Section A

Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.

“Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated." Those were the words uttered by pioneering British scientist Rosalind Franklin, who firmly believed that the pursuit of science should be (26)         to all.

As a woman working in the first half of the 20th century, Franklin’.s contributions to some of the greatest scientific discoveries of our time - including the structure of DNA - were sadly

(27)         in her lifetime. One of my proudest moments in my role as universities and science minister was being able to go some way to redress this injustice last month, by unveiling the new Mars rover named after this brilliant British scientist.

Today, on International Women’ s Day, it is only right that we recognize the important work of female scientists like Franklin and seek to honour her memory by inspiring more women and girls to follow in her footsteps.

More than 60 years after Franklin’ s death, we are (28)          living in a different world, where women play an important part in every echelon of our society-not least in science, innovation, higher education and research.

UK universities are world leaders when it comes to advancing and (29)          gender equality. The Athena SWAN charter, initially established to improve the representation of women in scientific disciplines in higher education, now has 145 members. It has also expanded to promote gender equality in multiple disciplines-including the arts, social sciences, humanities, business and law.

In the past decade, we have seen a (30)          increase in England in the number of women accepted on to full-time undergraduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem subjects). And in the last academic year, women (31)          for more than half of all Stem postgraduates at UK universities. The government is taking further steps to improve women’ s representation in science and has today awarded nine inspiring women £50,000 to develop inventions to tackle the challenges and seize the opportunities we face as a society. From new materials to cut down on plastics pollution to special devices to improve posture and comfort for wheelchair users, these women are at the forefront of creating the new technology for tomorrow.

This is significant progress, but access to higher education is only half of the equation. To have real equality in the sector, we need to ensure talented women are able to progress into the academic and leadership roles they desire, and get the remuneration they deserve.

Data shows us the (32)          to success gets harder for women to climb the further up they go.

Although women make up the majority of undergraduates in our universities, just under half of academic staff are female. At (33)          levels, only a quarter of professors are women, and black women make up less than 2% of all female academic staff.

I welcome the introduction of pro-active strategies like the new initiative at the University of

Leicester, which I am visiting today, to increase the number of female professors by 1.5% each year,with the overall goal of having 30% professorships held by women by 2020.

There are also stark differences in pay across grades. The gender pay gap based on median salaries across the sector in 2016-17 was 13.7%, (34)          there is still some way to go to ensure women are rising through the ranks to higher grade positions and being paid (35)          .

【答案及解析】

26.[A] accessible

解析：空格所在句為Rosalind Franklin, who firmly believed that the pursuit of science should be     to all. be后面接形容詞，對比選項，既是形容詞又能構成固定搭配的只有選項A，be accessible to易受影響的，可以理解的，可以被接受的。因此，正確答案為A。

27.[J] overlooked

解析：根據句意，Franklin的貢獻不幸在生前被     。對比選項，既表示被動又帶有負面含義的只有選項J。因此，正確答案為J。

28.[O]thankfully

解析：空格所在句為we are     living in…，從語法角度上來講，所需要的是副詞。后面講到女性如今在社會中發揮著重要的作用，也就是帶有正面含義。對比選項，符合這兩點的只有O。因此，正確答案為O。

29.[K]promoting

解析：空格所在句中的and表并列，前后結構一樣，前面是advancing，因此后面也應該是ing形式，對比選項只有K和N。從語義上來看，advancing and promoting表示提高和促進，因此正確答案為K。

30.[E]considerable

解析：空格所在句為we have seen a     increase, 需要一個形容詞。對比選項，能夠修飾increase的只有選項E。a considerable increase表示大幅增長，因此正確答案為E。

31. [B]accounted

解析：本題考查固定搭配，account for表示占比，占據。后面加的是具體的數量，因此正確答案為B。

32.[G] ladder

解析：空格所在句為the     to success，并且后面搭配climb，對比選項只有G符合語義，即成功的階梯。

33.[L] senior

解析：空格所在句為At    levels, 根據語法可知，空格處應該是形容詞。同時根據后面的句意：只有四分之一的教授是女性，整段內容都在描述女性攀爬成功的階梯不容易，也就是說越往上越艱難。對比選項，只有L最合適。因此，正確答案為L。

34.[N] suggesting

解析：空格句句意為性別收入差距為13.7%，意味著確保女性工資增長還有一段路要走，符合句意的只有選項N。因此，正確答案為N。

35.[D] appropriately

解析：空格所在句為be paid    , 修飾動詞應該是副詞，對比選項只剩下選項D，同時符合語義。因此，正確答案為D。