英语范文背诵精华3.1 Male and Female Roles

In all societies, male and female roles are regarded differently. The mother role is universally carried out by women, which is biologically based. Roles defined by sex also characterize the economic sphere so that the tasks men perform are different from those women perform. This difference is not any outgrowth of the biological differences between men and women. A specific task may be associated with men in one society and with women in another. Milking herd¹ animals, for example, may be women’s task in some societies and a man’s task in others.
　　Males and females are each associated with different kinds of behavior. These concepts of male and female behavior extended to how people walk, sit, talk and dress. In our society, as in all others, men walk and talk in certain ways and until recently dressed very differently from women. In some societies, different spatial² areas are associated with males and females. Women in many Middle Eastern societies are restricted to certain parts of the house and may only come into contact with the males who are members of their family. In such societies, the coffee house and the market are defined as male domains³. In contrast, in some West African societies, women most often appear in the marketplace. Sometimes, men choose to carry out female rather than male roles. In some cases, some men dress like women and perform female tasks. On the other hand, females who carry out male roles usually dress and act like men. Because of women’s association with mothering and the home, women are associated with the domestic affairs and men are associated with the public affairs. In a number of New Guinea societies, men are associated with the men’s house in which they eat and sleep while women are associated with their own dwelling⁴ houses. In our own and other Western societies this division was true until the beginning of the 20th century. Politics, the courts, businesses, banks, and so forth⁵ were male areas, and so too were the social clubs where real business was carried out. At the beginning of the 20th century, women began to question the assignment of the male and female role. They formed social groups and began to demand the right to vote. They began to move into the business and professional worlds as well. Men regarded the women pioneers in this movement as very manlike. Even today women in business, law or banking⁶ wear very tailored, conservative suits to work. As these changes occur in female roles in contemporary American society, men are increasingly taking on child care and domestic tasks.
 

1 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

2 spatial   

adj.空间的，占据空间的

参考例句：

• This part of brain judges the spatial relationship between objects.大脑的这部分判断物体间的空间关系。
• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。

3 domains   

n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产

参考例句：

• The theory of thermodynamics links the macroscopic and submicroscopic domains. 热力学把宏观世界同亚微观世界联系起来。 来自辞典例句
• All three flow domains are indicated by shading. 所有三个流动区域都是用阴影部分表示的。 来自辞典例句

4 dwelling   

n.住宅，住所，寓所

参考例句：

• Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
• He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。

5 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

6 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。