英语四级真题-阅读passage1朗读-2019.6第二套

Accordingto the majority of Americans, women are every bit as capable of being goodpolitical leaders as men. The same can be said of their ability to dominate thecorporate boardroom. And according to a new Pew Research Center survey on womenand leadership, most Americans find women indistinguishable from men on keyleadership traits such as intelligence and capacity for innovation, with manysaying they’re stronger than men in terms of being passionate and organizedleaders.

Sowhy, then, are women in short supply at the top of government and business inthe United States? According to the public, at least, it’s not that they lacktoughness, management talent or proper skill sets.

It’salso not all about work-life balance. Although economic research and previoussurvey findings have shown that career interruptions related to motherhood maymake it harder for women to advance in their careers and compete for topexecutive jobs, relatively few adults in the recent survey point to this as akey barrier for women seeking leadership roles. Only about one-in-five saywomen’s family responsibilities are a major reason why there aren’t morefemales in top leadership positions in business and politics.

Instead,topping the list of reasons, about four-in-ten Americans point to a doublestandard for women seeking to climb to the highest levels of either politics orbusiness, where they have to do more than their male counterparts to provethemselves. Similar shares say theelectorate(选民)and corporate America are just notready to put more women in top leadership positions.

Asa result, the public is divided about whether the imbalance in corporateAmerica will change in the foreseeable future, even though women have mademajor advances in the workplace. While 53% believe men will continue to holdmore top executive positions in business in the future, 44% say it’s only amatter of time before as many women are in top executive positions as men.Americans are less doubtful when it comes to politics: 73% expect to see a femalepresident in their lifetime.