15篇文章贯通六级词汇Unit13-Part1

[00:00.00]UNIT13
[00:14.10]Sex Role Stereotypes¹
[00:16.51]During my career
[00:18.91]as a Canadian female teacher,
[00:20.77]I observed many instances
[00:22.96]of sex role stereotyping²
[00:25.04]throughout the western culture.
[00:26.68]I was always amazed
[00:28.76]how quickly young children
[00:30.29]adopted the cultural values.
[00:31.71]The topic is one of major concerns
[00:34.45]in the western world,
[00:35.56]yet there are those people
[00:37.09]who would ask you to believe
[00:38.62]that it is not a major issue.
[00:40.15]People who wish to ignore the situation
[00:42.89]do not welcome discussions
[00:45.18]on the topic of gender³ bias⁴.
[00:46.94]This type of person evokes⁵
[00:50.11]an analogy of an ostrich⁶
[00:51.53]that buries its head in the sand
[00:53.50]to ignore a problem by avoiding it.
[00:55.25]Although many of my comments may seem cynical⁷,
[00:59.19]I give you assurance
[01:01.27]that they are based on my observation
[01:02.91]of western society for a number of years.
[01:05.31]It might be interesting and informative⁸
[01:08.27] to compare the western world
[01:09.80]in this respect with eastern cultures.
[01:12.54]Many studies have been done
[01:15.38]and the breakdown⁹ of reasons examined
[01:17.68]to determine why gender roles play an important part
[01:20.63]in the selection of successful candidates
[01:22.50]for positions in many vocations¹⁰.
[01:24.90]These studies have made little impact
[01:28.07]on diminishing the prevalence of candidates
[01:30.37]being selected more for their gender
[01:31.90]than their qualifications.
[01:33.43]Since the people responsible
[01:36.28]for hiring people to work with them,
[01:37.92]often hire people similar to themselves,
[01:40.65]it seems like they are looking for
[01:42.95]a clone or a duplicate of themselves.
[01:45.36]Females often become quite indignant
[01:49.19]when positions that they are well suited
[01:51.48]for are awarded to males
[01:53.23]and ambiguous reasons given to explain why.
[01:55.97]Is it any wonder that attempts
[01:58.59]to sue corporations for using unfair hiring
[02:01.33]and promotion¹¹ practices are applauded?
[02:03.74]On the other hand,
[02:05.92]companies who exhibit fair hiring practices
[02:09.10]need to be commended for doing so.
[02:11.07]It has been common in the western world
[02:14.35]for people to presume that
[02:16.21]certain professions belong almost exclusively
[02:18.84]to one gender or the other.
[02:20.59]The work of an electrician,
[02:22.99]or work with electronics,
[02:24.63]or repairing of air-conditioning equipment,
[02:26.82]might be considered to be
[02:28.35]masculine fields of employment.
[02:30.10]Nursing and childcare vocations
[02:32.84]are considered feminine occupations.
[02:35.03]Aviation is another field
[02:38.31]where people would usually assume
[02:40.06]that the pilot would be male
[02:41.26]and the flight attendant would be female,
[02:43.02]a premise¹² that many times will be invalid¹³.
[02:46.08]It will be a major breakthrough
[02:49.50]when both genders¹⁴ are equally represented
[02:51.47]in the workforce¹⁵ especially in higher level positions.
[02:54.53]Some individuals would lead you
[02:57.60]to believe that it would
[02:59.24]result in the breakdown of society,
[03:00.66]as we know it today.
[03:01.97]At times an attempt to prevent subjective¹⁶ views
[03:05.26]being used to preclude¹⁷ only males
[03:07.33]being hired by males has been attempted.
[03:09.52]Laws or policy that attempt to rectify¹⁸ the situation
[03:13.57]have not been successful in diminishing the problem.
[03:16.96]An attempt to numerically control
[03:20.35]the number of positions in a corporation
[03:22.10]by using a quota¹⁹ system
[03:23.74]to require equal numbers of males
[03:25.71]and females to be hired usually
[03:28.34]meets with little success
[03:29.76]if the attitudes of the people
[03:31.62]doing the hiring are subjective
[03:33.92]and preclude the possibility of fair practises being used.
[03:37.85]The empirical evidence shown by the numbers
[03:41.03]makes it easy to show
[03:43.00]which companies exemplify fairness
[03:45.08]and would hinder those
[03:46.94]who only make a feeble attempt to do so.
[03:48.91]If a company does endeavour to incorporate fairness
[03:54.05]in their hiring practises,
[03:55.80]they should be eligible²⁰ for commendation.
[03:58.31]A diligent²¹ attempt to choose the best person
[04:01.93]for the position regardless of their gender
[04:04.44]is only inherent in those companies
[04:07.18]that can envisage²² a future
[04:09.36]with the best possible work force.
 

1 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 stereotyping   

v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I realize that I'm stereotyping. 我认识到我搞的是老一套。 来自辞典例句
• There is none of the gender stereotyping usually evident in school uniforms. 有没有人的性别刻板印象通常是显而易见的。 来自互联网

3 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

4 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

5 evokes   

产生，引起，唤起( evoke的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
• Each type evokes antibodies which protect against the homologous. 每一种类型都能产生抗同种病毒的抗体。

6 ostrich   

n.鸵鸟

参考例句：

• Ostrich is the fastest animal on two legs.驼鸟是双腿跑得最快的动物。
• The ostrich indeed inhabits continents.鸵鸟确实是生活在大陆上的。

7 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。

8 informative   

adj.提供资料的，增进知识的

参考例句：

• The adverts are not very informative.这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。
• This intriguing book is both thoughtful and informative.这本引人入胜的书既有思想性又富知识性。

9 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

10 vocations   

n.（认为特别适合自己的）职业( vocation的名词复数 )；使命；神召；（认为某种工作或生活方式特别适合自己的）信心

参考例句：

• The term profession originally denoted a limited number of vocations. 专业这个术语起初表示数量有限的职业。 来自辞典例句
• I understood that Love encompassed all vocations, that Love was everything "." 我明白爱含有一切圣召，爱就是一切。 来自互联网

11 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

12 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

13 invalid   

n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的

参考例句：

• He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
• A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。

14 genders   

n.性某些语言的（阳性、阴性和中性，不同的性有不同的词尾等）( gender的名词复数 )；性别；某些语言的（名词、代词和形容词）性的区分

参考例句：

• There are three genders in German: masculine, feminine and neuter. 德语中有叁性：阳性、阴性和中性。 来自辞典例句
• Japan was fourth among the genders of foreign students. 日本在二十个留美学生输送地中列第四位。 来自互联网

15 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

16 subjective   

a.主观(上)的，个人的

参考例句：

• The way they interpreted their past was highly subjective. 他们解释其过去的方式太主观。
• A literary critic should not be too subjective in his approach. 文学评论家的看法不应太主观。

17 preclude   

vt.阻止，排除，防止；妨碍

参考例句：

• We try to preclude any possibility of misunderstanding.我们努力排除任何误解的可能性。
• My present finances preclude the possibility of buying a car.按我目前的财务状况我是不可能买车的。

18 rectify   

v.订正，矫正，改正

参考例句：

• The matter will rectify itself in a few days.那件事过几天就会变好。
• You can rectify this fault if you insert a slash.插人一条斜线便可以纠正此错误。

19 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。

20 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

21 diligent   

adj.勤勉的，勤奋的

参考例句：

• He is the more diligent of the two boys.他是这两个男孩中较用功的一个。
• She is diligent and keeps herself busy all the time.她真勤快，一会儿也不闲着。

22 envisage   

v.想象，设想，展望，正视

参考例句：

• Nobody can envisage the consequences of total nuclear war.没有人能够想像全面核战争的后果。
• When do you envisage being able to pay me back?你看你什么时候能还我钱？