【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 shka, your work is unbelievable. ” “Dushka, we would not have survived without you. ” This is my instinctive (本能的) desire. I, a good girl, should make someone I love proud. What can get in the way of worklife balance is that approval often matters more than the balance I claim I want. I am ambitious and want to do great things and as soon as a project is done I’m hungry for the next one. I want hard work. I want to push myself and test myself. I want to learn. Sometimes worklife balance is hard because there is a difference between what I say I want and what I really want. My life is constantly changing. If a friend visits me from out of town I want to work less, if I happen to be particularly inspired I want to work more, and if a family member needs me I don’t want to have to worry about work at all. Worklife balance is hard because my definition of it is a moving target. It means different things to me depending on different situations. What is worklife balance, anyway? Does it mean I get to go home every day when the clock strikes 5: 00 pm? Does it mean that I work hard for a few weeks and then take a long weekend off? Do I want daily balance, or do I want things to balance out over the course of a few weeks, even months?On one side, worklife balance doesn’t mean that the only way to do something well is to do it yourself. Your ego (自我) gets in the way of your being free. On the other side, worklife balance can be hard if you are worried that someone else can do your job better than yourself. Then you live in a constant state of suspicion (懷疑) and never allow yourself to step away. Your fear is calling the shots, not your ambitions. Worklife balance can be hard if you are more worried about looking good than doing good work. If you want to make sure everyone sees you are the first one to e and the last one to leave, what others think of you has more weight than your desire of getting home in time for dinner. My boss assures me that employees e first and that people are the most important, yet I don’t see him telling me it’s time to go home because I worked really late the night before. Wait a minute. Why should my worklife balance be the pany’s problem, in particular when I’ve already identified that my needs are everchanging? How can I expect someone else to stay on top of that? The only person responsible for that is me. 【文章大意】這是一篇議論文。主要討論了工作與生活的平衡關(guān)系, 作者以前認(rèn)為工作與生活不平衡的原因是工作等外因造成的, 而最后意識到真正的原因在于自己。24. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 mean?A. Demand less from myself. B. Pay more attention to work. C. Complete more excellent jobs. D. Control a situation by myself. 【解析】選D。詞義猜測題。根據(jù)第一段中“I was convinced that it was because my job was demanding, but as I changed my job and eventually became selfemployed. . . ” (我堅信那是因為我的工作對我的需要很多, 但是當(dāng)我換工作并最終成為自雇人士時……)并結(jié)合句中的轉(zhuǎn)折連詞but可知前后句之間存在轉(zhuǎn)折關(guān)系, 前句表示我在為別人打工的時候工作對我的需要很多, 因此后文意在表明換工作自己做老板后, 可以自己掌控局面。25. The author enjoys making her clients happy because _______. A. she is afraid to lose her jobB. she always desires to be approvedC. she wants to gain worklife balanceD. she could make a profit in that way【解析】選B。細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段中“What can get in the way of worklife balance is that approval often matters more than the balance I claim I want. ” (在平衡工作與生活中遇到的關(guān)鍵問題是, 得到認(rèn)可通常比我想要的平衡更為重要。)可知, 作者喜歡讓客戶滿意, 因為她一直渴望被認(rèn)可。26. What can we learn about the author?A. Her ego gets in the way of her success. B. She is always satisfied with the current situation. C. The achievement of worklife balance is easy for her. D. She doesn’t have an exact definition of worklife balance. 【解析】選D。細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第四段中“Worklife balance is hard because my definition of it is a moving target. ”(工作與生活之間的平衡很困難, 因為我對它的定義是一個動態(tài)的目標(biāo)。)可知作者對于工作與生活平衡沒有準(zhǔn)確的定義。27. What does the example of the author’s boss tend to indicate?A. Worklife balance relies on our own selves. B. It’s no use working hard for our boss. C. Profits are more important than employees. D. Some leaders don’t mean what they say. 【解析】選A。推理判斷題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第二段及最后一段中“How can I expect someone else to stay on top of that? The only person responsible for that is me. ”(我怎么能指望別人為我的工作與生活平衡負(fù)責(zé)? 唯一對此負(fù)責(zé)的人是我。)可知, 作者想用老板的例子表明工作與生活之間的平衡取決于我們自己。CMeeting people from another culture can be difficult. From the beginning, people may send the wrong signal (信號). Or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a relationship. Different cultures emphasize (強調(diào)) the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree. For example, business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work, it is necessary to spend a lot of time in “small talk”, usually over a cup of tea, before they do any job. In many European countries—like the UK or France—people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or caf233。s rather than at the office. Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand. I had expected my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion。instead, there was an unfortable silence. The people present just stared at me and smiled. After getting to know their ways better, I realized that they thought I was talking too much. In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words, but people there sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary. Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar values。however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because the culture starts discussions and makes decisions more quickly. People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment (多元文化環(huán)境) will offer a wonderful chance for us to learn from