1 . Ideally, childhood is a time of growth and learning. But for many children around the world, this time is cut short when they are forced to work, sometimes in dangerous conditions. As a result, June 12 is recognized as the annual World Day Against Child Labor.
As of 2020, around 160 million children worked as child laborers, which means that one child in 10 was a child laborer. Overall, child labor has decreased over the past 20 years, but in recent years, this progress has stalled. Child labor is distinguished from ordinary housework, helping with a family business or working to earn pocket money after school. Work done by children is classified as child labor when it harms the child physically, mentally, socially or morally, or when it hinders(阻碍) the child’s education.
About 79 million children are engaged in hazardous child labor. Sometimes this means the work is extremely dangerous because of heavy machinery or exposure to chemicals. Hazardous child labor can also involve harsh conditions, long hours, or exposure to various kinds of abuse.
The primary goal of the World Day Against Child Labor is raising awareness of the issue and encouraging individuals, organizations and governments to take action. Fighting child labor is a complex task. It involves social workers who identify child laborers and take action to provide these children and their families with other options. But it also involves change in communities as a whole, challenging the social norms(行为准则) that can lead adults to make their children work.
Child labor and poverty often go hand in hand as parents feel that removing their children from school is necessary to earn money so the family can survive. So, measures or policies meant to fight poverty are also tied to preventing child labor. Being harmful to children and to communities, child labor hinders children from growing into healthy, educated citizens who could make a difference in society. By highlighting the problem and offering a variety of solutions, the World Day Against Child Labor can make the situation a bit better.
1. What does the underlined word “stalled” in the second paragraph mean?| A．Slowed | B．Speeded | C．Stopped | D．Disappeared |
| A．Helping parents with the daily housework. |
| B．Assisting family business during the holidays. |
| C．Earning money for one’s camp trip after school. |
| D．Working in a shoe store every weekday afternoon. |
| A．The consequences of child labor. | B．The main types of child labor. |
| C．The seriousness of child labor. | D．The reasons against child labor. |
| A．Social workers. | B．Parents. | C．Governments. | D．Communities. |
2 .
Another popular tool for finding a job is the Internet. For example, people around the world can use the Craigslist Web site to buy things, meet people or find a job.
Another useful way to find a job is through a university.
At times, some experts(专业人士) can also help people find a job. Susan Miller has her own company called California Job Services in Los Angeles. She says her company helps people find a job by first helping them understand their strengths, goals and interests.
| A．It is said that the site can receive two million new jobs each month. |
| B．Looking after children or cleaning houses can get well paid. |
| C．Such services include looking after children or cleaning houses. |
| D．For example, students at the University of Texas can go to the job center to get help. |
| E．Then she provides them with methods to help them find the right job. |
| F．People can find jobs in many ways. |
| G．People can find jobs with difficulty. |
3 . The rise of the robots has raised the possibility of a future where there is simply less wok for humans to do. To tired office workers, a world where we all have a bit more leisure time sounds rather nice. Yet what really matters is how work will be distributed across the workforce.
The recent past shows there is no reason to believe it will be evenly (均衡地) spread. The length of the average working week in the UK has declined steadily from about 59 hours in the mid-19th century to 32 hours in 2009. But averages hide a lot.
While trends among women have been stable, there have been big shifts among men. Males in well-paid full-time employment are now working slightly longer hours on average than two decades ago. Meanwhile, men in full-time employment at the bottom of the wage ladder are working much less.
On top of that, the number of low-paid men who work part-time has increased sharply. Twenty years ago, one in 20 men with low hourly wages worked part-time; today it is one in five. Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows this phenomenon is only happening among the low-paid. In better-paying jobs, part-time men are still fairly rare. Gender roles within families might tend to be similar too. Low-paid men may be choosing to shoulder more childcare responsibilities so their partners can return to work.
Yet it is clear that the distribution of work will matter to people. Britain has both overemployment and underemployment problems: official data show 3.4m people in Britain want to work more hours while 3.2m want to work few hours for less pay. The underemployed are likely to be waiters or cleaners. The overemployed are most likely to be doctors or chief executives. This indicates an economy where demand and supply of skills are out of sync.
Nobody knows for sure how the next wave of automation will shake up demand for different skills. Perhaps doctors will gain the free time they desire. Others might find themselves in greater demand. But short of us developing a much better system for training people quickly for the jobs economy needs, it seems likely that in the future—as now—there will be too much work for some, and too little for others.
1. What can be inferred from the first two paragraphs?| A．The development of robots will get rid of humans’ work. |
| B．Future leisure time will be allocated evenly across the workforce. |
| C．UK has taken some measures to stop the decline of working hours. |
| D．The averages may not be the accurate indicators of the steady decline of working hours. |
| A．Low-paid men are to blame for the low employment. |
| B．More well-paid men are choosing to work part-time. |
| C．Part-time men have increased only among the low-paid. |
| D．Part-time men rarely shoulder childcare responsibilities. |
| A．Important. | B．Imbalanced. | C．Undoubted. | D．Harmful. |
| A．The total amount of human labor will be decreased. |
| B．Better training systems will be built across the world. |
| C．Robots contribute to uneven distribution across the workforce. |
| D．The number of low-paid men who work part-time has increased. |
4 . It has become acceptable for people to say that women work less than men and therefore deserve less! It may have been true in the past when women were expected to stay at home and look after children, but women have changed over the years. They have “come out”! Gone are the days when they toiled the kitchen stove all day long; they are now aware of their needs and are willing to fight for them. They expect to be given the respect they deserve, both at home and at work. They have realized their intellectual potential and have determined to do something about it!
Women on two wheels have become a familiar sight on the roads of most Asian countries during the past few years. It is common to find a woman taking her children on her bicycle to school and then reach her office in time. She has become a major part in family decisions in every aspect and how those decisions are carried out. It would have been unimaginable a few years ago!
It is rather difficult to combine a career and a decent home life, “super woman” though she is. She needs to feel supported and fulfilled. She may arrive at work feeling as if she has already done a full day’s work. If colleagues doubt her commitment to her job, she will feel sad. At the same time, women of today expect their partners to contribute towards childcare and household chores.
Today’s women are learning to avoid situations that make them feel more stressed and it is a hard struggle. Despite all this, the new woman, “the superpower” has arrived. She still believes in the power and value of a family unit and she holds it in high esteem（尊重）.
1. What is the passage mainly about?| A．A woman’s opinion on her job and family. |
| B．The burden women in society have to bear. |
| C．The change of women’s status in and out of the family. |
| D．The responsibility of a couple in a family. |
| A．Comparison. |
| B．Example. |
| C．List. |
| D．Definition. |
| A．women were not seen on streets in the past |
| B．women’s jobs have changed |
| C．today’s women don’t need to toil in the kitchen |
| D．women take more responsibilities for the family |
| A．can do the housework all by herself |
| B．can deal with her work easily every day |
| C．is independent in every aspect of her life |
| D．still finds it difficult to balance her career and family |
| A．Women are still controlled by their husbands. |
| B．It means more than that she comes out of the house. |
| C．Women are not actually coming out. |
| D．Women have broken up with their families. |
