寂寂无言AACBA
According to the passage, ____________.
A. many American workers are under stress lately
B. almost all people know how to get rid of stress
C. most people go to doctors for help with stress
D. it is sure that our work is doing harm to our health
How does stress at work affect your life?
A. It makes you unhappy at work.
B. It always affects your health.
C. It makes you worry all the time.
D. It keeps you from working well.
Which of the following is mentioned as a sign that your job is unhealthy?
A. Sudden aches and pains.
B. Frequent bad days.
C. Trouble remembering.
D. Loss of time to relax.
When should you do something about your problems?
A. When you've been told by others that you should do something.
B. When you've noticed several bad symptoms over a long time.
C. When you've let stress affect your friendships or life at work.
D. When you've visited a doctor and he has told you to leave work.
What can you do if you've noticed some of the signs of stress?
A. See a doctor and try to relax more.
B. Change to another less stressful job.
C. Assume much fewer responsibilities.
D. Take up a hobby like playing music.
There were days in which Danny could forget that he had graduated from Boston University. After 17 years of education in the finest schools in America, he couldn't repair a burnt connection in his car or locate a carburetor (化油器).
Danny is an educated man. He is a master of writing papers, taking tests, talking, and filling out forms. He can discuss Freud from a Marxian viewpoint and he can discuss Marx from a Freudian viewpoint.
In short, Danny is a worker without skills, and he has a sociology degree to prove it. He is of very little use to American industry.
This is nothing new. Colleges have been turning out workers of this sort for decades. Until five years ago, most of these workers took their degrees in sociology, philosophy, political science, or history, and marched right into the American middle class. Some found work in business and government but many, if not most, went into education, which is the only thing they knew anything about. Once there, they taught another generation the skills necessary to take tests and write papers.
But the cycle broke down. There are too many teachers these days, college applications are down, plumbers are making $ 12 an hour, and graduates with degrees in fields like sociology are faced with a choice: graduate school or drive a taxi.
Danny chose the taxi because driving was about the only skill he had that he could make money with. Danny refers to his job as "Real World 101". He has been beaten and shot at. But he has also acquired some practical skills: he can get his tickets fixed; he knows how to cheat the company out of a few extra dollars a week; he found his carburetor, and he can fix it.
CCCDB
What did Danny's schooling teach him?
A. How to repair cars.
B. How to make choices.
C. How to write papers.
D. How to teach classes.
Five years ago, a college degree ensured ______________.
A. a position doing graduate studies
B. a skilled job for college graduates
C. a place in the American middle class
D. a set of skills that was very useful
What is causing the system of college study to break down?
A. There are better jobs to be had.
B. There are not enough students.
C. There are too many teachers.
D. There are few good jobs for us.
Why did Danny choose to drive a taxi after he graduated from college?
A. He wanted to get more true experience in society.
B. He wanted to learn the new skill of repairing cars.
C. Taxi drivers can earn more than middle class people.
D. He had no other skill to support himself but driving.
Though his job is difficult and dangerous, Danny _______________.
A. has begun to enjoy his new job
B. has learned skills that are useful
C. has finally forgotten his old life
D. has learned more than in college
Sylvester and I are watching television advertisements because we need information for a class research project. We have to discuss realism and dreams in television advertising, and so we are looking for examples of things that are not true in television advertisements. The question we are asking is, "Is the advertisement true to life, or does it offer an unreal picture of the product?"
Sylvester is keeping track of the lies, and he already has quite a long list. He says that all housewives seem to live in lovely homes, dress beautifully, and love their household chores. They smile and boast about floor cleaners and proudly display their dirty clothes, dirty tabletops, and dirty children. In addition, he has never seen men doing housework. Sylvester thinks that this view of family life is filled with things that are not true.
I am keeping track of the people who appear in the advertisements. I have found handsome men chasing after beautiful women, and they are always recommending brand X toothpaste or brand Y cologne (科隆香水). I see teenagers and children with their friends, having wonderful time at parties and at school, and they are usually enjoying large, happy family gatherings. I think that these advertisements are also filled with things that aren't true.
Sylvester and I have discovered that much of American life is pictured unrealistically on television. Teenagers do not always have fun at parties, and very few people love doing chores. People do have problems but few of these are ever shown in advertisements. Instead, we watch Cinderella discover a miracle floor cleaner, finish the kitchen chores, and waltz off to the ball. Our heads are filled with these dreams, and they also suggest that, for any problem, brand Z will provide the instant cure. Sylvester and I will have very few facts and a lot of dreams to write about in our research reports.
DABCD
Why are the speaker and Sylvester watching television?
A. They are looking for good products.
B. They are trying to be like TV people.
C. They are interested in advertising.
D. They are doing a school project.
What are they trying to find out about TV advertisements?
A. Whether they tell the truth about life.
B. Whether they have both men and women.
C. Whether they show a good way to live.
D. Whether they are fair to women and men.
What does the author think about how teenagers are shown?
A. It is incomplete.
B. It is unrealistic.
C. It is true to life.
D. It is too boring.
Sylvester and the author have come to the conclusion that television advertising __________________.
A. truly reflects American life
B. lack in much imagination
C. seldom shows problems
D. gives great fun to children
The most suitable title for the passage is _____________________.
A. A Class Research Project on TV
B. American Life to Be Shown
C. Children Like to See Advertisements
D. Untrue things in TV Advertising
On the face of it, today's women are better off as a result of feminism (女权运动). Girls achieve more than boys at school and women are quickly breaking through glass ceilings (successfully climbing the executive ladder) in many businesses.
The only trouble is that a 25-year-old woman today is 3-to-10 times more likely to be depressed than one in 1950. What went wrong was that the American economic system made ill use of feminism and changed it into a method for making a profit rather than for freeing women to think and act for themselves.
The dark reality is this: Three-quarters of working women's jobs are of low income, of low skill, and of low status.
Bright, attractive, public school and Oxford and Cambridge graduates take charming, well-paid jobs in the media or in the financial district. But the reality of the struggle to the top of business, newspapers, or television is one of dirty office work and working far too many hours to make other people rich.
The sense that such women have of life being a horrible cheat is, if anything, even stronger than that felt by their less fortunate sisters. Cheated into working after school, they find themselves running and running without actually getting anywhere in their 20s.
When Bridget Jones (a role in the movie "Bridget Jones' Diary", who is a 30-something single woman) finally ends this unrewarding run in her 30s to make babies, her day is taken up with the crying of children—one of the least respected roles.
She looks in the mirror and, to a terrible extent, sees her mother—the woman who encouraged her to study and work in order to take advantage of the new opportunities that previous generations did not have.
It is not hard to see how women who have been through all this might be just a little bit angry. And, this is a society where the changing of feminism's goals and career dreams has helped to result in the increasing number of porces.
CBADA
According to the author, women are __________________________.
A. enjoying a life better than in the past in all ways
B. earning more than what they should be paid
C. more likely to slip into depression than before
D. performing much better than men in business
In business, some women climbed to the top by _____________________.
A. using their skills and abilities
B. working hard and for long hours
C. making their hands dirty and wet
D. gaining support from rich people
The author compares the life of modern women in their 20s to _____________.
A. a continual run
B. an unending film
C. a fun play activity
D. a glass ceiling
We can learn from the passage that ______________________.
A. today's women are good at breaking glasses
B. Bridget Jones can't represent today's working women
