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.
The author's attitude toward Reding's appeal is one of_____
态度题【命题思路】这是一道作者观点态度题，需要结合文章相关信息判断作者对于Reding看法的态度，从而得出答案。【直击答案】本题考查的是作者对Reding看法的态度，第四段提到了他的看法，根据行文发展和出题顺序，大致定位到第五段。第一句用understand表明作者与Reding立场相同，第二句通过either进一步表明此态度。虽然有转折词but，但作者并未反对Reding的观点。因此D项为正确选项。【干扰排除】根据责任原则，一些不承担责任的词一般都是陪考词，如：impassive，indifferent，因此可以直接排除C项。文章第五段首句明确表明作者观点态度，是对Reding观点的赞同，A、B项内容与原文信息相反，故为错误选项。
