1、2015 年Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)In our contemporary culture, the prospect of communicating with - or even looking at - a stranger is virtually unbearable. Everyone arou

2、nd us seems to agree by the way they fiddle with their phones, even without a 1 underground.Its a sad reality - our desire to avoid interacting with other human beings - because theres 2 to be gained from talking to the stranger standing by you. But you wouldnt know it, 3 into your phone. This unive

3、rsal armor sends the 4 : Please dont approach me.What is it that makes us feel we need to hide 5 our screens?One answer is fear, according to Jon Wortmann, executive mental coach. We fear rejection, or that our innocent social advances will be 6 as creepy,. We fear well be7 . We fear well be disrupt

4、ive. Strangers are inherently 8 to us, so we are more likely to feel 9 when communicating with them compared with our friends and acquaintances. To avoid this anxiety, we 10 to our phones. Phones become our security blanket, Wortmann says. They are our happy glasses that protect us fromwhat we perce

5、ive is going to be more 11 .”But once we rip off the bandaid, tuck our smartphones in our pockets and look up, it doesnt 12 so bad. In one 2011 experiment, behavioral scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder asked commuters to do the unthinkable: Start a 13 . They had Chicago train commuters

6、talk to their fellow 14 . When Dr. Epley and Ms. Schroeder asked other people in the same train station to 15 how they would feel after talking to a stranger, the commuters thought their 16 would be more pleasant if they sat on their own, the New York Times summarizes. Though the participants didnt

7、expect a positive experience, after they 17 with the experiment, not a single person reported having been snubbed.18 , these commutes were reportedly more enjoyable compared with those sans communication, which makes absolute sense,19 human beings thrive off of social connections. Its that 20 : Talk

8、ing to strangers can make you feel connected.1. A ticket B permit C signal D record2. A nothing B link C another D much3. A beaten B guided C plugged D brought4. A message B cede C notice D sign5. A under B beyond C behind D from6. A misinterpret B misapplied C misadjusted D mismatched7. A fired B j

9、udged C replaced D delayed8. A unreasonable B ungrateful C unconventional D unfamiliar9. A comfortable B anxious C confident D angry10. A attend B point C take D turn11. A dangerous B mysterious C violent D boring12. A hurt B resist C bend D decay13. A lecture B conversation C debate D negotiation14

10、. A trainees B employees C researchers D passengers15. A reveal B choose C predict D design16. A voyage B flight C walk D ride17. A went through B did away C caught up D put up18. A In turn B In particular C In fact D In consequence19. A unless B since C if D whereas20. A funny B simple C logical D

11、rareSection II Reading ComprehensionPart A Directions:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)Text 1A new study suggests that contrary to most surveys, people are actually more stressed at home than a

12、t work. Researchers measured peoples cortisol, which isa 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 wo

13、rk than at home, ” writes one of theresearchers, 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 moreso for nonpa

14、rents. 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 theyre at home, whether it is household work or work brought home from theoffice. For many men, the end of the workday is a time to kick back. For women w

15、ho 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 a makingadjustments for working women, its not surprising that

16、women are more stressed athome.But it s not just a gender thing. At work, people pretty much know what theyre supposed to be doing: working, marking money, doing the tasks they have todo in order to draw an income. The bargain is very pure: Employee puts in hours of physical or mental labor and empl

17、oyee 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

18、 family-have no clear rewards for their labor; they need tobe talked into it, or if they re teenagers, threatened with complete removal of allelectronic devices. Plus, theyre your family. You cannot fire your family. You neverreally get to go home from home.So its not surprising that people are more

19、 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 offered greater relaxation than the workplaceB was an ideal place for stress measurement C generated more stress than the work

20、place D was an unrealistic place for relaxation22. According to Damaske, who are likely to be the happiest at home? A Childless wivesB Working mothers C Childless husbands D Working fathers23.The blurring of working womens roles refers to the fact that A it is difficult for them to leave their offic

21、e B their home is also a place for kicking back C there is often much housework left behind D they are both bread winners and housewives24.The word“moola”(Line4,Para4)most probably means A skills B energy C earnings D nutrition25.The home front differs from the workplace in that A division of labor

22、at home is seldom clear-cut B home is hardly a cozier working environment C household tasks are generally more motivating D family labor is often adequately rewardedText 2For years, studies have found that first-generation college students- those who do not have a parent with a college degree- lag o

23、ther 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 torecruit more of them. This ha

24、s created “a paradox”in that recruiting first- generationstudents, but then watching many of them fail, means that higher education has“continued to reproduce and widen, rather than close” ab achievement gap based on social class, according to the depressing beginning of a paper forthcoming in thejo

25、urnal Psychological 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 fir

26、st-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

27、. 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 wit at least one parent with a four-year degree.Their thesis- that a relatively modest intervention c

28、ould 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 narrowe

29、d 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 collages dont talk about the class advantage

30、 and disadvantages of different groups of students.Because US colleges and universities seldom acknowledge how social class can affect students educational experience, many first-generation students lack sight about why they are struggling and do not understand how students like them can improve.26.

31、 Recruiting more first- generation students has A reduced their dropout ratesB narrowed the achievement gapC missed its original purposeD depressed college students27. The author of the research article are optimistic because A the problem is solvableB their approach is costlessC the recruiting rate

32、 has increasedD their finding appeal to students28. The study suggests that most first- generation students A study at private universitiesB are from single-parent families C are in need of financial support D have failed their collage29. The author of the paper believe that first-generation student

33、s A are actually indifferent to the achievement gapB can have a potential influence on other studentsC may lack opportunities to apply for research projectsD are inexperienced in handling their issues at college30. We may infer from the last paragraph that A universities often reject the culture of

34、the middle-class B students are usually to blame for their lack of resources C social class greatly helps enrich educational experiences Dcolleges are partly responsible for the problem in questionText 3Even in traditional offices, “ the lingua franca of corporate America has gotten much more emotio

35、nal 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, wewould see much less frequent use of terms like journey, mission, passion. There were goa

36、ls, there were strategies, there were objectives, but we didnt talk about energy; we didnt 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, its still a big dea

37、l. Its not explicitly conscious; its the idea that Im a coach, and youre my team, and were in this together. There are lots and lotsof 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 w

38、ith meaning and, asKhurana points out, increase allegiance to the firm. “You have the importation of terminology that historically used to be associated with non-profit organizations andreligious organizations: Terms like vision, values, passion, and purpose, ” saidKhurana.This new focus on personal

39、 fulfillment can help keep employees motivated amid increasingly loud debates over work-life balance. The “mommy wars” of the1990s are still going on today, prompting arguments about why women still can thave it all and books like Sheryl Sandberg s Lean In, whose title has become abuzzword in its ow

40、n right. Terms like unplug, offline, life-hack, bandwidth, and capacity are all about setting boundaries between the office and the home. But if yourwork is your “passion,” youll be more likely to devote yourself to it, even if thatmeans going home for dinner and then working long after the kids are

41、 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. AsNunberg said, “You can get people to think its nonsense at the same time that youbuy into it. ” In a workplace that s fundamentall

42、y indifferent to your life and its meaning, office speak can help you figure out how you relate to your workand howyour 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 strategic32. “Team”-oriented corporate v

43、ocabulary is closely related to A historical incidents B gender difference C sports cultureD athletic executives33.Khurana believes that the importation of terminology aims to A revive historical termsB promote company imageC foster corporate cooperationD strengthen employee loyalty34.It can be infe

44、rred that Lean In A voices for working womenB appeals to passionate workaholics C triggers debates among mommies D praises motivated employees35.Which of the following statements is true about office speak? A Managers admire it but avoid itB Linguists believe it to be nonsense C Companies find it to

45、 be fundamental D Regular people mock it but accept itText 4Many 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 p

46、ace. 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 repot voluntarily working par

47、t-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 incr

48、ease 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

49、 higher than before the recession, but it is down by 640,000(7.9percent)from is 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 askspeople is they worked less than 35 hours in the reference w

50、eek. If the answer is“yes”, they are classified as worked less than 35hours in that week because they wanted towork 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 than35 hours a week.The

51、 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 ins

52、urance 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 themse

53、lves and their families. With Obamacare there is no longer a link between employment and insurance.36. Which part of the jobs picture are neglected? A The prospect of a thriving job market.B The increase of voluntary part-time market. C The possibility of full employment.D The acceleration of job cr

54、eation.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 havent seen the weakness of the market.38. Involuntary part-time employment is the US . A is harder to acquire than on

55、e 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 insuranceB 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 insurance40. The text mainly discusses . A employment in the USB part-timer classificat