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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: As you move around your home, take a good look at the things you have. It is likely that your living room will have a television set and a video, and your kitchen a washing machine and a microwave oven. Your bedroom drawers will be filled with almost three times as many clothes as you need. You almost certainly own a car and possibly a home computer, holiday abroad at least once a year and eat out at least once a week. Now, perhaps, more than ever before, people are wondering what life is all about, and what it is for. Seeking material success is beginning to trouble large numbers of people around the world. They feel that the long-hours work culture to make more money to buy more things is eating up their lives, leaving them very little time or energy for family or pastimes. Many are turning to other ways of living and _ is one of them. Six percent of workers in Britain took the decision to downshift last year. One couple who downshifted is Daniel and Liz. They used to work in central London. He was a newspaper reporter and she used to work for an international bank. They would go to work by train every day from their large house in the suburbs , leaving their two children with a nanny . Most evenings Daniel wouldn't get home until eight or nine o'clock, and nearly twice a month he would have to fly to New York for meetings. They both earned a large amount of money but began to feel that life was passing them by. Nowadays, they run a farm in the mountains of Wales, "I always wanted to have a farm here," says Daniel, "and we took almost a year to make the decision to downshift. It's taken some getting used to , but it's been worth it . We have to think twice now about spending money on car repairs and we no longer have any holidays. However, I think it's made us stronger as a family, and the children are a lot happier." Liz, however, is not quite sure. "I used to enjoy my job, even though it was hard work and long hours. I'm not really a country girl, but I suppose I'm gradually getting used to looking... Question: When Daniel was a reporter, he _ . - lived in central London - disliked his job - missed his children - was well paid
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was well paid

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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Mrs.Ohama spoke to the graduates of Martin Luther King Jr.High School on Saturday in her only high school commencement speech this year. The ceremony took place in the gymnasium of Tennessee State University The first lady told the 170 graduates that she spent too much of her time in college focusing on academe achievements.While her success in college and law school led to 8 good job, she said, she ended up focusing on public service. "My message to you today is that don't waste a minute living someone else's dream: she said. It takes lot of real work to discover what brings you joy and you won't find what you love simply by checking mailboxes or surfing the net. She said MLK reminded her of her own high school experience in Chicago."My No.1 goal was to go to a high school that would push me and challenge me," she said."I wanted to go somewhere that would celebrate achievement.Unfortunately, schools like this don't exist for every kid." she said."You are blessed" The first lady told graduates that failure may be 8 part of their college lives and careers, and that how they respond determines what they will become. "That's when you find out what you're really made of in those hard times," she said."But you can only do that if you're willing to put yourself in position where you might fail." Overcoming difficulties has been the mark of many great people, she said, "Oprah was demoted from her first job as news reporter, and now she doesn't even need a last name," she said of media giant Oprah Winfrey "And then there's this guy Barack Obama, I could take up a whole afternoon talking about his failures He lost his first race for Congress",the first lady Joked, "and now he gets to call himself my husband" Question: By mentioning Oprah's example, Mrs.Obama wanted to tell graduates _ . - m start as a news reporter - to work hard to get promoted - to be brave enough to risk failing - not to waste time doing what they dislike
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to be brave enough to risk failing

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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The passages below discuss the retirement age. Passage 1: In the United States,the financial crisis has left the country with 11 million fewer jobs than Americans need now.No matter how tough the policy ,we are not going to find 11 million new jobs soon.So common sense suggests we should make some decisions about who should come first:older people,who have already worked three or four decades at hard jobs? Or younger people,many just out of school,with fresh skills and ambitions? The answer is obvious.Older people who would like to retire and would do so if they could afford it should get some help.The right step is to reduce,not increase,the retirement age.As a rough cut,why not make it a law to set a three--year window during which the age for receiving full Social Security benefits would drop to 62----providing a voluntary ,one--time,grab-it-now bonus for leaving work? Let them go home! With a secure pension and medical care,they will be happier.Young people who need work will be happier.And there will also be more jobs.With pension security, older people will consume services until the end of their lives.They will become.each and every one,an employer. Passage 2: Too many people see longer working lives as a worry rather than an opportunity--and not just because they are going to be chained to their desks.Some worry that there will not be enough jobs to go around.This misunderstanding,known to economists as the"lump of labour fallacy ",was once used to argue that women should stay at home and leave all the jobs for breadwinning males.Now lump-of-labourites say that keeping the old at work would deprive the young of employment.The idea that society can become better-off by paying more of its citizens to be idle is clearly ridiculous.On that reasoning,if the retirement age came down to 25 we would all be as rich as Bill Gates. Question: What is the author's attitude towards earlier retirement in Passage 2? - Negative. - Positive. - Unconcerned. - Tolerant.
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Negative.