After watching my mother deal with our family of five, I can’t understand why her answer to the question, “What do you do?”, is always, “Oh, I’m just a housewife.” JUST a housewife? Anyone who spends most of her time in preparing meals, washing and drying clothes, keeping the house clean, playing the part of a taxi driver to us kids when it’s time for school, music lessons or the dentist, doing volunteer work for her favorite charity, and making sure that all our family needs are met is not JUST a housewife. She’ s the real Wonder Woman. Why is it that so many mothers like mine think of themselves as second-class or something similar? Where has this notion(观念) come from? Have we males(男性) made them feel this way? Has our society made “going to work” outside the home seem more important than what a housewife must face each day?
I would be very curious(好奇的) to see what would happen if a housewife stopped working. Dishes would pile up. Food in the house would run out. No meals would appear on the table. There would be no clean clothes when needed. The house would be filled with rubbish. Walking and bus riding would increase. Charities would be in great need of help. I doubt if the man of the house would be able to take over(接手). Oh, he might think that he can do just as good a job, but how long would that last? Not long, once he had to come home each night after work to more household duties. There would be no more coming home to a prepared meal; he’d have to fix it himself. The kids would all be crying for something to eat, clean clothes and more bus fare money. Once he made the kids quiet, he’d have to clean the house, go shopping, make sure that kids got a bath, and fix lunches for the next day. Once the kids were down for the night, he might be able to crawl(爬行) into an unmade bed and try to read the morning newspaper.
No, I don’t think many males are going to volunteer for the job. I know I don’t want it. So, thanks, mom! I’ll do what I can to create a national holiday for housewives. It might be called Wonder Woman Day.
【小题1】How do the children in the writer’s family go to school?
| A．They walk or take a taxi. | B．Their father sends them to school. |
| C．They take the school bus. | D．Their mother drives them to school. |
【小题2】If a housewife stopped working, which of the following would not happen?
| A．There would be no clean clothes to wear. | B．No meals would appear on the table. |
| C．All the family members would be relaxed. | D．The house would be a terrible mess. |
【小题3】The writer thinks that housewives’ work is ___________.
| A．strange | B．important | C．interesting | D．dangerous |
【小题4】In the writer’s opinion, ___________.
| A．a national holiday should be set up for housewives |
| B．there will be many males volunteering for housewives’ work |
| C．the man of the house would be able to take over the housewife’s work |
| D．housewives don’t regard themselves as second-class or something similar |
【小题5】The main idea of the passage is about ___________.
| A．housewives stopping their work | B．housewives, the wonder women |
| C．men taking the place of women | D．a national holiday for housewives |
