The industrial age has been the only period of human history in which most people’s work has taken the form of jobs. The industrial age may now be coming to an end, and some of changes in work patterns which it brought may have to be reversed. This seems a discouraging thought. But, in fact, it could offer the prospect of a better future for work. Universal employment, as its history show, hasn’t meant economic freedom.

Employment became widespread when the enclosures（圈地运动）of the 17th and 18th centuries made many people dependent on paid work by taking them away from the use of the land, and thus from the means to provide a living for themselves. Then the factory system destroyed the cottage industries and removed work from people’s homes. Later, as transport improved, first by rail and then by road, people traveled longer distances to their place of employment until, eventually, many people’s work lost all connection with their home lives and the places in which they lived.

Meanwhile, employment put women at a disadvantage. In pre-industrial times, men and women had shared the productive work of the household and village community. Now it became customary for the husband to go out to paid employment, leaving the unpaid work of the home and family to his wife. Tax and benefit regulations still assume this norm（准则）today, and restrict more flexible sharing of work roles between sexes.

It was not only women whose work status suffered. As employment became the dominant form of work, young people and old people were kept out — a problem now, as more teenagers disappointed and annoyed at school and more retired people want to live active lives.

All this may now have to change. The time has certainly come to switch some efforts and resources away from the utopian（乌托邦）goal of creating jobs for all, to the urgent practical task of helping many people to manage without full-time jobs.

1. From the passage we can learn that ____.

2.Before the enclosures of the 17^th and 18^th, people lived mainly on ____.

3.Before the industrial age women played ____.

4. From the passage we can infer that ____.

阅读下面的短文，并根据要求回答问题。

Even if you really enjoy your job, it’s still possible to battle boredom as you work. You may not be able to make big changes—or change your job—but you can make small adjustments to your routine that can make every day seem, well, a little less routine.

1. Switch Your Seat 

Change your outlook at the office by changing your office. Ask your supervisor to help you find a new desk. Even switching desks with a neighboring coworker can offer a fresh atmosphere.

    If it's not possible to change your location, see if you can change your desk’s direction. A new view can be just as refreshing as a new location.

2. ______________

Start and end your day in a different way. Consider a new mode of transportation, if it’s possible. Take a subway. Ride a bike on sunny days. Carpool with a coworker. Use a new route to get to your job. You needn't change it for ever—just long enough to help you escape the boredom.

3. Find a New Work Style

    Sick of attending that long-standing Monday morning meeting? Try to change it to the afternoon.

    If you find yourself feeling most bored in the afternoons, try to arrange to do your favorite tasks then and tackle less desirable projects in the mornings.

If you usually communicate with coworkers via email and instant messaging, start dealing with people face to face. Increased communication with coworkers may help improve your mood.

4. Get and Set a Goal

    If your work is short of objectives, it's no wonder that work has become boring. Identify a goal and set an “achieve by” date for it.

Your goal needn’t be noble as long as you have enough enthusiasm for it. Perhaps you want to make a new project. Maybe you’d like to pursue a promotion. Or you may even set a goal of finding a new job altogether. Whatever it is, actively move toward an objective.

1.What is the purpose of the passage? (within 15 words)

____________________________________________________________________________

2.Which sentence in the text is the closest in meaning to the following one?

 You will feel bored when you are not working toward something.

____________________________________________________________________________

3.Fill in the blank in Paragraph 5 with proper words. (within 8 words)

4.List three methods of escaping from boredom in your daily. (within 5 words for each)

①                                 ②________________________________

③_______________________________

5.Translate the underlined sentence in the last paragraph into Chinese.

______________________________________________________________________________

BEIJING, China (CNN)-- China's economic growth dropped to 9 percent for 2008, according to numbers released by the government Thursday--in line with expectations, but still the slowest rate the nation has seen in seven years.

Economists are concerned about what the slowdown means for investment in the future, whether new projects will be undertaken in manufacturing companies and in factories. If not, it will translate into more job losses and erase any optimism about a rebound (反弹) in 2009.

Since 2001, China has been used to double-digit growth as consumers buy Chinese goods. However, the export sector was hit hard in late 2008, with December exports down 2.8 percent.

Consumer spending has mostly held up in China, as people there do not carry as much debt as their American counterparts and can continue to spend.

Consumer confidence, however, is a problem, said Dong Tao, Asia chief economist for Credit Suisse. Infrastructure (基础设施的建设) is the only thing driving the Chinese economy, Dong said.

Tens of thousands of Chinese factories have closed, millions of people are looking for jobs and an untold number of migrants who can't find work may be leaving cities for good because of the slowdown, which would have been unheard of six months ago.

Fourth quarter numbers showed growth at 6.8 percent. Goldman Sachs predicted 6.5 percent, down from 9 percent in the third quarter.

For all of 2008, Goldman Sachs had predicted 8.8 percent, down from 11.9 percent in 2007.

1. Since 2001, the slowest rate in annual economic growth China has seen is ___.

    A. 6.8%    B. 8.8%    C. 9%    D. 11.9%

2. According to Dong Tao, the only thing driving the Chinese economy is ____.

    A. export    B. infrastructure    C. consumer confidence   D. consumer spending

3. Which of the following is NOT the difficulty China is facing?

    A. Tens of thousands of factories have closed.

    B. Millions of people are looking for jobs.

    C. An uncertain number of migrant workers may be leaving cities forever.

    D. The terrible situation will erase any optimism about a rebound in 2009.

4. In which quarter of 2008 did the slowdown of China's economic growth first appear?

    A. 1st.    B. 2nd.    C. 3rd.    D. 4th.

5. The best title of this passage should be _____.

    A. China's Economic Growth Slows.

    B. Economic Crisis in China.

    C. Economists Analyze China's Economy.

    D. Several Factors Determine China's Economy

根据短文内容，从短文后的七个选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Are you a team person? Are you at your best as part of a small, tightly united group of dedicated workers? If so, the future may hold more for you than you think.

   1.    That’s happening in those areas of business and data processing where one person and a computer can replace a team of workers.

2.  High technology has led to a new type of teamwork in a number of fields, including advertising, scientific research, engineering design, architecture and ocean exploration.

Through computer networking, scientists, engineers, and technicians at different locations — often thousands of miles apart --- can work on the same project at once.    3.    

Examples? An engineering team can now design and try out a robot system --- a new manufacturing process, or an entire factory — before it is built. An architectural team can do the same with a building or a bridge. A medical team can simulate a dangerous operation before performing it on a patient.

Of course, computer-assisted team effort doesn’t end with investigation and simulation.  4.  “CAD-CAM --- computer-aided design and manufacture --- is breaking down barriers between traditional design and manufacturing functions.” explains Dr. Prakash Rao, an engineering manager at General Electric. “Interdisciplinary(跨学科的) teams and engineers follow a product from concept to production. Everything is interconnected like a network.”

5.   A team that produces robots may use them to explore space and ocean depths. For high-technology teamwork, the future seems limitless.

A. They can exchange ideas, try out different designs, and test their results.

B. It now usually continues into actual design, manufacturing, and testing.

C. In the future, team work will be highlighted by the introduction of new technology.

D. Sometimes, a computer-aided effort can extend beyond production.

E. But, elsewhere, teamwork is very much alive.

F. It ends in the products which are extensions of the traditional design.

G. High technology, some predicted, would make team work a thing of the past.

阅读理解

　　Some people have very good memories, and can easily learn quite long poems by heart. There are other people who can only remember things when they have said them over and over.

　　Charles Dickens, the famous English author, said that he could walk down any long street in London and then tell you the name of every shop he had passed. Many great men of the world have had wonderful memories.

　　A good memory is a great help in learning a language. Everybody learns his own language by remembering what he hears when he is a small child. Some children--like boys and girls who live abroad with their parents seem to learn two languages almost as easily as one. In school it is not easy to learn a second language because the pupils have so little time for it, and they are busy with other subjects as well.

　　The human mind is rather like a camera, but it takes photographs not only of what we see but of what we feel, hear, smell and taste. When we take a real photograph with a camera, there is much to do before the photograph is finished and ready to show to our friends. In the same way there is much work to be done before we can make a picture remain forever in the mind.

1．How do most people remember things according to the text?

[　　]

A．Most people remember things as soon as they come across them.

B．Most people remember things through repeating them over and over.

C．Most people remember things by accident.

D．Most people remember things with others reminding.

2．A person, like Charles Dickens, _____.

[　　]

A．likes remembering the names of the shops

B．can write novels by memory

C．can learn languages very quickly

D．can learn things easily by heart

3．What should we do with the photographs we have taken in order to show them to our friends?

A．We should remember what we have taken.

B．The film has to be developed first.

C．Make a picture remain forever in our minds.

D．Take a real photograph with our friends.

4．Good memory is important _____.

[　　]

A．only in learning a foreign language

B．because it is very helpful in learning languages

C．if we should memorize a long poem

D．to do any job

5．According to the text which of the following statements is right?

[　　]

A．Only great men have good memory.

B．Memory is important only in learning foreign languages.

C．Memory is like a camera in some ways.

D．Memory is a camera.