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  3. In order to “change lives for the better

In order to “change lives for the better

题库2022-08-02  43
问题 In order to “change lives for the better” and reduce “dependency,” George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced the “upfront work search” scheme. Only if the jobless arrive at the job centre with a CV, register for online job search, and start looking for work will they be eligible for benefit—and then they should report weekly rather than fortnightly. What could be more reasonable?　More apparent reasonableness followed. There will now be a seven-day wait for the jobseeker’s allowance. “Those first few days should be spent looking for work, not looking to sign on,” he claimed. “We’re doing these things because we know they help people stay off benefits and help those on benefits get into work faster.” Help? Really? On first hearing, this was the socially concerned chancellor, trying to change lives for the better, complete with “reforms” to an obviously indulgent system that demands too little effort from the newly unemployed to find work, and subsidises laziness. What motivated him, we were to understand, was his zeal for “fundamental fairness”—protecting the taxpayer, controlling spending and ensuring that only the most deserving claimants received their benefits.　Losing a job is hurting: you don’t skip down to the jobcentre with a song in your heart, delighted at the prospect of doubling your income from the generous state. It is financially terrifying, psychologically embarrassing and you know that support is minimal and extraordinarily hard to get. You are now not wanted; you are now excluded from the work environment that offers purpose and structure in your life. Worse, the crucial income to feed yourself and your family and pay the bills has disappeared. Ask anyone newly unemployed what they want and the answer is always: a job.　But in Osborneland, your first instinct is to fall into dependency—permanent dependency if you can get it—supported by a state only too ready to indulge your falsehood. It is as though 20 years of ever-tougher reforms of the job search and benefit administration system never happened. The principle of British welfare is no longer that you can insure yourself against the risk of unemployment and receive unconditional payments if the disaster happens. Even the very phrase “jobseeker’s allowance” is about redefining the unemployed as a “jobseeker” who had no fundamental right to a benefit he or she has earned through making national insurance contributions. Instead, the claimant receives a time-limited “allowance,” conditional on actively seeking a job; no entitlement and no insurance, at ￡71.70 a week, one of the least generous in the EU.According to Paragraph 3, being unemployed makes one feel _____.A. uneasyB. enragedC. insultedD. guilty
选项 A. uneasy
B. enraged
C. insulted
D. guilty
答案 A
解析 细节题。询问人们在失业之后的感受。第三段谈及人们失业后的状态。第①句是段落中心句，hurting是关键词；接着指出失业使人经济和精神压力沉重，让人感觉到被社会抛弃；第④句指出失业给个人和家庭带来的危害；第⑤句话表明实际上失业者都希望尽快找到工作。根据段落中的一系列形容词，如hurting（伤人的），terrifying （令人害怕的），embarrassing（窘迫的），not wanted（不被需要的）等，可以看出人们失业后“忧虑不安”的表现，因此A项是最佳答案。“暴怒的”、“受辱的”和“歉疚的”虽然符合逻辑，但第三段的描述并没有体现这些方面，不如A项概括准确。
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