单选题
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 pages 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 build-up 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 down-shifting 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-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 80s--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 80s, down shifting in the mid-90s is not so much a search
for the mythical good life--growing your own organic vegetables, and risking
turning into one--as a personal recognition of your limitations.
单选题
Which of the following is true according to paragraph 1?
A. Full-time employment is a new international trend.
B. The writer was compelled by circumstances to leave her job.
C. "A lateral move" means stepping out of full-time employment.
D. The writer was only too eager to spend more time with her
family.