“grab-it-all-now” culture, three out of every 10 workers in the UK suffer from depression, stress or burnout, according to a United Nations report.

Women suffer more than men. Today, says Herbert Freudenberger, author of ― Women’s Burnout and Burnout‖. The High Cost of High Achievement, ― I’m seeing more women with symptoms of burnout.‖

Why is this? ― In part, I think this is due to the multi-role lives they now lead-as mothers, wives and professionals.‖ Equal opportunities for men and women in our society have given women double the responsibilities. They suffer from chronic fatigue trying to pursue careers while at the same time running their home. Some women blame their employer, their partner at housework, or themselves, but more than half accept that this is ―just the way life is now.‖

Not to be left out, women’s magazines haven’t hesitated to cash in on this. Good Housekeeping magazine has not been too shy to indulge in gloomy statistics, such as: More than half of the British women lie awake at night because of stress.

But it’s not only working mothers who suffer from burnout. Young unmarried professionals are also feeling the strain of increasingly competitive and globalized lifestyles.

Nicola Moule, 26, was a marketing consultant in London. She was hit by a rare illness and could not work for a year. Moule says it was caused by burnout. ― I think my subconscious was telling me that what I was doing didn’t suit me. I had been putting too much pressure on myself to be successful and trying to keep up with London life. You just get on with it.‖ But if ―getting on with it‖ also means getting ill it could be that our very development heads to our downfall.

1.The passage is chiefly concerned with ________.

A. dog-eat-dog world B. the role of women C. stress of modern life

D. the changing culture in modern world 2.Why do women suffer from stress more than men?

A. Because women always complain about their lives.

B. Because women always try harder than men to pursue careers. C. Because women have more housework to do than men. D. Because women have to play multiple roles in life. 3.The word ―burnout‖ in the second paragraph means _______.

A. depression B. exhaustion

C. inner dissatisfaction D. all of the above

4.Which of the following statements about Nicola Moule in paragraph 7 is not true? A. Nicola was a so-called successful career woman.

B. She got a serious physical disease and could not work for a year. C. She thought that it was the stress that caused her to be ill.

D. She tried her best to be successful and catch up with the pace of the modern

society.

5.Which of the following interpretations of the phrase ―grab-it-all-now‖ culture is correct?

A. The culture is featured by its varieties and richness in today’s world. B. The world is competitive, which requires people to live a stressful life. C. People nowadays always fight against each other to get what they need. D. People in today’s world have to do everything as soon as possible.

Text 8

A dream is made up of a series of mind-pictures that form during sleep. The people and actions in these pictures seem real to the person who is dreaming.

When a person is asleep, he has little or no control over his mind. Then ideas and feelings come out to form the mind picture known as dreams.

Dreams may be influenced by different things that are present during sleep. If a person is cold, he may dream that he is out in a snowstorm. Worries or anger may also influence the content of a dream..

Some people think that they seldom dream, and other people are quite sure that they do not dream at all. Studies of human sleep have shown, though, that everyone dreams every night. If a person thinks he does not dream, it is because he does not remember dreaming when he wakes up. Usually, a person may dream three to seven times for a total of one or two hours of dreaming every night.

Perhaps you are wondering just how research workers can be sure that a person is dreaming. The story behind the discovery is an interesting one.

During their research studies of human sleep, Dr Kleitman and his assistants noticed that a person sleeping made sudden eye movements. These eye movements occurred at least several times a night. When a sleeper was awakened during these periods of eye movement, it was learned that he had been dreaming. In most cases, the dreamer could then recall his dream. The person’s eye movements, scientists believe, were caused by the movements of his eyes as he followed the events of the dream.

Not only does everyone dream, but it seems that we all need to dream. One theory is that dreaming gives us a chance to escape from the rules of our real world. In dreams we can see our wishes come true. We can be rich, powerful, successful.

Another theory is that in our dream we are trying to work out our problems that have troubled us during waking moments.

Whatever the explanation, we all do dream, and dreaming is necessary and important to us.

1. According to the selection, the research studies of human sleep show that _________.

A. few people do not dream at night

B. some people dream three times every night while other people dream seven

times every night

C. some people may dream all the time during sleep

2.

3.

4.

5.

D. everyone dreams several times every night

If a person is cold, he may dream that he is out in a snowstorm. This shows __________.

A. dreams always have something to do with weather B. dreams influence your daily life

C. dreams have something to do with the reality D. dreams have nothing to do with the reality

According to the research studies, you may dream of a fire-engine _______. A. when your alarm clock is ringing B. when you feel hungry C. when you are cold D. when you are ill

According to the selection, you can discover what your husband is dreaming by _______.

A. watching him closely

B. waking him up when he makes sudden eye movements and asking him what

he is dreaming of

C. watching his eye movements

D. talking to him while he is sleeping Dreaming is important to us _________.

A. because we scan relax and enjoy a care-free life in our dreams B. but we are not sure just how important it is C. because we can have a good rest

D. because we can make discoveries in our dreams

Text 9

The family is changing. In the past, grandparents, parents and children used to live together; in other words, they had an ―extended family‖. Sometimes two or more brothers with their wives and children were part of this large family group. But family structure is changing throughout the world. The ―nuclear family‖ consists of only one father, one mother and children; it is becoming the main family structure everywhere.

The nuclear family offers married women some advantages: they have freedom from their relatives, and the husband does not have all the power of the family. Family structure in most parts of the world is still ―patriarchal‖; that is, the father is the head of the family and makes most of the important decisions. Studies show, however, that in nuclear families, men and women usually make an equal number of decisions about family life. Also, well-educated husbands and wives often prefer to share the power.

But wives usually have to ―pay‖ for the benefits of freedom and power. When women lived in extended families, sisters, grandmothers and aunts helped one another with housework and child care. In addition, older women in a large family group had important positions. Wives in nuclear families do not enjoy this benefit, and they have another disadvantage, too. Women generally live longer than their husbands, so older women from nuclear families often have to live alone.

Studies show that women are generally less satisfied with marriage than men are. In the past, men worked outside the home and women inside. Housework and child care were a full-time job, and there was no time for anything else. Of course, this situation is changing. Women now work outside the home and seem to have more freedom than they did in the past. Why, then, are some women still discontent?

In most parts of the world today, women work because the family needs more money. However, their outside jobs often give them less freedom, not more, because they still have to do most of the housework. The women actually have two full-time jobs---one outside the home and another inside--- and not much free time.

The nuclear family will probably continue to be the main family form of the future. Change, however, usually brings disadvantages along with benefits, and the family forms of the past had many advantages.

1.Families around the world are generally _________. A. bigger than they used to be B. smaller than they used to be C. the same as they used to

D. neither bigger nor smaller than they used to be 2.Living in a nuclear family is ___________.

A.bad for a woman B. good for a woman

C. both good and bad for a woman D. wonderful for a woman 3.In most countries _____________.

A. wives have most of the power in the family.

B. husbands and wives have equal power in the family. C. husbands have most of the power in the family.

D. older women have most of the power in the family 4.Women in extended families used to __________. A. help each other with housework and child care B. live alone when they outlived their husbands

C. have two full-time jobs---one outside the home and another inside D. have freedom and power 5.Women with jobs are _________.

a) the most satisfied because they have freedom from housework

b) the most satisfied because they can earn money and be independent c) the satisfied because they make important decisions about family life d) not satisfied because they are too busy and do not have much free time

Text 10

Some radio signals are reflected when they meet solid objects; for example, television signals are reflected when they meet walls and houses, and when meet an aircraft in the sky. The picture is not clear when the signals are reflected like this. When a plane is flying near the house, the picture on the television screen sometimes dances about in a very troublesome way.