VOA慢速英语--女人比男人更虔诚

AS IT IS 2016-03-30 Women More Religious Than Men 女人比男人更虔诚

Women are more religious than men.

That is the finding of a new report by the Pew Research Center.

Worldwide, 83 percent of women say they identify with a religion, compared to 79 percent of men, according to Pew.

Pew found the biggest gender¹ gap in daily prayer. Pew found 61 percent of women say they pray daily, compared to 51 percent of men.

David Voas is head of the Department of Social Science at University College London, United Kingdom. He said prayer is often done in private, making it a good measure of how important religion is to people.

“The frequency of prayer may be the purest sign of religious commitment, which means that, arguably, it’s the best yardstick² to use in comparing men and women,’’ he told Pew.

Pew completed its study of religious differences between men and women by exploring research in 84 nations. The research was done between 2008 and 2015.

Pew said the stronger religious beliefs by women stand out – given history’s most important religious leaders are mostly men. That includes Jesus, Muhammad, Abraham, Moses, Siddhartha and Gautama.

And in some religions, such as for Roman Catholics and Orthodox Jews, only men are allowed to hold clergy³ positions.

Among Christians⁴, women attend services more often than men. But that is not the case with Muslims and Orthodox Jews, Pew said. Among those religions, men are more likely to attend services.

Pew said this is because Muslims and Orthodox Jews give more weight to men’s participation⁵ in worship services. Some Muslim mosques⁶ and Orthodox synagogues separate men and women. In some cases, women are limited to the back or a balcony area.

There is general acceptance by both women and men about some religious beliefs.

For example, 91 percent of women and 89 percent of men said they believe in heaven. Seventy-eight percent of women and 76 percent of men said they believe in hell, Pew said.

Pew found that women who work outside the home are less likely to be religious than women who work at home.

Voas of University College in London said researchers disagree on whether women who work outside the home are less religious. If it is true, he offers two possible reasons.

“Maybe paid employment crowds out time for religious involvement, or perhaps being exposed to different values and world views tends to undermine religious commitment,” he said.

Not only do women tend to be more religious than men, but Pew found men are also more likely to be atheists. An atheist⁷ does not believe God exists.

In Uruguay, the United States, Germany and Spain, more than 60 percent of people who describe themselves as atheists are men, Pew said.

An exception is France. A slightly higher percentage of people who say they are atheists are women – 51 percent vs. 49 percent.

Words in This Story

gender gap – n. differences in views between men and women

frequency – n. happening often

yardstick – n. measurement of something

prioritize – v. to organize things so that the most important thing is done or dealt with first

heaven – n. the place where God lives and where good people go after they die according to some religions

hell – n. the place where the devil lives and where evil people go after they die according to some religions

involvement – n. having a connection to something or someone

exposed – v. to be informed of something

undermine – v. to make someone or something weaker or less effective usually in a secret or gradual way

1 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。

2 yardstick   

n.计算标准，尺度；评价标准

参考例句：

• This is a yardstick for measuring whether a person is really progressive.这是衡量一个人是否真正进步的标准。
• She was a yardstick against which I could measure my achievements.她是一个我可以用来衡量我的成就的准绳。

3 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

4 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

5 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

6 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

7 atheist   

n.无神论者

参考例句：

• She was an atheist but now she says she's seen the light.她本来是个无神论者，可是现在她说自己的信仰改变了。
• He is admittedly an atheist.他被公认是位无神论者。