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 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 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 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-'90s 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, downshifting 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?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:本题可参照文章的第1段。从中可知,当我决定辞去全职工作时,我从未想到自己可能成为国际新潮流的一分子;一次平级调动伤害了我的自尊,也妨碍了我的业务上的进步,这件事促使我放弃了我那前途令人欣羡的职业;但是,我以一种失宠的政府大臣的口气宣称,“我想多陪陪家人”,以此来掩饰我辞职的真正原因。据此可知,作者是因为形势所迫而辞职的。B项与文章意思相符,因此B项为正确答案。
单选题 The writer's experiment shows that downshifting______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:从文章第2段的内容可知,令人惊讶的是,大约两年半的时间,我写了两部小说,随后,我的这种被美国人称为“慢节拍”的尝试已经将我那陈旧的借口变成了事实;我已经由过去七年里Linda Kelsey在《她》杂志上一再宣扬的“拥有一切”哲学的积极倡导者,变成一个对一切浅尝辄止就感到喜悦的女人;从第3段的内容可知,我发现,放弃那种“快节奏生活”的教条而选择“放缓节奏”的做法带来的回报要比金融方面的成就和社会地位的提高丰厚得多。据此可知,“放缓节奏”的实践促使作者改变了人生观。B项与文章的意思相符,因此B项为正确答案。
单选题 "Juggling one's life" probably means living a life characterized by______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:本题可参照文章的第3段。从中可知,我发现,放弃那种“快节奏生活”的教条而选择“放缓节奏”的做法带来的回报要比金融方面的成就和社会地位的提高丰厚得多,正如Kelsey在经受长期的巨大压力后,多次公开宣称辞去《她》杂志编辑职位后可能发现的那样;什么也说服不了我重过Kelsey过去倡导的、我曾经喜爱过的那种生活了——每天工作12小时的工作日、令人觉得压抑的最后期限、办公室管理中令人胆怯的作风以及在“最佳年龄”成为父(母)的限制。据此可知,“Juggling one's life”可能指的是一种紧张、压抑的生活。C项与文章的意思相符,因此C项为正确答案。
单选题 According to the passage, downshifting emerged in the U.S. as a result of______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析:本题可参照文章的第5段。从中可知,在美国,虽然这种趋势起初是对经济衰败的一种反应——80年代晚期,由于企业缩减规模,导致大量的人员剩余——它还与节俭的政治策略有关,但是,在英国,至少在我所认识的那些过慢节拍生活的中产阶层中,我们寻求简化生活的原因不尽相同。据此可知,美国出现降低节奏的生活方式与经济有关。D项与文章的意思相符,因此D项为正确答案。