】細節(jié)理解題。根據第四段And, indeed, the results showed that men scored better than women only when they were mentioned the stereotype of male superiority before the test.（事實上，研究結果表明，只有當男性在測試前被提到男性優(yōu)越的刻板印象時，他們的得分才高于女性。）可知，在測試之前，當他們被告知刻板印象時，男性在研究中表現(xiàn)優(yōu)于女性。故選B。

【4】推理判斷題。根據文章倒數(shù)第二段When the researchers did not mention it and gave a social context for reading the map, women’s scores improved across the board. Women also performed better when the test maps simply included human figures, rather than just random objects and landmarks.（當研究人員沒有提及這一點，而是給出了閱讀地圖的社會背景時，女性的分數(shù)普遍提高。當測試地圖只包含人類圖形而不是隨機的物體和地標時，女性的表現(xiàn)也更好。）可以得出結論，當不提及男性至上的刻板印象時，女性閱讀地圖和男性一樣好。故選A。