The loss of a job can have a very serious impact on the individual. The immediate effect, of course, is a sharp drop in income. Unemployment benefits typically offer less than half the individual's previous earnings, and many people are not even entitled to these benefits-for example, the self-employed, recent graduates who have not held a steady job in the previous year, and people who have been unemployed for a long period. The economic pressure on the jobless is very severe, particularly for those who have young children or long-term commitments for expenses for houses and education. But the effects of unemployment are not merely financial; they are also social and psychological. As one out-of-work teacher puts it: "It's difficult when you strip away all the things that supposedly hold you together in terms of an identity. Your work, your money, whatever is power to you, whatever is responsibility, whatever means freedom and choice." I had to ask myself, "Who am I now? What will I do now?" All too often, long-term unemployment may thrust the individual into boredom, despair, ill-temper, and perhaps, conflict with other family members. Even those who keep their jobs are affected by rates of unemployment, for they begin to fear for own future. Lacking the confidence that workers have in times of full employment, they negotiate less aggressively for improvements in pay or working conditions, for they and the employers know that if they do not like the job as it is, others will gladly take it. Unemployment is always accompanied, in fact, by underemployment-the situation in which people are working either for extremely low wages or at jobs below their level of skill. The best title for the passage would be _ . A) The Financial Effect of Unemployment B) The Social Effect of Unemployment C) The Psychological Effect of Unemployment D) The Effects of Unemployment
D
(Question)
Friedrich Dobl, a Yugoslav working in Germany, was fed up with traffic jams. At long weekends and holiday times when he wanted to get him quickly he always found himself behind hundreds of other cars moving slowly along the notorious foreign workers' route through Germany and Austria. How easy it all was for police and emergency services. A siren, a flashing light? And like magic everyone was out the way. Going home from work one night he passed a garage. And there in front of him was the answer to his problems. An old ambulance was for sale. The red cross had been removed. But not the flashing light, and the siren. He tried the light. It flashed magnificently. He tried the siren. That too sounded impressive. He bought the ambulance and opened up for himself a dream world of motoring. It began early in the morning, all his luggage in the back of the ambulance and motorway in Germany looking reasonably clear. Soon, as always, a long line of traffic appeared ahead. He switched on the flashing light and set off the siren. Cars swiftly slowed and pulled off the fast lane. Other cars stopped and drivers waved him ahead to an open road all his own. In record time he crossed the border into Austria. The big bluff was working. Police even waved him through the confusion caused by an accident. But then the Yugoslav made his big mistake. Until then he had only stopped for petrol. Now he was driving past a real accident, lights flashing , to late realize that it was not another traffic jam as he assumed. They stopped him, and after hearing the story of his ride across two countries fined him 12. 5 pounds. The red cross had been removed _ . A) but he soon put up a new one B) because the vehicle did not look like an ambulance any more C) so he asked the garage to paint another one on D) but the siren and the flashing light still worked
(Answer)
D
Ques: What's life like on a deserted island? Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona decided to find out. The adventurous senator took a vacation from Capitol Hill and went on a fourday Robinson Crusoe style holiday with his two teenage sons to a remote, deserted island in the North Pacific Ocean. The senator and his sons, 15yearold Tanner and 13yearold Dallin, traveled 5,200 miles from Phoenix, Arizona to the island of Biggarenn. They didn't carry any food or water. The island is part of the Marshall Islands. It offered no basic supplies, so the Flakes had to catch and cook their own food and purify their water. Their diet was made up of coconuts, crabs and fish. They caught the crab and fish themselves and cooked the food over an open fire started with a magnifying glass . The Flakes brought along a lobster trap in the hope of having some delicious treats, but lost it within the first few hours after it was attacked by a shark. They also carried two pumps to remove salt from ocean water. It took them hours each night to pump for just a few gallons of fresh water. One of the most memorable moments of the trip, the father said, was when he and his 15yearold son were almost caught by sharks after spearing a fish in the ocean. Still, it was quite an enjoyable holiday for them. "For a dad it was a wonderful thing. No video games around, no television, no disturbance, no texting," Flake recalled. What can we learn from the text? A) The Flakes could easily find a fire on the island. B) The Flakes caught lobsters for food on the island. C) The Flakes found basic things that they needed on the island. D) The Flakes took much trouble to get drinkable water on the island.
Ans: D
Ques: Today almost everyone knows computers and the Internet. If I ask you "What is the most important in your life ?" maybe you will say "Computers and the Internet." The first computer was made in 1946. It was very big but it worked slowly . Today computers are getting smaller and smaller. But they work faster and faster. What can computers do? A writer has said, "people can't live without computers today." The Internet came a little later than computers. It is about twenty-five years later than computers. But now it can be found almost everywhere. We can use it to read books, write letters, do shopping, play games or make friends. Many students like the Internet very much. They often go into the Internet as soon as they are free. They make friends on the Internet and maybe they have never seen these friends. They don't know their real names, ages, and even sex . They are so interested in making the "unreal friends" that they can't put their hearts into study. Many of them can't catch up with others on many subjects because of that. We can use computers and the Internet to learn more about the world. But at the same time, we should remember that not all the things can be done by computers and the Internet. When the computer was invented, it was _ . A) large and worked quickly1 B) small and worked C) large but worked slowly. D) small but worked quickly .
Ans:
C