Section II Reading Comprehension

 Part A

Directions:

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

Text 1

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 Damske. 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 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 a 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, marking 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.

21.According to Paragraph 1,most previous surveys found that home_____

[A] offered greater relaxation than the workplace

[B] was an ideal place for stress measurement

[C] generated more stress than the workplace

[D] was an unrealistic place for relaxation

【答案】[A] offered greater relaxation than the workplace

【解析】事实细节题。该题干问：之前的研究认为家是……。根据题干，该题答案定位在首段首句。首句大致意思为“一项新的研究表明，与绝大部分研究相反，实际上，人们在家里的压力要大于工作。”由此可知，以往的研究正好跟最新研究相反，即人们在家里的压力小于工作。纵观各选项，选项A意为：与工作场所相比，能提供更多的休闲；与文章表述一致，为正确答案。

22. According to Damaske, who are likely to be the happiest at home?

[A] Childless wives

[B] Working mothers

[C] Childless husbands

[D] Working fathers

【答案】[C ] childless husbands

【解析】事实细节题。文章第二段第三句和第四句提到“It is men not women, who report being happier at home than at work…, but more so for nonparents.”即“研究发现是男人，而不是女人，在家比在工作中更高兴。更令人吃惊的是，研究发现，这种情况对于有孩子和没有孩子都是这样，尤其是对于没有孩子的。”所以综合对比后，选择C。

23.The blurring of working women's roles refers to the fact that_____

[A] it is difficult for them to leave their office

[B] their home is also a place for kicking back

[C] there is often much housework left behind

[D] they are both bread winners and housewives

【答案】[D] they are both bread winners and housewives

【解析】推理判断题。文章第三段中提到“For many men, the end of the workday is …, with the blurring of role……”. 意思是“对于男人来说，一天的工作结束后，是他们休息的时候，但是对于女人来说，离开办公室之后，还有很多的家务活”。由此可以推出，“The blurring of working women’s roles” 指的是“既要在职场打拼也要做很多家务的女性”。所以综合判定后确定D为正确答案。

24.The word“moola”(Line4,Para4)most probably means_____

[A] skills

[B] energy

[C] earnings

[D] nutrition

【答案】[C] earnings

【解析】词义句意题。文章第四段第一句提出“在工作中，大家都知道挣钱，他们做工作就是为了家庭收入”。紧接着第二句给出“这些雇员付出体力和脑力的劳动，就是为了得到能够维持他们生活的必须收入”。结合上下文，moola应该对应原文中的“income”,表示他们挣得的收入。故C正确。

25.The home front differs from the workplace in that_____

[A] division of labor at home is seldom clear-cut

[B] home is hardly a cozier working environment

[C] household tasks are generally more motivating

[D] family labor is often adequately rewarded

【答案】[A] division of labor at home is seldom clear-cut

【解析】事实细节题。根据题干关键词“The home front”可以回文定位在原文最后一段。最后一段第一句指出“然而，人们对于大后方（家庭）就没有那么清楚了”，接下来的一句进一步指出“Rare is the household in which the division of labor is so clinically…”（家务活的分工很少清清楚楚），A项中的“seldom”同意置换原文中的“Rare”, “clear-cut”同意置换原文的“clinically”，故A项正确。

Text 2

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” ab 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 wit 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 collages don’t talk about the class advantage 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 sight about why they are struggling and do not understand how students’ like them can improve.

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】[D] missed its original purpose

【解析】根据题干关键词recruiting more first-generation students回文定位到第一段的第四句，然后一一比对选项，“rather than close an achievement gap based on social class”排除选项B，选项A和C是无关选项，由第四句话中This has created “a paradox” in that recruiting first-generation students…与选项D “missed its original purpose”是同义替换，paradox的意思是“自相矛盾，似是而非的观点”，所以正确答案为D。

27. The author 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 finding appeal to students

【答案】[C] the problem is solvable

【解析】根据题干信息“research article are optimistic because……”可以回文定位到文章第二段第一句“But the article is actually quite optimistic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem”。As引导的原因状语从句是题干答案，跟C选“the problem is solvable”重合，因此选C。

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 collage

【答案】[C] are in need of financial support

【解析】根据题干信息most first-generation students...定位第三段最后一句中，“most of first-generation students were recipients of Pell Grants（佩尔奖学金），a federal grant for undergraduates with financial need",可知答案为C，其中in need of和with...need对应，financial support 和financial相对应。

29. The author 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】[D] are inexperienced in handling their issues at college

【解析】根据题干关键词the author of the paper回文定位到文章第四段第一句“their thesis ...that face most college students”。这句话中明确说到第一代学生缺乏处理一些问题的实际经验，与选项D语义相符，其中are inexperienced与原文的lacking in practical knowledge对应，handling their issues与how to deal with the issues对应，at college与that face most college students对应。

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】[B] colleges are partly responsible for the problem in question

【解析】根据题干关键词infer from the last paragraph回文定位到文章最后一段，这是一个段落推理题，可以通过寻找段落中心的方式来解。最后一段第一句和第二句是并列关系，均提出第一代学生中存在的与社会阶层有关的问题。第三句以一个because所引导的原因状语从句点明中心，明确该问题的来源是美国高校未承认社会阶层对学生教育经历的影响，因此总结出来可知，选项B正确，说明出现了相应问题，高校应该担负一部分责任。

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