Passage 2

　　In old days, when a glimpse of stocking was looked upon as something far too shocking to distract the serious work of an office, secretaries were men.

　　Then came the First World War and the male secretaries were replaced by women. A man’s secretary became his personal servant, charged with remembering his wife’s birthday and buying her presents; ta-king his suits to the dry-cleaners; telling lies on the telephone to keep people he did not wish to speak to at bay; and, of course, typing and filling and taking shorthand.

　　Now all this may be changing again. The microchip and high technology is sweeping the British office, taking with it much of the routine clerical work that secretaries did.

　　“Once office technology takes over generally, the status of the job will rise again because it will involve only the high-powered work－and then men will want to do it agian.”

　　That was said by one of the executives(male) of one of the biggest secretarial agencies in this country. What he has predicted is already under way in the U.S.

　　Once high technology has made the job of secretary less routine, will there be a male takeover? Men should beware of thinking that they can walk right into the better jobs. There are a lot of women secretaries who will do the job as well as they－not just because they can buy negligees(妇女长睡衣) for the boss’s wife, but because they are as efficient and well-trained to cope with word processors and computers, as men.

　　36. Before 1914 female secretaries were rare because they （　　　）.

　　A. were less efficient than men

　　B. were not as serious as men

　　C. wore stockings

　　D. would have disturbed the other office workers

　　37. A female secretary has been expected, besides other duties, to （　　　）.

　　A. be her boss’s memory B. clean her boss’s clothes

　　C. do everything her boss asked her to D. telephone her boss’s wife

　　38. Secretaries, until recently, had to do a lot of work now done by （　　　）.

　　A. machines B. other staff

　　C. servants D. wives

　　39. A secretary in the future will （　　　）.

　　A. be better paid B. have higher status

　　C. have less work to do D. have more work to do

　　40. The writer believes that before long （　　　）.

　　A. men and women will be secretaries

　　B. men are better than machines

　　C. men will take over women’s jobs as secretaries

　　D. women will operate most office machines