The Paper Chase

    1. "Running a house¹ is lot like running a business." says Stephanie Denton, a professional organizer based in ²Cincinnati, Ohio, who specializes in both residential and commercial paperwork and record keeping. To get a successful grip on³ organizing documents, bills, and other materials,Dentonsuggests the following tips:

    2. Create a space in which you can always do your paperwork. This is perhaps the most important element of a successful system. If you can"t devote an entire desk to the task, at least invest in a rolling file cart to store active paperwork and a two-drawer file cabinet for family records. Store the rolling file cart wherever it is most convenient and comfortable to do your work. whether that is the kitchen, office, or family room.⁴

    3. When in doubt, throw it out, the first step to implementing a workable filling system is to eliminate paper you don"t use, don"t need, or that you could easily access again elsewhere. Throw out duplicate statements, old catalogs, and all of the coupons, mailings, or offerings you"ll never have an opportunity to use or even read.

    4. Set aside two days a month to pay bills, if a monthly due date doesn"t fit into your cycle, call up the creditor and suggest a more convenient date, keep two manila folders⁵ at the front of your system for current bills — one to correspond with each bill-paying day — and file all incoming bills. Keep a list in the front of each folder of what needs to be paid in case⁶ the invoice never arrives or gets misplaces.

    5. Think of your filling system not as a rigid tool, but as a living, breathing system that can accommodate your changing needs. A good filling system is both mentally and physically flexible, everyone"s needs are different, saysDenton, but when devising a filling system, ask yourself: "Where would I look for this?" Create main headings for your filling system, such as investments, Taxes, Children, and so forth, and file individual folders under the main headings. Never overstuff your files.

 

词汇：

paperwork /"peɪpəwɜːk/ n.文书工作

overstuff /,əʊvə"stʌf/ vt.把……塞得过满

statement /"steɪtm(ə)nt/ n.账目

duplicate /"djuːplɪkət/ adj.复制的

correspond /kɒrɪ"spɒnd/ vt.与……一致、和谐或相配

mailing /"meɪlɪŋ/ n.邮件

incoming /"ɪnkʌmɪŋ/ adj.将要或正要进来的

creditor /"kredɪtə/ n.债权人

misplace /mɪs"pleɪs/ vt.把……放错地方

invoice /"ɪnvɒɪs/ n.发票

heading /"hedɪŋ/ n.标题

rigid /"rɪdʒɪd/ adj.呆板的,僵硬的

 

注释：

1.running a house：打理一所房子。run在这里是“管理”的意思。又如：He"s been running a testaurant since he left school

2.base…in…：在……为……设立基础、提供基础。又如：They based the new company in Portland

3.get a grip on：抓住，控制，掌握。又如：getting a grip on the new technique

4.family room：家庭游艺室，指用于家庭成员娱乐的房间

5.manila folders：马尼拉折叠夹

6.in case：万一。又如：Take a hat with you in case the sun is very hot.A. they are useless

B. in paper chase

C. that it is easily reached

D. that different people have different requirements

E. they are not comfortable

F. in investing in coupons

"Mentally flexible" indicates the fact __________.

A:A B:B C:C D:D E:E F:F

The Paper Chase

    1. “Running a house¹ is a lot like running a business,” says Stephanie Denton, a professional organizer based in² Cincinnati,Ohio, who specializes in both residential and commercial paperwork and record keeping. To get a successful grip on³ organizing documents, bills, and other materials, Denton suggests the following tips：

    2. Create a space in which you can always do your paperwork. This is perhaps the most important element of a successful system. If you can’t devote an entire desk to the task, at least invest in a rolling file cart to store active paperwork and a two-drawer file cabinet for family records. Store the rolling file cart wherever it is most convenient and comfortable to do your work, whether that is the kitchen, office, or family room⁴.

    3. When in doubt, throw it out. The first step for implementing a workable filing system is to eliminate paper you don’t use, don’t need, or that you could easily access again elsewhere. Throw out duplicate statements, old catalogs, and all of the coupons, mailings, or offerings you’ll never have an opportunity to use or even read.

    4. Set aside two days a month to pay bills. If a monthly due date doesn’t fit into your cycle, call up the creditor and suggest a more convenient date. Keep two manila folders⁵ at the front of your system for current bills — one to correspond with each bill-paying day — and file all incoming bills. Keep a list in the front of each folder of what needs to be paid in case⁶ the invoice never arrives or gets misplaced.

    5. Think of your filing system not as a rigid tool, but as a living, breathing system that can accommodate your changing needs. A good filing system is both mentally and physically flexible. Everyone’s needs are different, says Denton, but when devising a filing system, ask yourself：“Where would I look for this?” Create main headings for your filing system, such as Investments, Taxes, Children, and so forth, and file individual folders under the main headings. Never overstuff your files.

 

词汇：

paperwork /"peɪpəwɜːk/ n.文书工作

overstuff /,əʊvə"stʌf/ vt.把……塞得过满

statement /"steɪtm(ə)nt/ n.账目

duplicate /"djuːplɪkət/ adj.复制的

correspond /kɒrɪ"spɒnd/ vt.与……一致、和谐或相配

mailing /"meɪlɪŋ/ n.邮件

incoming /"ɪnkʌmɪŋ/ adj.将要或正要进来的

creditor /"kredɪtə/ n.债权人

misplace /mɪs"pleɪs/ vt.把……放错地方

invoice /"ɪnvɒɪs/ n.发票

heading /"hedɪŋ/ n.标题

rigid /"rɪdʒɪd/ adj.呆板的,僵硬的

 

注释：

1. running a house:打理一所房子。“run”在这里是“管理”的意思。又如:He’s been running a restaurant since he left school.

2. base... in...:在……为……设立基础、提供基础。又如:They based the new company in Portland.

3. get a grip on:抓住,控制,掌握。又如:getting a grip on the new technique.

4. family room:家庭游艺室,指用于家庭成员娱乐的房间

5. manila folders:马尼拉折叠夹

6. in case :万一。又如：Take a hat with you in case the sun is very hot.A  they are useless

B  in paper chase

C  that it is easily reached

D  that different people have different requirements

E   they are not comfortable

F   in investing in coupons

"Mentally flexible” indicates the fact __________.

A:A B:B C:C D:D E:E F:F

Information technologists have dreamt for decades of making an electronic display that is as good as paper: cheap enough to be pasted on to wails and billboards, clear enough to be read in broad daylight, and thin and flexible enough to be bound as hundreds of flippable leaves to make a book. Over the past few years they have got close. In particular, they have worked out how to produce the display itself, by sandwiching tiny spheres that change colour in response to an electric charge inside thin sheets of flexible, transparent plastic. What they have not yet found is a way to mass-produce flexible electronic circuitry with which to create that charge. But a paper just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that this, too, may be done soon.
The process described by John Rogers and his colleagues from Bell Laboratories, an arm of Lucent Technologies, in New Jersey, and E Ink Corporation, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, starts with E Ink’s established half-way house towards true electronic paper. This is based on spheres containing black, liquid dye and particles of white, solid pigment. The pigment particles are negatively charged, so they can be pushed and pulled around by electrodes located above and below the sheet.
The electrodes, in turn, are controlled by transistors under the sheet. Each transistor manipulates a single picture element (pixel), making it black or white. The pattern of pixels, in turn, makes up the picture or text on the page. The problem lies in making the transistors and connections. Established ways of doing this, such as photolithography, use silicon as the semiconductor in the transistors. That is all right for applications suck as pesters. It is too fragile and too expensive, though, for genuine electronic paper—which is why cheap and flexible electronic components are needed.
For flexibility, Dr Rogers and his colleagues chose pentacene as their semiconductor, and gold as their wiring. Pentacene is a polymer whose semiconducting properties were discovered only recently. Gold is the most malleable metal known, and one of the best electrical conductors. Although it is pricey, so little is needed that the cost per article is tiny.
To make their electronic paper the researchers started with a thin sheet of Mylar, a tough plastic, that was coated with indium-tin oxide (ITO), a transparent electrical conductor. To carve this conductor into a suitable electric circuit, they used an innovation called microcontact printing lithography. This trick involves printing the pattern of the circuit on to the ITO using a rubber stamp. The "ink" in the process is a solvent-resistant chemical that protects this part of the ITO while allowing the rest to be dissolved.
From the first paragraph of the passage, we can learn that an electronic display ______.

A:can be made as good as paper B:is cheap enough to be pasted on to walls and billboards C:will be as thin and flexible as paper D:is difficult to be created in the form of flexible electronic circuitry

Text 1
Improving the balance between the working part of the day and the rest of it is a goal of a growing number of workers in rich Western countries. Some are turning away from the ideals of their parents, for whom work always came first; others with scarce skills are demanding more because they know they can get it. Employers, Caught between a falling population of workers and tight controls on immigration, are eager to identify extra perks that will lure more "talent" their way. Just now they are focusing on benefits (especially flexible working) that offer employees more than just pay.
Some companies saw the change of mood some time ago. IBM has more than 50 different programmes promoting work-life balance and Bank of America over 30. But plenty of other firms remain unconvinced and many lack the capacity to cater to such ideas even if they wanted to. Helen Muftis, with Hay Group, a human-resources consultancy, sees a widening gap between firms "at the creative end of employment" and those that are not.
The chief component of almost all schemes to promote work-life balance is flexible working. This allows people to escape rigid nine-to-five schedules and work away from a formal office. IBM says that 40% of its employees today work off the company premises. For many businesses, flexible working is a necessity. Globalization has spread the hours in which workers need to communicate with each other and increased the call for flexible shifts.
Nella Barkley, an American who advises companies on work-life balance, says that large firms ale beginning to understand the value of such schemes, "but only slowly". For most of them, they still mean little more than child care, health care and flexible working.
To some extent, the proliferation of work-life-balance schemes is a function of today’s labour market. Companies in knowledge, based industries worry about the shortage of skills and how they are going to persuade talented people to work for them. Although white-collar workers are more likely to be laid off nowadays, they are also likely to get rehired. Unemployment among college graduates in America is just over 2%. The same competition for scarce. talent is evident in Britain.
For some time to come, talented people in the West will demand more from employers, and clever employers will create new gewgaws to entice them to join. Those employers should note that for a growing number of these workers the most appealing gewgaw of all is the freedom to work as and when they please.

IBM is mentioned in the third paragraph to show that（）

A:IBM has many different prgrammes enhancing work-life balance. B:flexible working means flexible working time. C:flexible working includes allowing employees to work outside offices. D:flexible working can be realized by flexible shifts.

Information technologists have dreamt for decades of making an electronic display that is as good as paper: cheap enough to be pasted on to wails and billboards, clear enough to be read in broad daylight, and thin and flexible enough to be bound as hundreds of flippable leaves to make a book. Over the past few years they have got close. In particular, they have worked out how to produce the display itself, by sandwiching tiny spheres that change colour in response to an electric charge inside thin sheets of flexible, transparent plastic. What they have not yet found is a way to mass-produce flexible electronic circuitry with which to create that charge. But a paper just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that this, too, may be done soon.
The process described by John Rogers and his colleagues from Bell Laboratories, an arm of Lucent Technologies, in New Jersey, and E Ink Corporation, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, starts with E Ink’s established half-way house towards true electronic paper. This is based on spheres containing black, liquid dye and particles of white, solid pigment. The pigment particles are negatively charged, so they can be pushed and pulled around by electrodes located above and below the sheet.
The electrodes, in turn, are controlled by transistors under the sheet. Each transistor manipulates a single picture element (pixel), making it black or white. The pattern of pixels, in turn, makes up the picture or text on the page. The problem lies in making the transistors and connections. Established ways of doing this, such as photolithography, use silicon as the semiconductor in the transistors. That is all right for applications suck as pesters. It is too fragile and too expensive, though, for genuine electronic paper—which is why cheap and flexible electronic components are needed.
For flexibility, Dr Rogers and his colleagues chose pentacene as their semiconductor, and gold as their wiring. Pentacene is a polymer whose semiconducting properties were discovered only recently. Gold is the most malleable metal known, and one of the best electrical conductors. Although it is pricey, so little is needed that the cost per article is tiny.
To make their electronic paper the researchers started with a thin sheet of Mylar, a tough plastic, that was coated with indium-tin oxide (ITO), a transparent electrical conductor. To carve this conductor into a suitable electric circuit, they used an innovation called microcontact printing lithography. This trick involves printing the pattern of the circuit on to the ITO using a rubber stamp. The "ink" in the process is a solvent-resistant chemical that protects this part of the ITO while allowing the rest to be dissolved.
From the first paragraph of the passage, we can learn that an electronic display ______.

A:can be made as good as paper B:is cheap enough to be pasted on to walls and billboards C:will be as thin and flexible as paper D:is difficult to be created in the form of flexible electronic circuitry

Information technologists have dreamt for decades of making an electronic display that is as good as paper: cheap enough to be pasted on to wails and billboards, clear enough to be read in broad daylight, and thin and flexible enough to be bound as hundreds of flippable leaves to make a book. Over the past few years they have got close. In particular, they have worked out how to produce the display itself, by sandwiching tiny spheres that change colour in response to an electric charge inside thin sheets of flexible, transparent plastic. What they have not yet found is a way to mass-produce flexible electronic circuitry with which to create that charge. But a paper just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that this, too, may be done soon.
The process described by John Rogers and his colleagues from Bell Laboratories, an arm of Lucent Technologies, in New Jersey, and E Ink Corporation, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, starts with E Ink’s established half-way house towards true electronic paper. This is based on spheres containing black, liquid dye and particles of white, solid pigment. The pigment particles are negatively charged, so they can be pushed and pulled around by electrodes located above and below the sheet.
The electrodes, in turn, are controlled by transistors under the sheet. Each transistor manipulates a single picture element (pixel), making it black or white. The pattern of pixels, in turn, makes up the picture or text on the page. The problem lies in making the transistors and connections. Established ways of doing this, such as photolithography, use silicon as the semiconductor in the transistors. That is all right for applications suck as pesters. It is too fragile and too expensive, though, for genuine electronic paper—which is why cheap and flexible electronic components are needed.
For flexibility, Dr Rogers and his colleagues chose pentacene as their semiconductor, and gold as their wiring. Pentacene is a polymer whose semiconducting properties were discovered only recently. Gold is the most malleable metal known, and one of the best electrical conductors. Although it is pricey, so little is needed that the cost per article is tiny.
To make their electronic paper the researchers started with a thin sheet of Mylar, a tough plastic, that was coated with indium-tin oxide (ITO), a transparent electrical conductor. To carve this conductor into a suitable electric circuit, they used an innovation called microcontact printing lithography. This trick involves printing the pattern of the circuit on to the ITO using a rubber stamp. The "ink" in the process is a solvent-resistant chemical that protects this part of the ITO while allowing the rest to be dissolved.

From the first paragraph of the passage, we can learn that an electronic display （）

A:can be made as good as paper B:is cheap enough to be pasted on to walls and billboards C:will be as thin and flexible as paper D:is difficult to be created in the form of flexible electronic circuitry

Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension Part A Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing [A], [B], [C] or [D]. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. Text 1 Improving the balance between the working part of the day and the rest of it is a goal of a growing number of workers in rich Western countries. Some are turning away from the ideals of their parents, for whom work always came first; others with scarce skills are demanding more because they know they can get it. Employers, Caught between a falling population of workers and tight controls on immigration, are eager to identify extra perks that will lure more "talent" their way. Just now they are focusing on benefits (especially flexible working) that offer employees more than just pay. Some companies saw the change of mood some time ago. IBM has more than 50 different programmes promoting work-life balance and Bank of America over 30. But plenty of other firms remain unconvinced and many lack the capacity to cater to such ideas even if they wanted to. Helen Muftis, with Hay Group, a human-resources consultancy, sees a widening gap between firms "at the creative end of employment" and those that are not. The chief component of almost all schemes to promote work-life balance is flexible working. This allows people to escape rigid nine-to-five schedules and work away from a formal office. IBM says that 40% of its employees today work off the company premises. For many businesses, flexible working is a necessity. Globalization has spread the hours in which workers need to communicate with each other and increased the call for flexible shifts. Nella Barkley, an American who advises companies on work-life balance, says that large firms ale beginning to understand the value of such schemes, "but only slowly". For most of them, they still mean little more than child care, health care and flexible working. To some extent, the proliferation of work-life-balance schemes is a function of today’s labour market. Companies in knowledge, based industries worry about the shortage of skills and how they are going to persuade talented people to work for them. Although white-collar workers are more likely to be laid off nowadays, they are also likely to get rehired. Unemployment among college graduates in America is just over 2%. The same competition for scarce. talent is evident in Britain. For some time to come, talented people in the West will demand more from employers, and clever employers will create new gewgaws to entice them to join. Those employers should note that for a growing number of these workers the most appealing gewgaw of all is the freedom to work as and when they please.

IBM is mentioned in the third paragraph to show that（）

A:IBM has many different prgrammes enhancing work-life balance. B:flexible working means flexible working time. C:flexible working includes allowing employees to work outside offices. D:flexible working can be realized by flexible shifts.