Question

    Every day Yang Hongwei takes the bus home from work, staring silently at the European-style villas(别墅), luxury cars and twinkling lights from the shopping center that he sees through the window.

Yang works for a software company in Zhongguancun. He dreams of such a life, away from poverty, and that hope has kept him in Beijing for three years since he graduated from university.

Soon Yang squeezes his way off the bus to the reality of his life: his home-a 10-square-metre room that costs 550 yuan or about one-fifth of his salary in rent every month. It’s very cold inside the house as it has no central heating system. He has to stand the long and cold winter. Determined to achieve his dream, Yang says he has changed jobs “numerous” times in the past three years and is considering quitting his present job.

Yang’s frustration over his life as a migrant(移民) is shared by many other graduates that have moved into big cities. Together they have come to be called the “ant tribe”, a term created by Chinese sociologists to describe the struggles of young migrants, who, armed with their diplomas, flood to big cities in hopes of a better life only to put up with low-paying jobs and poor living conditions. They share every similarity with ants. They live in colonies in crowded areas. They’re intelligent and hardworking, yet unknown and underpaid. The term, sociologists have said, also reflects their helplessness in a world governed by the law of the concrete jungle-only the strongest survive.

A survey in Ant TribeⅡ found nearly 30 percent of the “ants” are graduates of famous key universities-almost three times the percentage of 2009. Most have degrees in popular majors, such as medicine, engineering, economics and management. In addition, 7.2 percent of the “ants” have at least a master’s degree compared to 1.6 percent in 2009. Most said the economic recovery did not really improve their financial situations, and 66 percent said their incomes fell short of their expectations, the survey also found.

For two years, Lian Si, a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Chinese and Global Affairs of Peking University, who has studied the phenomenon, led a team of more than 100 graduate students to follow the groups in university towns like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Xi’an. Lian evaluates the total population of the “ant community” in major cities at one million across China, with about 100,000 found in Beijing alone. Lian predicts that an increasingly challenging job market will see the ant tribe growing further in number. Another 6.3 million graduates are expected to join migrant workers and other job hunters in what promises to be a fierce labor competition.

The ant tribe’s embarrassing living situations have become a serious social issue, and the government should develop “second-and-third-tier cities” to attract more graduates from big cities. However, “ants” expect more study and training opportunities in big cities, which keeps them in positive mindsets despite their situations. As in the case of Yang, he is optimistic about getting a new job soon, having received eight interview offers in a week after sending out his resume. The prospect of landing a higher-paying job keeps him hopeful of moving out of the slum district(贫民区) soon. The sooner, the better.

1.Yang has worked in Beijing since graduation from university ______.

A.to live in a beautiful villa of European style

B.to have more opportunities to be promoted

C.to enjoy a busy life in a software company

D.to struggle for a better-off life in a big city

2.Which of the following best describes “ant tribe”?

A.It refers to the group of low-income graduates living in embarrassing conditions.

B.It refers to the people who work hard like ants but are paid little.

C.It refers to the sociologists and scholars researching into some social phenomena.

D.It refers to some well-educated people who can’t survive in society.

3.What does the writer think of the phenomenon of “ant tribe”?

A.“Ant tribe” has become too serious a social problem to solve.

B.It is the government’s duty to solve the problem of “ant tribe”.

C.Both the government and the graduates have the responsibility.

D.The existence of “ant tribe” has little influence on job markets.

4.The passage is mainly about ______.

A.the “ant tribe’s” dream and reality

B.a recent survey about the “ant tribe”

C.the “ant tribe’s” living conditions

D.a new urban lifestyle-”ant tribe”

Answer

1.D

2.A

3.C

4.A

【解析】

本文是一篇夹叙夹议文，以毕业后就在北京打拼的杨宏伟为例介绍了蚁族的梦想和现实。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段的描述以及第二段“Yang works for a software company in Zhongguancun. He dreams of such a life, away from poverty, and that hope has kept him in Beijing for three years since he graduated from university.”可知，杨宏伟（音译）在中关村一家软件公司工作。他梦想过这样的生活——拥有欧式别墅、豪车、去大型购物中心购物，远离贫困，自从大学毕业后，这种希望让他在北京打拼了三年，由此可知，杨宏伟杨从大学毕业后就一直在北京工作为的是努力在大城市过上更好的生活，故D项正确。

2.细节理解题。根据第四段中的“Yang’s frustration over his life as a migrant(移民) is shared by many other graduates that have moved into big cities. Together they have come to be called the “ant tribe”, a term created by Chinese sociologists to describe the struggles of young migrants, who, armed with their diplomas, flood to big cities in hopes of a better life only to put up with low-paying jobs and poor living conditions.”可知，杨宏伟对移民般的生活感到沮丧，这与许多其他来到大城市的毕业生一样，他们一起被称为“蚁族”，这是中国社会学家为描述年轻人的奋斗而创造的一个术语，他们毕业后涌向大城市，希望过上更好的生活，却只能忍受低薪工作和恶劣的生活条件，由此可知，“蚁族”指的是生活在尴尬境地的低收入毕业生群体，故A项正确。

3.推理判断题。根据最后一段中的“The ant tribe’s embarrassing living situations have become a serious social issue, and the government should develop “second-and-third-tier cities” to attract more graduates from big cities. However, “ants” expect more study and training opportunities in big cities, which keeps them in positive mindsets despite their situations.”可知，蚁族尴尬的生存状况已经成为一个严重的社会问题，政府应该发展“二三线城市”，吸引更多大城市的毕业生。然而，“蚁族”期望在大城市有更多的学习和培训机会，让他们在困境中保持积极的心态，由此判断出，作者认为在造成蚁族现象这一问题上，政府和毕业生都有责任，故C项正确。

4.主旨大意题。通读全文，特别是根据第二段中的“dreams of”、第三段中的“the reality of his life”以及第四段中的““ant tribe””等关键词可知，本文以毕业后就在北京打拼的杨宏伟为例介绍了蚁族的梦想和现实，故A项正确。