背诵为王 第 三 册 第 21 课

Lesson21 Women and the IT Industry
The computer industry should offer ideal conditions for the employment ofwomen. Unfortunately it doesn't, both because the computer industry'smanagers are too stupid to employ them, and because women have been put offby the idea that jobs involve being a slave to an inhuman¹ computer screen.
Computing² should attract women: it is clean, light work where the bestresults are obtained by intelligence applied³ in co-operative work-groups.
All large computer sites run round the clock, which provides for flexibleworking hours; indeed, much IT work can be done from home. Because of thepace at which the industry advances, staffs need regular skills updates,which should make it easier for women to be retrained and re-employed ifthey take time out to have a family.
Nor does computing have any of the entrenched⁴ working practices which mightkeep women out. It does not have 100 year-old demarcation lines. Theworkforce is expanding, not contracting. Hiring women ought to be easy.
Under the circumstances it is almost unbelievable that the number of womenbeing taken in to the computing industry is declining.

entrenched 确立的，不容易改的（风俗习惯）
demarcation 分工

女性与IT行业
计算机行业应该为女性就业提供理想的条件。但是事实并非如此，一方面是因为计算机行业的经理们太愚蠢了，不雇佣女性，另一方面也是因为女性相信这样的工作会使自己成为无人性的电脑屏幕的奴隶。
计算机业的工作应该对女性有吸引力：它干净、轻松，通过团队协作及运用智慧可以获得工作的最佳结果。所有大型的计算机房都是二十四小时工作的，它们提供灵活的工作时间，许多IT工作确实可以在家中完成。由于此行业的迅速发展，从业人员需要定期的技能更新，这一点使中断工作去照顾家庭的女性更容易接受再教育和再就业。
计算机业也没有任何固定不变的工作惯例阻碍女性就业。它也没有那些已存在一百年的分工界限。劳动力需求正在不断扩大而非缩小。雇佣女性员工应该非常容易。
在这样的背景下，投身计算机业的女性的数量还在减少，真是令人难以置信。

1 inhuman   

adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的

参考例句：

• We must unite the workers in fighting against inhuman conditions.我们必须使工人们团结起来反对那些难以忍受的工作条件。
• It was inhuman to refuse him permission to see his wife.不容许他去看自己的妻子是太不近人情了。

2 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

3 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

4 entrenched   

adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯)

参考例句：

• Television seems to be firmly entrenched as the number one medium for national advertising.电视看来要在全国广告媒介中牢固地占据头等位置。
• If the enemy dares to attack us in these entrenched positions,we will make short work of them.如果敌人胆敢进攻我们固守的阵地，我们就消灭他们。