Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension

PartA

　　Directions:

　　Read the followingfour texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Markyour answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

　　Text 1

　　In order to"change lives for the better" and reduce "dependency"George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced the "upfront worksearch" scheme. Only if the jobless arrive at the jobcentre with a CV,register for online job search, and start looking for work will they beeligible for benefit and then they should report weekly rather thanfortnightly. What could be more reasonable?

　　More apparentreasonableness followed. There will now be a seven-day wait for the jobseeker’sallowance. "Those first few days should be spent looking for work, notlooking to sign on." he claimed. "We’re doing these things because weknow they help people stay off benefits and help those on benefits get intowork faster." Help? Really? On first hearing, this was the sociallyconcerned chancellor, trying to change lives for the better, complete with"reforms" to an obviously indulgent system that demands too littleeffort from the newly unemployed to find work, and subsidises laziness. Whatmotivated him, we were to understand, was his zeal for "fundamentalfairness"— protecting the taxpayer, controlling spending and ensuring thatonly the most deserving claimants received their benefits.

　　Losing a job ishurting: you don’t skip down to the jobcentre with a song in your heart,delighted at the prospect of doubling your income from the generous state. Itis financially terrifying, psychologically embarrassing and you know thatsupport is minimal and extraordinarily hard to get. You are now not wanted; yousupport is minimal and extraordinarily hard to get. You are now not wanted; youare now excluded from the work environment that offers purpose and structure inyour life. Worse, the crucial income to feed yourself and your family and paythe bills has disappeared. Ask anyone newly unemployed what they want and theanswer is always: a job.

　　But in Osborneland,your first instinct is to fall into dependency — permanent dependency if youcan get it — supported by a state only too ready to indulge your falsehood. Itis as though 20 years of ever-tougher reforms of the job search and benefitadministration system never happened. The principle of British welfare is nolonger that you can insure yourself against the risk of unemployment andreceive unconditional payments if the disaster happens. Even the very phrase"jobseeker’s allowance" — invented in 1996 — is about redefining theunemployed as a "jobseeker" who had no mandatory right to a benefithe or she has earned through making national insurance contributions. Instead,the claimant receives a time-limited "allowance," conditional onactively seeking a job; no entitlement and no insurance, at £71.70 a week, oneof the least generous in the EU.