单选题
Many people talked of the 288,000 new jobs the Labor Department reported for June, along with the drop in the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent, as good news. And they were right. For now it appears the economy is creating jobs at a decent pace. We still have a long way to go to get back to full employment, but at least we are now finally moving forward at a faster pace.
However, there is another important part of the jobs picture that was largely overlooked. There was a big jump in the number of people who report voluntarily working part-time. This figure is now 830,000 (4. 4 percent) above its year ago level.
Before explaining the connection to the Obamacare, it is worth making an important distinction. Many people who work part-time jobs actually want full-time jobs. They take part-time work because this is all they can get. An increase in involuntary part-time work is evidence of weakness in the labor market and it means that many people will be having a very hard time making ends meet.
There was an increase in involuntary part-time in June, but the general direction has been down. Involuntary part-time employment is still far higher than before the recession, but it is down by 640,000 (7.9percent) from several years ago.
We know the difference between voluntary and involuntary part-time employment because people tell us. The survey used by the Labor Department asks people if they worked less than 35 hours in the reference week. If the answer is "yes", they are classified as worked less than 35 hours in that week because they wanted to work less than full time or because they had no choice. They are only classified as voluntary part-time workers if they tell the survey taker they chose to work less than 35 hours a week.
The issue of voluntary part-time relates to Obamacare because One of the main purposes was to allow people to get insurance outside of employment. For many people, especially those with serious health conditions or family members with serious health conditions, before Obamacare the only way to get insurance was through a job that provided health insurance.
However, Obamacare has allowed more than 12 million people to either get insurance through Medicaid or the exchanges. These are people who may previously have felt the need to get a full-time job that provided insurance in order to cover themselves and their families. With Obamacare there is no longer a link between employment and insurance.
单选题
Which part of the jobs picture is neglected?
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。根据关键词job picture，neglected定位到第二段的下列内容：However, there is another important part of the jobs picture that was largely overlooked. There was a big jump in the number of people who report voluntarily working part-time. 即自愿从事兼职的人数大幅下降，而这一部分在很大程度上被忽视了。其中neglected是overlooked的同义替换。并且此句有明显的命题点however。第二句具体指出被忽略的部分是“there was a big jump in the number of people who report voluntarily working part-time”，即有大量的人自愿从事兼职工作。故正确答案为B。其中increase是原文jump的同义替换，voluntary part-time jobs是voluntarily working part-time的同义转换。
单选题
Many people work part-time because they ______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题干问许多人从事兼职是因为______。根据关键词many people，part-time job，because定位到第三段的“Many people who work part-time jobs actually want full-time jobs. ”意思是那些从事兼职工作的人实际想拥有全日制工作。They take part-time work because this is all they can get. 这句话说明了他们从事兼职工作的原因：人们目前只能得到兼职工作，而无法获得全职工作。故正确答案为C。
单选题
Involuntary part-time employment in the US ______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题干问美国的非自愿兼职工作______。根据关键词Involuntary part-time employment定位到第三段的“An increase in involuntary part-time in June, but the general direction has been down. ”语义重心在转折之后，即这种非自愿兼职工作在六月份是增长的，但是总趋势是下降的，对应选项B。选项中的general tendency照应原文中的general direction，而decline对应down。
单选题
It can be learned that with Obamacare, ______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题干中的关键词Obamacare可定位到全文的最后一句：With Obamacare there is no longer a link between employment and insurance. 即就业和保险之间不再有关联。而从上一句可以看出，之前很多人想要找一份提供保险的全职工作来养活自己和家人。可见，之前就业意味着能得到保险。现在它们之间的关系不复存在，即雇用不再是得到保险的前提条件。故B选项正确。