The industrial age has been the only period of human history in which most people's work has taken the form of jobs. The industrial age may now be coming to an end, and some of changes in work patterns which it brought may have to be reversed. This seems a discouraging thought. But, in fact, it could offer the prospect of a better future for work. Universal employment, as its history show, hasn't meant economic freedom. Employment became widespread when the enclosures of the 17th and 18th centuries made many people dependent on paid work by taking them away from the use of the land, and thus from the means to provide a living for themselves. Then the factory system destroyed the cottage industries and removed work from people's homes. Later, as transport improved, first by rail and then by road, people traveled longer distances to their place of employment until, eventually, many people's work lost all connection with their home lives and the places in which they lived. Meanwhile, employment put women at a disadvantage. In pre-industrial times, men and women had shared the productive work of the household and village community. Now it became customary for the husband to go out to paid employment, leaving the unpaid work of the home and family to his wife. Tax and benefit regulations still assume this norm today, and restrict more flexible sharing of work roles between sexes. It was not only women whose work status suffered. As employment became the dominant form of work, young people and old people were kept out -- a problem now, as more teenagers disappointed and annoyed at school and more retired people want to live active lives. All this may now have to change. The time has certainly come to switch some efforts and resources away from the utopian goal of creating jobs for all, to the urgent practical task of helping many people to manage without full-time jobs. Before the enclosures of the 17thand 18th, people lived mainly on _ . A) paid work B) unpaid work C) taxes and benefits D) land
B
Some years ago, Wang Baoqiang was a nobody to most Chinese people. However, he is now a household film star in China. Wang is the youngest child of a poor family in Hebei Province. Dreaming of becoming an actor, he left home at the age of 8 to study kung fu at Shaolin Temple, since kung-fu actors seemed to appear most often on the big screen. At 14, he moved to Beijing for his acting career for the first time, with little money in his pocket. He worked at a construction site for 20 to 25 yuan per day, and spent his free time standing in front of the Beijing Film Studio, eager to be chosen as temporary actors. This was the hardest time for the boy. His opportunity finally came one day after he went for a role in the movie "Blind Shaft" . He was chosen to play a young coal miner. The movie won him three prizes in Thailand, France and Taiwan. But his success didn't make any difference to his life. That year, he went home for the Spring Festival. He gave his family his earnings from the movie, around $ 250 and then returned to Beijing with 500 yuan, the same amount he had when he first came to the city. His life was as simple as before. Thanks to his natural performance in "Blind Shaft", he was invited by the famous director Feng Xiaogang to act in the film "A World Without Thieves" in 2004, which made him famous immediately. People called him "Shagen", the name of his character in the movie. Wang's work, "Soldiers Sortie" has made him the most popular actor on the Chinese mainland. For the actor, it's a dream coming true. "Dreams come true. I think my life is exactly a course of pursuing dreams. No matter how tough one thing is,I can make it as long as I put great effort into it. "he said. How much money did he take with him the first time he came to Beijing? A) Y=500 B) $250 C) Y=50 D) Y=1750
A
Three Japanese tourists taking a holiday in Australia got stuck when their GPS told them they could drive from the mainland to an island, failing to mention the 15 kilometres of water and mud in between. As they drove their hired car from Moreton Bay in Queensland to nearby North Stradbroke Island, they started to notice the firm gravel surface they were driving on giving way to the renowned bay mud.However, being confident that their GPS would direct them to a road soon, they decided to plough on, managing to travel around 500 metres before their Hyundai Getz was up to its axles tires in mud.To make matters worse, the tide started to come in and soon forced them to seek help and abandon the vehicle.Just four hours later the car was trapped in two metres of water ---- to the great amusement of onlookers on the shore and passengers on passing boats and ferries. Yuzu Noda, 21, said she was listening to the GPS and "it told us we could drive down there.It kept saying it would navigate us to a road.But we got stuck...there's lots of mud." She and her travel companions Tomonari Saeki, 22, and Keita Osada, 21, instead had to give up their plans for a day trip to the island and headed back to the Gold Coast of a lift from the RACQ tow truck driver who was called to the trapped car.No such luck for the hired car though - after assessing the situation, no attempt was made to recover it.The students from Tokyo, who are due to return home tomorrow, said the experience would not put them off returning to Australia for another visit."We want to come back to Australia again.Everyone is very nice, even today." Ms Yuzu said. Remaining excited, Mr. Tomonari joked that the car may have got stuck because it was built in Korea."Maybe if it was Japanese it would be okay," he said.He added, "It has rained every day on our six day holiday.Hopefully next time we come back it will be sunny." The car was covered by insurance, but the tourists will have to pay up to about $1500 in extra charges. The three Japanese tourists got stuck because _ . A) there was no way to the island B) their GPS was broken during their journey C) their GPS had given the wrong information D) their car was made in Korea instead of Japan
C