When Dawn Bonfield, the former chief executive of the Women's Engineering Society, ran a stand recently at a big military air show, she was in for a shock.

There were around 900 Brownies among the crowd and Ms Bonfield says, "I'm saying to all these girls, 'Do you know about engineering, would you like to be an engineer, have you thought about engineering?' And in the whole day... probably five or six of them said yes. Every other one said no, just straight out no."

What surprised her most, she says, is that it wasn't that these eight and nine-year-old girls didn't know what engineering was. Simply that they had already switched off. They had lost interest in engineering. "So how much work does it take to change that?" asks Ms Bonfield. "I mean it's huge."

There's no shortage of data to back up her estimation of the scale of work required. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that women make up around just 8% of engineers in the UK. And this is at a time when the UK needs to produce thousands more engineers, so much so that the inventor, Sir James Dyson, is planning to open his own instituteto address the skills shortage.

Not enough female role models is well documented as a reason why girls don’t choose engineering.

The attitude of parents was also an important factor in career choices. For girls, perhaps unsurprisingly, mothers were particularly influential.

"My mum was a bit iffy about it at first because she was more like, 'Girls should do this and that and the other,' more like 'keep your posture up and be ladylike'," says middle school student Hannah. "But my dad used to build a lot of stuff and he got me into that. So after my mum saw how me and my dad interacted she said, 'Yeah, go for it' and she's kind of the one who supported me with this."

1. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A. To show the shortage of girls in engineering.

B. To introduce some famous girl engineers.

C. To promote the social status for engineers.

D. To give girls advice on how to select careers.

2.What does the underlined word “Brownies” in the Paragraph 2 refer to?

A. Chocolate cakes. B. Young girls.

C. Girls with brown hair. D. Students in brown.

3.What shocked Dawn Bonfield most?

A. There were so many girls at the show.

B. Many girls had run off before seeing her.

C. Girls didn’t know anything about engineering.

D. Girls paid no attention to engineering.

4. Why did Hannh finally choose engineering?

A. Because she found a woman role model.

B. Because her mother was sure of her future.

C. Because her father had influence on her.

D. Because she wanted to meet the demand of society.

練習(xí)冊系列答案
相關(guān)習(xí)題

科目：高中英語 來源：2017屆遼寧鐵嶺協(xié)作體高三上第二次聯(lián)考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：完形填空

閱讀下面短文，從短文后各題所給的四個選項(A、B、C和D)中，選出可以填入空白處的最佳選項，并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。

Once there was a king who received a gift of two magnificent falcons (獵鷹)．They were the most beautiful birds he had ever seen．He gave the _____ birds to his head falconer to be ______.

Months passed, and one day the head falconer informed the king that ______ one of the falcons was flying high in the sky, the other bird had not _____ from its branch since the day it had arrived.

The king ordered healers from all the land to _____ the falcon, but no one could make the bird fly．He ____ the task to the members of his court, _____ the next day, the king saw _____ the palace window that the bird had still not moved from its branch.

Having ________ everything else, the king thought to himself, “Maybe I need someone more _____ the countryside to understand the nature of this problem.” So he cried out to his court, “Go and get a _____.”

In the morning, the king was ______ to see the falcon flying high above the palace garden．He said to his court, “_____ me the doer of this miracle.”

The court quickly located the farmer, who came and stood before the king．The king asked him, “______ did you make the falcon fly?”

With his head _____, the farmer said to the king, “It was very easy．I ______ cut the branch where the bird was sitting.”

We are all made to fly—to realize our ______ potential as human beings．But instead of doing that, we sit on our branches, hanging on to the things that are _____ to us．The possibilities are _____, but for most of us, they remain undiscovered．We _____ to the familiar, the comfortable, the boring．So for the most part, our lives are mediocre (平庸的) instead of exciting, thrilling and fulfilling.

1.A．curiousB．preciousC．expensiveD．clever

2.A．testedB．exhibitedC．a(chǎn)ppreciatedD．trained

3.A．a(chǎn)sB．ifC．thoughD．since

4.A．eatenB．sungC．movedD．waken

5.A．tend toB．watch forC．drive awayD．pick up

6.A．reducedB．presentedC．removedD．brought

7.A．untilB．soC．butD．a(chǎn)s

8.A．throughB．a(chǎn)crossC．beyondD．behind

9.A．learnedB．triedC．preparedD．understood

10.A．beneficial toB．fit forC．friendly withD．familiar with

11.A．farmerB．gardenerC．falconerD．healer

12.A．embarrassedB．thrilledC．a(chǎn)nxiousD．relaxed

13.A．TellB．AwardC．CreateD．Bring

14.A．WhenB．WhyC．HowD．Where

15.A．stretchedB．stuckC．bowedD．turned

16.A．simplyB．narrowlyC．necessarilyD．nearly

17.A．unavoidableB．virtualC．imaginaryD．unbelievable

18.A．properB．familiarC．unusualD．similar

19.A．endlessB．limitedC．changeableD．uncertain

20.A．a(chǎn)pplyB．referC．directD．stick

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2017屆河北衡水中學(xué)高三上期七調(diào)英語試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

Is any economist so dull as to criticise Christmas? At first glance,the holiday season in western economies seems a treat for those concerned with such vagaries (奇想）as GDP growth.After all,everyone is spending;in America,retailers make 25% of their yearly sales and 60% of their profits between Thanksgiving and Christmas.Even so,economiwsts find something to worry about in the nature of the purchases being made.

Much of the holiday spending is on gifts for others.At the simplest level,giving gifts involves the giver thinking of something that the recipient would like-he tries to guess her preferences,as economists say-and then buying the gift and delivering it.Yet this guessing of preferences is not easy;indeed,it is often done badly.Every year,ties go unworn and books unread.And even if a gift is enjoyed,it may not be what the recipient would have bought if they had spent the money themselves.

Interested in this mismatch between wants and gifts,in 1993 Joel Waldfogel,then an economist at Yale University,sought to estimate the difference in dollar terms.In a research,he asked students two questions at the end of a holiday season:first,estimate the total amount paid (by the givers) for all the holiday gifts you received;second,apart from the sentimental value of the items,if you did not have them,how much would you be willing to pay to get them? His results were gloomy:on average,a gift was valued by the recipient well below the price paid by the giver.

In addition,recipients may not know their own preferences very well.Some of the best gifts,after all,are unexpected items that you would never have thought of buying,but which turn out to be especially well picked.And preference can change.So by giving a jazz CD,for example,the giver may be encouraging the recipient to enjoy something that was ignored before.This,a desire to build skills,is possibly the hope held by many parents who ignore their children's desires for video games and buy them books instead.

Finally,there are items that a recipient would like to receive but not purchase.If someone else buys them,however,they can be enjoyed guilt-free.This might explain the high volume of chocolate that changes over the holidays.Thus,the lesson for gift-givers is that you should try hard to guess the preference of each person on your list and then choose a gift that will have a high sentimental value.

1.The word “sentimental” in Paragraph 3 is close to “ ”

A.intelligent B.emotional C.social D.practical

2.According to the text,which of the following statements is TRUE?

A.Price is nothing but the factor when you give gifts.

B.Chocolates will be blamed when people receive them as gifts.

C.The receivers often overestimate the values of gifts.

D.Wants do not always correspond to needs in gift-giving.

3.Which of the following statements can be inferred from the text?

A.The gift-giver tries to neglect the actual needs of the receiver.

B.The best gifts are well picked by the givers.

C.In gift-giving,guessing preference is often a failure,so it's the thought that counts.

D.You have to take money into consideration when giving a gift.

4.The text is most likely taken from a .

A.users' handbook B.medical journal

C.travel magazine D.consumer-related report

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2017屆福建省漳州市八校高三上學(xué)期期末聯(lián)考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：語法填空

The bank worker told me my check had run out. It 1. (take) me some minutes to understand her words. This year had brought me so much pain—a divorce, losing my house and the loss 2. my iob. After 3. (leave) the bank, I wondered what I would do. 4. it was only 5:30 pm, it was already dark and cold outside. At one point, I stopped and cried out to God. With a 5. (break) spirit, I said aloud, "Lord, I really need help right now, today, not tomorrow and not the next day." 6. (final), when my tears dried up, I headed home. Approaching my home, I noticed 7. envelope. The envelope 8. (fill) with hundreds of dollars of gift cards 9. could meet my urgent needs! I was in shock and surprise. God heard those 10. (cry) from a cold, dark and lonely place and assured me that he did hear and would provide.

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2017屆遼寧實驗中學(xué)等五校高三上期末聯(lián)考英語卷（解析版） 題型：短文改錯

假定英語課上老師要求同桌之間交換修改作文，請你修改你同桌寫的以下作文。文中共有10處語言錯誤，每句中最多有兩處。每處錯誤僅涉及一個單詞的增加、刪除或修改。

增加：在缺詞處加一個漏字符號（∧），并在其下面寫出該加的詞。

刪除：把多余的詞用斜線（＼）劃掉。

修改：在錯的詞下劃一橫線，并在該詞下面寫出修改后的詞。

注意：1.每處錯誤及其修改均限一詞;

2.只允許修改10處，多者（從第11處起）不計分。

Hello everyone. I've got something to tell you, so please listen careful. There is several changes in the timetable for today. You start with English for usual, then business studies and after the break, history and art. Because the changes in the timetable, your business studies lesson this morning won’t be in Room 313. Instead, they will be in Room 303. Now the changes in the after-school activity this week. The debating group will met today. There’s some practice on Thursday—that’s tomorrow—for those of you which want to get into the school team. And on Friday, the music group will meet to prepare for the school performance. Finally, let’s see who is on the duty today. George, it was your turn, right?

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2017屆湖北部分重點中學(xué)高三新考試大綱適應(yīng)性考試英語卷（解析版） 題型：語法填空

閱讀下面材料，在空白處填入適當(dāng)?shù)膬?nèi)容（1個單詞）或括號內(nèi)單詞的正確形式。

Let's it explore expressions with the word “ bullet”. A bullet is 1. you shoot out of gun. That used to be the way to destcribe the speed of the auperhero 一Supennan— he is “ faster than a speeding bullet.” Now very fast truins 2. ( call) “bullet trains” . Bullets are not only known for their speed. They are also known for their ability to kill. 3. ,not all bullets are bud. A silver bullet is something that solves a difficult problem easily.

To ease the pain of a difficult situation, people are sometimes asked to bite the bullet. What is die origin of this expression? The story may go back to the American Civil War 4. even curlier. During the Civil War, pain-killing drugs were often hard 5. (find). So,doctors working on the battlefield 6. (give) their patients a piece of wood to squeeze or something soft to bite on. Many times the 7. ( near) thing was a lead bullet. Hollywood movies helped to keep this expression dive. In old westerm movies, more than one cowboy was seen biting a bullet 8. removing an arrow from his body. In moderm conversations, “9. (bite) the bullet" means to accept a difficult decision or situation.

If you want to perfeet your English, there is no silver bullet. You must10. ( simple)practice and study us much as you can.

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2017屆河南豫南九校高三下期質(zhì)量考評（五）英語卷（解析版） 題型：書面表達(dá)

假如你是李華。你將要參加本周六主題為An unforgettable Experience in High School 的英語演講比賽。你寫了一篇演講稿，請外教Jason給予指導(dǎo)。請根據(jù)以下要點，給他寫一封郵件。

1.說明情況；

2.指導(dǎo)內(nèi)容（詞匯，語法，結(jié)構(gòu)等）；

3.回復(fù)時間；

4.表達(dá)感激。

注意：

1.詞數(shù)100左右；

2.信的格式已給出，不計入總詞數(shù)；

3.適當(dāng)增加細(xì)節(jié)，以使行文連貫。

Dear Jason,

__________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

______

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2017屆河北五個一推薦高三上第一次模擬考英語卷（解析版） 題型：書面表達(dá)

2022年冬奧會部分項目將在張家口舉行，為了確保冬奧會圓滿成功，張家口某機(jī)構(gòu)提前發(fā)起了志愿者招募活動。假如你是該活動的負(fù)責(zé)人，請用英文寫一篇招募通知，歡迎各界人士踴躍報名參加。

報名時間：2016年9月1日至10月 1 日；

地點：張家口市志愿者招募辦公室；

聯(lián)系電話：0313-123456；

其他內(nèi)容自擬。

注意：1. 字?jǐn)?shù)120字左右 2. 開頭，結(jié)尾已為您寫好

Notice

Attention, please! Everyone:

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Volunteer Recruiting Office

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2017屆山西重點中學(xué)協(xié)作體高三下高考模擬（一）英語卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

One of my first memories as a child in the 1950s was a discussion I had with my brother in our tiny bedroom in the family house in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

We had heard in school about a planet called Pluto. It was the farthest, coldest, and darkest thing a child could imagine. We guessed how long it would take to die if we stood on the surface of such a frozen place wearing only the clothes we had on. We tried to figure out how much colder Pluto was than Antarctica, or than the coldest day we had ever experienced in Pennsylvania.

Pluto, which famously was downgraded from a “major planet” to a “dwarf planet”（矮星） in 2006, captured our imagination because it was a mystery that could complete our picture of what it was like at the most remote corners of our solar system.

Pluto’s underdog discovery story is part of what makes it so attractive. Clyde Tombaugh was a Kansas farm boy who built telescopes out of spare auto parts, old farm equipment and self-ground lenses. As an assistant at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, Tombaugh's task was to search millions of stars for a moving point of light, a planet that the observatory’s founder thought existed beyond the orbit of Neptune. On February 18，1930，Tombaugh found it. Pluto was the first planet discovered by an American, and represented a moment of light in the midst of the Great Depression’s dark encroachment (入侵).

Pluto is much more than something that is not a planet. It’s a reminder that there are many worlds out there beyond our own and that the sky isn’t the limit at all. We don’t know what kinds of fantastic variations on a theme nature is capable of making until we get there to look.

1.Why did Pluto become famous in 2006 according to the passage?

A. Because it lost its major planet status.

B. Because it disappeared in the sky.

C. Because it was discovered by an American.

D. Because it was proved to be the coldest planet in the universe.

2.What can be a suitable title for the text?

A. An American Scientist: Clyde Tombaugh

B. Pluto was First Discovered by a Boy

C. Pluto’s Strange Romance

D. The Days I Spent with My Brother in Pennsylvania

3.What can we learn from the fourth paragraph?

A. Clyde Tombaugh discovered the darkness in the Great Depression.

B. Pluto was the only planet that was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh.

C. Clyde Tombaugh’s job was to build telescopes for Lowell Observatory.

D. Clyde Tombaugh’s telescopes used for searching stars were very simple.

4.What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph most probably mean?

A. Pluto is no less than a planet in the solar system.

B. Pluto is much more than a planet in the solar system.

C. Pluto is more important than any other planet in the sky.

D. Pluto is not a planet in the solar system, but it is more than a planet.

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習(xí)冊答案