2008年12月英語六級閱讀備考技巧及詞匯(二)

　　The very best standard of living is nothing if it is not possible to take a pleasant walk in the district, if the children cannot be allowed to play in the streets, because the risks of traffic are too great, if during shopping you can nowhere find a spot for enjoying for a moment the nice weather, in short, if you only feel yourself at home after the street-door of your house is closed after you.

　　23. The passage mainly deals with ______.

　　(A) the life span of the Mojave shrimps

　　(B) the survival of desert shrimps

　　(C) the importance of water to life

　　(D) life in the Mojave Desert

　　注：三段出現(xiàn)shrimp，說明本文主要講shrimp，排除C和D，A選項life span沒出現(xiàn)過。

　　There are desert plants which survive the dry season in the form of inactive seeds. There are also desert insects which survive as inactive larvae (幼蟲). In addition, difficult as it is to believe, there are desert fish which can survive through years of drought (干旱) in the form of inactive eggs. These are the shrimps (小蝦) that live in the Mojave Desert, an intensely dry region in the south-west of the United States where shade temperatures of over 50C are often recorded.

　　The eggs of the Mojave shrimps are the size and have the appearance of grains of sand. When sufficient spring rain falls to form a lake, once every two to five years, these eggs hatch (孵化). Then the water is soon filled with millions of tiny shrimps about a millimetre long which feed on tiny plant and animal organisms which also grow in the temporary desert lake. Within a week, the shrimps grow from their original 1 millimetre to a length of about 1.5 centimetres.

　　Throughout the time that the shrimps are rapidly maturing, the water in the lake equally rapidly evaporates. Therefore, for the shrimps it is a race against time. By the twelfth day, however, when they are about 3 centimetre long, hundreds of tiny eggs form on the underbodies of the females. Usually by this time, all that remains of the lake is a large, muddy patch of wet soil. On the thirteenth day and the next, during the final hours of their brief lives, the shrimps lay their eggs in the mud. Then, having ensured that their species will survive, the shrimps die as the last of the water evaporates.

　　If sufficient rain falls the next year to form another lake, the eggs hatch, and once again the shrimps pass rapidly through their cycle of growth, adulthood, egg-laying, and death. Some years there is insufficient rain to form a lake: in this case, the eggs will remain dormant for another years, or even longer if necessary. Very, very occasionally, perhaps twice in a hundred years, sufficient rain falls to form a deep lake that lasts a month or more. In this case, the species passes through two cycles of growth, egg-laying, and death. Thus, on such occasions, the species multiplies considerably, which further ensures its survival.

　　40. The most appropriate title for the passage would be _____.

　　(A) The well-being of Career Women

　　(B) Sources of Mastery and Pleasure

　　(C) Two Aspects of Women's Well-Being

　　(D) Freedom Roles Women in Society

　　注：A選項career縮小了范圍，B選項沒出現(xiàn)woman，擴大了選項

　　In our culture, the sources of what we call a sense of "mastery" ---feeling important and worth-while-and the sources of what we call a sense "pleasure"-finding life enjoyable-are not always identical. Women often are told "You can't have it all." Sometimes what the speaker really is saying is :" You chose a career, so you can't expect to have closer relationships or a happy family life." or "You have a wonderful husband and children--What's all this about wanting a career?" But women need to understand and develop both aspects of well-being, if they are to feel good about themselves.

　　Our study shows that, for women, well-being has two dimensions. One is mastery, which includes self-esteem (自尊), a sense of control over your life, and low levels of anxiety and depression. Mastery is closely related to the "doing" side of life, to work and activity. Pleasure is the other dimensions, and it is composed of happiness, satisfaction and optimism (樂觀). It is tied more closely to the "feeling" side of life. The two are independent of each other. A woman could be high in mastery and low in pleasure, and vice versa. For example, a woman who has a good job, but whose mother has just died, might be feeling very good about herself and in control of her work life, but the pleasure side could be damaged for a time.

　　The concepts of mastery and pleasure can help us identify the sources of well-being for women, and remedy past mistakes. In the past, women were encouraged to look only at the feeling side of life as the source of all well-being. But we know that both mastery and pleasure are critical. And mastery seems to be achieved largely through work. In our study, all the groups of employed women rated significantly higher in mastery than did women who were not employed.

　　A woman's well-being is enhanced (增進) when she takes on multiple roles. At least by middle adulthood, the women who were involved in a combination of roles-marriages, motherhood, and employment were the highest in well-being, despite warnings about stress and strain.