High childcare costs are putting British mothers off going out to work. It really is that simple. Eurostat figures show that 66 per cent of mothers in the UK work, less than France (72 per cent), Denmark (86 per cent), the Netherlands (78 per cent) or Germany (69 per cent). This not only damages Britain’s economic prosperity—it limits women’s careers and squeezes family incomes. It would be fine if this is the choice parents want to make, but it isn’t. Half of those surveyed want to go to work and the expense of childcare is one of the key reasons they couldn’t.
Despite claims made by Labour (工黨) about childcare, a forthcoming (即將到來的) report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) confirms the true legacy of their time in government. They left behind a childcare system with high costs to parents, variable quality and patchy (不均勻的) coverage, despite soaring government spending. British parents now face the highest childcare bills in the world after Switzerland.
In the Eighties and Nineties under Mrs Thatcher and John Major, the picture was very different. Mothers in England were more likely to go out to work than their Dutch or German counterparts. But the position has reversed, despite a huge rise in public spending.
So why does the British Government spend more on childcare than France or Germany, even though the costs given to parents are sky-high? As always, under the previous government, money was frittered away (浪費) without adequate focus on improving quality. Instead of clear and transparent funding, four separate funding streams were created, skewing (偏離) the market and confusing parents and providers alike. The majority of the money was given away in cash benefits; so much of it did not get through to the front line.
The IPPR report points out that continental systems, in countries such as Germany, France, Denmark and the Netherlands, manage to deliver better value for money. What all of these systems have in common is a focus on quality, with greater flexibility and autonomy given to local providers. They also see a much higher proportion of government money getting to the front line.
小題1:Which of the following doesn’t belong to the disadvantages caused by the mothers prevented from going to work?
A．Damaging Britain’s economic development.
B．Causing damage to women’s careers.
C．Decreasing the family incomes.
D．Causing childcare costs to go up.
小題2:According to the second paragraph, we can infer that the former government of the Labour Party _______.
A．was highly praised by British people
B．made British people face the highest childcare bills
C．left behind a childcare system full of problems
D．managed to decrease the government spending
小題3:We can learn from the passage that _______.
A．in the Eighties and Nineties, mothers in the UK were likely to work
B．there is a prejudice against mothers in the UK employment market
C．most of the mothers surveyed in the UK don’t want to work
D．the percentage of mothers who work in the UK is the lowest in the world

小題1:D
小題2:C
小題3:B

試題分析：本文介紹了由于高昂的兒童保育成本，許多英國婦女不得不放棄工作在家?guī)Ш⒆樱@不僅影響經(jīng)濟發(fā)展，也不利于女性職業(yè)發(fā)展和家庭增收。造成這種現(xiàn)象的原因在于政府資金沒有得到合理利用，造成浪費。
小題1:細節(jié)題，根據(jù)第一段中“This not only damages Britain’s economic prosperity—it limits women’s careers and squeezes family incomes. ”這不僅損害了英國的經(jīng)濟繁榮--它限制了女性的職業(yè)生涯和擠壓了家庭收入。A、B、C項均有提到，只有D項沒有提到。故選D。
小題2:細節(jié)題，根據(jù)第二段中“They left behind a childcare system with high costs to parents, variable quality and patchy (不均勻的) coverage, despite soaring government spending.”盡管政府開支加大了，可他們留下了一個對父母來說是高額撫養(yǎng)成本，具有不未定性和不完整性的兒童保育系統(tǒng)。可知這套系統(tǒng)問題很多。故選C。
小題3:推理題，根據(jù)第三段中“Mothers in England were more likely to go out to work than their Dutch or German counterparts.”英格蘭的媽媽比他們荷蘭、德國同行更有可能外出工作。此句中是“England”，而不是“UK”，故A項錯誤；根據(jù)第三段中“But the position has reversed, despite a huge rise in public spending.
e”景觀公共支出大幅上升，但這個職位已經(jīng)發(fā)生轉(zhuǎn)變，由此可知給女性的就業(yè)機會減少了，故B正確；根據(jù)第一段中“Half of those surveyed want to go to work ”一半的受訪者想去工作，可知C項錯誤；根據(jù)第一段中“Eurostat figures show that 66 per cent of mothers in the UK work, less than France (72 per cent), Denmark (86 per cent), the Netherlands (78 per cent) or Germany (69 per cent)”可知這些數(shù)據(jù)是歐盟在其成員國中統(tǒng)計出來的，不是全世界范圍內(nèi)統(tǒng)計出來的，因此D錯誤。故選B。
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● Express you feeling of being hurt or anger.
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A．You are always late when you and your friend plan to go out.
B．Perhaps your friendship is over because of your problem.
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D．You often refuse to answer your friend’s phone calls.
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