Directions :Read the following text. Choose the best word or phrase for each numbered blan

Directions :

Read the following text. Choose the best word or phrase for each numbered blank and mark A, B,C, or D on ANSWER SHEET 1.

Even today in the modern, developed world, surveys show that parents still prefer to have a boy rather than a girl. One longstanding reason why boys have been (26) as a greater blessing has been that they are (27) to become better economic providers (28) their parents 'old age.Yet it is time for parents t0 (29) again. Girls may now be a better investment.

Girls get better (30) at school than boys, and in most developed countries more women than men go to (31) . Women will thus be better (32) for the new jobs of the 21st century, in which brains (33) a lot more than physical strength. In Britain far more women than men are now (34) to become doctors. And women are more (35) to provide sound advice on investing their parents 'nest egg. Surveys show that women consistently (36) higher financial returns than men do.

(37) , the increase in female employment in the rich world has been the main (38) force

of growth in the past couple of decades. Those women have (39) more to global GDP growth than have either new technology or the new giants, China and India. Add the (40) of housework and child-rearing, and women probably account (41) just over half of the world output. It is (42) that women still get paid less and few (43) it to the top of companies, but, (44) prej-udice fades over coming years, women will have great scope t0 (45) their prlductivity and in-comes.

26.

[ A] seen

[ B ] observed

[ C] watched

[ D] noticed