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PART 3: READING (6.0 points)

I.Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C or D) to each question.

(2, 0 points)

Until recently, most American entrepreneurs were men. Discrimination against women in

business, the demands of caring for families, and lack of business training had kept the number

of women entrepreneurs small. Now, however, businesses owned by women account for more

than $40 billion in annual revenues, and this figure is likely to continue rising throughout the

1990s. As Carolyn Doppelt Gray, an official of the Small Business Administration, has noted,

“The 1970s was the decade of women entering management, and the 1980s turned out to be the

decade of the woman entrepreneur.”

What are some of the factors behind this trend? For one thing, as more women earn

advanced degrees in business and enter the corporate world, they are finding obstacles. Women

are still excluded from most executive suites. Charlotte Taylor, a management consultant, had

noted , “ In the 1970s women believed if they got an MBA and worked hard, they could become

chairman of the board. Now they have found out that it isn’t going to happen, so they go out on

their own.”

In the past, most women entrepreneurs worked in “women’s” fields – cosmetics and

clothing , for example. But this is changing. Consider ASK Computer Systems, a $22 - million -

a year computer software business. It was founded in 1973 by Sandra Kurtzig, who was then a

housewife with degrees in math and engineering. When Kurtzig founded the business, her first

product was software that let weekly newspapers keep tabs on their newspaper carriers – and

her office was a bedroom at home, with a shoebox under the bed to hold the company’s cash.

After she succeeded with the newspaper software system, she hired several bright computer-

science graduates to develop additional programs. When these were marketed and sold, ASK

began to grow. It now has 200 employees, and Sandra Kurtzig owns $66.9 million of stock.

Of course, many women who start their own businesses fail, just as men often do. They

still face hurdles in the business world, especially problems in raising money ; the banking and

finance world is still dominated by men, and old attitudes die hard. Most businesses owned by

women are still quite small. But the situation is changing; there are likely to be many more

Sandra Kurtzig in the years ahead.