高一英语下册期末专项检测试题1.docVIP

高一（2011-2012）下学期期末专项训练 任务型阅读10篇(一） 第一篇 Educating girls quite possibly harvests a higher rate of return than any other investment in the developing world. Womens education may be an unusual economical field, but increasing womens contribution to development is actually as much an economic as a social issue. And economics, with its focus on encouragement, provides an explanation for why so many girls are rid 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 elses family and bear children. Girls are thus seen as less valuable than boys and are kept at home to do housework while their brothers are sent to school -- the prophecy (观念) becomes self-fulfilling, trapping women in a vicious (恶性的) circle 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 argue that educating women has great social benefits. But it has great economic 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 effect on health practices, including family planning. Topic: The significance of female (1)_______ in developing countries Viewpoint Educating girls is more beneficial and worthy of (2)_______ invested. F