As you are probably aware, the latest job markets news isn’t good: Unemployment is still more than 9 percent, and new job growth has fallen close to zero. That’s bad for the economy, of course. And it may be especially discouraging if you happen to be looking for a job or hoping to change careers right now. But it actually shouldn’t matter to you nearly as much as you think.

　　That’s because job growth numbers don’t matter to job hunters as much as job turnover data. After all, existing jobs open up every day due to promotions, resignations, terminations, and retirements. (Yes, people are retiring even in this economy.) In both good times and bad, turnover creates more openings than economic growth does. Even in June of 2007, when the economy was still humming along, job growth was only 132,000, while turnover was 4.7 million!

　　And as it turns out, even today — with job growth near zero — over 4 million job hunters are being hired every month.

　　I don’t mean to imply that overall job growth doesn’t have an impact on one’s ability to land a job. It’s true that if total employment were higher, it would mean more jobs for all of us to choose from (and compete for). And it’s true that there are currently more people applying for each available job opening, regardless of whether it’s a new one or not.

　　But what often distinguishes those who land jobs from those who don’t is their ability to stay motivated. They’re willing to do the hard work of identifying their valuable skills; be creative about where and how to look; learn how to present themselves to potential employers; and keep going, even after repeated rejections. The Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that 2.7 million people who wanted and were available for work hadn’t looked within the last four weeks and were no longer even classified as unemployed.

　　So don’t let the headlines fool you into giving up. Four million people get hired every month in the U.S. You can be one of them.

1.The author tends to believe that high unemployment rate ______?

A.deprives many people of job opportunities.

B.prevents many people from changing careers.

C.should not stop people from looking for a job.

D.does not mean the U.S. economy is worsening.

2.Where do most job openings come from?

A.Job growth

B.Job turnover

C.Improved economy

D.Business expansion

3.What does the author say about overall job growth?

A.It doesn’t have much effect on individual job seekers.

B.It increases people’s confidence in the economy.

C.It gives a ray of hope to the unemployed.

D.It doesn’t mean greater job security for the employed.

4.What is the key to landing a job according to the author?

A.Education

B.Intelligence

C.Persistence

D.Experience

5.What do we learn from the passage about the unemployment figures in the US?

A.They clearly indicate how healthy the economy is.

B.They provide the public with the latest information.

C.They warn of the structural problems in the economy.

D.They exclude those who have stopped looking for a job.

 

完型填空

　　From Monday till Friday most people are busy__1__or studying, __2__in the evenings and on weekends they___3___enjoy ___4___. Some watch TV or go to movies; others engage in sports. It ___5___ individual（个人的）interests. ___6___ many different ways to spend our spare time.

　　Almost everyone has some kind of hobby. It may be anything ___7___collecting stamps___8___model airplanes. Some hobbies are very expensive, but others___9___anything at all. Some collections are worth a lot of money, others are ___10___only to___11___.

　　I know a man who has a coin___12___worth seven thousand dollars. A short time ago he bought a rare fifty-cent piece worth 250 dollars! He was very happy about that and thought the price was___13___. On the other hand, my younger brother collects match boxes. He has almost 600 of them but I___14___if they are worth any money. However, to my brother they are extremely___15___ ___16___makes him happier than to find a new match box for his collection.

　　That's___17___a hobby means, I guess. It is something we like to do in our spare time simply___18___of it.___ 19___in dollars is not important but the pleasure it___20___us is important.

(1)A.with 　　 working	B.working
C.At 　　 working	D.with 　　 work
(2)A.but	B.however
C.when	D.and
(3)A.like	B.consider
C.are 　　 thought to	D.are 　　 free to
(4)A.it	B.sports
C.themselves	D.lives
(5)A.depends 　　 on	B.is 　　 of
C.decides	D.depends
(6)A.Everyone 　　 has	B.There 　　 has
C.There 　　 are	D.People 　　 invent
(7)A.for 　　 example	B.such 　　 as
C.from	D.like
(8)A.to 　　 making	B.and 　　 make
C.to 　　 make	D.besides 　　 making
(9)A.are 　　 not	B.are 　　 not worthy
C.don't 　　 cost	D.aren't 　　 cost
(10)A.important	B.expensive
C.good	D.valuable
(11)A.their 　　 own	B.their 　　 owners
C.themselves	D.young
(12)A.which	B.collecting
C.collected	D.collection
(13)A.expensive	B.low
C.cheap	D.reasonable
(14)A.am 　　 sure	B.doubt
C.think	D.believe
(15)A.valuable	B.expensive
C.important	D.cheap
(16)A.It	B.What
C.Nothing	D.Everything
(17)A.how	B.what
C.why	D.called
(18)A.to 　　 Enjoy	B.for 　　 pleasure
C.for 　　 the fun	D.to 　　 please ourselves
(19)A.The 　　 value	B.The 　　 money
C.The 　　 expenses	D.The 　　 cost
(20)A.that 　　 gives	B.gives
C.giving	D.is 　　 given

阅读理解：

　　In Europe, men do not usually wear skirts. But the Scottish national clothing for men is a kind of skirt. It is called a kilt. The Scottish like to be different. They are also proud of their country and its history, and they feel that the kilt is part of that history. That's why the men still wear kilts at traditional (传统的) dances and on national holidays. They believe they are wearing the same clothes that Scottish men always used to wear.

　　That's what they believe. However, kilts are not really so old. Before 1730, Scottish men wore a long shirt and blanket around their shoulders. These clothes got in the way when the men started to work in factories. So, in 1730 a factory owner changed the blanket into a skirt; the kilt. That's how the first kilt was made.

　　Then, in the late 1700s Scottish soldiers in the British Army began to wear kilts. One reason for this was national sentiment ( = feelings) . The Scottish soldiers wanted to be different from the English soldiers. The British Army probably had a different reason. A Scottish soldier in a kilt was always easy to find! The Scottish soldier fought very hard and became famous. The kilt was part of the fame, and in the early 1800s men all around Scotland began to wear kilts.

　　These kilts had colorful stripes (条纹) going up and down and across. In the 1700s and early 1800s, the color of the stripes had no special meaning. Men sometimes owned kilts in several different colors. But later the colors became important to the Scottish families. By about 1850, most families had special colors for their kilts. For example, men from the Campbell family had kilts with green, yellow and blue stripes. Scottish people often believe that the colors of the kilts are part of their family history. In fact, each family just chose the color they liked best.

　　This is not the story you will hear today if you are in Scotland. Most Scottish people still believe that kilts are as old as Scotland and that the colors are as old as the Scottish families. Sometimes feelings are stronger than facts!

1．This text is mainly about ________.

2．Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．The English soldiers were the first to wear kilts.

B．It was hard then to tell the Scottish soldiers from the English ones apart from the clothes.

C．Colors were specially designed in the first kilts.

D．The factory owner made the first kilt from long shirts to make his workers different from others.

3．Scottish soldiers were dressed in kilts partly because of ________.

4．The colors of the kilts are ________.

[　　]

A．not part of the Scottish family history

B．older than the Scottish family history

C．for the Campbell family only

D．mainly green, yellow and blue

5．From the last paragraph we can infer that ________.

[　　]

A．the European people are full of strong feelings

B．there are no stories about kilts in Scotland today

C．the British like to do things on feelings, not on facts

D．the Scottish prefer to keep their tradition rather than believe the fact

The famous director of a big and expensive movie planned to film a beautiful sunset over the ocean，so that the audiences could see his hero and heroine in front of it at the end of the film as they said goodbye to each other forever.He sent his camera crew out one evening to film the sunset for him.

　 The next morning he said to the men,“Have you provided me with that sunset？”

　 “No，sir,”the men answered.

　 The director was angry.“Why not?” he asked.

　 “Well,sir,”one of the men answered,“we’re on the east coast here，and the sun sets in the west.We can get you a sunrise over the sea，if necessary，but not a sunset.”

　 “But I want a sunset!”the director shouted.“Go to the airport，take the next flight to the west coast，and get one.”

　 But then a young secretary had an idea.“Why don’t you photograph a sunrise，” she suggested，“and then play it backwards? Then it’ll look like a sunset.”

　 “That’s a very good idea！” the director said.Then he turned to the camera crew and said，“Tomorrow morning I want you to get me a beautiful sunrise over the sea.”

　 The camera crew went out early the next morning and filmed a bright sunrise over the beach in the middle of a beautiful bay.Then at nine o’clock they took it to the director.“Here it is，sir，” they said，and gave it to him.He was very pleased.

　 They all went into the studio.“All right，” the director explained，“now our hero and heroine are going to say goodbye.Run the film backwards so that we can see the sunset behind them.”

　 The “sunset” began，but after a quarter of a minute，the director suddenly put his face in his hands and shouted to the camera crew to stop.

　 The birds in the film were flying backwards，and the waves on the sea were going away from the beach.

1.One evening，the director sent his camera crew out 　　　.

　 A.to film a scene on the sea

　 B.to find an actor and an actress

　 C.to watch a beautiful sunset

　 D.to meet the audience

　

2.Why did the director want to send his crew to the west coast?

　 A.Because he changed his mind about getting a sunset.

　 B.Because he was angry with his crew.

　 C.Because he wanted to get a scene of sunset.

　 D.Because it was his secretary’s suggestion.

　

3.The director wanted to film a sunset over the ocean because 　　　　.

　 A.it went well with the separation of the hero and heroine

　 B.when they arrived at the beach it was already in the evening

　 C.it was more moving than a sunrise

　 D.the ocean looked more beautiful at sunset

　

4.After the “sunset” began，the director suddenly put his face in his hands 　　　　.

　 A.because he was moved to tears

　 B.as he saw everything in the film moving backwards

　 C.as the sunrise did not look as beautiful as he had imagined

　 D.because he was disappointed with the performance of the hero and heroine

　

5.Which of the following is NOT true?

　 A.The crew had to follow the secretary’s advice (忠告).

　 B.If you want to see a sunrise，the east coat is the place to go.

　 C.The camera crew wasn’t able to film the scene the first day.

　 D.The director ordered his crew to stop filming the “sunset”.