2015考研英语阅读理解模拟试题（十五）

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　　十五、节省时间

　　The phenomenon of stress has been widely discussed and referred to as one of the central problems of our age. Globalisation and the improved technology it brings only seems to make this problem worse, creating more options while at the same time making our lives more complex. Closely bound up with stress is the problem of “time famine”. In Britain, for example, the combination of the longest working hours in Europe and the highest proportion of working women in Europe means people have less and less time to themselves. Add to this the rise in the number of single-person households and the work ethic promoted by successive governments since the early eighties and it becomes easy to see why time is now at a premium for so many of us.

　　One response to this has come from the USA, so often the forerunner in what is fashionable, in the form of lifestyle management. This involves hiring a company to repair the house, do the shopping and a host of other time consuming tasks. Some analysts insist that the management of people’s time could be big business in the next 10 years. In the USA lifestyle management companies have been around for a while but now it seems that the British are keen to use them too.

　　What most potential customers want is quality time. This means taking away the day to day hassles connected with running our lives. Whereas in the past there always seemed to be time for arranging private lives and keeping up with everyday demands of house, health, children or holidays, nowadays the work obsessed population, tied to the office, do not appear to be able to cope with such inconveniences. In other words, people require a separate Personal Assistant for their lifestyle!

　　The jury is out, however, as to whether this new service is beneficial or not. Being constantly pressed for time is undoubtedly stressful and what could be better than relieving such pressures by off-loading some of our more mundane tasks on a willing helper? Perhaps this can also be a way to ensure that you get quality service. It is often said that a large part of Britain’s service sector aims purely and simply at short term profit in return for bad quality goods and poor service. If you put experts in charge of finding a good plumber at a reasonable rate you can at least be assured that your leaking pipes will be fixed properly.

　　This raises an important question, however. Is it really good for us to create more time to spend at work when we are already exhausted from working long hours? It may be far more important to take control of our private lives ourselves and in so doing relieve stress by giving ourselves a proper escape from the cares of the work-place. After all, if you do not have time to look after your own home and to organise your own life, then, just maybe, you have got your priorities wrong. There may be one reason why, in the end, the lifestyle management business will not take off in the UK and that is the inherently conservative nature of the British. To really embrace this new concept we might all need to rethink our lives!

　　1. The writer suggests that stress _____ .

　　[A] is the most important problem of modern life [B] is caused by technology and globalisation

　　[C] can be made worse because of too many choices [D] can be less if we had more time to spend at work

　　2. “time is at a premium”(Para.1, Line 8)probably means that _____.

　　[A] the longer we work, the less important time is [B] time has become harder and harder to find

　　[C] people have more free time in America than in Britain [D] saving time is a fashionable lifestyle trend

　　3. According to the text, most potential customers _____.

　　[A] do not have a personal assistant in their offices [B] are too lazy to organise their private lives

　　[C] have problems coping with the demands of daily living [D] enjoy the way of spending more time at work.

　　4. What is true of lifestyle management companies according to the author?

　　[A] They will definitely become important even it takes time to accept them.

　　[B] They are not interested in long-term relationships with customers.

　　[C] They benefit the customers by giving a cheap way of saving time.

　　[D] They have expertise in getting the right people to do jobs for their clients.

　　5. The author probably believes that the British _____.

　　[A] will accept the need for lifestyle management companies [B] have to give careful thought to their way of life

　　[C] should turn to experts when dealing with specific problems [D] should be well trained with a good work ethic

　　答案：1.C 2.B 3.C 4.D 5.B

　　核心词汇与超纲词汇

　　(1)globalisation(n.)全球化;globalize(v.);global(a.)球形的;全球的，全世界的

　　(2)bind up包扎，装订;束缚

　　(3)famine(n.)饥荒;严重的缺乏;famish(v.)饥饿，挨饿

　　(4)household(n.)家庭;一家人;(a.)与家庭有关的，用于家中的;家喻户晓的

　　(5)at a premium(股票)高于票面价值(或发行价格);非常珍贵;甚受欢迎

　　(6)host(n.)(常与of连用)一大群，许多，如A whole host of difficulties has / have arisen.出现了一大堆的困难;(v.)作为主人招待;主办

　　(7)have been around见过世面;经验丰富

　　(8)hassle(n.)激烈的争论，激战;麻烦，打扰

　　(9)the jury is out on sth.(某事)仍未定夺，悬而未决

　　(10)off-load卸载;off-前缀常常构成名词、形容词、动词或副词，意为“不在……上;离开;去掉”;如offstage不在舞台上，off-duty不值班的

　　(11)mundane(a.)世俗的;寻常的，普通的~ affairs俗事

　　(12)in return(for sth.)作为(对……)的回报，如Can I buy you lunch ~ for your help(感谢你帮忙，我请你吃午饭好吗);作为回应，如I asked her opinion, but she just asked me a question ~(我征求她的意见，她却只是反问我一句)

　　全文翻译

　　压力的现象已经得到广泛地讨论，并被认为是我们这个时代最中心的问题之一。它带来的全球化和技术的改善似乎只是让这个问题更严重：在创造更多机会的同时使我们的生活更复杂。被压力紧紧束缚是“时间荒”的问题。比如，英国是欧洲工作时间最长和工作女性比例最大的国家，这意味着人们拥有越来越少的属于自己的时间。此外，再加上单身住户人数的上升和自80年代早期开始连续几届政府提倡的工作道德，因此很容易明白为什么时间变得如此珍贵。

　　总是作为时尚先驱的美国对此的一个反应是开始指导人们的生活方式。它包括雇佣一家公司来修房子、购物和完成其他一大堆耗费时间的工作。一些分析家坚持认为在未来十年内对时间的管理会是大生意。在美国，生活方式的指导公司已经是经验丰富，但现在看来英国人似乎也渴望使用它们。

　　这些潜在的顾客需要的是“优质时间”。它意味着带走一天天过日子中产生的麻烦。虽然过去人们似乎总是有时间安排私人生活，满足每日里房子、健康、孩子或假期的需求。但现在受到工作困扰的人群，被办公室所约束，似乎不能应付这些不便。换句话说，人们要求一种对他们生活方式的单独的个人帮助。

　　然而，这种新的服务是不是有用则仍未定夺。不断地迫切需求时间无疑会产生压力，因此通过自愿的帮手来分担我们更普通的事务自然是再好不过了。或许这也是一种保证你得到优质服务的方式。人们常说英国大部分服务部门商品和服务质量差是因为只看重短期收益。如果你让专家按照合理的价格负责找到优秀的水管工人，至少能确保你漏水的管子将会被修好。

　　然而，这里提出了一个重要的问题。当我们因为长时间的工作已经筋疲力尽，再为我们创造更多的时间来工作是否正确?也许更重要的是控制我们自己的私人生活，通过让自己适当逃离对工作的忧虑而减少压力。毕竟，如果你没有时间照顾自己的家和组织自己的生活，那么也许你优先考虑的事情错了。最后，指导生活方式的企业在英国不会发展的原因是英国人天生的保守性格。要接受这个新的概念，我们也许都需要重新考虑自己的生活。

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