Heads turned, tears dropped, and gossip-filled whispers went on and on from the hospital passages to the house windows. There was a problem: a daughter had been born. She wasn’t the first disappointment born to her family. Although my aunt didn’t care about giving birth to a girl, her mother-in-law constantly reminded her of the criticism she would have to face if she gave birth to a daughter. In India, most people held these views.
When I visited my relatives during the summer, one sentence managed to fill me with anger and start arguments with my so-called relatives. “You are a girl, stay within your limits.” They simply don’t know how different it is living in the US. Anyway, comparisons to my cousins led me to end the arguments for the moment and accept the way they lived their lives.
My words didn’t make sense to them so my mind was set on proving them wrong.
Although their words didn’t tear me apart, their actions managed to. The amount of sexism(性别歧视) in this culture, especially my hometown, made me feel bad. It was the 21st century, yet women had to eat after the men at family gatherings. They had to cook all the family meals and were asked to take jobs that required little skill or education. It was time to change these views.
As I was growing older, the same relatives repeatedly questioned me about my future: “What do you want to be?” And the answer was always the same：electrical engineer. I have a passion for electronics; as clichéd(陈词滥调的) as it sounds, I was born to do it. When I connect wires together to repair something, I can’t contain my excitement. But when I tried to explain this to my relatives, all of them, except for my parents and grandparents, would be shocked and laugh at me — laugh because they didn’t think I could live up to my goals, being a “girl and all”. It was time to change these views.
In my world, being a girl is not a problem. Rather, it is an opportunity to allow passion, not stereotypes(成见), to shape my future. I decided to channel my relatives’ views into positive energy. Rather than letting them bring me down, I let them be motivation to achieve my goal of becoming an engineer. I, a female, will become a successful engineer.
【小题1】The first paragraph was mainly written to
.
| A．describe how bad the author’s aunt felt for having a baby girl |
| B．describe the pressure the author’s aunt had to face when she was going to have a baby |
| C．show that most Indian people are strongly prejudiced against women |
| D．show that the author’s aunt’s generation is fighting against prejudice against women |
【小题2】From the second and third paragraphs, it can be concluded that
.
| A．the author realized that just using words couldn’t change the relatives’ sexism |
| B．the author’s friends and relatives were jealous about her life in the US |
| C．the author got used to being reminded to stay within her limits after she was born |
| D．the author often argued with her relatives because she believed US lifestyles were right |
【小题3】According to the text, the author decided to change her relatives’ views by
.
| A．achieving her ambition of changing her hometown |
| B．using her relatives’ comments as motivation |
| C．letting stereotypes influence her future decisions |
| D．achieving her dream of becoming an engineer |
【小题4】In the article, in what way does the author show how serious the amount of sexism was in her hometown?
| A．By describing feeling defeated after arguments. |
| B．By describing people’s words, behavior and common practices. |
| C．By stressing the conflicts she had with her relatives. |
| D．By giving examples of how her goals were laughed at repeatedly. |
