单选题 Zandra Johnson is a living proof that it is never too late to start your own business. After nearly 40 years of being a housewife, she launched her business at the age of 64. She designs made-to-order children's furniture which all come with an individual story book. The products are manufactured in Poland.
She says she was not forced into self-employment financially—she simply wanted to unleash her creative side. 'I suppose it was all the ideas I had, they were so different and there were so many of them,' she said. 'I did a lot of market research and the response I got was, 'Yes that's great, we'd sell that.' So I progressed from there.'
She launched Fairytale Furniture at the onset of the economic crisis and has survived the downturn. Now in its sixth year of trading, she hopes to finally turn a profit. Zandra is already exporting to South Africa, Dubai and Singapore and has her eye on cracking the US market. She buys in expertise, when needed, including a marketing expert and an export adviser.
She loves the flexibility of being self-employed. 'I can work at midnight if I want to, I can take a longer lunch if I want to—especially when the weather is good—and I can make the time up later. I just love it, I love all of it. It's fun.'
Self-employment is one of the biggest stories of the recovery. One in seven workers in the UK are now working for themselves. The latest jobs figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that there are now 4.54 million self-employed people. That is about 8% higher than a year ago. In fact, there are now 780,000 more people in employment than there were this time last year, and 40% of those are self-employed.
Over the longer term, the biggest rise in self-employment has been seen in the number of older workers. According to the ONS, self-employment among the over-50s is up 36% on 10 years ago.
The independent think tank the Resolution Foundation believes the main reason for this is the fact that self-employment seems to be growing as an alternative to retirement. Through analysis of data from the ONS, the Resolution Foundation also found that more than half of self-employed people aged 60 or over now work part-time, that is up from 46% in 2005. In other words, self-employment is increasingly an option that allows older people to keep earning but by working less.

单选题 According to the passage why Zandra Johnson started her own business?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】细节题。本文考查的是赞德拉·约翰森开创自己事业的原因，可以定位到文中的She says she was not forced into self-employment financially—she simply wanted to unleash her creative side. 'I suppose it was all the ideas I had, they were so different and there were so many of them,' she said. 'I did a lot of market research and the response I got was, 'Yes that's great, we'd sell that.' So I progressed from there.'，从这里可以看出她开创自己事业的原因主要是要是为了发挥自己的创造力，所以B项符合文章意思。A、C讲她是因为经济方面的原因，这与文中She says she was not forced into self-employment financially意思相悖。因此，正确答案是B。

单选题 Why she loves self-employment?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】推断题。本题考查的是赞德拉喜欢自己当老板的原因。可以定位到文中的 She loves the flexibility of being self-employed. 'I can work at midnight if I want to, I can take a longer lunch if I want to—especially when the weather is good—and I can make the time up later. I just love it, I love all of it. It's fun，从这里可以看出她喜欢自己当老板的原因是这样比较灵活、自由，可以自己决定工作的时间。这与A项的意思相符。B、C项文中没有直接提及。D项讲不需要专业知识，与文中She buys in expertise, when needed, including a marketing expert and an export adviser意思相反。因此，正确答案是A。