Question

    My husband David was waiting at the door when our daughter Laura and I pulled in the driveway. It wasn’t like him to be home so early. The disbelief on his face told me that something was up.

"Do you still have a job?"

"No. Redundant," he answered, looking away from me.

"OK. We’ll figure it out," I replied calmly.

I actually had no idea how we were going to figure it out. I immediately started to think of how we’d cut costs and who we should start to get in touch with. That night, after David had fallen asleep, I cried myself to sleep, and frequently sobbed in the shower in the days that followed.

I knew the loss of David’s income would have great effect on us. He had worked for the same insurance company for twenty-one years and was our main income. I work at home caring for Laura, and my freelance(自由职业者的)income is uncertain. We have debts, and job hunting takes time.

Still, I was more concerned about my husband’s emotional state than our financial situation. David’s sense of identity was tied to his job. He called his parents to tell them about losing his job, but didn’t say a word to anyone else for weeks. He told me that he felt like "a failure".

It was tough for me to watch David struggle with unemployment. One night a couple of weeks after he lost his job, David woke me just before midnight, sweating, pacing the bedroom floor and saying he felt funny. We spent the night in the emergency room waiting to see if he had a heart attack. Thankfully, it was just a serious anxiety attack. It was then that I knew I needed to do more to understand what my husband was going through. Here is what I learned from my own experience—and from talking to experts—on how to support your spouse through a job loss.

1.Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the underlined word "Redundant" in Paragraph 3?

A.A piece of cake. B.Out of question.

C.My treat. D.Out of employment.

2.What did the writer do about her husband’s situation at first?

A.She always remained calm and gave him advice.

B.She appeared calm when in fact she was worried.

C.She began to write about her husband’s situation to the newspapers.

D.She went to consult some doctors.

3.What can we know about David?

A.He was fired by the company he had worked for twenty-one years.

B.He never thought himself "a failure" even when jobless.

C.He was aware of the family’s financial situation.

D.Upon leaving the job, he suffered a heart attack and had to consult the doctor.

4.What will be talked about in the next part of the passage?

A.What the writer did to help get some income.

B.How David suffered from the heart attack and the treatment.

C.How the writer supported David to get through the jobless period.

D.Why the insurance company fired David.

Answer

1.D

2.B

3.A

4.C

【解析】

本文是一篇记叙文，讲述了作者的丈夫被已经工作21年的公司解雇了，这给作者家的经济带来了很大的压力，但是作者更关心的是丈夫的情绪，她想通过自己的经历以及与专家的讨论来帮助丈夫熬过失业期。

1.词义猜测题。根据画线词前的“Do you still have a job?”及“No”可知，他对“你还有工作么？”的回答是否定的，也就是说他失业了，由此可知画线词词义为“失业”，故D项正确。

2.细节理解题。根据第四段中的“I replied calmly”及第五段中的“I actually had no idea how we were going to figure it out.”可知，起初面对丈夫事业，作者不知道怎么办，但是在丈夫面前还是镇静的，因此可知作者是表面上镇静实际上心里是担心的。故B项正确。

3.细节理解题。根据第六段中的“He had worked for the same insurance company for twenty-one years and was our main income.”可知，丈夫在被解雇之前已经在那家公司工作21年了，故A项正确。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段中的“Here is what I learned from my own experience—and from talking to experts—on how to support your spouse through a job loss.”可知，接下来讲述作者根据自己的经历以及与专家讨论如何支持配偶熬过失业期学到的东西，由此推知接下来作者将会讲述自己是如何帮助丈夫熬过失业期的，故C项正确。