题目内容
Passage 2
Questions6 to 10 are based on the following passage.
Educatinggirls quite possibly yields a higher rate of return than any other investmentavailable in the developing world. Women’s education may be unusual territoryfor economists，butenhancing women’s contribution to development is actually as much an economicas a social issue. And economics, with its emphasis on incentives (激励)，provides an explanation for whyso many girls are deprived of an education.
Parents in low-income countries fail to invest in their daughtersbecause they do not expect them to make an economic contribution to the family;girls grow up only to marry into somebody else's family and bear children.Girls are thus seen as less valuable than boys and are kept at home to dohousework while their brothers are sent to school—the prophecy (预言）becomes self-fulfilling，trapping women in a viciouscircle (恶性循环）ofneglect.
An educated mother, on the other hand, earns more and faces anentirely different set of choices. She is likely to have fewer but healthierchildren and insist on the development of all her children, ensuring that herdaughters are given a fair chance. The education of her daughters then makes itmuch more likely that the next generation of girls, as well as of boys, will beeducated and healthy. The vicious circle is thus transformed into a virtuouscircle.
Few will dispute that educating women has great social benefits, butit has enormous economic advantages as well. Most obviously, there is thedirect effect of education on the wages of female workers. Wages rise by 10 to20 percent for each additional year of schooling. Such big returns areimpressive by the standard of other available investments, but they are justthe beginning.
What does the author say about womens education?