-
Work-life Balance: A Growing
Struggle
A) We
can
email,
text,
face-book
and
tweet
anywhere,
anytime.
But
have
smart-
phones
and
tablets
(
平板电脑
)
made it easier to balance work with the
rest of life?
B) In
the
decade
since
John
Howard
dubbed
the
work-
life
b
alance
a
“barbecue
stopper”,
mobile
technologies
have
revolutionized
work
for
many
Australians.
They
have
eliminated
the
physical
boundaries
that
once
defined
workplaces
and
allowed
employees
unprecedented
flexibility
in
where
and
when
they
work.
But
new
technologies
can
be
a
mixed
blessing
for
workers.
The
office is always in your pocket.
C) The
Australian
Work
and
Life
Index,
prepared
by
the
Centre for Work + Life at the
University of South Australia,
has
tracked
the
work-
life experience of
Australian
workers
for
five
years.
The
latest
report,
titled
“The
Big
Squeeze”,
shows little
improvement in work-life outcomes in that time.
According
to
the
centre’s
director
and
a
co
-author
of
the
report,
Professor
Barbara
Pocock,
at
least
a
quarter
of
Australian
workers
are
badly
affected
by
work-
life
interference.
“
We
are
not
seeing
a
runaway
train
here
but
we are
seeing a problem that is affecting a lot of people
and
it is very persistent,
”
Pocock says.
D) However, there is one group for
which things are getting
worse:
full-time
women
workers.
That
group’s
dissatisfaction with
their work-life balance has climbed from
15.9 percent to 27.5 percent over the
past five years, while
the
same
rate
for
full-time
men
has
been
fairly
steady.
Seven
out
of
10
full-time
women
workers
often
or
always
feel
“rushed
and
pressed
for
time”
and
41
percent
of
mothers
with
full-time
jobs
said
they
would
prefer
to
work
part-time
–
the
largest proportion since 2007.
E) Professor
Pocock
says
mobile
technologies
are
a
contributing
factor,
especially
for
those
who
work
in
the
service
sector
and
among
managers
and
professionals.
“We’ve
got
work that’s
leaping
the
spatial
boundary
of the
workplace
and
that’s
particularly
affecting
full
-time
women
who
are
holding
households
together,
”
she
s
ay
s.
“Mobile
technologies
are
a
fantastic
resource
but
our
data
shows
there’s a dark side. And it’s often
overwhelming the flexibility
that
new
technologies
give.
People
feel
good
about
being
able to deal with stuff on the run and
when it suits them, but
it’s got a real
shadow side.”
F) Liz Marchant relies heavily on
mobile technologies in her
role as a
director of the Sydney-based marketing and public
relations firm Recognition PR.
Checking emails is “the first
thing I do when I wake up and the last
thing I do before I go
to sleep”, she
says. “Because I’m a working mum, I typically
leave the office at five o’clock on the
dot but I always check
in
of
an
evening
to
make
sure
that
I
haven’t
left
anything
undone.” She always
waits until her six
-year-old has gone
to
bed before checking in on work.
“
What we have now is an
‘instant
response’
society,”
she
says.
“We
send
an
email
and we
do expect a response no matter what time it is, or
even what day it is, and that changes
the dynamics of every
day.”
“Mobile devices provide opportunities
we didn’t have a
few years ago in that
we can leave and pick up the kids from
school
and
not
feel
guilty,”
she
says.
“But
it
means
you
never
turn
off
because
you
are
always
connected
and
there’s an expectation that you will
alwa
ys be across things.
Mobile
devices
enable
me
to
be
there
with
the
kids
but
it
also means you might not
be paying 100 percent attention
–
so it’s a
catch
-22
(
进退两难的处境
),
right?”
G)
Melissa Gregg, a Sydney University academic who
has
done
extensive
research
on
the
impact
of
technology
on
work
life,
says
the
flexibility
and
convenience
offered
by
mobile
technologies get much more attention than the
costs.
“
The
trouble
is
that
mobile
technologies
are
changing
the
locations of work,
” she
says. “W
e no longer have physical
limits
on
how
we
access
our
work
and
I
think
that’s
something that we’ve avoided thinking
about carefully.”
H) Gregg found new
technologies meant many employees
–
especially
women
who
work
part-time
–
are
doing
large
amounts of unpaid work.
“Du
ring my research women would
say to me, ‘It’s so convenient to have
my laptop open on the
dining room
table. I can keep an eye on my email while I’m
cooking
dinner
and
while
I’m
helping
my
child
do
his
homework’.
While that’s described as convenient, they
are
actually engaging in
three different types of unpaid labor in
that situation. It’s hardly convenient
if your work isn’t being
recognized.”
She
also
discovered
many
workers
check
emails in the morning to try to gain
more control over their
work
days.
I)
Pocock said her team’s study confirms
the importance of
policies
that
promote
greater
flexibility
for
workers.
Two
years
ago
parents
with
of
preschool
children,
or
children
under 18 with a
disability, were given the “right to request”
work
flexibility
from
their
employer.
But
the
University
of
South
Australia
’s
research
showed
many
parents
are
unaware of the right to request
flexibility, or unwilling to ask
their
employer.
J)
“
In
many
workplaces
getting
flexibility
is
difficult
especially
where
standard
working
arrangements
are
dominant,
the
climate
is
hostile
to
flexibility,
or
workers
anticipate
a
stigma
(
耻
辱
)
arising
from
a
request
for
flexibility,” the report
says.
K)
Since
2008
the
university’s
research
points
to
more
people
saying
that
work
interferes
with
activities
outside
their jobs and with spending time with
friends. The rates of
perceived
“work
intensification”
reported
by
Australian
workers
is
higher
than
in
Europe
using
similar
measures.
Nearly a third of workers feel that
they have too much work
for
one
person
to
do
(33.2
percent
of
women
and
30.3
percent of men). Almost
one in three men put in more than
48
hours a week and most of them wanted to work less.
L) But
there
is
a
paradox.
Over
the
last
four
years
those
satisfied with their
work-life balance has risen slightly, from
68.3
percent
to
69.1
percent.
Workers
are
as
stressed
or
more
stressed than ever but there is a level of
acceptance
about
it
that
this
is
the
way
things
are.
“This
is
not
all
a
negative story,” Pocock says. “Lots
o
f people are managing
fine.”
M) Architect Helena Barriga
works 32.5 hours a week, has
two
daughters aged
five
and
eight,
and
does
much
of
the
unpaid work at home such
as taking the girls to gymnastics
or
swimming.
Her
schedule
allows
her
to
pursue
a
career
she
enjoys. “I wouldn’t want to reduce my hours,” she
says.
“I
think
it
works
for
the
girls
and
works
for
me.”
Another
architect and mother of two, Kirsten
Grant, says the balance
to manage work
and family is part of a life she wants and a
career she l
oves. “Work is
important to me so I’m prepared
to pay
for it.
If you do a list of pros and
cons, there’d be a
significant
number
of
negatives,
but
I’d
say
the
positives
outweigh the
negatives.”
1)
L)Though under greater pressure than
ever
before, many workers can not only
accept it
but also manage it well.
2)
H) It is found
that new technologies make
many
workers, especially part-time working
women, do a lot of unpaid work.
3)
B)Mobile
technologies have completely
changed
many Australians’ way of worki
ng,
making their working time and place
more
flexible.
4)
F) Mobile devices make working mothers
have more time to be with their kids,
but they
are unable to pay all their
attention to the kids
with the devices
kept on all the time.
5)
C)It is reported that at least one
fourth of
Australian workers are
seriously influenced by
work-life
interference.
6)
K)More and more people think that work
interferes with their time with friends
and their
activities outside work.
7)
M)We pay
far
more attention to the
flexibility and convenience brought by
mobile technologies
than the
costs we have
to pay.
8)
J)In the
workplaces where standard working
arrangements prevail, it is difficult
for workers
to ask for flexibility.
9)
D)
Over the past five years,
the rate of
full-time women workers who
are dissatisfied
with their work-life
balance has been on the
rise.
10)
I) Although
parents with preschool children
were
given the right to request for work
flexibility, they are not realizing the
existence
of the right or unwilling to
exercise it.
阅读理解
15
题，总分值：
15
分
Directions:
Read
the
following
passages
carefully.
Each
passage
is
followed
by
some
questions
or
unfinished sentences. For each of them
there are four choices marked A, B, C, and D.
Choose
the best answer to each
question.
We
all
laugh.
We
all
hurt.
We
all
make
mistakes.
We
all
dream, that’s life. It’s
a journey. Please follow these rules to
make
the
journey
of
your
life
a
journey
of
joy!
Staying
positive through the cold season could
be your best defense
against getting
ill, new study findings suggest.
In an experiment that
exposed healthy volunteers to a cold
or
flu virus, researchers found that people with a
generally
sunny
disposition
(
性格
)
were
less
likely
to
fall
ill.
The
findings,
published
in
the
journal
Psychosomatic
Medicine
,
build
on evidence that a “positive emotional style” can
help
ward off the common cold and other
illnesses.
Researchers believe the reasons may be
both objective as
in happiness boosting
immune function and subjective as in
happy
people
being
less
troubled
by
a
scratchy
throat
or
runny
nose.
“People
with
a
positive
emotional
style
may
have
different
immune
response
to
the
virus,”
explained
lead
study
author
Dr
Sheldon
Cohen
of
Carnegie
Mellon
University in
Pittsburgh. “And when t
hey do get a
cold, they
may interpret their illness
as being less severe.”
Cohen
and
his
colleagues
had
found
in
a
previous
study
that happier people seemed less likely
to catch a cold, but
some questions
remained as to whether the emotional trait
itself had the effect.
For the new study, the
researchers had 193 healthy adults
with
complete
standard
measures
of
personality
traits,
self-
perceived
health
and
emotional
“style”.
Those
who
tended
to be happy, energetic and easy-going were judged
as having a positive emotional style,
while those who were
often unhappy,
tense and hostile had a negative style. The
researchers gave them nose drops
containing either a cold
virus
or
a
particular
flu
virus.
Over
the
next
six
days,
the
volunteers reported on any aches,
pains, or sneezing
(
打喷
嚏
) they had,
while the researchers collected objective data.
Cohen
and
his
colleagues
found
that
based
on
objective
measures of nasal
woes (
鼻部的不适
), happy people
were
less likely to develop a
cold.
11)
The new study findings in the
experiment
suggest that _________.
A. Having a negative emotion is
harmful to
the character.
B. Being optimistic is more probable to keep
healthy.
C. Staying
positive is more likely to catch
cold.
D. Having a good disposition is more
likely
to get ill.
12)
The phrase
“ward off” in Paragraph 2 most
probably
means “_________”.
A.
shrug off
B. keep away
C. set aside
D. give in
13)
It can be
inferred from Dr. Sheldon Cohen’s
interpretation that ______________.
A. people with a positive emotion are
more
likely to regard their illness as
less serious.
B. people with a
positive emotion are more
likely to
interpret their illness objectively.
C. people with a negative emotion are more
likely to interpret their illness
subjectively.
D. people with a
negative emotion are more
likely to
boost immune function to the virus.
14)
It can be
learnt from the passage that the
benefits of having a positive emotional
style
are _____________.
A. self-evident
B. to be further
studied
C. still dubious
D. proven by scientific research
15)
Which of the
following would be the best
TITLE for
the passage?
A. Scientific Evidence
of Staying Healthy
B. The Health
Benefits of Staying Positive
C. The
Secrets of Staying Positive
D. A
Happy Journey Full of Joy
A
generation
after
Americans
lost
the
habit
of
knowing
who
their space heroes really are, the Columbia
astronauts
were
remembered
Tuesday
as
awe-
struck
(
肃然起敬的
)
youngsters
who
longed
to
“reach
the
stars”,
and
as
fun-loving but dedicated
adults who never lost their sense of
adventure.
President
Bush
and
first
lady
Laura
Bush
attended
a
45-minute
memorial
ceremony
at
the
Johnson
Space Center.
The president and the chief of the
astronaut corps helped
bring
the
adventurous
lives
of
the
seven
Columbia
astronauts
who
died
Saturday
into
focus
for
NASA
employees and the
nation. Navy Capt. Kent Rominger, the
astronaut corps chief, remembered the
crew as a ''generous
and caring bunch
with a great sense of humor''.
Bush
also
eulogized
each
astronaut.
He
spoke
on
a
breezy, clear day as
thousands of space program workers
stood
around
a
tree-lined
pond.
The
televised
ceremony
was
also
broadcast
for
workers
at
the
Kennedy
Space
Center in Florida. ''Their mission was
almost complete, and
we lost them so
close to home,'' Bush said. ''Their loss was
sudden and terrible. And for their
families, the grief is heavy.
Our
nation shares in your sorrow and your pride. And
today
we
remember
not
only
one
moment
of
tragedy
but
seven
lives
of
great
purpose
and
achievement.''
Bush
declared
that
the
United
States
would
continue
its
manned
space
program: ''This cause of exploration
and discovery is not an
option we
choose. It is a desire written in the human
heart.''
Bush
was
accompanied
to
Houston
on
Air
Force
One
with
former senator John Glenn, the first American to
orbit
the Earth, and Neil Armstrong,
the first man to set foot on
the
moon.
The
president
arrived
at
the
ceremony
walking
hand-in-hand
with
the
first
lady.
Afterward,
they
met
privately
with
about
40
family
members.
A
White
House
assistant said Bush
spoke to each person. He made small
talk with the children about school and
offered his regrets for
meeting at such
a tragic time. He told one widow, ‘‘you're a
strong so
ul.'' He said to
one father who lost a child, ‘‘we're
so
proud of you as a father. ''
The roar of
NASA T-38 training jets that flew a ''missing
man''
formation
still
echoed
in
the
distance,
as
space
agency workers leaving
the ceremony said they had found
comfort in the service.
16)
What is the
main topic of the passage?
A. Spirit
of those space heroes.
B. Address of
the president Bush.
C. Description of
the memorial ceremony.
D. Tragedy of
seven Columbia astronauts.
17)
Where was the
ceremony in memory of the
seven
Columbia astronauts held?
A. In
Washington.
B. In Florida.
C. At the Kennedy Space Center.
D. At the Johnson Space Center.
18)
Which of the
following is NOT true according
to the
passage?
A. Laura Bush, the first
lady, took part in the
ceremony with
the president.
B. Workers at the
Kennedy Space Center
attended the
memorial ceremony.
C. The seven
Columbia astronauts lost their
lives on
Saturday.