Text 4 Europe is not a genderequality heaven.In particular,the corporate workplace will never be completely familyfriendly until women are part of senior management decisions,and Europe's top corporategovernance positions remain overwhelmingly male.Indeed,women hold only 14 percent of positions on Europe corporate boards.The Europe Union is now considering legislation to compel corporate boards to maintain a certain proportion of women—up to 60 percent.This proposed mandate was born of frustration.Last year,Europe Commission Vice President Viviane Reding issued a call to voluntary action.Reding invited corporations to sign up for gender balance goal of 40 percent female board membership.But her appeal was considered a failure:only 24 companies took it up.Do we need quotas to ensure that women can continue to climb the corporate Ladder fairy as they balance work and family?“Personally,I don't like quotas，”Reding said recently.“But I like what the quotas do.”Quotas get action:they“open the way to equality and they break through the glass ceiling,”according to Reding,a result seen in France and other countries with legally binding provisions on placing women in top business positions.I understand Reding's reluctance—and her frustration.I don't like quotas either;they run counter to my belief in meritocracy,government by the capable.But,when one considers the obstacles to achieving the meritocratic ideal,it does look as if a fairer world must be temporarily ordered.After all,four decades of evidence has now shown that corporations in Europe as the US are evading the meritocratic hiring and promotion of women to top position—no matter how much“soft pressure”is put upon them.When women do break through to the summit of corporate power—as,for example,Sheryl Sandberg recently did at Facebook—they attract massive attention precisely because they remain the exception to the rule.If appropriate public policies were in place to help all women—whether CEOs or their children's caregivers—and all families,Sandberg would be no more newsworthy than any other highly capable person living in a more just society.
According to Reding,quotas may help women_____
细节题【命题思路】这是一道局部细节题，需要根据题干关键词对文章相应的具体信息进行锁定，从而得出答案。【直击答案】根据题干信息定位至第四段。解题的关键是理解Reding的观点，即引号中的内容，而重点是but后的内容：他喜欢定额所带来的好处：定额可以打开平等之门，并且可以打破这种工作晋升时的无形障碍，后半部分是前面内容的同位语，进一步补充说明：在法国和其他国家，法律条款规定把女性放在企业高层职位中，从而解决男女性别不平等的问题。换句话说，定额可以通过法律的形式帮助女性获得企业高层职位。A项是对原文信息“placing women in top business positions”的同义替换，故为正确选项。
