英语听力精选进阶版 8217

Girl Power, Japanese style; the women here, are center stage, unlike most other parts of Japanese society. This band, Girl Abenomics, was created to celebrate Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to change Japan, including the position of women. Getting more women into the labor¹ force has been called the key to turning around Japan's fortunes.

Few than half of the working-aged women in Japan work; it's over 60% for the United States, and the economy is at least 14% bigger as a result. For Japan, that's an awful lot of growth to be missing out on.

Noriko Ono is mom to two-year-old Yui. If Abe's plans are going to work, then they must help these too: Every chance she has, she spends with her child. But she also wants to work.

I cut out sleeping time everyday to take care of my child. And I worry; I manage to get back to work at the very last minute. But I'm thinking about my daughter at day care. I work on a reduced schedule.

For Yui, will she have the same opportunities as her playmate?

Some women do break the glass ceiling and rise to the top. I asked successful executive caffe mac Sui how she did it.

I definitely have a wife; I have my own a helper who, frankly², I could not do what I do because they troubled so much what hasn't troubles a lot. We have two children. They are now teenagers but when they were young it wasn't possible.

But, she is rare. None of the men here that I spoke³ to has ever had a female boss.

Psychologically, I wouldn't like it much. But if she has the power, then I would have to obey her.

Just 2.8% of all Japanese managers are women. That's up from a one mere⁴ percent. When it comes to entrepreneurs, only 4% are women, the worst among rich countries. Bringing women into the work force is a solution to a shrinking population.

One of the only two women in Abe's cabinet shares with me her personal challenges.

I came to where I jam with great difficulty. I had to break the glass ceiling. In Japan, a woman's status is low. Glass walls are all around you. When you walk in the street, there are glass stones. I want to remove the hardships, so that those after me can easily run.

One of the jobs that has been available to women for centuries is that of a geisha, who entertain men with conversation and song. Yuko Asakusa is 90 years old and has seen a lot changed during her lifetime. But, not everything.

Japanese men have not changed, she tells me. They haven't changed. Nothing has changed.

The economic case may be strong, but it is the cultural attitude that must shift. If Abenomics works then it's not just the economy that will be helped, but the lives of half of Japan's population.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。