Question

My students often tell me they don’t have “enough time” to do all their schoolwork. My reply is often brief—You have as much time as the president. I usually carry on a bit about there being 24 hours in the day for everyone, and suggest that “not enough time” is not an acceptable explanation of not getting something done.

Once in graduate school, I tried to excuse myself to one of my professors by saying that I was working hard. His answer to me was, “That’s irrelevant. What’s important is the quality of your work.” Since then I have had time to think about the “hard worker” dodge (伎俩), and I have come to some conclusions — all relevant to the issue of how much time we have.

If you analyze(分析) the matter, you can identify(确定) two parts of the problem: There is, of course, the matter of “time”, which we can think of as fixed. Then there is the problem of “work” during that time. But, as my professor suggested, it’s not how hard one works but the quality of the product that is important.

That led me to a new idea: the quality of the work. That concept is perhaps best explained by a sign I once saw on the wall in someone’s office---Don’t work harder but work smarter. There’s a lot of sense in that idea.

If you can’t get more time, and few of us can, the only solution(解决方法) is to improve the quality of the work. That means thinking of ways to get more out of the same time than we might otherwise get. That should lead us to an analysis of our work habits. Since “work” for students usually means “homework”, the expression “work habits” should be read as “study habits”.

Then, as a smart student, you will seek to improve those skills that you use in study, chiefly reading and writing. If you learn to read better and write better, there are big benefits that pay off in all your studies.

1.From the passage, we know that the author is ______ .

A. a poet    B. a editor

C. an educator    D. an director

2.We can infer from the first two paragraph that we students _____ .

A. have enough time    B. can meet the president

C. get something done well    D. should accept the explanation

3.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 means_________.

A. That is impossible    B. That is not acceptable

C. That is unbearable    D. That is not important

4.The main purpose of writing the passage is to give_______.

A. advice    B. encouragement

C. criticism    D. information

Answer

1.C

2.C

3.D

4.A

【解析】本文是一篇记叙文。主要讲述了在我们工作学习过程中更重要的是其质量，不在乎时间长短与努力程度，只有想办法提高质量才能获得更好回报。

1.细节理解题。由第一段“My students often tell me they don’t have “enough time” to do all their schoolwork. ”可知，“我”有很多学生，可推知“我”是一名教育者。故选C。

2.细节理解题。由“and suggest that “not enough time” is not an acceptable explanation of not getting something done.”以及“What’s important is the quality of your work.”可知，时间不够并不能作为借口，关键是要做有质量的事情。故选C。

3.推理判断题。由下一句“What’s important is the quality of your work.”可知，强调更重要的是什么，对比可推测指此句指这不重要。故选D。

4.主旨大意题。由全文大意可知，通过讲述学生和自己的经历，主要想劝诫学生们找到更有效的方法，弥补时间上的不足，提高工作学习的质量，取得更好的结果。故选A。