《英语流行话题阅读:语境识词4500》46 Feminism Brought to Girls and Boys

　　Unit 46
What Changes Has Feminism Brought to Girls and Boys?
A revolution in the way American society regards and treats the two sexes has been accomplished¹ in remarkably² short period of time. Very often, this is viewed as victory for feminism, in that more career options have opened to women ,and women are increasingly represented in all segments of society. But has this vicory produced the predicted increased happiness for women? A quick view of the massive "pro-choice" abortion³ advocates assembled in Washington D.C. last weekend revealed very few smiles, and much rage. Today, I'll look at the changes wrought⁴ in our view of the two sexes.
My 21-year-old-college-senior son was telling us about a girl he had just been set-up with. They had a good time together at a party, so he asked her if she would be interested in going out on another date. She told him, "I wouldn't mind studying with you, but I really don't have time for a lot of dating or a boy friend." His comment was, "What's with all of these ambitious girls?"
Our 9th-grade son attends a California public high school where the ratio of boys to girls is roughly 50/50. The latest edition of his school's parent's club newsletter honors the students who are achievers in various categories of academic activity. Of the first place finishers in the regional science fair, 9 out of 11 are female. The winner of the Rotary⁵ Club and Lions' Club Speech Contest are mentioned, both female.
My daughter is a sophomore⁶ at a California university, and is spending the summer in Europe as an intern⁷ in the US embassy to the host country; she'll be doing this after she spends an academic semester in Greece enrolled⁸ in a classics program. Her university's 37,000-student body is 55% female. You don't have to be much over 30 to remember when life-guarding was predominantly a male domain⁹; now it seems predominantly female.
Indeed, what is it with all of these ambitious and high-achieving girls.. and what has happened to the boys and their ambitions? Are they on their skateboards instead of on their schoolbooks?
These observations of course do not constitute a scientific study but it seems like something is going on here. A company based in Florida markets T-shirts and notebooks that say: Boys are stupid. Throw rocks at them; Girls rule, boys drool; Boys are smelly; Boys are useless, dump them.
Do you think that this might be having an effect? Do you think a lot of this might discourage boys? It used to be that boys could find refuge from this kind of nonsense in such organizations as the Boy Scouts¹⁰. Unfortunately, the Scouts are under attack throughout the country, and public facilities, United Way contributions, and other resources are being denied to them, while some parents are less favorable toward the idea of their sons participating in Scouting¹¹.

1 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

2 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

3 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

4 wrought   

v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的

参考例句：

• Events in Paris wrought a change in British opinion towards France and Germany.巴黎发生的事件改变了英国对法国和德国的看法。
• It's a walking stick with a gold head wrought in the form of a flower.那是一个金质花形包头的拐杖。

5 rotary   

adj.(运动等)旋转的；轮转的；转动的

参考例句：

• The central unit is a rotary drum.核心设备是一个旋转的滚筒。
• A rotary table helps to optimize the beam incidence angle.一张旋转的桌子有助于将光线影响之方式角最佳化。

6 sophomore   

n.大学二年级生；adj.第二年的

参考例句：

• He is in his sophomore year.他在读二年级。
• I'm a college sophomore majoring in English.我是一名英语专业的大二学生。

7 intern   

v.拘禁，软禁；n.实习生

参考例句：

• I worked as an intern in that firm last summer.去年夏天我在那家商行实习。
• The intern bandaged the cut as the nurse looked on.这位实习生在护士的照看下给病人包扎伤口。

8 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 domain   

n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围

参考例句：

• This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
• This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。

10 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

11 scouting   

守候活动，童子军的活动

参考例句：

• I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
• Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分