Text 3
That everyone’s too busy these days is a cliché. But one specific complaint is made especially mournfully： There’s never any time to read.
What makes the problem thornier is that the usual time-management techniques don’t seem sufficient. The web’s full of articles offering tips on making time to read: “Give up TV” or “Carry a book with you at all times” But in my experience, using such methods to free up the odd 30 minutes doesn’t work. Sit down to read and the flywheel of work-related thoughts keeps spinning-or else you’re so exhausted that a challenging book’s the last thing you need. The modern mind, Tim Parks, a novelist and critic, writes, “is overwhelmingly inclined toward communication…It is not simply that one is interrupted; it is that one is actually inclined to interruption”. Deep reading requires not just time, but a special kind of time which can’t be obtained merely by becoming more efficient.
In fact, “becoming more efficient” is part of the problem. Thinking of time as a resource to be maximised means you approach it instrumentally, judging any given moment as well spent only in so far as it advances progress toward some goal immersive reading, by contrast, depends on being willing to risk inefficiency, goallessness, even time-wasting. Try to slot it as a to-do list item and you’ll manage only goal-focused reading-useful, sometimes, but not the most fulfilling kind. “The future comes at us like empty bottles along an unstoppable and nearly infinite conveyor belt,” writes Gary Eberle in his book Sacred Time, and “we feel a pressure to fill these different-sized bottles (days, hours, minutes)as they pass, for if they get by without being filled, we will have wasted them”. No mind-set could be worse for losing yourself in a book.
So what does work? Perhaps surprisingly, scheduling regular times for reading. You’d think this might fuel the efficiency mind-set, but in fact, Eberle notes, such ritualistic behaviour helps us “step outside time’s flow” into “soul time”. You could limit distractions by reading only physical books, or on single-purpose e-readers. “Carry a book with you at all times” can actually work, too-providing you dip in often enough, so that reading becomes the default state from which you temporarily surface to take care of business, before dropping back down. On a really good day, it no longer feels as if you’re “making time to read,” but just reading, and making time for everything else.
31. The usual time-management techniques don’t work because?????
[A] what they can offer does not ease the modern mind
[B] what challenging books demand is repetitive reading
[C] what people often forget is carrying a book with them
[D] what deep reading requires cannot be guaranteed
32. The “empty bottles” metaphor illustrates that people feel a pressure to?????
[A] update their to-do lists
[B] make passing time fulfilling
[C] carry their plans through
[D] pursue carefree reading
33. Eberle would agree that scheduling regular times for reading helps?????
[A] encourage the efficiency mind-set
[B] develop online reading habits
[C] promote ritualistic reading
[D] achieve immersive reading
34. “Carry a book with you at all times” can work if?????
[A] reading becomes your primary business of the day
[B] all the daily business has been promptly dealt with
[C] you are able to drop back to business after reading
[D] time can be evenly split for reading and business
35. The best title for this text could be?????
[A] How to Enjoy Easy Reading
[B] How to Find Time to Read
[C] How to Set Reading Goals
[D] How to Read Extensively
31 答案 D what deep reading requires cannot be guaranteed.
解析：因果细节题。题干指出：传统的时间管理方法不起作用的原因是什么。根据题干定位到第二段首句指出the usual time-management techniques don’t seem sufficient，是题干的同义替换，但要找原因。整段都在分析过程环节，最终原因必然在该段末句提到。直接定位到该段末句，指出深入阅读不仅需要时间，而且是一种仅仅通过有效无法获得的一种时间。结合选项D，深入阅读所需的无法得到确保，是原文末句的同义替换。
32 答案 B make passing time fulfilling
解析：题干问的是“empty bottles”暗喻证明了人们在做什么方面有压力，empty bottles直接可以在文中Gary Eberle所说的话中找到：“The future comes at us like empty bottles…”。其所说的话证明的目的必然是为了说明前一句的观点。因此，该题定位到三段“try to slot…but not the most fulfilling kind”，该句就指出：只会处理目标集中的阅读，这是有用的，但不是最有满足感的。结合选项B使流逝的时间更有满足感，是原文的同义替换。
33 答案 D achieve immersive reading
解析：文中人物观点题，注意区分文中人物观点和作者观点。题干问的是Eberle赞同为阅读设定规定性时间帮助什么。根据题干精确定位到第四段第二句：“You’d think this might fuel the efficiency mind-set, but in fact, E…..into soul time”，意思是你会认为这可以提升效率性思维设定，但实际上这些行为帮助我们跨入到灵魂阅读时间。对应选项D，获得深入阅读，属于同义替换。
34 答案 A reading becomes your primary business of the day
解析：细节题。题干指出：总是带一本书会起作用如果怎么样。根据题干定位到末段中间部分“carry a book with you at all times can actually work, too … so that reading becomes the default state from which you temporarily surface to take care of business.”，意思是这样的话阅读就成为默认状态，偶尔会出来管理工作（注意business并非默认状态，非主要事情)。对应选项A 阅读成为每天的主要任务，是该句的同义替换。
35 答案 B How to Find Time to Read
解析：标题题，即全文中心主旨。通过题干，可发现题干关键词中time复现多次，因此可确定time为全文的主题词。整篇文章都围绕阅读时间来展开，因此正确答案为A如何寻找阅读时间。
Text 4
Against a backdrop of drastic changes in economy and population structure, younger Americans are drawing a new 21st-century road map to success, a latest poll has found.
Across generational lines, Americans continue to prize many of the same traditional milestones of a successful life, including getting married, having children, owning a home, and retiring in their sixties. But while young and old mostly agree on what constitutes the finish line of a fulfilling life, they offer strikingly different paths for reaching it.
Young people who are still getting started in life were more likely than older adults to prioritize personal fulfillment in their work, to believe they will advance their careers most by regularly changing jobs, to favor communities with more public services and a faster pace of life, to agree that couples should be financially secure before getting married or having children, and to maintain that children are best served by two parents working outside the home, the survey found.
From career to community and family, these contrasts suggest that in the aftermath of the searing Great Recession, those just starting out in life are defining priorities and expectations that will increasingly spread through virtually all aspects of American life, from consumer preferences to housing patterns to politics.
Young and old converge on one key point: Overwhelming majorities of both groups said they believe it is harder for young people today to get started in life than it was for earlier generations. While younger people are somewhat more optimistic than their elders about the prospects for those starting out today, big majorities in both groups believe those “just getting started in life” face a tougher a good-paying job, starting a family, managing debt, and finding affordable housing.
Pete Schneider considers the climb tougher today. Schneider, a 27-yaear-old auto technician from the Chicago suburbs says he struggled to find a job after graduating from college. Even now that he is working steadily, he said.” I can’t afford to pay ma monthly mortgage payments on my own, so I have to rent rooms out to people to mark that happen.” Looking back, he is struck that his parents could provide a comfortable life for their?children even though neither had completed college when he was young. “I still grew up in an upper middle-class home with parents who didn’t have college degrees,” Schneider said. “I don’t think people are capable of that anymore.”
36. One cross-generation mark of a successful life is_____.????
[A] trying out different lifestyles
[B] having a family with children
[C] working beyond retirement age
[D] setting up a profitable business
37. It can be learned from Paragraph 3 that young people tend to?____.???
[A] favor a slower life pace
[B] hold an occupation longer
[C] attach importance to pre-marital finance
[D] give priority to childcare outside the home
38. The priorities and expectations defined by the young will?____.???
[A] become increasingly clear
[B] focus on materialistic issues
[C] depend largely on political preferences
[D] reach almost all aspects of American life
39. Both young and old agree that?____.
[A] good-paying jobs are less available
[B] the old made more life achievements
[C] housing loans today are easy to obtain
[D] getting established is harder for the young
40. Which of the following is true about Schneider？
[A] He found a dream job after graduating from college.
[B] His parents believe working steadily is a must for success.
[C] His parents’ good life has little to do with a college degree.
[D] He thinks his job as a technician quite challenging.
36 答案 B having a family with children
解析：此题是细节题。根据关键词定位到第二段第一句Across generational lines,…including getting married, having children…即成功的标志包括结婚生子，故而正确选项是B having a family with children.
37 答案 C attach importance to pre-marital finance
解析：此题是细节题。根据关键词定位到第三段第一句Young people…to agree that couples should be financially secure before getting married or having children…即年轻人认为夫妻在结婚前或者生小孩前应该在经济上是稳定的，故而C attach importance to pre-marital finance为正确答案。
38 答案 D reach almost all aspect=respect 方面s of American life
解析：此题是细节题。根据关键词定位到第四段第一句…those just starting…will increasingly spread through virtually all aspects …即这些期待即将渗透到美国生活的各个方面，故而D reach almost all aspects of American life为正确答案医学全.在.线.提供. www.lindalemus.com。
39 答案 D getting established is harder for the young
解析：此题是文中人物观点题。根据关键词定位到第五段第一句…it is harder for young people today to get started in life than it was for earlier generations. 即与年长者相比，现如今的年轻人维持生计更加困难，故而D getting established is harder for the young为正确答案。
40 答案 C His parents’ good life has little to do with a college degree.
解析：此题是正误判断题。根据关键词定位到第六段第五句Looking back…his parents could provide a comfortable life for the children even though neither had completed college when he was young.即父母即便没有上过大学但仍旧可以为孩子提供舒适的生活，故而His parents’ good life has little to do with a college degree.为正确答案。
