阅读理解。
Employment practices often reflect the needs of employers several decades ago. Times have changed.
And so too has the Canadian workforce. Yet many employment practices have not kept pace with this
change. For example, some work environments and washrooms designed for able-bodied workers seldom
accommodate people who use a wheelchair.
Modernizing these practices is what employment equality is about. For example, making sure work
benches and washrooms are adapted for disabled people entering the workplace, paving the way for workers
who become disabled on the job. By doing so, any given group of people formerly discriminated against-now
has access to better employment opportunities.
The objective, of course, is to make the workplace reflect Canadian society. However, this does not
necessarily mean setting and enforcing quotas (配额). Rather, it means identifying the barriers to employment
and designing measures, with achievable goals and clear timetables, to remove them.
For example, according to the Canadian Union of Public Employees-Canada's largest union, it would be
unrealistic in the short term to insist that because half of the working age population is women, half of the
employees of an engineering firm should be women. At this moment, there would not be enough qualified
female engineers.
A reasonable numerical goal would be based on the number of women who actually are engineers (8%)
and those who are studying to become engineers (25% ). A short term goal of 13% would be appropriate
without running the risk of hiring unqualified people.
Equally important is to ensure people who have been disadvantaged the chance to become qualified for
new opportunities. If aboriginal people (土著居民), for example, can't qualify for certain jobs because they
haven't had access to appropriate educational opportunities, then an employment equality program would
have to address that problem with training programs.
Employment laws in this country cannot be considered displeasing if they guarantee all Canadians fair
and equal access to the workforce.
1. The passage is mainly about how to _____.
A. modernize equipment for the disabled at work
B. achieve equality of employment opportunities
C. protect women's rights in employment
D. complete a job training program
2. The underlined word "them" in Paragraph 3 refers to _____.
A. barriers
B. measures
C. goals
D. timetables
3. The example of women shows that _____.
A. only a small percentage of women engineers will get promoted
B. 13% of the working age women should be hired as engineers
C. policy makers should adopt a practical and flexible approach
D. the quota of women for employment should be raised
4. The underlined word "address" in Paragraph 6 probably means _____.
A. put forward
B. run into
C. find out
D. deal with
