注意:每个空格只填一个单词。请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。
Australia is becoming an increasingly lonely place, so much so that one party is turning it into an election issue. Social isolation affects one in ten Australians, while one in six experience periods of emotional loneliness. As the Australian population gets older, rates of social isolation are expected to increase.
In Victoria, one political party thinks the problem is so severe it requires government involvement with it. Fiona Patten, the upper house MP, has proposed that Victoria introduce a minister for loneliness to work across health, infrastructure, justice and communities portfolios, and handle what experts say is becoming a growing health problem.
Scarce public transport options, a lack of support for people with disabilities to engage in community events and satellite suburbs that force long commutes and leave little time for socialisation have all been identified as possible structural triggers. “We know that everyone is at risk of loneliness in periods of life transition,” says Tegan Cruwys, a psychological research fellow at Australian National University. “Whether that’s moving to university, becoming a mum, retiring from the workforce, changing jobs, moving cities. If you were someone who experienced loneliness during life transitions, that has less to do with you and much more to do with the world in which you are living.”
Kevin O’Neill is 56 and divorced in his early 40s. He says the transition from living with a wife and kids to living alone was tough. Things improved when he moved back to Keilor in Melbourne’s northern suburbs and reconnected with friends he grew up with.
Avril Hannah-Jones, a Uniting Church minister, is also considering the risks associated with that transition. “At the moment the time I spend alone is by choice, and is a relaxation from a very people-oriented job,” she says. “Maybe in retirement, if being alone is no longer by choice, I’ll feel more lonely.”
Brook says retirees can protect against the health risks of loneliness by joining one or two community groups or volunteer communities. “If you’re 65 and you retire and you just sort of potter around the house … your chances of dying within six years are 12% – that’s an early death,” she says. “If you retire at 65 and you join one interest group ... choir, knitting, woodworking, men’s shed, anything, your chances of dying in that six years has reduced by half.”
The risk of an early death decreases with every group or meaningful activity you join. “I think that’s a really profoundly simple but profoundly powerful message of optimism about this issue.” Cruwys says the social risk of retirement should be discussed and planned for as openly as the financial risks. There is a demonstrated connection between being financially strained, such as living on welfare or the pension, and an increased sense of isolation. “Staying connected costs money, so more financial aids should be provided, ” she says.
‘Loneliness minister’ proposed to handle Australian social isolation | |
| Introduction to the problem | ♦ Ten percent of Australians are affected by social isolation, while a higher ♦ With the Australian population ♦ The ♦ Fiona Patten has advised that Victoria introduce a minister for loneliness to handle the growing health problem. |
| Causes of the problem | ♦ Inconvenient ♦ Everyone is most likely to feel lonely when their life changes from one state to another. ♦ Loneliness has more to do with the world where one is living than with ♦ Being financially strained is connected with an increased sense of being |
| ♦ After ♦ Retirees will ♦ Offering financial aids to retirees is another way to | |
相似题推荐
I’m sorry to hear that life is getting you down right now ... I’m not sure there’s any specific advice I can give to cheer you up. It’s sometimes quite annoying to be reminded how much people love you when you don’t love yourself that much.
I’ve found that it’s of some help to compare one’s moods(情绪)about the world to the weather. Here are some obvious things about the weather:
It’s real.
If it’s dark and rainy, it really is.
It isn’t under one’s control as to when the rain stops, but it will stop one day.
You can’t change it by wishing it away.
It really is the same with one’s moods．The wrong approach is to believe that they are illusions(幻想). Panic, anxiety and anger are as real as weather.
But they will pass; they really will.
In the same way that one has to accept the weather, one has to accept how one feels about life. “Today’s a bad day” is a perfect approach.“Hey-ho, it’s raining inside; it isn’t my mistake, and there’s nothing I can do about it. But when the sun comes out, I shall take full advantage.”
I don’t know if any of that is of any use... I just hope this brings you a little more pleasure and purpose in life.
Best wishes!
Yours,
Stephen Fry
1. How does Crystal feel according to the letter?| A．Ignored. | B．Ashamed. | C．Panicked. | D．Unhappy. |
| A．offer tips on making friends |
| B．teach skills of writing poems |
| C．share comfort and encouragement |
| D．explain ways of observing weather |
| A．Literature. | B．Watch This. |
| C．Just Ask. | D．Science Forum. |
【推荐2】Whether you’re in high school or college, classes will be over in June. If you’d like to work in the summer vacation, have you started looking for a job? If you haven’t, now’s the time to search for positions, fill out applications, and get yourself hired. You can follow our tips below.
Make or update your resume. Even if potential positions require you to submit an application, some may also ask for an accompanying resume.
Look ahead.
Pay a visit. If there’s a certain place where you’re interested in working, put on an appropriate outfit(装束), take your resume and visit there.
Remember, it’s important to get started on the summer job search now, as so many others will be looking for seasonal work.
| A．Get your references ready. |
| B．Ask to speak with the manager. |
| C．Contact your former employers immediately. |
| D．What do you want to do after you graduate from college? |
| E．It might make sense for you to stay in your college town. |
| F．And don’t get discouraged if you can’t find anything immediately. |
| G．Go to the career services office at your school to help you with your resume. |
It is never too late to add some new and better practices into your daily life. Here are some wise lessons that I wish I knew when I was younger:
Don’t wait until tomorrow. Enjoy every moment of today, because you are not guaranteed a tomorrow. Don’t put off your dreams. Don’t wait to do. If it’s important to you，then do it today. Pay attention to what is happening now, to the people around you, to the task at hand and to all of the choices you make today.
It’s called work for a reason. Success at anything takes work. When you hear about an overnight success story, don’t forget about all of the work that came before. You may have to do work you do not enjoy before you get success. Keep going.
Don’t burn your bridges. You never know when a former boss，colleague, business partner or acquaintance may come in handy. Try to part on good terms, stay on good terms and never gossip(说长道短)about former connections. A wide pool of friends, coworkers and connections of all kinds will provide a wealthy resource of ideas and support as you go forward in life.
It’s not a race. You have so much to do and it feels as though you have to be in a hurry to get there. But in fact，you do not have to do it all at once. If you try to do it all at once, you will at best not have time to enjoy it and at worst burn out and damage your health and relationships. Slow down and take one thing at a time, one day at a time．
Look for the good in everything. Stay positive. Look for the good in people. Celebrate the happy moments. Give helpful encouragement rather than negative criticism. If you view the world around you and life’s challenges through goodness，then you will find life much more enjoyable．
1. What’s the author’s attitude towards success? (No more than 15 words )2. List three kinds of helpful bridges while you go forward in life. (No more than 8 words)
3. What does the underlined word “coworkers” mean in English? (No more than5 words)
4. What’s the result if you do something in a hurry? (No more than 20 words)
5. In your opinion, which lesson in the passage is the most meaningful to you? Why?(No more than 30 words )
【推荐1】I have learned something about myself since I moved from Long Island to Florida three years ago. Even though I own a home in Port St. Lucie just minutes from the ocean, an uncontrollable urge wells up to return to Long Island even as others make their way south. I guess I am a snowbird stuck in reverse. Instead of enjoying Florida’s mild winters, I willingly endure the severe weather on Long Island, the place I called home for 65 years.
I’m like a migratory bird (候鸟) that has lost its sense of timing and direction, my wings flapping against season.
So what makes me fly against the tide of snowbirds? The answer has a lot to do with my reluctance to give up the things that define who I am. Once I hear that the temperature on Long Island has dipped into the range of 40 to 50 degrees, I begin to long for the sight and crackling sound of a wood fire. I also long for the bright display of colors -- first in the fall trees, and then in the lights around homes and at Rockefeller Center. Floridians decorate too, but can’t create the special feel of a New England winter.
I suppose the biggest reason why I return is to celebrate the holidays with people I haven’t seen in months. What could be better than sitting with family and friends for a Thanksgiving turkey dinner, or watching neighbors children excitedly open gifts on Christmas? Even the first snowfall seems special. I especially enjoy seeing a bright red bird settling on a snow-covered branch. (My wife and I spend winters at a retirement community in Ridge, and I’m grateful that I don’t have to shovel.)
While these simple pleasures are not unique to Long Island, they are some of the reasons why I come back. Who says you can’t go home?
1. What does the underlined word “reluctance” in Paragraph 3 mean?| A．Coincidence. | B．Expectation. | C．Unwillingness. | D．Motivation. |
| A．Imaginative and outspoken. | B．Hard-working and serious. |
| C．Homesick and easy-going. | D．Anxious and painful. |
| A．To describe his dream to be a free bird. |
| B．To explain the reasons for moving from his hometown. |
| C．To praise the beauty and warmth of his hometown. |
| D．To express his feeling of missing his hometown. |
【推荐2】How to Forgive Yourself
Kelly came home fired and discouraged from her job. She started yelling at everyone in the house, When she calmed down, she started to feel guilty and wanted her family to forgive her.
Does this story sound familiar? What about you? Have you done something you feel you can’t forgive yourself for?
We sometimes make some mistakes.
To learn how to forgive yourself, follow the guide below:
◆
◆After you have known about your mistake, you need to learn your lesson from it, so you won’t repent it. Ask yourself, what can you learn from what you have done?
◆Realize that you are a human and everyone makes mistakes or does things they are not proud of.
Always remember the saying, “We achieve inner health only through forgiveness, the forgiveness not only of others but also of ourselves.”
| A．Recognize your behavior and what you have done |
| B．It is of great help if you just ignore what led to the situation |
| C．If you stay upset and angry at yourself, this will not benefit you. |
| D．Do you hate yourself so much that you feel life is coming to an end? |
| E．We also hurt others intentionally and unintentionally now and then. |
| F．Do you have to change some habits or behavior to avoid such experiences? |
【推荐3】Open a book by any philosopher and you'll probably read that a meaningful life has to involve achieving something difficult. That's because many philosophers are perfectionists when it comes to the meaning of life. It's not just philosophers, either. Perfectionism is one of the main reasons people tend to believe their lives are meaningless.
For one, it's pretty inconsistently applied most of the time. People who are perfectionists about the meaning of life often don't apply it to other areas of their lives.
It doesn't end there. The demands that perfectionists place on themselves and others are actually really unrealistic. And that means they can only lead to disappointment.
| A．They see life as all -or-nothing. |
| B．We don't expect a dog to drive a car. |
| C．This leads to lots of double standards. |
| D．You're unlikely to be satisfied with any result. |
| E．And there are actually a few problems with perfectionism. |
| F．However, most of us aren't an Einstein or a Mother Teresa. |
| G．They'd probably dismiss the ideas like that as absurd, in fact. |
