Hoffman，40，a former senior vice president of a financial company，had what she describes as “one of those extreme jobs.” “I loved working,” she says. But her career path reached a crossroad when her second child was born，and she left her job in February 2007. Hoffman is one of many people who have left the work force to take a break，but she has a position as a consultant．She has described this type of career detour(绕路) ----- which is more common for women than for men—as “off- ramping．” Typically it occurs when the balancing act of parenting and work becomes too tough．

A study by the center found that more than 90 percent of women who off-ramp want to on-ramp back into the work force eventually．But making the transition back to work is rarely easy，and it is even harder in this economic climate of layoffs and hiring freezes.

Considering some of the obstacles faced by on- rampers , a three-day program called “Greater Returns：Restarting Your Career” was held at Columbia University. The goal of the three days was to have them walk away with a big shot of confidence.

　According to one school of thought, women looking to make a comeback might even have an advantage in the current economy，especially if they are looking for part-time or consultant positions that do not offer benefits. And a majority of on-rampers are women with extensive working experiences that could give them a slight advantage over less-experienced competition．

　“You absolutely cannot be defensive about why you off-ramped,” Ms Hoffman says, “ defensive” would have put her into a hard situation if the Greater Returns program had had not taught her how to describe the years she spent at home．“I now feel confident talking to an employer and saying，‘ Yes，I have been out of the work force，but here is where I can make significant contributions.’”

1.What is the best title for the passage?

A．Off ramp：it is common　　　　　　　　

B．On ramp：it is easy

C．Off ramp or on ramp：it depends on confidence

D．Off ramp to on ramp：it can be a hard Journey

2.According to the passage，Greater Returns___________．

A．is intended to relieve the pressure of the jobless women

B．has all the jobless women restart their career

C．will build up the confidence of those in search of jobs

D．is to last a11 the year around for the jobless women

3.The main reason for the women’s off-ramping is that_________．

A．they have to suffer the sexual discrimination

B．they have to parent their children

C．they reach a crossroad of career

D．they have great work pressure

4.From what Ms．Hoffman says in the last paragraph，we can conclude________ .

A．she didn’t get advice from the Greater Returns program

B．she was defensive about her off-ramping

C．she didn’t get the job because she lied about her experience

D．she is off ramp partly due to her straightforward manner

5.Which job is easier to get for a woman off-ramper?

A．Regular workers.                        B．Casual workers.

C．Company managers.                     D．Bank clerks.

The town I live in is about to put cameras at all traffic lights to catch people who run red lights．It   36   me of how many people I’ve seen who take the yellow light as a   37   to go faster．I also can’t understand why people don’t move when the traffic light has turned green．Above all, there are those   38   situations in which someone doesn’t even   39   that the light turns red, and just keeps going．That is why so many   40   happen! All these situations make me   41__    the purpose of traffic lights．

           42   , it’s even more frightening to imagine letting people make their own decisions at   __43   crossroads．Do the biggest cars get to go first? Who decides who goes next? So I guess I do like the idea of a system to   44   traffic．And I’ll do my best to   45   the traffic rules: to go, to be cautious, and to stop when I’m   46   to．

         It occurs to me that my   47   have done much the same for me   48   teaching me how to live．They have given me many   49   lights: to get along well with others, to listen and talk to them, to help others, and to   50   with joy and purpose．They have also given me some red lights   51   my life goes astray（误入歧途）: not to be greedy, to keep my temper, and to control my desires．And there   52   have been some yellow caution lights: to watch how much I drink, to keep control of my behavior, and to   53    school regularly and work hard．

         If I obey these rules, my life will be as   54   as it can be．Just as I’m wise to pay attention to the traffic lights when I’m walking across the street, I’m wise to pay attention to the“   55__ signals” given to me by my parents．

1.A．suggests             B．informs          C．reminds           D．warns

2.A．sight            B．signal              C．message         D．switch

3.A．instant          B．exciting          C．dangerous       D．cautious

4.A．notice         B．sense                  C．remember     D．feel

5.A．events          B．problems          C．situations      D．accidents

6.A．think of B．wonder about    C．care for          D．worry about      

7.A．Besides          B．Anyway          C．Instead          D．However

8.A．noisy             B．narrow           C．crowded        D．key

9.A．control          B．direct           C．improve         D．serve

10.A．learn         B．obey          C．protect           D．carry

11.A．supposed      B．used             C．devoted         D．delighted

12.A．teachers    B．friends          C．leaders           D．parents

13.A．in charge of  B．in face of         C．in terms of              D．indanger of       

14.A．safe           B．green                  C．beneficial       D．helpful

15.A．live                B．share         C．work             D．communicate

16.A．unless       B．when         C．before            D．till

17.A．still                B．even             C．only              D．also

18.A．start         B．attend            C．leave             D．miss

19.A．good         B．colorful           C．meaningful         D．healthy

20.A．traffic         B．light           C．life            D．confidence

The town I live in is about to put cameras at all traffic lights to catch people who run red lights．It   36   me of how many people I’ve seen who take the yellow light as a   37   to go faster．I also can’t understand why people don’t move when the traffic light has turned green．Above all, there are those   38   situations in which someone doesn’t even   39   that the light turns red, and just keeps going．That is why so many   40   happen! All these situations make me   41__    the purpose of traffic lights．
42   , it’s even more frightening to imagine letting people make their own decisions at   __43   crossroads．Do the biggest cars get to go first? Who decides who goes next? So I guess I do like the idea of a system to   44   traffic．And I’ll do my best to   45   the traffic rules: to go, to be cautious, and to stop when I’m   46   to．
It occurs to me that my   47   have done much the same for me   48   teaching me how to live．They have given me many   49   lights: to get along well with others, to listen and talk to them, to help others, and to   50   with joy and purpose．They have also given me some red lights   51   my life goes astray（误入歧途）: not to be greedy, to keep my temper, and to control my desires．And there   52   have been some yellow caution lights: to watch how much I drink, to keep control of my behavior, and to   53    school regularly and work hard．
If I obey these rules, my life will be as   54   as it can be．Just as I’m wise to pay attention to the traffic lights when I’m walking across the street, I’m wise to pay attention to the“   55__ signals” given to me by my parents．

We can achieve knowledge either actively or passively（被动地）. We achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning.

We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else. Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive. Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it’s not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers.

Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem. It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor(谣言).

Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one person writes down a message but doesn’t show it to anyone. Then the person whispers it, word for word, to another person. That person, in turn, whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the people playing the game. The last person writes down the message word for word as he or she hears it. Then the two written statements are compared. Typically, the original message has changed.

That’s what happens in daily life. The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story. Then, too, most people listen imperfectly. And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping（打上标记）it with their own personal style. Yet those who hear it think they know.

This process is also found among scholars and authors: A statement of opinion by one writer may be re-stated as fact by another, who may in turn be quoted by yet another; and this process may continue, unless it occurs to someone to question the facts on which the original writer based his opinion or to challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts.

According to the passage, passive learning may occur in _______.

   A. visiting an exhibition

   B. solving a math problem

   C. doing a medical experiment

   D. doing scientific reasoning

The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refers to _____.

   A. active learning

   B. passive learning

   C. communication

   D. knowledge

The author mentions the game Rumor to show that _____.

   A. a message should be delivered in different ways

   B. a message may be changed when being passed on  

C. people may have problems with their sense of hearing

   D. people tend not to believe in what they know as rumor

What can we infer from the passage?

   A. Active learning is less important.

   B. Passive learning is not found among scholars.

   C. Active learning occurs more frequently.

   D. Passive learning may not be reliable.

The Nature of Stress

We are often faced with stressors that are outside of our control, from rare natural disasters to everyday traffic jams. There is a good deal of evidence that uncontrollable events are particularly stressful. This has been shown in studies of “executive rats,” in which two rats receive exactly the same electric shock, but one is given a lever（杠杆）that could be used to turn the shock off after it occurs. Over a long series of such trials, the partner rat, helpless to do anything about its pain, is more likely to develop ulcers (溃疡) than is the “executive”.

Stress is mostly caused by uncertain events. Uncertainty about an event makes it more disturbing. One study found that subjects who were told that they had a 5 percent chance of receiving an electric shock were actually more uneasy than those who were told that they had a 50 percent chance.

People make various attempts to deal with their stress---removing the cause of the stress, seeking the support of friends or reinterpreting the situation to make it seem less unpleasant. Richard Lazarus and his colleagues have made a useful distinction between problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies. Problem-focused strategies are those aimed at doing something to change the problem causing the stress.  Emotion-focused strategies tend to regulate our distressing emotional responses.

Psychologists Susan Folkman and Richard Lazarus examined undergraduate students’ coping strategies at three time periods---two days before a midterm examination, a week later two days before the grades were announced, and five days after the grades were posted. Before the exam, students tended to use such problem-focused strategies as studying---a guaranteed way to reduce the potential problems. After the exam, when their fates were sealed, if they sought out others, it was usually for emotional support.   

Like other animals, humans have always been safer in groups. Besides physical protection, people provide emotional support that can reduce the psychological and physiological symptoms of stress. A lack of support can increase our susceptibility（敏感性） to illness. For instance, short-term loneliness is associated with a decrease in immune response（免疫应答）. In contrast, people who have strong social ties are usually more resistant to disease. For instance, after being diagnosed as having a life threatening disease, married people are likely to survive longer than unmarried people.

People may provide appraisal support, helping us to evaluate and clarify how serious a problem is. If a professor tells you that he had also failed his first college algebra exam, the consequences of your failure will seem less devastating.  Others can also provide informational support, giving advice about how to deal with the problem. Finally, friends and relatives may give us instrumental support, providing material goods or services to overcome the stress. If your father lends you some money when your car breaks down, you can stop tearing your hair out and just fix it.

Title：The Nature of Stress