Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
A new study suggests that contrary to most surveys, people are actually more stressed at home than at work. Researchers measured people’s cortisol, which is a stress marker, while they were at work and while they were at home and found it higher at what is supposed to be a place of refuge.
“Further contradicting conventional wisdom, we found that women as well as men have lower levels of stress at work than at home,” writes one of the researchers, Sarah Damaske. In fact women even say they feel better at work, she notes. “It is men, not women, who report being happier at home than at work.” Another surprise is that the findings hold true for both those with children and without, but more so for nonparents. This is why people who work outside the home have better health.
What the study doesn’t measure is whether people are still doing work when they’re at home, whether it is household work or work brought home from the office. For many men, the end of the workday is a time to kick back. For women who stay home, they never get to leave the office. And for women who work outside the home, they often are playing catch-up-with-household tasks. With the blurring of roles, and the fact that the home front lags well behind the workplace in making adjustments for working women, it’s not surprising that women are more stressed at home.
But it’s not just a gender thing. At work, people pretty much know what they’re supposed to be doing: working, making money, doing the tasks they have to do in order to draw an income. The bargain is very pure: Employee puts in hours of physical or mental labor and employee draws out life-sustaining moola.
On the home front, however, people have no such clarity. Rare is the household in which the division of labor is so clinically and methodically laid out. There are a lot of tasks to be done, there are inadequate rewards for most of them. Your home colleagues—your family—have no clear rewards for their labor; they need to be talked into it, or if they’re teenagers, threatened with complete removal of all electronic devices. Plus, they’re your family. You cannot fire your family. You never really get to go home from home.
So it’s not surprising that people are more stressed at home. Not only are the tasks apparently infinite, the co-workers are much harder to motivate.
1、21. According to Paragraph 1, most previous surveys found that home _____.
A was an unrealistic place for relaxation
B generated more stress than the workplace
C was an ideal place for stress measurement
D offered greater relaxation than the workplace
答案解析：
答案精析：根据题干可直接定位至原文第一段。第一段第一句指出，一项新的研究表明，与大多数调查相反，人们在家里比在工作中更有压力。要注意题干问的是大多数以前的研究发现，而定位句说的是新研究的结果，而以前的研究结果和新研究结果应该是相反的，因此以前的研究结果是人们在工作场所比在家中更有压力，也就是人们在家中会更放松，故D项表述与原文表述相符，正确答案为D。
错项排除：根据上述分析可知，过去的研究都发现人们在家中的压力要比在工作中的压力小，A、B两项与之前的研究结果都相反，故A、B项表述错误。首段第二句提到Researchers measured people’s cortisol, which is a stress marker（研究人员测量了人们在工作和在家时的皮质醇水平，皮质醇是一种压力标记），此处说的测量是研究的方法，并非研究的结果，且ideal place毫无根据。故C项内容错误。
2、22. According to Damaske, who are likely to be the happiest at home?
A Working mothers.
B Childless husbands.
C Childless wives.
D Working fathers.
答案解析：
答案精析：根据题干中的Damaske和happiest at home可定位至原文第二段。首先根据第二段第三句可知，男性在家中比在工作中更快乐，由此可以先锁定B、D两项。第四句接着说到，无论是有孩子的人还是没有孩子的人，研究结果都适用，但对没有孩子的人来说更加适用，也就是没有孩子的人在家中更快乐。结合这两点可知，没有孩子的丈夫在家中是最快乐的人。故正确答案为B。
错项排除：由之前的分析可知，男性在家中更快乐，而非女性，故可排除A、C两项。原文并没有提到男性是否有工作的相关信息，而且也说到没有孩子的人比有孩子的人在家中更快乐，故D项错误。
3、23. The blurring of working women’s roles refers to the fact that _____.
A they are both bread winners and housewives
B their home is also a place for kicking back
C there is often much housework left behind
D it is difficult for them to leave their office
答案解析：
答案精析：根据blurring和working women可定位至原文第三段最后一句。由第三段最后两句可知，对于那些在外面工作的女性来说，她们经常回到家还要做家务。随着角色的模糊，以及家庭在为职业女性做调整方面远远落后于工作场所，女性在家压力更大也就不足为奇了。由此可知，职业女性不仅要在外工作，回到家中还要做家务。故正确答案为A。
错项排除：原文中第三段第二句出现了kick back（休息），但该句说的是对于男性来说，家是一个休息的地方，而非职业女性，故A项错误。根据原文可知，职业女性确实有很多家务活要做，但这只是她们角色模糊的一个方面而已，因为她们既要在外工作，又要在家做家务才导致了角色模糊，仅一方面并不能体现出角色的模糊，C项内容以偏概全，故排除。原文第三句出现了never get to leave the office，但该句针对的是women who stay home（家庭主妇），此处的office指的是家庭，和working women（职业女性）不相关，故D项错误。
长难句分析：With the blurring of roles, and the fact that the home front lags well behind the workplace in making adjustments for working women, it’s not surprising that women are more stressed at home.
本句的主干为…it’s not surprising…，为主系表结构，it为形式主语，真正的主语是后面that引导的主语从句。句首的With引导伴随状语，其中包含了两个并列成分，一个是the blurring…，另一个是the fact…，后面的that引导同位语从句，用于解释the fact。同位语从句中的in making adjustments…用于解释在哪方面是落后的。
句意为：随着角色的模糊，以及家庭在为职业女性做调整方面远远落后于工作场所，女性在家压力更大也就不足为奇了。
4、24. The word “moola” (Line 4, Para. 4) most probably means _____.
A energy
B skills
C earnings
D nutrition
答案解析：
答案精析：根据题干可直接定位至第四段最后一句，但要推断moola的意思需要结合前文语义。第四段第二句说到，在工作中，人们很清楚他们应该做什么：工作、赚钱、做那些为了赚取收入而必须做的工作。第四段最后一句说到，员工投入了数小时的体力劳动或脑力劳动，从而赚取可以维持生计的moola。由此可推断，moola指的就是前文说到的income（收入）。故正确答案为C。
错项排除：A项energy和B项skills分别对应第四段最后一句中的physical or mental labor，和原文语义重复，而且这些是换取moola所需的东西，并非要换取的对象，故A、B两项错误。原文并没有提到任何与nutrition（营养）相关的信息，并且赚取营养也不可能是付出脑力或体力劳动的目的，故排除D项。
5、25. The home front differs from the workplace in that _____.
A home is hardly a cozier working environment
B division of labor at home is seldom clear-cut
C household tasks are generally more motivating
D family labor is often adequately rewarded
答案解析：
答案精析：根据home front和the workplace可定位至原文第五段。第五段第一句的however表示转折，说明home front和前一段描述的工作场所的情况是相反的。前两句指出，然而，在家里，人们却没有这样清晰的分工（没有像工作那样清晰的分工）。很少有家庭的劳动分工能如此客观而有条不紊。由此可知，家里的劳动分工很少明确，故正确答案为B。
错项排除：原文并没有针对working environment（工作环境）相关的内容进行讨论，A项无中生有，故排除。原文第五段第三句指出，家里有很多的家务要做，而且其中大部分都没有足够的奖励，所以家庭劳动并不能带来丰厚的报酬，也谈不上可以激励人了，故C、D两项表述错误。
长难句分析：Rare is the household in which the division of labor is so clinically and methodically laid out.
本句为倒装句，句子主干是Rare is the household…，倒装的主系表结构。后面in which引导定语从句，修饰household，从句的主干为被动语态。句子的正常语序是The household in which…is rare.
句意为：家庭的劳动分工很少如此客观和有条不紊。
Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
For years, studies have found that first-generation college students—those who do not have a parent with a college degree—lag other students on a range of education achievement factors. Their grades are lower and their dropout rates are higher. But since such students are most likely to advance economically if they succeed in higher education, colleges and universities have pushed for decades to recruit more of them. This has created “a paradox” in that recruiting first-generation students, but then watching many of them fail, means that higher education has “continued to reproduce and widen, rather than close” an achievement gap based on social class, according to the depressing beginning of a paper forthcoming in the journal Psychological Science.
But the article is actually quite optimistic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem, suggesting that an approach (which involves a one-hour, next-to-no-cost program) can close 63 percent of the achievement gap (measured by such factors as grades) between first-generation and other students.
The authors of the paper are from different universities, and their findings are based on a study involving 147 students (who completed the project) at an unnamed private university. First generation was defined as not having a parent with a four-year college degree. Most of the first-generation students (59.1 percent) were recipients of Pell Grants, a federal grant for undergraduates with financial need, while this was true only for 8.6 percent of the students with at least one parent with a four-year degree.
Their thesis—that a relatively modest intervention could have a big impact—was based on the view that first-generation students may be most lacking not in potential but in practical knowledge about how to deal with the issues that face most college students. They cite past research by several authors to show that this is the gap that must be narrowed to close the achievement gap.
Many first-generation students “struggle to navigate the middle-class culture of higher education, learn the ‘rules of the game,’ and take advantage of college resources,” they write. And this becomes more of a problem when colleges don’t talk about the class advantages and disadvantages of different groups of students. “Because US colleges and universities seldom acknowledge how social class can affect students’ educational experience, many first-generation students lack insight about why they are struggling and do not understand how students ‘like them’ can improve.”
6、26. Recruiting more first-generation students has _____.
A reduced their dropout rates
B narrowed the achievement gap
C missed its original purpose
D depressed college students
答案解析：
答案精析：根据题干中的Recruiting more first-generation students可定位至原文首段第三句，对应原文recruit more of them，其中them指的就是前文的first-generation students。第三句指出了招收大学生的目的所在，大学和学院几十年来一直在努力招募更多的第一代大学生，是因为如果这些学生完成高等教育，他们最有可能在经济上取得成就。随后第四句提到，这造成了“一种悖论”，即招收第一代大学生，但随后看到其中许多学生失败，意味着高等教育“继续复制和扩大，而不是缩小”这种基于社会阶层的成就差距。也就是说他们招收大学生并没有达到想帮助他们提高经济成就的目的，反而不断地在复制和夸大他们的失败。由此可知，招收第一代大学生没有达到最初的目的，故正确答案为C。
错项排除：本题需要仔细分析首段第三、四句才可得出答案，略有难度，考生也可通过排除法快速选出答案。原文首段第二句提到，第一代大学生的成绩更低，辍学率更高，而A项内容与原文意思相悖，故排除。原文首段第四句出现了reproduce and widen…achievement gap（复制和扩大成绩差距），可知成绩差距并没有缩小，B项内容与原文意思相悖，故排除。首段最后出现了depressing一词作为D项的干扰词，但要注意原文中的depressing指的是论文开头陈述的事情令人沮丧，并非是令大学生沮丧，故D项错误。
长难句分析：This has created “a paradox” in that recruiting first-generation students, but then watching many of them fail, means that higher education has “continued to reproduce and widen, rather than close” an achievement gap based on social class, according to the depressing beginning of a paper forthcoming in the journal Psychological Science.
本句主干为This has created “a paradox”…，主谓宾结构。This指代前一句提到的招收更多的第一代大学生。主句后面in that引导原因状语从句，recruiting…but then watching…作状语从句的主语，means是谓语，后面的that引导宾语从句。句末的according to作状语，用于解释前面论点的来源，其中forthcoming作后置定语，修饰a paper，意为“即将出版的文章”。
句意为：根据一篇即将发表在《心理科学》杂志上的论文所述，该文章开篇的描述令人沮丧，这造成了“一种悖论”，即招收第一代学生，但随后看到其中许多学生失败，这意味着高等教育“继续复制和扩大，而不是缩小”这种基于社会阶层的成就差距。
7、27. The authors of the research article are optimistic because_____.
A the problem is solvable
B their approach is costless
C the recruiting rate has increased
D their findings appeal to students
答案解析：
答案精析：根据题干中的optimistic可定位至原文第二段。该段开头提及，这篇文章实际上是相当乐观的，因为它概述了这个问题潜在的解决方案，as在原文中相当于题目中的because。由此可知，乐观的原因是这个问题是可以被解决的，故正确答案为A。
错项排除：原文中出现了next-to-no-cost program表示“几乎没有成本的项目”，作为B项的干扰，但几乎没有成本只是说成本花费很少，并非完全没有成本，而且这也只是对该解决办法的具体描述，并不是乐观的原因，故B项错误。原文第二段并没有针对招生率和是否对学生有吸引力进行阐述，C、D两项属于无中生有，故排除。
长难句分析：But the article is actually quite optimistic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem, suggesting that an approach (which involves a one-hour, next-to-no-cost program) can close 63 percent of the achievement gap (measured by such factors as grades) between first-generation and other students.
本句主干为But the article is actually quite optimistic…，主系表结构。主句后面的as引导原因状语从句，用于解释主句观点的原因， suggesting作伴随状语，修饰it outlines a potential solution to this problem，其中that引导宾语从句，作suggesting的宾语。第一个括号中的内容为which引导的定语从句，修饰前面的approach，用于对该方法进行补充说明。第二个括号中的内容为过去分词短语作后置定语，修饰前面的achievement gap，用于说明成绩差距的衡量方式。
句意为：但这篇文章实际上是相当乐观的，因为它概述了这个问题的一个潜在的解决方案。它提出了一种方法（包括一个需要一小时、几乎没有成本的项目）可以消除第一代和其他学生之间63%的成绩差距（通过成绩等因素来衡量）。
8、28. The study suggests that most first-generation students_____.
A study at private universities
B are from single-parent families
C are in need of financial support
D have failed their college
答案解析：
答案精析：根据题干中的most first-generation students以及顺序原则，可定位至原文第三段。该段第三句出现了Most of the first-generation students，与题目中的关键词对应。根据文章可知，大多数第一代大学生（59.1%）是佩尔助学金的获得者，这是一种针对有经济需要的本科生的联邦补助金。因此，大多数的第一代大学生都需要经济上的支持，故正确答案为C。
错项排除：第三段首句提到该研究是针对147名来自私立大学的学生进行的调查，但并不能说明大多数的第一代大学生都在私立大学学习，A项曲解文意，故排除。第三段第二句出现了not having a parent作为B项的干扰词，但要仔细分析整个句子的意思，该句指出第一代大学生被定义为其父母没有四年制大学学位，并非是来自单亲家庭，故B项错误。前文虽然提到第一代大学生的辍学率高，但这并不能体现大多数学生都不能完成学业，故D项错误。
长难句分析：Most of the first-generation students (59.1 percent) were recipients of Pell Grants, a federal grant for undergraduates with financial need, while this was true only for 8.6 percent of the students with at least one parent with a four-year degree.
本句为while连接的并列句，前面一个分句的主干为Most of the first-generation students…were recipients of Pell Grants…，主系表结构。两个逗号之间的内容是Pell Grants的同位语，用于对Pell Grants进行解释说明。后面的分句主干为this was true，是主系表结构。for…为介词结构引出true的对象，with at least…degree作后置定语，修饰students。
句意为：大多数第一代大学生（59.1%）是佩尔助学金的获得者，这是一种针对有经济需要的本科生的联邦补助金，而对于父母中至少有一人拥有四年制大学学位的学生，这一比例只有8.6%。
9、29. The authors of the paper believe that first-generation students _____.
A are actually indifferent to the achievement gap
B can have a potential influence on other students
C may lack opportunities to apply for research projects
D are inexperienced in handling their issues at college
答案解析：
答案精析：根据题干中的authors of the paper believe和first-generation students可定位至原文第四段，对应第四段首句出现的the view that first-generation students。该句指出，他们的理论基于这样一种观点：第一代大学生可能最缺乏的不是潜力，而是如何应对大多数大学生面临的问题的实用知识。也就是说，这些学生在大学里处理问题缺乏经验。D项中的inexperienced对应原文lacking…in practical knowledge，故正确答案为D。
错项排除：原文中虽然有提到achievement gap，但并没有说到过学生对成绩差距的态度是怎样的，A项内容无中生有，故排除。第四段首句虽然出现了potential一词，但该句说的是大学生的潜力，并非对其他学生的潜在影响，B项内容与原文意思不符，故排除。全文并未提及有关申请研究项目的信息，C项内容无中生有，故排除。
长难句分析：Their thesis—that a relatively modest intervention could have a big impact—was based on the view that first-generation students may be most lacking not in potential but in practical knowledge about how to deal with the issues that face most college students.
本句主干为Their thesis…was based on the view…，主谓宾结构。两个破折号之间的内容是由that引导的同位语从句，用于对主语thesis进行解释说明。主句宾语the view后面的that引导同位语从句，用于对view进行解释说明。该从句的谓语部分由not…but…连接，意为“不是……而是……”。句末issues后面的that引导定语从句，修饰issues。
句意为：他们的理论认为相对温和、简单的干预可能会产生巨大影响。这一观点基于这样一种认识：第一代学生可能最缺乏的不是潜力，而是如何应对大多数大学生面临的问题的实用知识。
10、30. We may infer from the last paragraph that _____.
A universities often reject the culture of the middle-class
B students are usually to blame for their lack of resources
C social class greatly helps enrich educational experiences
D colleges are partly responsible for the problem in question
答案解析：
答案精析：根据题干可直接定位至最后一段。最后一段前两句指出，许多第一代大学生“努力适应高等教育的中产阶级文化，学习‘游戏规则’，并利用大学资源”。当大学不考虑不同学生群体的阶级优劣势时，这个问题就变得更加严重。随后第三句用Because开头，解释了问题会变严重的原因，因为美国的学院和大学很少承认社会阶层会如何影响学生的教育经历。也就是说，由于大学忽视了社会阶层对第一代大学生造成的影响，使得该问题更加严重，所以大学对此问题负有部分责任。故正确答案为D。
错项排除：最后一段首句提到，许多第一代大学生努力适应高等教育的中产阶级文化，但并没有明确指出大学对此的态度，A项内容与原文不符，故排除。该句提及take advantage of college resources，但此处说的是学生利用大学资源去适应高等教育的中产阶级文化，并没有提到他们因缺乏资源而受到责备，故B项错误。第三句指出社会阶层会影响学生的教育经历，但并未说明这种影响是好的还是坏的，C项内容过度推断，故排除。
Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
Even in traditional offices, “the lingua franca of corporate America has gotten much more emotional and much more right-brained than it was 20 years ago,” said Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn. She started spinning off examples. “If you and I parachuted back to Fortune 500 companies in 1990, we would see much less frequent use of terms like journey, mission, passion. There were goals, there were strategies, there were objectives, but we didn’t talk about energy; we didn’t talk about passion.”
Koehn pointed out that this new era of corporate vocabulary is very “team”-oriented—and not by coincidence. “Let’s not forget sports—in male-dominated corporate America, it’s still a big deal. It’s not explicitly conscious; it’s the idea that I’m a coach, and you’re my team, and we’re in this together. There are lots and lots of CEOs in very different companies, but most think of themselves as coaches and this is their team and they want to win.”
These terms are also intended to infuse work with meaning—and, as Rakesh Khurana, another professor, points out, increase allegiance to the firm. “You have the importation of terminology that historically used to be associated with non-profit organizations and religious organizations: terms like vision, values, passion, and purpose,” said Khurana.
This new focus on personal fulfillment can help keep employees motivated amid increasingly loud debates over work-life balance. The “mommy wars” of the 1990s are still going on today, prompting arguments about why women still can’t have it all and books like Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, whose title has become a buzzword in its own right. Terms like unplug, offline, life-hack, bandwidth, and capacity are all about setting boundaries between the office and the home. But if your work is your “passion,” you’ll be more likely to devote yourself to it, even if that means going home for dinner and then working long after the kids are in bed.
But this seems to be the irony of office speak: Everyone makes fun of it, but managers love it, companies depend on it, and regular people willingly absorb it. As a linguist once said, “You can get people to think it’s nonsense at the same time that you buy into it.” In a workplace that’s fundamentally indifferent to your life and its meaning, office speak can help you figure out how you relate to your work—and how your work defines who you are.
11、31. According to Nancy Koehn, office language has become _____.
A more emotional
B more objective
C less energetic
D less strategic
答案解析：
答案精析：根据Nancy Koehn和office language可定位至原文首段第一句，原文中the lingua franca of corporate对应题目中的office language。该句提到，南希·科恩指出与20年前相比，美国企业界的通用语言变得更加情绪化，也更加右脑化。more emotional为原词复现，故正确答案为A。
错项排除：首段最后一句话中出现了strategies, objectives和energy作为其他三项的干扰词，但这些词只是用于列举并对比不同年代企业用词的不同，并非在描述现在办公室语言的特点，故B、C、D三项错误。
12、32. “Team”-oriented corporate vocabulary is closely related to _____.
A historical incidents
B gender difference
C sports culture
D athletic executive
答案解析：
答案精析：根据“Team”-oriented corporate vocabulary可定位至原文第二段首句。该句指出，新时代的企业词汇是以“团队”为导向的，而且这并非偶然。之后用体育运动的例子来说明教练和团队堪比如今企业中的老板和员工，认为公司就像是一支体育团队。所以“团队”导向的企业词汇与运动文化相关，故正确答案为C。
错项排除：A项中的incidents是对原文by coincidence作干扰，但要注意A项的historical incidents是指“历史事件”，而by coincidence表示“偶然”，二者意思有很大不同，故A项错误。原文中的male-dominated是在说美国企业以男性为主导，但并没有提到有关女性的信息，也并没有说到性别差异的问题，故B项错误。原文中出现的体育人员的职位是为了和如今企业中老板及员工的角色进行类比，它们和企业词汇并没有什么关联，故D项错误。
13、33. Khurana believes that the importation of terminology aims to _____.
A revive historical terms
B promote company image
C foster corporate cooperation
D strengthen employee loyalty
答案解析：
答案精析：根据Khurana和importation of terminology可定位至原文第三段。该段第一句直接表明，库拉纳认为这些术语给工作赋予了意义，并且增加员工对公司的忠诚度。allegiance意为“忠诚，拥护”，对应D项中的loyalty，increase对应D项中的strengthen，故正确答案为D。
错项排除：第三段第二句说到这些企业术语曾经被非盈利组织和宗教组织使用过，但这并不能代表是为了复兴历史术语，A项内容过度推断，故排除。原文没有提到任何有关company image和corporate cooperation的信息，B、C两项内容无中生有，故排除。
14、34. It can be inferred that Lean In _____.
A voices for working women
B appeals to passionate workaholics
C triggers debates among mommies
D praises motivated employees
答案解析：
答案精析：根据Lean In可定位至原文第四段第二句。该句提到，上世纪九十年代的“妈妈大战”仍在继续，引发了人们对女性为何不能兼顾工作和生活的争论，以及《向前一步》这类书籍的兴起。该句中的have it all指的是前一句中的work-life balance，也就是说Lean In一书的内容和职业女性为什么不能做到平衡工作和生活相关，所以这本书是在为职业女性代言，故正确答案为A。
错项排除：第四段最后一句出现了passion，作为B项内容的干扰词，但此处的passion和Lean In这本书的内容并没有关系，此处在说如果你对你的工作很有激情，你就更有可能全身心地投入到工作中去，故B项错误。该段第二句mommy wars是对C项内容的干扰，但是此处的“妈妈大战”是促使Lean In等书的出版，并非是这本书引发了“妈妈大战”，C项颠倒了因果关系，故C项错误。第四段首句keep employees motivated是对D项内容的干扰，该句在说这些关注个人成就的企业词语会激励员工，并非指表扬有积极性的员工，而且D项内容和Lean In一书没有关联，故排除D项。
长难句分析：The “mommy wars” of the 1990s are still going on today, prompting arguments about why women still can’t have it all and books like Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, whose title has become a buzzword in its own right.
本句主干为The “mommy wars” of the 1990s are still going on…，主谓结构，today作时间状语。后面prompting至句末为现在分词作结果状语，该状语中arguments和books为prompting的并列宾语。句末的whose引导定语从句，修饰Lean In，用于对此书做进一步的解释说明。
句意为：上世纪九十年代的“妈妈大战”仍在继续，引发了人们对女性为何不能兼得两者的争论，同时也推动了谢丽尔•桑德伯格的《向前一步》等书的兴起，该书的书名本身已经成为了一个流行语。
15、35. Which of the following statements is true about office speak?
A Managers admire it but avoid it.
B Linguists believe it to be nonsense.
C Companies find it to be fundamental.
D Regular people mock it but accept it.
答案解析：
答案精析：根据office speak可定位至原文最后一段第一句。该句指出，但这似乎是对办公室语言的讽刺：每个人都取笑它，但经理们喜欢它，公司依赖它，普通人愿意接受它。每个人都取笑它，普通人愿意接受它，D项中的mock对应原文的makes fun of，accept对应原文中的absorb，由此可推断，正确答案为D。
错项排除：该段首句提到了managers love it，但是并没有说到会回避它，故A项错误。最后一段第二句出现了nonsense，作为B项的干扰词，原文的意思是一位语言学家说道：“你可以让人们认为它是胡说八道”，但这并不代表语言学家认为这是胡说八道，B项内容与原文意思不符，故排除。该段第一句提到companies depend on it作为C项的干扰，表示公司依赖使用办公室语言，但并不能说明这就是公司最根本的东西，C项内容过度推断，故排除。
Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
Many people talked of the 288,000 new jobs the Labor Department reported for June, along with the drop in the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent, as good news. And they were right. For now it appears the economy is creating jobs at a decent pace. We still have a long way to go to get back to full employment, but at least we are now finally moving forward at a faster pace.
However, there is another important part of the jobs picture that was largely overlooked. There was a big jump in the number of people who report voluntarily working part-time. This figure is now 830,000 (4.4 percent) above its year ago level.
Before explaining the connection to the Obamacare, it is worth making an important distinction. Many people who work part-time jobs actually want full-time jobs. They take part-time work because this is all they can get. An increase in involuntary part-time work is evidence of weakness in the labor market and it means that many people will be having a very hard time making ends meet.
There was an increase in involuntary part-time in June, but the general direction has been down. Involuntary part-time employment is still far higher than before the recession, but it is down by 640,000 (7.9 percent) from its year ago level.
We know the difference between voluntary and involuntary part-time employment because people tell us. The survey used by the Labor Department asks people if they worked less than 35 hours in the reference week. If the answer is “yes”, they are classified as working part-time. The survey then asks whether they worked less than 35 hours in that week because they wanted to work less than full time or because they had no choice. They are only classified as voluntary part-time workers if they tell the survey taker they chose to work less than 35 hours a week.
The issue of voluntary part-time relates to Obamacare because one of the main purposes was to allow people to get insurance outside of employment. For many people, especially those with serious health conditions or family members with serious health conditions, before Obamacare the only way to get insurance was through a job that provided health insurance.
However, Obamacare has allowed more than 12 million people to either get insurance through Medicaid or the exchanges. These are people who may previously have felt the need to get a full-time job that provided insurance in order to cover themselves and their families. With Obamacare there is no longer a link between employment and insurance.
16、36. Which part of the jobs picture was neglected?
A The prospect of a thriving job market.
B The increase of voluntary part-time jobs.
C The possibility of full employment.
D The acceleration of job creation.
答案解析：
答案精析：根据题干中的part of the jobs picture和neglected可定位至原文第二段第一句，该句中的overlooked意为“忽视，忽略”，对应题目中的neglected。下文对忽略的部分进行解释：自愿从事兼职工作的人数大幅增加。故正确答案为B。
错项排除：文章第一段引出了主题，即美国就业问题好转，A项内容是对第一段的概括，并非是就业状况忽视的部分，故排除A项。第一段最后一句提到，要恢复充分就业，我们还有很长的路要走，说明充分就业的可能性并没有被忽略，故排除C项。首段第三句指出，目前看来，美国经济正在以相当快的速度创造就业机会，说明加速创造就业机会也是目前正在进行的，并没有被忽略，故排除D项。
17、37. Many people work part-time because they _____.
A prefer part-time jobs to full-time jobs
B feel that is enough to make ends meet
C cannot get their hands on full-time jobs
D haven’t seen the weakness of the market
答案解析：
答案精析：根据题目中Many people work part-time可定位至原文第三段第二句。该句表示，许多做兼职工作的人实际上想要全职工作。之后说到，他们做兼职工作是因为他们只能找到兼职工作。故正确答案为C。
错项排除：该段第二句明确指出许多做兼职工作的人实际上想要全职工作，只是找不到才只能去做兼职工作，并非他们更喜欢兼职工作，故A项表述错误。该段最后一句说到，many people will be having a very hard time making ends meet（许多人将很难维持生计），可见兼职工作并不足以让他们维持收支平衡，故排除B项。第三段最后一句中的weakness in the labor market，作D项内容的干扰词，但该句说的是非自愿兼职工作的增加是劳动力市场疲软的证据，并不是说人们没有看到市场的疲软，D项曲解文意，故排除。
18、38. Involuntary part-time employment in the US _____.
A is harder to acquire than one year ago
B shows a general tendency of decline
C satisfies the real need of the jobless
D is lower than before the recession
答案解析：
答案精析：根据题目中的Involuntary part-time employment可定位至原文第四段第一句。该句明确指出，六月份非自愿兼职人数有所增加，但总体趋势有所下降，也就是非自愿的兼职工作总体呈现出下降趋势，故正确答案为B。
错项排除：原文只提到了非自愿兼职工作的人数对比，并没有对工作难找与否以及是否满足了失业者的需要进行阐述，A、C两项属于无中生有，故排除。第四段第二句明确说到，非自愿兼职就业人数仍远高于衰退前，所以D项内容和原文意思相悖，故排除。
19、39. It can be learned that with Obamacare, _____.
A it is no longer easy for part-timers to get insurance
B employment is no longer a precondition to get insurance
C it is still challenging to get insurance for family members
D full-time employment is still essential for insurance
答案解析：
答案精析：根据题目中的Obamacare可定位至原文最后两段，这两段都是在针对奥巴马医改的相关内容进行描述。倒数第二段首句指出，奥巴马医改的主要目的之一是允许人们在没有工作的情况下获得保险，该段最后一句说到，在奥巴马医改之前，获得保险的唯一途径是提供健康保险的工作。文章最后一句表示，有了奥巴马医改，就业和保险不再有联系。由此可推断，就业不再是获得保险的先决条件，故正确答案为B。
错项排除：倒数第二段第一句提到，奥巴马医改的主要目的之一是允许人们在没有工作的情况下获得保险，也就是要让人们更容易获得保险，而且后文也说到之前获得保险的唯一途径是要通过一份工作得到，可见之前获得保险并非很容易，A项内容与原文意思相悖，故排除。C项内容为家庭成员投保仍然很困难说的是在奥巴马医改之前的事情，奥巴马医改后解决了这一困难，C项内容与原文意思不符，故排除。文章最后一句提到，有了奥巴马医改，就业和保险不再有联系，这说明全职工作已经不能成为获得保险的必要条件了，故D项内容错误。
长难句分析：For many people, especially those with serious health conditions or family members with serious health conditions, before Obamacare the only way to get insurance was through a job that provided health insurance.
本句主干为…the only way to get insurance was through a job…，主系表结构。句子开头的For many people作状语，表示主句的对象。两个逗号之间的内容为插入语，用于对people进行解释说明。before Obamacare为时间状语，主句后面的that引导定语从句，修饰job，用于解释job的作用。
句意为：对许多人来说，特别是那些有严重健康问题的人或家庭成员有严重健康问题的人，在奥巴马医改之前，获得保险的唯一途径是提供健康保险的工作。
20、40. The text mainly discusses _____.
A employment in the US
B part-timer classification
C insurance through Medicaid
D Obamacare’s trouble
答案解析：
答案精析：主旨题，需要理解全文进行分析。文章首先介绍了美国就业问题好转的情况，随后又指出就业问题好转的原因是由于兼职人员的增加，这点也是人们所忽略的。之后对兼职人员进行了自愿和非自愿的区分，并且分析了为什么兼职人员会增加。最后指出自愿兼职率高和奥巴马医改有关系。由此可知，全文都在针对美国的就业情况进行分析，故正确答案为A。
错项排除：B、C两项内容都是文章在分析美国就业情况时作出的分析，只是文章的一部分，不能作为文章的主题，故排除B、C两项。原文中并没有提到有关奥巴马医改遇到的麻烦，D项内容无中生有，故排除。
喵呜刷题：让学习像火箭一样快速，快来微信扫码，体验免费刷题服务，开启你的学习加速器！
