Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

Educating girls quite possibly yields a higher rate of return than any other investmentavailable in the developing world. Women’s education may be unusual territory for economists, but enhancing women’s contribution to development is actually as much an economic as a social issue. And economics, with its emphasis onincentives (激勵(lì)), provides guideposts that point to an explanation for why so many girls are deprived of an education.

Parents in low-income countries fail to invest in their daughters because they do not expect them to make an economic contribution to the family: girls grow up only to marry into somebody else’s family and bear children. Girls are thus seen as less valuable than boys and art kept at home to do housework while their brothers are sent to school-theprophecy (預(yù)言) becomes self-fulfilling, trapping women in a viciouscircle (惡性循環(huán)) of neglect.

An educated mother, on the other hand, has greater earning abilities outside the home and faces an entirely different set of choices. She is likely to have fewer but healthier children and can insist on the development of all her children, ensuring that her daughters are given a fair chance. The education of her daughters then makes it much more likely that the next generation of girls, as well as of boys, will be educated and healthy. The vicious circle is thus transformed into a virtuous circle.

Few will dispute that educating women has great social benefits. But it has enormouseconomic advantages as well. Most obviously, there is the direct effect of education on the wages of female workers. Wages rise by 10 to 20 per cent for each additional year of schooling. Such big returns are impressive by the standard of other available investments, but they are just the beginning. Educating women also has a significant impact on health practices, including family planning.

26.   The author argues that educating girls in developing countries is ________.

A) troublesome

B) labor-saving

C) rewarding

D) expensive

27.   By saying “... the prophecy becomes self-fulfilling...” (Lines 45, Para. 2). the author means that ________.

A) girls will turn out to be less valuable than boys

B) girls will be capable of realizing their own dreams

C) girls will eventually find their goals in life beyond reach

D) girls will be increasingly discontented with their life at home

28.   The author believes that a vicious circle can turn into a virtuous circle when ________.

A) women care more about education

B) girls can gain equal access to education

C) a family has fewer but healthier children

D) parents can afford their daughters’ education

29.   What does the author say about women’s education?

A) It deserves greater attention than other social issues.

B) It is now given top priority in many developing countries.

C) It will yield greater returns than other known investments.

D) It has aroused the interest of a growing number of economists.

30.   The passage mainly discusses ________.

A) unequal treatment of boys and girls in developing countries

B) the potential earning power of well-educated women

C) the major contributions of educated women to society

D) the economic and social benefits of educating women

【文章分析】

文章共有四段，第一段總起介紹了本文的內(nèi)容，介紹了在發(fā)展中國家，對(duì)女孩子教育的投資可能比起其他的投資要有更高的回報(bào)率；女性教育的問題已經(jīng)引起了經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家的關(guān)注，并從經(jīng)濟(jì)刺激角度來分析女性教育的問題。

第二段承接第一段最后一句話，從經(jīng)濟(jì)角度分析，為什么女孩子會(huì)被剝奪受教育的機(jī)會(huì)，因?yàn)榘l(fā)展中國家的家長認(rèn)為女孩子的價(jià)值要比男孩子少，因此造成了惡性循環(huán)。

第三段也是從經(jīng)濟(jì)角度來分析，受過教育的女性會(huì)有更強(qiáng)的掙錢能力，也會(huì)做出不同的選擇，讓自己的子女接受同等的教育，從而改變上述的惡性循環(huán)。

第四段總結(jié)上文，指出受過教育的女性不僅對(duì)社會(huì)有很大益處，對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)也有巨大的好處。

【重點(diǎn)詞匯】

1.yield: (vt.) 產(chǎn)出，收益，These apple trees yield plenty of fruit this year. (vi.)屈服，投降，We will never yield to invaders. (vt.)放棄，He was forced to yield the castle.

2.fail:  (vi.)失敗，He failed in everything he tried. (vi.) (指健康)衰退，His hearing is failing. (vt.)不能，He did very well, but failed to break the record.

3.impact: (n.)影響，作用，(have/make impact on) The book made a great impact on its readers. (vi.)產(chǎn)生影響，It is obvious how bad movies will impact on children.

【試題分析】

26. 答案C

原文第一段第一句話“Educating girls quite possibly yields a higher rate of return than any other investment available in the developing world.”（在發(fā)展中國家，對(duì)女孩子教育的投資可能比起其他的投資要有更高的回報(bào)率。）答案A、B、D的意思分別為麻煩的、省力的和昂貴的。只有答案C，rewarding的意思是有回報(bào)的，與原文意思相同。

27. 答案A

原文第二段“Girls are thus seen as less valuable than boys and art kept at home to do housework while their brothers are sent to school-the prophecy (預(yù)言) becomes self-fulfilling, trapping women in a vicious circle (惡性循環(huán)) of neglect.”（女孩的價(jià)值似乎要比男孩少。女孩子只能在家里做做家務(wù)，而男孩子則可以去上學(xué)因?yàn)槟泻⒆右�自食其力，這就使得女孩子陷入了這種被忽視的惡性循環(huán)。）這句話和選項(xiàng)A是一致的，因此答案為A。

28. 答案B

題干在原文第三段的最后一句話，這句話是對(duì)第三段的總結(jié)。而整個(gè)第三段是總分總的結(jié)構(gòu)，第一句話“An educated mother, on the other hand, has greater earning abilities outside the home and faces an entirely different set of choices.”（另一方面，受過教育的母親在家外會(huì)有更強(qiáng)的掙錢能力，而且會(huì)做出完全不同的選擇。）則是對(duì)整段內(nèi)容的總起句，與總結(jié)句“The vicious circle is thus transformed into a virtuous circle.”（這樣，惡性循環(huán)就會(huì)轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)榱夹匝�環(huán)）相呼應(yīng)。因此，本題的答案B“girls can gain equal access to education”（女孩能得到公平的教育）為正確選項(xiàng)。

29. 答案C

本題的答案也可以在原文第一段第一句話中找到。“Educating girls quite possibly yields a higher rate of return than any other investment available in the developing world.”（在發(fā)展中國家，對(duì)女孩子教育的投資可能比起其他的投資要有更高的回報(bào)率。）

30. 答案D

本題的答案是通過全文的綜合分析得到的。但在文章的最后一段第一句話也可以分析得出“Few will dispute that educating women has great social benefits. But it has enormous economic advantages as well.”（有人會(huì)認(rèn)為受過教育的女性對(duì)社會(huì)有很大益處，同時(shí)，她們對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)也有巨大的益處。）這是一句承上啟下的句子，既是對(duì)上文內(nèi)容的總結(jié)，又是對(duì)下文內(nèi)容的總起。又由于這是全文的最后一段，因此這句句子也是對(duì)全文內(nèi)容的一個(gè)總結(jié)。

【閱讀技巧】

四級(jí)閱讀中的文章有點(diǎn)類似于古代的八股文，都是有一定的套路的，只要摸清套路，閱讀起來就會(huì)事半功倍。這個(gè)套路就是：文章的重點(diǎn)信息一般包含在段落的首末句，主題內(nèi)容一般是包含在首段和末段。首末句可能就是段落內(nèi)容的概括句。而首段和末段則是整篇文章的導(dǎo)語和總結(jié)。所以看文章時(shí)，著重看一下首末段和首末句。