备战2009年12月英语六级考前每日一练(19)英语六级考试

文章作者 100test 发表时间 2009:11:28 18:02:38
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网

jiefu">　　Opinion polls are now beginning to show a reluctant consensus that, whoever is to blame and whatever happens from now on, high unemployment is probably here to stay. This means we shall have to find ways of sharing the available employment more widely.
　　But we need to go further. We must ask some fundamental questions about the future of work. Should we continue to treat employment as the norm? Should we not rather encourage many other ways for self-respecting people to work? Should we not create conditions in which many of us can work for ourselves, rather than for an employer? Should we not aim to revive the household and neighborhood, as well as the factory and the office, as centres of production and work?
　　The industrial age has been the only period of human history in which most peoples work has taken the form of jobs. The industrial age may now be coming to an end, and some of the changes in work patterns which it brought may have to be reversed. This seems a daunting thought. But, in fact, it could offer the prospect of a better future for work. Universal employment, as its history shows, has not meant economic freedom.
　　Employment became widespread when the enclosures of the 17th and 18th centuries made many people dependent on paid work by depriving them of the use of the land, and thus of the means to provide a living for themselves. Then the factory system destroyed the cottage industries and removed work from peoples homes. Later, as transport improved, first by rail then by road,people commuted longer distances to their places of employment, until, eventually, many peoples work lost all connection with their home lives and the places in which they lived.
　　Meanwhile, employment put women at a disadvantage as men and women had shared the productive work of the household and village community in pre-industrial times, while now it becomes customary for the husband to go out to paid employment, leaving the unpaid work of the home and family to his wife. Also as employment became the dominant form of work, young people and old people were excluded a problem now, as more teenagers become frustrated 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 effort and resources away from the Utopian goal of creating jobs for all, to the urgent practical task of helping many people to manage without full-time jobs.
　　52. Research carried out in recent opinion polls shows that
　　[A] the present high unemployment figures are a fact of life
　　[B] new jobs .must be created in order to rectify high unemployment figures
　　[C]available employment must be most widely distributed among the unemployment
　　[D] available employment should be restricted to a small percentage of the population
　　53. The passage suggests that we should now reexamine our thinking about the future of work and .
　　[A] create more factories in order to increase our productivity
　　[B] be prepared to admit that being employed is not the only kind of work
　　[C] set up smaller private enterprises so that we in turn can employ others
　　[D] be prepared to fill in time at home taking up hobbies and leisure activities
　　54. The enclosures of the 17th and 18th centuries meant that people were
　　[A] no longer legally entitled to their own land
　　[B] badly paid for the work they managed to find
　　[C] not adequately compensated for the loss of their land
　　[D] forced to look elsewhere for means for Supporting themselves
　　55. According to the passage, as employment became a dominant form of work,
　　[A] women were left to work at homes
　　[B] old people tend to live a more active life
　　[C] women enjoy more working opportunities
　　[D] men and women begin to share the household work
　　56. The passage concludes that
　　[A] the creation of jobs for all is an impossibility
　　[B] we should help those whose jobs are only part-time
　　[C] people should start to support themselves by learning a practical skill
　　[D] our efforts and resources in terms of tackling unemployment are insufficient
　　【结构剖析】议论文。本文讨论的是失业和就业问题。民意测验显示，当今社会存在高失业率的问题，且全民实现就业永远都是乌托邦式的幻想，所以必须让公众认识到被雇佣并不是唯一的工作方式，我们也应该更关注如何帮助人们去应对没有全职工作的困境。
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