Section II Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

A new study suggests that contrary to most surveys, people are actually more stressed at home than at work. Researchers measured people’s cortisol, which is a stress marker, while they were at work and while they were at home and found it higher at what is supposed to be a place of refuge.

“Further contradicting conventional wisdom, we found that women as well as men have lower levels of stress at work than at home”,writes one of the researchers, Sarah Damske. In fact women even say they feel better at work, she notes. “It is men, not women, who report being happier at home than at work.” Another surprise is that findings hold true for both those with children and without, but more so for nonparents. This is why people who work outside the home have better health.

What the study doesn’t measure is whether people are still doing work when they’re at home, whether it is household work or work brought home from the office. For many men, the end of the workday is a time to kick back. For women who stay home, they never get to leave the office. And for women who work outside the home, they often are playing catch-up-with-household tasks. With the blurring of roles, and the fact that the home front lags well behind the workplace in making adjustments for working women, it’s not surprising that women are more stressed at home.

But it’s not just a gender thing. At work, people pretty much know what they’re supposed to be doing: working, making money, doing the tasks they have to do in order to draw an income. The bargain is very pure: Employee puts in hours of physical or mental labor and employee draws out life-sustaining moola.

On the home front, however, people have no such clarity. Rare is the household in which the division of labor is so clinically and methodically laid out. There are a lot of tasks to be done, there are inadequate rewards for most of them. Your home colleagues—your family—have no clear rewards for their labor; they need to be talked into it, or if they’re teenagers, threatened with complete removal of all electronic devices. Plus, they’re your family. You cannot fire your family. You never really get to go home from home.

So it’s not surprising that people are more stressed at home. Not only are the tasks apparently infinite, the co-workers are much harder to motivate.

21. According to Paragraph 1, most previous surveys found that home ________.

[A] was an unrealistic place for relaxation [B] generated more stress than the workplace

[C] was an ideal place for stress measurement [D] offered greater relaxation than the workplace

22. According to Damaske, who are likely to be the happiest at home?

[A] Working mothers.   [B] Childless husbands.

[C] Childless wives.   [D] Working fathers.

23. The blurring of working women's roles refers to the fact that ________.

[A] they are both bread winners and housewives

[B] their home is also a place for kicking back

[C] there is often much housework left behind

[D] it is difficult for them to leave their office

24. The word “moola”(Line 4, Para. 4) most probably means ________.

[A] energy       [B] skills       [C] earnings   [D] nutrition

25. The home front differs from the workplace in that ________.

[A] home is hardly a cozier working environment

[B] division of labor at home is seldom clear?cut

[C] household tasks are generally more motivating

[D] family labor is often adequately rewarded

Text 2

For years, studies have found that first-generation college students—those who do not have a parent with a college degree—lag other students on a range of education achievement factors. Their grades are lower and their dropout rates are higher. But since such students are most likely to advance economically if they succeed in higher education, colleges and universities have pushed for decades to recruit more of them. This has created “a paradox” in that recruiting first-generation students, but then watching many of them fail, means that higher education has “continued to reproduce and widen, rather than close” an achievement gap based on social class, according to the depressing beginning of a paper forthcoming in the journalPsychological Science.

But the article is actually quite optimistic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem, suggesting that an approach (which involves a one-hour, next-to-no-cost program) can close 63 percent of the achievement gap (measured by such factors as grades) between first-generation and other students.

The authors of the paper are from different universities, and their findings are based on a study involving 147 students (who completed the project) at an unnamed private university. First generation was defined as not having a parent with a four-year college degree. Most of the first-generation students (59.1 percent) were recipients of Pell Grants, a federal grant for undergraduates with financial need, while this was true only for 8.6 percent of the students with at least one parent with a four-year degree.

Their thesis—that a relatively modest intervention could have a big impact—was based on the view that first-generation students may be most lacking not in potential but in practical knowledge about how to deal with the issues that face most college students. They cite past research by several authors to show that this is the gap that must be narrowed to close the achievement gap.

Many first-generation students “struggle to navigate the middle-class culture of higher education, learn the ‘rules of the game,’ and take advantage of college resources,” they write. And this becomes more of a problem when colleges don’t talk about the class advantages and disadvantages of different groups of students. “Because US colleges and universities seldom acknowledge how social class can affect students’ educational experiences, many first-generation students lack sight about why they are struggling and do not understand how students ‘like them’ can improve.”

26. Recruiting more first? generation students has ________.

[A] reduced their dropout rates [B] narrowed the achievement gap

[C] missed its original purpose [D] depressed college students

27. The author of the research article are optimistic because ________.

[A] the problem is solvable

[B] their approach is costless

[C] the recruiting rate has increased

[D] their findings appeal to students

28. The study suggests that most first? generation students ________.

[A] study at private universities [B] are from single?parent families

[C] are in need of financial support [D] have failed their collage

29. The authors of the paper believe that first-?generation students ________.

[A] are actually indifferent to the achievement gap

[B] can have a potential influence on other students

[C] may lack opportunities to apply for research projects

[D] are inexperienced in handling their issues at college

30. We may infer from the last paragraph that ________.

[A] universities often reject the culture of the middle?class

[B] students are usually to blame for their lack of resources

[C] social class greatly helps enrich educational experiences

[D]colleges are partly responsible for the problem in question

Text 3

Even in traditional offices, “the lingua franca of corporate America has gotten much more emotional and much more right-brained than it was 20 years ago,” said Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn. She started spinning off examples. “If you and I parachuted back to Fortune 500 companies in 1990, we would see much less frequent use of terms like journey, mission, passion. There were goals, there were strategies, there were objectives, but we didn’t talk about energy; we didn’t talk about passion.”

Koehn pointed out that this new era of corporate vocabulary is very “team”-oriented—and not by coincidence. “Let’s not forget sports—in male-dominated corporate America, it’s still a big deal. It’s not explicitly conscious; it’s the idea that I’m a coach, and you’re my team, and we’re in this together. There are lots and lots of CEOs in very different companies, but most think of themselves as coaches and this is their team and they want to win.”

These terms are also intended to infuse work with meaning—and, as Khurana, another professor, points out, increase allegiance to the firm. “You have the importation of terminology that historically used to be associated with non-profit organizations and religious organizations: terms likevision, values, passion, and purpose,” said Khurana.

This new focus on personal fulfillment can help keep employees motivated amid increasingly loud debates over work-life balance. The “mommy wars” of the 1990s are still going on today, prompting arguments about why women still can’t have it all and books like Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, whose title has become a buzzword in its own right. Terms like unplug, offline, life-hack, bandwidth, and capacity are all about setting boundaries between the office and the home. But if your work is your “passion,” you’ll be more likely to devote yourself to it, even if that means going home for dinner and then working long after the kids are in bed.

But this seems to be the irony of office speak: Everyone makes fun of it, but managers love it, companies depend on it, and regular people willingly absorb it. As linguist once said, “You can get people to think it’s nonsense at the same time that you buy into it.” In a workplace that’s fundamentally indifferent to your life and its meaning,office speak can help you figure out how you relate to your work—and how your work defines who you are.

31. According to Nancy Koehn, office language has become ________.

[A] more emotional        [B] more objective

[C] less energetic        [D] less strategic

32. “Team”?oriented corporate vocabulary is closely related to ________.

[A] historical incidents      [B] gender difference

[C] sports culture        [D] athletic executives

33. Khurana believes that the importation of terminology aims to ________.

[A] revive historical terms [B] promote company image

[C] foster corporate cooperation [D] strengthen employee loyalty

34. It can be inferred that Lean In ________.

[A] voices for working women [B] appeals to passionate workaholics

[C] triggers debates among mommies [D] praises motivated employees

35. Which of the following statements is true about office speak?

[A] Managers admire it but avoid it. [B] Linguists believe it to be nonsense.

[C] Companies find it to be fundamental. [D] Regular people mock it but accept it.

Text 4

Many people talked of the 288,000 new jobs the Labor Department reported for June, along with the drop in the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent, as good news. And they were right. For now it appears the economy is creating jobs at a decent pace. We still have a long way to go to get back to full employment, but at least we are now finally moving forward at a faster pace.

However, there is another important part of the jobs picture that was largely overlooked. There was a big jump in the number of people who report voluntarily working part-time. This figure is now 830,000(4.4 percent) above its year ago level.

Before explaining the connection to the Obamacare, it is worth making an important distinction. Many people who work part-time jobs actually want full-time jobs. They take part-time work because this is all they can get. An increase in involuntary part-time work is evidence of weakness in the labor market and it means that many people will be having a very hard time making ends meet.

There was an increase in involuntary part-time in June, but the general direction has been down. Involuntary part-time employment is still far higher than before the recession, but it is down by 640,000(7.9percent) from its year ago level.

We know the difference between voluntary and involuntary part-time employment because people tell us. The survey used by the Labor Department asks people if they worked less than 35 hours in the reference week. If the answer is “yes”, they are classified as working part-time. The survey then asks whether they worked less than 35 hours in that week because they wanted to work less than full time or because they had no choice. They are only classified as voluntary part-time workers if they tell the survey taker they chose to work less than 35 hours a week.

The issue of voluntary part-time relates to Obamacare because one of the main purposes was to allow people to get insurance outside of employment. For many people, especially those with serious health conditions or family members with serious health conditions, before Obamacare the only way to get insurance was through a job that provided health insurance.

However, Obamacare has allowed more than 12 million people to either get insurance through Medicaid or the exchanges. These are people who may previously have felt the need to get a full-time job that provided insurance in order to cover themselves and their families. With Obamacare there is no longer a link between employment and insurance.

36. Which part of the jobs picture was neglected?

[A] The prospect of a thriving job market.

[B] The increase of voluntary part-?time jobs.

[C] The possibility of full employment.

[D] The acceleration of job creation.

37. Many people work part?time because they ________.

[A] prefer part?time jobs to full-?time jobs

[B] feel that is enough to make ends meet

[C] cannot get their hands on full-?time jobs

[D] haven't seen the weakness of the market

38. Involuntary part?time employment in the US ________.

[A] is harder to acquire than one year ago

[B] shows a general tendency of decline

[C] satisfies the real need of the jobless

[D] is lower than before the recession

39. It can be learned that with Obamacare, ________.

[A] it is no longer easy for part-?timers to get insurance

[B] employment is no longer a precondition to get insurance

[C] it is still challenging to get insurance for family members

[D] full?time employment is still essential for insurance

40. The text mainly discusses ________.

[A] employment in the US

[B] part-?timer classification

[C] insurance through Medicaid

[D] Obamacare's trouble

Section II Reading Comprehension

Part A

Text 1

21、【答案】[A] offered greater relaxation than the workplace

【解析】事實細節題。該題干問：之前的研究認為家是……。根據題干，該題答案定位在首段首句。首句大致意思為“一項新的研究表明，與絕大部分研究相反，實際上，人們在家里的壓力要大于工作。”由此可知，以往的研究正好跟最新研究相反，即人們在家里的壓力小于工作。縱觀各選項，選項A意為：與工作場所相比，能提供更多的休閑;與文章表述一致，為正確答案。

22、【答案】[C ] childless husbands

【解析】事實細節題。文章第二段第三句和第四句提到“It is men not women, who report being happier at home than at work…, but more so for nonparents.”即“研究發現是男人，而不是女人，在家比在工作中更高興。更令人吃驚的是，研究發現，這種情況對于有孩子和沒有孩子都是這樣，尤其是對于沒有孩子的。”所以綜合對比后，選擇C。

23、【答案】[D] they are both bread winners and housewives

【解析】推理判斷題。文章第三段中提到“For many men, the end of the workday is …, with the blurring of role……”. 意思是“對于男人來說，一天的工作結束后，是他們休息的時候，但是對于女人來說，離開辦公室之后，還有很多的家務活”。由此可以推出，“The blurring of working women’s roles” 指的是“既要在職場打拼也要做很多家務的女性”。所以綜合判定后確定D為正確答案。

24、【答案】[C] earnings

【解析】詞義句意題。文章第四段第一句提出“在工作中，大家都知道掙錢，他們做工作就是為了家庭收入”。緊接著第二句給出“這些雇員付出體力和腦力的勞動，就是為了得到能夠維持他們生活的必須收入”。結合上下文，moola應該對應原文中的“income”,表示他們掙得的收入。故C正確。

25、【答案】[A] division of labor at home is seldom clear-cut

【解析】事實細節題。根據題干關鍵詞“The home front”可以回文定位在原文最后一段。最后一段第一句指出“然而，人們對于大后方(家庭)就沒有那么清楚了”，接下來的一句進一步指出“Rare is the household in which the division of labor is so clinically…”(家務活的分工很少清清楚楚)，A項中的“seldom”同意置換原文中的“Rare”, “clear-cut”同意置換原文的“clinically”，故A項正確。

Text 2

26、【答案】[D] missed its original purpose

【解析】根據題干關鍵詞recruiting more first-generation students回文定位到第一段的第四句，然后一一比對選項，“rather than close an achievement gap based on social class”排除選項B，選項A和C是無關選項，由第四句話中This has created “a paradox” in that recruiting first-generation students…與選項D “missed its original purpose”是同義替換，paradox的意思是“自相矛盾，似是而非的觀點”，所以正確答案為D。

27、【答案】[C] the problem is solvable

【解析】根據題干信息“research article are optimistic because……”可以回文定位到文章第二段第一句“But the article is actually quite optimistic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem”。As引導的原因狀語從句是題干答案，跟C選“the problem is solvable”重重合，因此選C。

28、【答案】[C] are in need of financial support

【解析】根據題干信息most first-generation students...定位第三段最后一句中，“most of first-generation students were recipients of Pell Grants(佩爾獎學金)，a federal grant for undergraduates with financial need",可知答案為C，其中in need of和with...need對應，financial support 和financial相對應。

29、【答案】[D] are inexperienced in handling their issues at college

【解析】根據題干關鍵詞the author of the paper回文定位到文章第四段第一句“their thesis ...that face most college students”。這句話中明確說到第一代學生缺乏處理一些問題的實際經驗，與選項D語義相符，其中are inexperienced與原文的lacking in practical knowledge對應，handling their issues與how to deal with the issues對應，at college與that face most college students對應。

30、【答案】[B] colleges are partly responsible for the problem in question

【解析】根據題干關鍵詞infer from the last paragraph回文定位到文章最后一段，這是一個段落推理題，可以通過尋找段落中心的方式來解。最后一段第一句和第二句是并列關系，均提出第一代學生中存在的與社會階層有關的問題。第三句以一個because所引導的原因狀語從句點明中心，明確該問題的來源是美國高校未承認社會階層對學生教育經歷的影響，因此總結出來可知，選項B正確，說明出現了相應問題，高校應該擔負一部分責任。

Text 3

31、【答案】[A]more emotional

【解析】細節題。題干中的office language對應文章中的lingua franca of corporate(公司通用語)，題干中的has become對應文章中的has gotten，所以答案對應文章中的more emotional and much more right-brained。所以答案A more emotional。本題的易錯答案是 more objective。文章中的objectives是名詞“目標，話題”的意思。

32、【答案】[C] sports culture

【解析】細節題。本題的答案可以從第二段的第二句到第四句中得出。這幾句話都是在舉例子，作為論據出現來論證第一句話。第二句話中出現了sports，第三句話中出現了coach和team，第四句話中出現了coach和team，win，所有的這些詞都與運動相關，所以答案選C sports culture。

33、【答案】[D] strengthen employee loyalty

【解析】細節題。本題題干中還出現了believe這一觀點動詞，根據題干中的importation of terminology可以定位到第三段的第二句話，但是這句話屬于論據，其論點是第一句話。本句中出現are intended to表示目的，對應題干中的aims to，句子出現了increase allegiance to the firm，對應D strengthen employee loyalty，表示“加強員工的忠誠度”。

34、【答案】[A] voices for working women

【解析】推理題。根據題干中的Lean In可以定位到第四段的第二句話。這句話中出現了1990s和“mommy wars”也是明顯的論據，所以推理的核心論點是前面的第一句話。第一句話中出現了work-life balance，第二句話中出現了mommy wars，結合二者可以推理出這句話談論的是工作中對于女性的不公平。所以答案選voices for working women(為職業女性申辯)。

35、【答案】[D] regular people mock it but accept it

【解析】細節題。根據題干的關鍵詞可以定位到最后一段的第一句話。要注意這句話的結構。本句是一個轉折句，盡管大家取笑office speak，但是…。轉折之后表示的是人們對它的認可，A Managers …avoid it態度與文章不符。B中的linguists 在文章中沒有提到。C中的Companies find it to fundamental,屬于推理過度，文章說的是depend on，依靠并不說明fundamental根本的。

Text 4

36、【答案】[B] the increase of part-time jobs

【解析】本題為細節題。根據關鍵詞“job pictures, neglected”可以回文定位到第二段第一句話“the jobs picture ...was largely overlooked”，其中neglected是overlooked的同義替換。并且此句有明顯的命題點“however”。第二句具體指出被忽略的部分是“there was a big jump in the number of people who report voluntarily working part-time.”，即有大量的人自愿從事兼職工作。故正確答案為B。其中increase是原文jump的同義替換，voluntary part-time jobs是voluntarily working part-time的同義轉述。

37、【答案】[C] cannot get their hands on full-time jobs

【解析】根據題干中的關鍵詞“many people work part-time”可以定位到第二段第五句話“many people who work part-time jobs actually want full-time jobs”。由此句可知，那些從事兼職工作的人實際想擁有全日制工作。接著第六句明確指出他們從事兼職工作的原因：they take part-time because this is all they can get。言外之意是說，人們目前只能得到兼職工作，而無法獲得全職工作。故正確答案為C。

38、【答案】[B] shows a general tendency of decline

【解析】通過題干中的involuntary part-time employment可以將該題定位在文章第二段。該段倒數第二句表明“這種非自愿參加兼職工作在六月份是呈現增長的，但是總趨勢是下降的”。故B選項(呈現出一種普遍下降的趨勢)正確。

39、【答案】[B] employment is no longer a precondition to get insurance

【解析】通過題干中with Obamacare可以將該題定位在全文最后一句。該句表明，就業和保險之間不再有關聯。而從上一句可以看出，之前很多人想要找一份提供保險的全職工作來養活自己和家人。可見，之前，就業就意味著能得到保險。而它們之間的關系不復存在，即雇傭不再是得到保險的前提條件。可見，B選項正確。

40、【答案】[A] employment in the US

【解析】該題考察的是文章主旨大意。文章首段指出目前的失業率呈現出下降的趨勢，而接下來的第二段提出在這種失業率下降的好現象中，我們忽略了那些自愿(voluntary)參加兼職工作的人。第三段就自愿兼職工作者和非自愿兼職工作者的區別展開描述。最后兩段表明，那些自愿參加兼職工作的人是因為有了一項名為Obamacare的政策，該政策旨在使那些沒有全職工作的人也有可能獲得保險，從而提升就業率。可見，全文都是圍繞美國的就業形勢展開討論。故A選項正確。