Passage Twenty- nine (Men Are Carrying on a Sex-fight)

This is supposed to be an enlightened age, but you wouldn’t think of if you could heat what the average man thinks of the average woman/ Women won their independence years ago. After a long, bitter struggle, they now enjoy the same educational opportunities as men in most parts of the world. They have proved repeatedly that they are equal and often superior to men in almost every field. The hard-fought battle for recognition has been won, but it is by no means over. It is men, not women who still carry on the sex war because their attitude remains¹ basically hostile. Even in the most progressive societies, women continue to be regarded as second-rate citizens. To hear some men talk, you’d think that women belonged to a different species!

On the surface, the comments made by men about women’s abilities seem light-hearted. The same tired jokes about women drivers are repeated day in, day out. This apparent light-heartedness dose not conceal² the real contempt that men feel for women. However much men sneer³ at women, their claims to superiority are not borne out by statistics. Let’s consider the matter of driving, for instance. We all know that women cause far fewer accidents than men. They are too conscientious⁴ and responsible to drive like maniacs⁵. But this is a minor⁶ quibble. Women have succeeded in any job you care to name. As politicians, soldiers, doctors, factory-hands, university professors, farmers, company directors, lawyers, bus-conductors, scientists and presidents of countries they have often put men to shame. And we must remember that they frequently succeed brilliantly in all these fields in addition to bearing and rearing children.

Yet men go on maintaining the fiction that there are many jobs women can’t don Top-level political negotiation⁷ between countries, business and banking⁸ are almost entirely⁹ controlled by men, who jealously guard their so-called ‘rights’. Even in otherwise enlightened places like Switzerland women haven’t even been given the cote. This situation is preposterous¹⁰! The arguments that men put forward to exclude women from these fields are all too familiar. Women, they say, are unreliable and irrational¹¹. They depend too little on cool reasoning and too much on intuition and instinct to arrive at decisions. They are not even capable of thinking clearly. Yet when women prove their abilities, men refuse to acknowledge them and give them their due. So much for a man’s ability to think clearly!

The truth is that men cling to their supremacy¹² because of their basic inferiority complex. They shun¹³ real competition. They know in their hearts that women are superior and they are afraid of being beaten at their own game. One of the most important tasks in the world is to achieve peace between the nations. You can be sure that if women were allowed to sit round the conference table, they would succeed brilliantly, as they always do, there men have failed for centuries. Some things are too important to be left to men!

1.       What does the first sentence imply?

[A]. It is not really an enlightened age.         [B]. It is different from an enlightened age.

[C]. It is the same as an enlightened age.        [C]. It is like an enlightened age.

2.       Why do men carry on the sex war against women?

[A]. Because of their inferiority.              [B]. Because they shun real competition.

[C]. Because of their claim to supremacy.    [D]. Because they still look down upon women.

3.       The “fiction” is closest in meaning to

[A]. Novel.            [B]. Man-made idea.      [C]. False idea.      [D]. Story.

4.       What is the main argument men have raised against women?

[A]. Women are lack of cold reasoning.           [B]. They depend on intuition too much.

[C]. They are unreliable and irrational.       [C]. They are too still look down upon women.

Vocabulary

1.       conscientious                      认真的，真心实意的

2.       maniac                           疯狂的，疯子

3.       preposterous                       反常的，荒谬的

4.       quibble                           狡辩，摸棱两可

难句译注

1. the inferiority complex        自卑情绪，指一种由自悲感引起的复杂心理状态，对应词是the superiority complex 自高情绪

2. So much for a man’s ability to think clearly!    这是对男人想清楚能力的讽刺，译文应根据上下文而定。上文说到“妇女甚至难以想得清楚。可是当妇女证明她们有此能力时，男人拒不承认。”

   [参考译文] 男人想清楚的能力可真大啊。

3.  But this is a minor quibble.

   [参考译文] 这是一个小小的狡辩。

4. They have often put men to shame.

[参考译文] 她们经常使男人无地自容。

写作方法与文章大意

   文章论及“男人轻视妇女”的问题。采用对比因果的手法写作。先提出妇女经过艰苦卓绝的斗争，赢得了独立的胜利，得到了承认，可是斗争远没结束。因为男子继续在进行性别斗争。下面就从男女双方对比，也可以说，男方轻视妇女及其理由，女方据理反驳。最后作者指出男人轻视妇女的根本原因是他们的自卑情绪。

答案祥解

1.       A. 这确实不是一个启蒙时代。（1）这是第一句话语气和言词传递出来的内容。“这个时代应该是一个启蒙时期，可是假如你听到男人怎么说女人的，你就不会这么认为。”（2）正篇文章也传递了这个信息。

B. 不同于启蒙时期。    C. 这时代跟启蒙时代一样。   D. 这时代象个启蒙时期。 这三项都不对。

2.       C. 他们对至高无上权威的追求。答案在最后一段“事实是由于男人们基本的自卑情绪，他们追求至高无上的权威。他们躲避真正的竞争。他们心里明白妇女比他们优秀，因此他们害怕在他们自己的‘游戏’中失利。”

A. 因为他们自卑。   B. 因为他们躲避真正的竞争。   D. 因为他们仍然轻视妇女。

3.       C. 错误观点。Fiction本意为“虚构”，此处上下文决定此义：“可是男人们继续坚持这种错误的观点：有许多工作妇女干不了，两国高级政治谈判，商业和银行几乎全部为男人们所控制，他们忌妒地保卫着他们所谓的权利。”

A. 小说。   D. 故事。 这是fiction两种基本含义，这里不对。    B. 人为思想。文中没有这种意义。

4.       C. 他们不可信，不理智。答案见第三段“他们把妇女排除这些领域之外，所提出的论点是（众所周知）老调重弹。他们说妇女不可信，不理智。在做决定时，太依赖于直觉和本能。冷静得推理太少。”

A. 他们缺少冷静的推理。     B. 他们太依赖于直觉，这两项只是本段中用以解释“不可信，不理智的。”        D. 他们太认真。这是在第二段总提到的内容“我们都知道妇女引起的交通事故比男人少得多，她们非常认真负责不会像发疯似的开车。”