When I decided to quit my full time employment it never occurred to me that I might become a part of a new international trend. A lateral move that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress prompted me to abandon my relatively high profile career although, in the manner of a disgraced government minister, I covered my exit by claiming “I wanted to spend more time with my family”.
Curiously, some two-and-a -half years and two novels later, my experiment in what the Americans term “downshifting” has turned my tired excuse into an absolute reality. I have been transformed from a passionate advocate of the philosophy of “having it all” preached by Linda Kelsey for the past seven years in the page of She magazine, into a woman who is happy to settle for a bit of everything.
I have discovered, as perhaps Kelsey will after her much-publicized resignation from the editorship of She after a buildup of stress, that abandoning the doctrine of “juggling your life” and making the alternative move into “downshifting” brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and social status. Nothing could persuade me to return to the kind of life Kelsey used to advocate and I once enjoyed: 12 hour working days, pressured deadlines, the fearful strain of office politics and the limitations of being a parent on “quality time”.
In America, the move away from juggling to a simpler, less materialistic lifestyle is a well-established trend. Downshifting—also known in America as “voluntary simplicity”—has, ironically, even bred a new area of what might be termed anticonsumerism. There are a number of best-selling downshifting self-help books for people who want to simplify their lives. There are newsletters, such as The Tightwad Gazette, that give hundreds of thousands of Americans useful tips on anything from recycling their cling-film to making their own soap. There are even support groups for those who want to achieve the mid-1990s equivalent of dropping out.
While in America the trend started as a reaction to the economic decline—after the mass redundancies caused by downsizing in the late-1980s — and is still linked to the politics of thrift, in Britain, at least among the middle-class down-shifters of my acquaintance, we have different reasons for seeking to simplify our lives.
For the women of my generation who were urged to keep juggling through the 1980s downshifting in the mid-1990s is not so much a search for the mythical good life—growing you own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one—as a personal recognition of you limitations.
1. The writer quit her full-time job because( ).
2. “A lateral move” in paragraph 1 means( ).
3. The writer’s experiment shows that downshifting( ).
4. “Juggling one’s life” probably mean( ).
5. According to the passage, downshifting emerged in the U.S.as a result of( ).
问题1选项
A.full-time employment is a new international trend
B.she was compelled by circumstances to leave her job
C.she was inspired by the philosophy of “having it all”.
D.she was only too eager to spend more time with her family.
问题2选项
A.a change of responsibility but not position
B.advocating the notion of anti-consumerism
C.a change from a lower position to a higher one
D.a change from a higher position to a lower one
问题3选项
A.enables her to realize her dream
B.helps her mold a new philosophy of life
C.prompts her to abandon her high social status
D.leads her to accept the doctrine of She magazine.
问题4选项
A.taking a non-materialistic lifestyle
B.trying out a life with a bit of everything
C.living a life with extreme stress
D.advocating the notion of anti-consumerism
问题5选项
A.the economic situation
B.man’s adventurous spirit
C.the quick pace of modern life
D.man’s search for mythical experiences
第1题:B
第2题:A
第3题:B
第4题:C
第5题:A
第1题:
推理判断题。由第一段“A lateral move that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress prompted me to abandon my relatively high profile career although, in the manner of a disgraced government minister, I covered my exit by claiming ‘I wanted to spend more time with my family’.一次横向的人事调动伤害了我的自尊,阻碍了我事业的发展,使我不得不抛弃了那份引人注目的工作,尽管表面上我还要像一个蒙受屈辱的政府部长的姿态,通过声称想花更多的时间来陪伴家人来掩盖我的退出。”可知作者因为一次人事调动而被迫放弃工作。故B项正确。ACD三项均不是作者离职的原因。
第2题:
词义题。A lateral move that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress prompted me to abandon my relatively high profile career although…lateral表示横向的,平级的。可知这次人事调动是横向调整,并没有说明是升级或降级。故A项正确。
第3题:
推理判断题。Curiously, some two-and-a -half years and two novels later, my experiment in what the Americans term “downshifting” has turned my tired excuse into an absolute reality. I have been transformed from a passionate advocate of the philosophy of “having it all” preached by Linda Kelsey for the past seven years in the page of She magazine, into a woman who is happy to settle for a bit of everything.奇怪的是,在两年半和两本小说之后,我在美国人所谓的“放慢生活节奏”的实验已经把我的借口变成了现实。过去七年里,琳达•凯尔西(Linda Kelsey)一直在《女性》(She)杂志上鼓吹“拥有一切”的哲学,而现在我已从这一哲学的热情倡导者转变为一个乐于满足于任何东西的女人。由此可知放慢生活节奏的实验让作者的生活哲学由“拥有一切”转变为“乐于满足任何东西”,故B项正确。
第4题:
词义题。由题干关键词Juggling one’s life 定位到第三段“abandoning the doctrine of ‘juggling your life’ and making the alternative move into ‘downshifting’ brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and social status. Nothing could persuade me to return to the kind of life Kelsey used to advocate and I once enjoyed: 12 hour working days, pressured deadlines…”由abandoning the doctrine of “juggling your life” and making the alternative move into “downshifting”可知“juggling your life”与“downshifting”对立,由第二段可知downshifting为慢节奏的生活,故juggling your life意为紧张的快节奏生活。由下文nothing could…12 hour working days, pressured deadlines也可知作者过去所推崇的是快节奏的生活,如今抛弃了这种生活方式改为了慢节奏的生活。故C项正确。
第5题:
推理判断题。While in America the trend started as a reaction to the economic decline—after the mass redundancies caused by downsizing in the late-1980s—and is still linked to the politics of thrift, 而在美国,这一趋势一开始是对经济衰退的反应——那是在20世纪80年代末裁员造成大量人员冗余之后——现在仍与提倡节俭的政治主张有关,据此可知在美国慢节奏生活趋势的出现是由于当初的经济衰退。故A项正确。