2014年12月大学英语四级考试预测试卷12_第4页

　　Section B

　　回答46-56题：

　　How to Make Peace with Your Workload

　　A)Swamped (忙碌的), under the gun, just struggling to stay above water...; whateveroffice cliche you employto depict it. we've all been in that situation where wefeel like we might be swallowed up by our workload.Nonetheless many a way maybe used to manage your to-do list to prevent feeling overwhelmed. How tomakepeace with your workload once and for all goes as follows.

　　B)Getorganized. "Clear the deadwood outof your desk and keep your office in shape, which enhances yourcapability tohandle other tasks and raises the probability that you'll retrieve the itemsyou do need in a fasterand easier fashion," says Jeff Davidson who worksas a work/life expert and writer of more than 50 books onworkplace issues."When something can be disposed, let i! go, given in reality most of whatyou retain isreplaceable." Joel Rudy, vice president of operations forPhotographic Solutions, with better than thirty yearsof business managementexperience, believes that keeping organized is a must. "Messy work areas arenonproductive insome measure. Provided that you can't locate a document or report easily becauseit's lost in　 apile of mess, then you have a problematic situation," he says."Thereby you are supposed to take the time totidy up your work areas andkeep your important files, manuals and reports in an accessible location,whichwill maximize your efficiencies."

　　C)Make ato-do list, then cover it up. It may sound weird, but it works, says JessicaCarlson, an accountexecutive at Bluefish Design Studio which is an advertisingconsulting firm. Carlson urges her team to utilizeto-do lists to stay on trackand highlight items that are a priority. "Cover up the list, with theexception of onehigh-priority task at one time," she suggests. "This will allow you to focus better onthe task at hand;otherwise, it will be easy to get overwhelmed if you're readingthrough a to-do list that spans an entire page.Concentrating on a single itemwill make your tasks appear like they are more doable," Carlson says.

　　D)Stopmultitasking. Despite what you may consider multitasking, it'scounterproductive. Unless you're drinkingcoffee while scanning your morninge-mails, you're not saving any time by attempting to do ten things atonce. "If you find yourself getting tangled intoo many things, it may be of much necessity of you to re-- evaluate yourinvolvement," Rudy says. "Your mind will wander from one topic toanother and you.may endup never accomplishing a thing." Rudy recommendsthe best way to stop multitasking is to create priority listswith deadlines."When applicable, complete one project before you move further on to thenext one," he says.

　　E)Set timelimits. Deborah Chaddock-Brown, a work-at-home s'.mgle parent, says she'sfrequently overwhelmedby the demands of maintaining order in her residence andrunning her own business. Still, she manages to "doit all" by settinga time limit for each task. "I have the type of personality thatflits (轻轻地掠过)from thingto thing because I do have so much on my plate,"Brown says. "As a consequence I assign time slots: For thenext 15 minutesI will participate in Social media for the purpose of marketing mybusiness (not sendingphotos or playingFarmville)and that is the only thing I am about to do for the next 15 minutes.When thetime is up, I move on to the next task. That way, at night I don't endup with a pile of tasks to accomplish eventhough I felt busy all day."

　　F)Talk toyour manager. "Quite often, peopleare working on things that are no longer a top priority, butsomeone forgot totell them (that they're no longerimportant). There are usually clear priorities in themanager's head; he or shehas just not done a great job communicating those with the employee," saysHollyGreen, CEO of The Human Factor. Green's suggestion unfoldsin thismanner: "If you find yourselfconfrontedwith too many responsibilitieS, sit down， note the significantthings you are in charge of, and go toyour manager to have a conversation todiscuss priorities, trade-offs, timecommitments andinterdependencies required to do each thing well, and then ask whatyou should stop working on or work onless so you can get the right thingsdone." Greefi says managers should be willing to help sort out priorities,solong as employees have a can-do approach and aren't just complaining abouttheir workload.

　　G)Eliminatetime wasters. "If interruptions are l keeping you from yourresponsibilities, learn how to deal withthem accordingly," says EileenRoth, author of Organizing for Dummies. Roth proposes the followingsuggestionsto combat disruptions: "Use voicemail to cut down on telephone interruptions, turn offthe alertthat says "You've got an e-mail' and give staffmembers a set time to visit you." Justin Gramm, president ofGlobellaBuyers Realty, exemplifies Roth's point. "E-mail had been a big time waster for me in the pastbecause it wasa constant interruption, causing me to lose focus on the task at hand," hesays. Sincedetermined to check his e-mails only twice a day, Gramm says he hasbecome much more efficient. "If peoplewant to get more work done, theyneed to stop checking e-mails and get down to business," he says.

　　H)Assessyour workload before taking on new tasks. "The paradox of today's workenvironment is that the moreyou do, the more that's expected of you,"Davidson says. In order to better assess your workload, Davidsonsuggests askingyourself the following questions before agreeing to undertake newresponsibilities: Is the taskaligned (使一致)with your prioritiesand goals; Are you likely to be as prone to saying yes to such arequesttomorrow or next week; what else could you do that would be morerewarding; what other pressing tasks andresponsibilities are you likely toface; Does the other party have options other than you; Will he or shebecrushed if you say no?

　　I)Want to know more? Most of our expertsrecommended books for additional tips on how to maximizeefficiency, but onebook was mentioned time and again. Check out The Seven Habits of HighlyEffectivePeople.

　　"The more you do, the more you are expected to do" has been a paradoxin today's work environment.

　　47、As longas employees have a can-do attitude and do not just complain about theirworkload, the managers wouldlike to help them decide what to do first.

　　48、As asingle parent, Deborah Chaddock-Brown finds it difficult to make a balancebetween business and housework.

　　49、Thereare many useful methods of preventing people from feeling overwhelmed byworkload.

　　50、Messywork areas are nonproductive to some extent, so you are supposed to keep yourwork areas tidy and important files at hand.

　　51、To knowmore about how to maximize efficiency, The Seven Habits of Highly EffectivePeople is recommended.

　　52、In Organizing for Dummies, using voice mail to cut down on telephone interruptionsand turning offthe e-mail noticeare suggested in combating interruptions.

　　53、According to Rudy, the best way to stop multitasking is to make a list ofpriorities and set deadlines for each task.

　　54、Focusingon a single matter will make your tasks appear more possible to be done.

　　55、In fact,most of what people retain is substitutable, so dispose the things that aredisposable.

　　Section C

　　Questions 56-61 are based on the followingpassage.

　　Byalmost any measure, there is a boom in Intemet-based instruction. In just a fewyears,34 percent ofAmerican universities have begun offering some form ofdistance learning (DL), and among the larger schools,it's closer to 90 percent.If you doubt the popularity of the trend, you probably haven't heard of theUniversity ofPhoenix. It grants degrees entirely on the basis of onlineinstruction. It enrolls 90,000 students, a statistic used tosupport its claimto be the largest private university in the country.

　　Whilethe kinds of instruction offered in these programs will differ, DL usuallysignifies a course in which theinstructors post syllabi( 课程大纲), reading assignments, and schedules on Websites, and students sendin theirassignments by e-mail. Generally speaking, face-to-face communicationwith an instructor is minimized oreliminated altogether.

　　Theattraction for students might at first seem obvious. Primarily, there's theconvenience promised by courseson the Net: you can do the work, as they say, inyour pajamas ( 睡衣). But figures indicate that the reducedeffortresults in a reduced commitment to the course. While dropout rates for allfreshmen at American universitiesis around 20 percent, the rate for onlinestudents is 35 percent. Students themselves seem to understand theweaknessesinherent in the setup. In a survey conducted for eComell, the DL division ofComell University, lessthan a third of the respondents expected the quality ofthe online course to be as good as the classroom course.

　　Clearly,from the schools' perspective, there's a lot of money to be saved. Althoughsome of the moreambitious programs require new investments in servers andnetworks to support collaborative software, most DLcourses can run on existingor minimally upgraded(升级)systems. The more students who enroll in acourse butdon't come to campus, the more the school saves on keeping the lightson in the classrooms, paying doorkeepers,and maintaining parking lots. Andthere's evidence that instructors must work harder to run a DL course foravariety of reasons, they won't be paid any more, and might well be paid less.

　　What is the most striking feature of theUniversity of Phoenix?

　　A.Allits courses are offered online.

　　B.Itsonline courses are of the best quality.

　　C.It boasts the largest number of studentson campus.

　　D.Anyone taking its online courses is sure to get a degree.

　　57、According to the passage, distance learning isbasically characterized by____

　　A.aconsiderable flexibility in its academic requirements

　　B.the great diversity ofstudents' academic backgrounds

　　C.a minimum or total absence of face-to'faceinstruction

　　D.the casual relationship between students and professors

　　58、Manystudents take Internet-based courses mainly because they can ____

　　A.earntheir academic degrees With much less effort

　　B.savea great deal on traveling and boarding expenses

　　C.select courses from variouscolleges and universities

　　D.work on the required courses whenever andwherever

　　59、What accounts for the high dropout rates for online students?

　　A.Thereis no strict control over the academic standards of the courses.

　　B.Theevaluation system used by online universities is inherently weak.

　　C.There is nomechanism to ensure that they make the required effort.

　　D.Lack of classroominteraction reduces the effectiveness of instruction.

　　60、According to the passage, universities showgreat enthusiasm for DL programs for the purpose of____

　　A.building up their reputation

　　B.cutting down on their expenses

　　C.upgrading their teaching facilities

　　D.providing convenience for students

　　Questions{TSE}are based on the followingpassage.

　　In thisage of Internet chat, videogames and reality television, there is no shortageof mindless activities to keepa child occupied. Yet, despite the competition,my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure timewriting shortstories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competitionshe won last year.

　　As awriter I know about winning contest, and about losing them. I know what it islike to work hard on astory only to receive a rejection slip from thepublisher. I also know the pressures of trying to live up to a reputationcreatedby previous victories. What if she doesn't win the contest again? That's thestrange thing about being aparent. So many of our own past scars and dashedhopes can surface.

　　Arevelation (启示)came last week when I asked her, "Don't you want to win again?" "No," she replied, "I　just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade."

　　I hadjust spent weeks correcting her stores as she spontaneously( 自由地)told them. Telling myself that Iwas merely an experienced writerguiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions forcharacters,conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angelstarting first grade was quickly "guided" by meinto the tale of alittle girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turnedher contest into mycontest without even realizing it.

　　Stayingback and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I knowvery little about farmanimals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, Ihad to accept the fact that I was coopting (借用)mydaughter'sexperience.

　　Whilestepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that Iwill quickly follow with moresteps, putting myself far enough away to give herroom but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will bereminding myselfthat children need room to experiment, grow and find their own voices.

　　What do we learn from the first paragraph?

　　A.Children do find lots of fun in many mindlessactivities.

　　B.Rebecca is much too occupied to enjoy herleisure time.

　　C.Rebecca draws on a lot of online materials forher writing.

　　D.A lot of distractions compete for Children'stime nowadays.

　　62、What did the author say about her own writingexperience?

　　A.She did not quite live up to her reputation as awriter.

　　B.Her way to success was full of pains andfrustrations.

　　C.She was constantly under pressure of writingmore.

　　D.Most of her stories had been rejected bypublishers.

　　63、Why did Rebecca want to enter this year'swriting contest?

　　A.She believed she possessed real talent forwriting.

　　B.She was sure of winning with her mother's help.

　　C.She wanted to share her stories with readers.

　　D.She had won a prize in the previous contest.

　　64、The author took great pains to refine herdaughter's stories because ____

　　A.she believed she had the knowledge andexperience to offer guidance

　　B.she did not want to disappoint Rebecca whoneeded her help so much

　　C.she wanted to help Rebecca realize her dream ofbecoming a writer

　　D.she was afraid Rebecca's imagination might runwild while writing

　　65、What's the author's advice for parents?

　　A.A writing career, though attractive, is not forevery child to pursue.

　　B.Children should be allowed freedom to growthrough experience.

　　C.Parents should keep an eye on the activitiestheir kids engage in.

　　D.Children should be given every chance to voicetheir opinions.