“Women hold up half the sky”. This is an old Chinese saying. However, research shows that perhaps women do more than the share of “holding up the sky”. Fifty percent of the world’s population are women, but in nearly two-thirds of all working hours, the work is done by women. They do most of the domestic work, for example, cooking and washing clothes. Millions also work outside the home. Women hold forty percent of the world’s jobs. For this work, they earn only 40 to 60 percent as much as men, and of course they earn nothing for their domestic work.

In developing countries, where three-fourths of the world’s population live, women produce more than half of the food. In Africa, 80 percent of all agricultural work is done by women. In parts of Africa, this is a typical day for a village woman. At 4.45 am she gets up, washes, and eats. It takes her half an hour to walk to the fields, and she works there until 3.00 pm. She collects firewood until 4.00 pm then comes back home. She spends the next hour and a half preparing food to cook. Then she collects water for another hour. From 6.30 to 8.30 she cooks. After dinner, she spends an hour washing the dishes. She goes to bed at 9.30 pm.

86. What is “domestic work”?

 A. housework                         B. firework                 C. homework               D. gardening

87. The average woman earns ______ the average man.

A. more than                            B. less than                  C. the same as              D. the most

88. In Africa, women do _______ of all agricultural work.

A. four-fifths                           B. three-fourths                         C. two-thirds             D. one-fifth

89. What is NOT mentioned as the work of a village woman in Africa?

A. working in the fields                                                                          B. collecting firewood

C. bringing water home                                                                           D. preparing food for children going to school

90. What is the main topic of the passage?

A. Women work outside the home.                                         B. Women work in the field.    

C. The work of women                                                                   D. The role of women