Directions： Scanthe following pa

Directions： Scanthe following passage and find the words which have roughly the same meaningsas those given below. The number in the brackets after each word definitionrefers to the number of paragraph in which the target word is. Write the wordyou choose on the Answer Sheet. 

(1) By far, the mostvulnerable older persons are women, who are more likely than men to lack basicliteracy and numerical skills, less likely to have paid work, and less likelyto be eligible for pensions—where they are available. When women are eligiblefor pensions, because of their lower pay and interrupted work histories, theyare more likely to receive lower pensions. Older women who have lost their partnersgreatly outnumber their male counterparts. In some countries, widows are oftendenied access to or control over resources. Also, women’s inheritance rightsare poorly established in many societies. For these and other reasons, women,especially in developing countries, are much more likely to sink into povertyin their older years. Security schemes to alleviate poverty must take intoaccount that most of the older poor are women, of whom many have limitedexperience in the labour force.

(2) The demand for new skillsand knowledge places older workers at a disadvantage, as their training andskills developed earlier in life become obsolete. But age discriminationcompounds many of the difficulties older workers face in the labour market.Biased attitudes hamper the efforts of older workers to find new employment anddiscourage employers from providing them with training. However, there isevidence that prejudices against the abilities of older workers are unfounded,and that the average difference in work performance between age groups issignificantly less than the differences between workers within each age group. 
the ability to read and write (para. 1)
【正确答案】：该短语指阅读和书写的能力。文中literacy指有读写能力。答案为literacy。