单选题 Questions 1 to 10 are based on the following passage.

Is your promotion really necessary? Many workers focus their hopes on climbing the hierarchy of their____1____.The prospect of higher pay helps explain their ambition, but so does the greater status that comes with each____2____title. 

This scramble can often end in____3____.The Peter principle, developed by Laurence Peter for a book published in 1969, states that workers get promoted until they reach their level of____4____.It makes perfect sense.If you are good at your job, you rise up the career ladder.Eventually, there will be ajob you are not good at and at that point your career will stall.The____5____corollary is that any se-nior staff members who have been in their job for an extended period are incompetent. 

The higher up the ladder you go, the greater the demands are likely to be on your time.The chief executive will expect you to be____6____at weekends; after all, that is why you get paid the big____7____.Subordinates will also feel that they are able to ask you tricky questions whenever they arise; they don't want to take decisions that are above their pay grade.If you are in charge of a geo-graphical region, you may spend much of your time on planes,____8____ the corporate troops.And when you are not travelling, your day will be filled with meetings.At the end of the day, you will have been extremely busy, but with a nagging feeling that you have achieved____9____ of substance. 

So that shiny promotion may not be for everyone.Beware the curse of overwork and____10____.Some people like to devote their whole lives to their job and be at the centre of events.It is best to let them get on with it.

空白处9应填无
【正确答案】 M
【答案解析】空格前为动词achieved,空格后为of,由此可知,空格处应填入形容词或名词,并与后面的of sub-stance搭配。备选项形容词many和of搭配,构成many of“许多”,但前文出现了nagging feeling“不愉快(低落/沮丧)的感觉”,因此不符合句意。将备选项nothing代入空格处,achieved nothing of substance“没有取得任何实质性的成果”符合题意。故本题选M。