Being the boss might mean more money and challenging work but it can also cause damage to physical and mental well-being, according to a Canadian study.
For years studies have shown people in lower-status jobs generally have higher rates of heart disease and other illnesses and die earlier than those in higher-status positions while job authority(当权者) has shown no relationship with workers’ health. But University of Toronto researchers, using data from 1,800 US workers, found the health of people in higher positions is affected by work as they are more likely to report conflicts with co-workers and say work disturbs their home life. However, the positive aspects of having a power position at work, such as higher status, more pay and greater independence, seemed to cancel out (抵消) the negative aspects when it came to people’s physical and psychological health.
These latest findings, reported in the journal Social Science & Medicine, suggest that the advantages and disadvantages of authority positions basically cancel each other out, giving the general impression that job authority has no health effects. For the study, the researchers surveyed participants about various aspects of their work, life and well-being. Job authority was judged based on whether a person managed other employees and had power over hiring, firing and pay.
Physical health complaints included problems like headaches, body aches, heartburn and tiredness. Psychological complaints included sleep problems, difficulty concentrating and feelings of sadness, worry and anxiety.
“This isn’t to suggest that having authority is ‘bad’ — in fact, we show it has benefits ... but it is important to identify the negative sides and deal with them.” researcher Scott Schieman said. Schieman said conflicts with co-workers or involvement of work into home life may destroy physical and mental well-being by creating stress. “These are key stressors that can tax individuals’ ability to function effectively,” Schieman said. Work will have a negative effect on job authority’s health probably because ________.
| A．they are not fit for their work |
| B．they have power over hiring and pay |
| C．they are faced with severe competition |
| D．they don’t get on well with their co-workers |
Most people don’t see that bosses have health effects because ________.
| A．their health problems are not serious enough to see |
| B．they have enough money to keep themselves healthy |
| C．their problems are quite different from those of workers |
| D．the advantages and disadvantages of their status work against each other |
From the passage we can infer that the study aims to ________.
| A．warn people not to be a boss for ever |
| B．remind the boss to deal with the bad effects of their work |
| C．show that having authority is harmful to one’s health |
| D．prove that being a boss can benefit a lot |
The best title for this passage might be ________.
| A．Lower-status can affect health |
| B．Authority can affect health in a way |
| C．Positive aspects of a power position |
| D．Disadvantages of being a boss |
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每小题2分，计分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项中（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
America is growing older. Fifty-eight years ago, only 4 out of every 100 people in the United States were 65 years old or older. Today, 10 out of every 100 Americans are over 65 years old. The aging （老龄化） of the population will affect American society in many ways—education, medicine, and business. Quietly, the graying of America has given us a very different society— one in which people have different ideas of what kind of behavior is suitable at various ages.
A person’s age no longer tells you anything about his / her social position, marriage or health. There’s no longer a particular year in which one goes to school or goes to work or gets married or starts a family. The social clock that keeps us on time and tells us when to go to school, get a job, or stop working isn’t as strong as it used to be. It doesn’t surprise us to hear of a 29-year-old university president or a 35-year-old grandmother, or a 70-year-old man who has become a father for the first time. Public ideas are changing.
Many people say, “I am much younger than my mother or my father when she or he was at my age.” No one says “Act your age” any more. We’ve stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways.
56. It can be learnt from the text that the aging of the population in America has _______.
A. made people feel younger B. changed people’s social position
C. changed people’s understanding of age
D. slowed down the country’s development
57. The underlined word “one” refers to ________.
A. a very different society B. America C. a place D. population
58. “Act your age” means people should ________.
A. be active when they are old B. do the right things at the right age
C. show respect for their parents
D. take more physical exercise suitable to their age
59. If a 25-year-old man becomes the manager of a big firm, the writer of the text would most probably consider it ________.
A. normal B. wonderful C. unbelievable D. strange
America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!
66. The writer of this passage must be ______.
A. an American B. a Chinese C. a professor D. a student
67. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families.
B. Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives.
C. Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.
D. Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break.
68. From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be ______.
A. warmly welcomed at the airport B. offered a ride to his home
C. treated hospitably at his homeD. treated to dinner in a restaurant
69. The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean ______.
A. strict with time B. serious with time
C. careful with time D. willing to spend time
70. A suitable title for this passage would probably be “______”.
A. Friendships between Chinese B. Friendships between Americans
C. Americans’ hospitalityD. Americans’ and Chinese’s views of friendships
You Mi, a lovely and confident 17-year-old student, is the first Chinese high school student to appear on the cover of the popular young adults’ fashion magazine Seventeen.
“You is IN,” said Wang Lihua, Editor-in-Chief of Seventeen. “She is active and mature(成熟的) because of her knowledge on everything from academic studies, to books on art, to movies. We found she’s the very style we’re looking for to represent young people’s attitudes.”
You also impressed Wang with her fluent English when they first met last year. As the hostess of an English broadcasting programme at the High School Affiliated to Renmin University, You is always praised for speaking English almost like a native speaker. “I’ve built up my English by watching thousands of English DVDs since I was 10,” she explained.
But for You, watching isn’t enough. Last year, while in Senior 1, she met a talented boy who showed self-made DV movies at the English Corner in her school.
“I thought it was so cool and I knew that I should start making my own films,” she said. So she wrote a campus(校园) story, persuaded schoolmates to star in it and then began shooting a 30-minute DV movie, all in English. “I played one of the leading roles, actually I was everything in my film. I worked on it every single day during the SARS holidays,” she recalled. The movie finally became a big hit on campus, earning You a strong reputation(名气) as a DV movie director.
But this is not the only field she wants to master. Despite being a science student, You likes art, literature and fashion design very much.
“There are people who can be artists, there are people who edit books, and there are people who become film producers. But I just hope to mix all the things up!” she said. “There is an old saying I believe: Chance favours only the prepared mind.”
1. You Mi was chosen to be a cover of Seventeen, mainly because she _____.
A. is beautiful B. she is lovely and full of confidence
C. is active and mature D. has rich knowledge
2. You Mi’s fluent English is based on _____.
A. her chance to host an English broadcasting programme B. the influence of her parents
C. her deep interest in itD. her making DV movie
3. The author mentioned a talented boy to show _____.
A. the great influence he had on You Mi
B. he was admired by his schoolmates
C. the young can do things as well as the adults do
D. self-made DV movies are popular at school
4.In the 30-minute DV movie, You Mi didn’t act as a(n) _____.
A. director B. musician C. actress D. producer
5. We can learn from the passage that _____.
A. You Mi hopes to be a mixed talent
B. the success of a 30-minute DV movie shocked You Mi
C. You Mi dreams of becoming a scientist
D. the outbreak of SARS delayed You Mi’s studies
PART THREE READING COMPREHENSION ( 30 points)
Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.
When Christopher Columbus landed on the then unnamed Costa Rica in 1502, he saw many Indians wearing gold earrings. So he thought the land must be rich in gold. He named the place Costa Rica, which means “rich coast” in Spanish.
Though little gold was found, Costa Rica today is indeed rich with coffee and bananas. Coffee is the most important product in Costa Rica and most of it is exported (出口) to other countries like America and West Germany. Bananas are the country’s second most important export.
Costa Ricans also grow many other crops such as fruits, corn and beans for their own use. Costa Ricans love colors and their houses are painted in bright colors.
Education is very important to the Costa Ricans. Almost every village has a school and education is a must for children between seven and fourteen years of age. Boys and girls go to separate (单独的) schools. Classes begin in March and end in November. The other three months of the year are harvest time and the children have to help their parents to pick coffee beans.
56. What’s the main idea of the first paragraph?
A. How Columbus found Costa Rica. B. How Costa Rica got its name.
C. What the Costa Ricans wore.D. What language the Costa Ricans spoke.
57. The Costa Ricans may NOT paint their houses ______.
A. pink and redB. grey and black
C. blue and green D. yellow and orange
58. In Costa Rica, boys and girls between seven and fourteen ______.
A. must go to school B. study in the same school
C. do not have to go to school at allD. can choose to stop schooling at any time
59. From December to February, school children in Costa Rica ______.
A. have lessons every day B. have their examinations
C. help their parents pick coffee beansD. help their parents decorate their houses
60. This passage is mainly about ______.
A. Christopher ColumbusB. Costa Rica
C. some products from Costa Rica D. the education of Costa Rica
The gigantic dam of the multi-function water control facility would be finished nine months ahead of schedule, said an engineer who is in charge of the Three Gorges Project. He said by June, the workers would have built the half-done dam from the southern bank of the river to the height of 185 meters. The Three Gorges Project will be capable of controlling the floods on the Yangtze by then and generating more electricity. And the level of the water stored in the reservoir will rise from 135 meters at present to 156 meters.
Situated near the Xiling Gorge, the easternmost gorge of the Three Gorges on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the Three Gorges Dam is designed to have a length of 2,309 meters and a height of 185 meters.
It will also have the functions for flood control, power generation and navigation. It will be built from northern and southern banks of the Yangtze, which has been troubled by floods for hundreds of years.
Launched in 1993, the Three Gorges Project, including the 185-meter-high dam and 26 generators on both banks of the Yangtze, is being built in three phases. The preparations and construction of the first phase were carried out between 1993 and 1997. The Yangtze was dammed at the Three Gorges area for the first time on November 8, 1997.
The entire Three Gorges Project is expected to be completed in 2009 and by then, it will be able to generate 84.7 billion kwh of electricity every year.
63. The underlined word in the fourth paragraph might mean ____.
A. places B. periods C. gorges D. dams
64. According to the passage, we know _______.
the construction will be completed ahead of time
the biggest function of the dam is used to control flood
the Three Gorges Dam will be finished in ten years
the dam will be 156 meters tall when it is finished
65. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The Yangtze River was first dammed in the year 1993.
B. The water level in the reservoir will remain at 135 meters.
C. The Three Gorges Dam is on the easternmost part of the river.
D. The first phase of this project is finished in 1997.