阅读理解

　　Women are quite often able drivers, but they are very seldom always first-class．At best they are a mild danger, at worst potentially dangerous．This deficiency(缺陷)is due to an inherent(天生的)characteristic of women－their desire for talking．Women together in a car give in to this need and when they talk, they look into each other's faces．Simple words are insufficient．It is necessary for them to see the expression of their partners and so read the meaning the words leave unsaid．Thus two women in the front repeatedly distract(转移)each other's attention from the road．And four women represent an unbelievable danger because the one driving the car feels it necessary to see and hear not only what her companion is talking about but also what those in the back are discussing in case it is anything into which she can inject an added opinion, or in the hope of collecting fresh fuel to feed other fires on later occasions．

　　Another factor is that women seldom use the driving mirror except for cosmetic(化妆)purposes, after which its position gives the driver little indication of the state of the road behind．

　　A final important factor that seems to lie at the back of female attitudes to driving is that comparatively few women have the feel for a machine that so many men have; the satisfaction of a clever change down(改成慢挡)means nothing to them．The management of the various skills, an operation which gives many men a lot of pride, is only a momentary loss in their concentration on the topic in hand．