Questions：

1 How has the number of working women with college degrees in the United States changed? 

A. It has increased 57 percent since 2011

B. It has increased 200 percent since 1970

C. It has reached 65 million since 1964

D. It has increased 46 million since 1964

2 What is the current situation of working women in the United States? 

A. A lot of woman are doing part-time jobs

B. Most woman are engaged in lower-end jobs

C. Chief executive is the best-paying job for woman

D. Women on average earn two-thirds as much as men

3 What is the best-paying job for women? 

A. A physicist or a surgeon

B. A chief executive officer

C. A health care worker

D. A pharmacist

4 What does the speaker think of the job prospects for women in the United States?

A. It is gloomy

B. It is declining

C. It is uncertain

D. It is promising

Passage I

In 1964, 19 million women were employed in the United States. Today they total 65 million, working in a wide variety of industries and increasingly pursuing higher education. The number of working women who have attended college has increased 200 percent since 1970, and the undergraduate class of 2011 was 57 percent female. 

Yet as far as women have come, they still earn on average only 81.2 percent as much as men and remain in lower-end jobs. What are the best-paying jobs for women? Using data on the weekly earnings of full-time workers in 2010 collected by BLS, we discovered that tech and health care is where the money's at. 

Female physicians and surgeons topped the list. These women earned a median of $1,618 per week, or about $84,000 a year, more than any other profession tracked by the BLS. Male doctors continue to earn more than female doctors, but the pay gap has narrowed each year; it's now at 29 percent versus 41 percent two years ago. 

Interestingly, the second best-paying job for women is a pharmacist. Female pharmacists make a median of $1,605 per week or about $83,500 annually, nearly as much as physicians and surgeons and more than chief executives, which came in at No. 3 on our list. Women account for 48 percent of the pharmacy profession and earn 83 percent as much as male pharmacists. Meanwhile, only 26 percent of CEOs are women, and they earn just 72 percent as much as their male peers. 

Now women have been moving into relatively higher-paying jobs that were traditionally male-dominated. It's been a very positive development. Overall, the gender pay gap is narrowing. 

1 How has the number of working women with college degrees in the United States changed? 

2 What is the current situation of working women in the United States? 

3 What is the best-paying job for women? 

4 What does the speaker think of the job prospects for women in the United States?