Passage Two
Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following paasage.
The work-life balance is dead. By this, I'm not advocating that you should give up your pursuit of having a fulblling career and a thriving personal life, and I'm definitely not saying that you have to give up one to have the other. I also acknowledge that we have a work-life problem, but T'm arguing that the concept of balance has never been helpful, because it's too limiting. You see, our language makes a difference, and how we refer to things matters because it affects our thinking and therefore our actions.
At the minimum, most of us work because we want如be able to support ourselves , our fanilies,and the people around us. In the ideal world, we're all doing work that we're proud of and that provides meaning and purpose to us. But even if your job doesn't give you shivers of joy each new day, working is a part of what each of us does and the contribution we make to society. When you separate work and life, it's a lttle bit harder to make that connection.But when you think of work as part of a full life and a complete experience, it becomes easier to see that success in one aspect often supports another.
Losing your balance and falling isn't pleasant. A goal to balance suggests that things could quickly get off balance, and that causes terible outcomes. It's more constructive to think of solutions that continue to evolve over shifts in life and work. Rather than falling or failing, you may have good days or better days or not-so-good days. These variations are normal, and it's more useful to think of life as something that is ever evolving and changing, rather than a high-risk enterprise where things could go wrong with one misstep.
How we tlk to ourselves matters, and how we talk about issues makes a difference. Let's bury “work-life balance”and think bigger and better about work-life fulfllment to do a little less balancing and a lot more living.
51. What does the author suggest by saying“The work-life balance is dead"?
A) The hope of achieving a thriving life is impossible to realize.
B) The pursuit of a ful6lling career involves personal sacrifice.
C) The imbalance between work and life simply doesn't exist anymore.
D) The concept of work-life balance contributes lttle to a flflling life.
52. What does the author say about our use of language?
A) It impacts how we think and behave.
C) It reflects how we communicate.
B) It changes with the passage of time.
D) It differs from person to person.
53. What does the author say we do in an ideal world?
A) We do work that betters the lives of our families and friends.
B) We do work that gives us bursts of joy each new day.
C) We do meaningful work that contributes to society.
D) We do demanding work that brings our capacity into full play.
54. What does the author say about life?
A) It is cyclical.
C) It is fuflling.
B) It is dynamic.
D) It is risky.
55. What does the author advise us to do?
A) Make life as simple as possible.
C) Balance life and work in a new way.
B) Talk about balance in simpler terms.
D) Strive for a more fulflling life.
答案解析：
由题干中的“The work - life balance is dead”定位到第一段。文中提到作者认为“工作 - 生活平衡”这个概念从未有帮助，因为它太局限了，即这个概念对充实的生活贡献不大，所以选D。
由题干中的“our use of language”定位到第一段。文中提到“our language makes a difference, and how we refer to things matters because it affects our thinking and therefore our actions”，说明语言影响我们的思考和行为，所以选A。
由题干中的“an ideal world”定位到第二段。文中指出在理想世界里，我们都在做让自己骄傲且能提供意义和目标的工作，也就是做对社会有贡献的有意义的工作，所以选C。
由题干中的“life”定位到第三段。文中提到“it's more useful to think of life as something that is ever evolving and changing”，说明生活是不断演变和变化的，即动态的，所以选B。
由题干中的“advise us to do”定位到最后一段。文中提到“Let's bury ‘work - life balance’ and think bigger and better about work - life fulfillment to do a little less balancing and a lot more living”，建议我们追求更充实的生活，所以选D。
