落日桥头细感风make a living if one is to leave the rat race? How?
One way is to become (17)_________________ and work for oneself — such as a freelance (自由职业的) writer, web designer, consultant, etc. Another is to switch to a less demanding job, to a job where one is (18)_________________ , or to a job that requires less hours.
Many tried and left the rat race. Some succeed and make more than before. Some end up making less, but happier. Some failed and have to return back to the rat race. Upon searching through the Internet and books, one will find many who have found ways to (19)_________________ without the rat race. However, this does not give an accurate percentage of those who succeeded versus (20)_________________ . It is typically those who made it that are the ones in the news and media.
Script: The rat race is often thought of as being associated with the corporate environment where the company tries to squeeze the most productivity out of its workers.
With a definition like that, it is no wonder that many people in our frenetic (忙乱的) modern life begin to question our attitudes about work and begin seeking better alternatives to escape the rat race. Can one make a living if one is to leave the rat race? How?
One way is to become self-employed and work for oneself — such as a freelance (自由职业的) writer, web designer, consultant, etc. Another is to switch to a less demanding job, to a job where one is following one’s passion, or to a job that requires less hours.
Many tried and left the rat race. Some succeed and make more than before. Some end up making less, but happier. Some failed and have to return back to the rat race. Upon searching through the Internet and books, one will find many who have found ways to make a living without the rat race. However, this does not give an accurate percentage of those who succeeded versus those who failed. It is typically those who made it that are the ones in the news and media.
正确答案： associated
正确答案： squeeze
正确答案： definition
正确答案： wonder
正确答案： attitudes
正确答案： alternatives
正确答案： self-employed
正确答案： following one’s passion
正确答案： make a living
正确答案： those who failed
Part II Reading Comprehension ( 25 minutes )
Section A
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with several blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.
On the 7:45 bus that stops across the street, he leaves his briefcase next to the driver and finds a seat in the middle of 21 bored teenagers.
He leans forward, stares toward the driver, sits back, then repeats the process. His 22 makes him laugh uncontrollably. The teenagers stare at him. They don’t realize Porter’s afraid someone will 23 his briefcase, with the glasses, brochures, order forms and clip-on tie that he needs to 24 .
Porter 25 the stares. He looks at the floor.
His face 26 nothing. In his heart, though, he knows he should have been like these kids, like everyone on this bus. He’s not angry. But he knows. His mother explained how the 27 had been difficult, how the doctor had used an instrument that crushed a section of his brain and caused cerebral palsy, a 28 of the nervous system that affects his speech, hands and walk.
Porter came to Portland when he was 13 after his father, a salesman, was 29 here. He attended a school for the 30 and then Lincoln High School, where he was placed in a class for slow kids.
But he wasn’t slow.
A) steal B) disorder C) repression D) a pack of E) transferred F) survive G) senses H) nervousness I) scores of J) leave alone K) intimidate L) triumph M) delivery N) reveals O) disabled
21. ______________________
正确答案： D
22. ______________________
正确答案： H
23. ______________________
正确答案： A
24. ______________________
正确答案： F
25. ______________________
正确答案： G
26. ______________________
正确答案： N
27. ______________________
正确答案： M
28. ______________________
正确答案： B
29. ______________________
正确答案： E
30. ______________________
正确答案： O
Section B
Directions: There are several passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice.
Passage One
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.
When global warming finally came, it stuck with a vengeance. In some regions, temperatures rose several degrees in less than a century. Sea levels shot up nearly 400 feet, flooding coastal settlements and forcing people to migrate inland. Deserts spread throughout the world as vegetation shifted drastically in North America, Europe and Asia. After driving many of the animals around them to near extinction, people were forced to abandon their old way of life for a radically new survival strategy that resulted in widespread starvation and disease. The adaptation was farming: the global-warming crisis that gave rise to it happened more than 10,000 years ago. As environmentalists convene in Rio de Janeiro this week to ponder the global climate of the future, earth scientists are in the midst of a revolution in understanding how climate has changed in the past — and how those changes have transformed human existence. Researchers have begun to piece together an illuminating picture of the powerful geological and astronomical forces that have combined to change the planet’s environment from hot to cold, wet to dry and back again over a time period stretching back hundreds of millions of year.
Most importantly, scientists are beginning to realize that the climatic changes have had a major impact on the evolution of the human species. New research now suggests that climate shifts have played a key role in nearly every significant turning point in human evolution: from the dawn of primates (灵长目动物) some 65 million years ago to human ancestors rising up to walk on two legs, from the huge expansion of the human brain to the rise of agriculture. Indeed, the human history has not been merely touched by global climate change, some scientists argue, it has in some instances been driven by it.
The new research has profound implications for the environmental summit in Rio. Among other things, the findings demonstrate that dramatic climate change is nothing new for planet Earth. The benign (宜人的) global environment that has existed over the past 10,000 years — during which agriculture, writing, cities and most other features of civilization appeared — is a mere bright spot in a much larger pattern of widely varying climate over the ages. In fact, the pattern or climate change in the past reveals that Earth’s climate will almost certainly go through dramatic changes in the future — even without the influence of human activity.
31.
Farming emerged as a survival strategy because man had been obliged _______________. A) to give up his former way of life B) to leave the coastal areas
C) to follow the ever-shifting vegetation D) to abandon his original settlement
正确答案： A 32.
Earth scientists have come to understand that climate _______________.
A) is going through a fundamental change B) has been getting warmer for 10,000 years C) will eventually change from hot to cold D) has gone through periodical changes
正确答案： D 33.
Scientists believe that human evolution _______________. A) has seldom been accompanied by climatic changes B) has exerted little influence on climatic changes C) has largely been affected by climatic changes D) has had a major impact on climatic changes
正确答案： C 34.
Evidence of past climatic changes indicates that _______________. A) human activities have accelerated changes of Earth’s environment B) Earth’s environment will remain mild despite human interference C) Earth’s climate is bound to change significantly in the future
D) Earth’s climate is unlikely to undergo substantial changes in the future
正确答案： C 35.
The message the author wishes to convey in the passage is that _______________. A) human civilization remains glorious though it is affected by climatic changes B) mankind is virtually helpless in the face of the dramatic changes of climate C) man has to limit his activities to slow down the global warming process D) human civilization will continue to develop in spite of the changes of nature
正确答案： B
Passage Two
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.
Imagine eating everything delicious you want — with none of the fat. That would be great, wouldn’t it?
New “fake fat” products appeared on store shelves in the United States recently, but not everyone is happy about it. Makers of the products, which contain a compound called olestra (人造脂肪), say food manufacturers can now eliminate fat from certain foods. Critics, however,
