【单选题】

In the rarefied world of the corporate board, a good network matters. (1) often involves word-of- mouth recommendations: getting on a (2) is easier if you have the right connections. New research suggests men use (3) better than women.

Marie Lalanne and Paul Seabright of the Toulouse School ofEconomics (4) the effect of a network on (5) using a database of board members inEurope andAmericA、They find that if you were to compare two executive directors, (6) in every way except that one had 200 ex-colleagues now (7) boards and the other 400, the latter, (8) , would be paid 6% more. For non-executives the gap is 14%.
The really (9) finding concerns the difference between the sexes.Among executive-board members, women earn 17% less than their male (10) . There are plenty of plausible explanations for this (11) , from interruptions to women’s careers to old-fashioned (12) .But the authors find that this pay gap can be fully (13) by the effect of executives’ networks. Men can leverage a large network into more senior positions or a seat on a more (14) board; women don’t seem to be able to.
Women could just have (15) connections with members of their networks. "Women seem more inclined to build and rely on only a few strong relationships," says Mr. Seabright. Men are better at developing (16) acquaintances into a network, and better at maintaining a high personal (17) through these contacts. Women may, of course, also be hurt by the existing (18) of men on boards and a male (19) for filling executive positions with other men.But a tendency to think of other men first will be (20) if talented women don’t stay on the radar. (289 words)
A．Employment
B．Application
C．Option
D．Recruitment