The list of“should” is very long. You should give more than 100 per cent at work. You shouldnever stop learning and developing. You should read and keep up with events.You should spend time with your family and take care of your myriad of dailychores.

At work, it’snot enough to be qualified for your job. You have to have excellent people skillsand problem-solving abilities. Your IQ had better be high, and you shouldwelcome anything and everything new. Commitment and enthusiasm are the bottomline.

At home, it’snot enough to have money in the bank. There are children to raise, hobbies toencourage and daily routines to organize. Contacts between home and the daycare center or school are another priority. You have to keep up yourfriendships and your family relationships. You have to have empathy foreveryone around you. You have to have time.

How do we catcha guilty conscience? Finns in Business asked family counselor Hannu Kuukka fromthe Helsinki parish services. “A bad conscience comes from conflictingpressures, from the feeling that you just can’t manage everything that youconsider important. Frustration and stress are the result.”

“Our internalizedroles—the role models that we subconsciously follow—also contribute to theproblem. Throughout our lives, we carry with us the part we played in our ownfamily. This can be a source of encouragement and support, or the seeds of abad conscience.”

What can we dofor a bad conscience? “Our failures tend to become exaggerated in our minds,especially if someone close to us verbalizes them. You have toset priority. Couples should decide together if one of them is going toconcentrate on work and the other on family. The couple is the foundation ofthe home, so they have to find common ground,” comments Hannu Kuukka.

At work, youspend your time with adults, and you can excel in your own field. Are you morecomfortable at work than at home? This is a common feeling—and another sourceof guilt. “It is not unusual for relationships at work to be easier and morestraightforward than those at home. The everyday life of a family with childrencan be exhausting. And today, with growing competition and more friction atwork, even these relationships have become more difficult,” says Kuukka.

1．The purpose of the first paragraph is to______.

A. itemize whatpeople have to accomplish in their lives

B. brief a realbut tough situation for couples to cope with

C. explain whysome people long for a break of routine

D. show how afull-time job goes against a family life

2．According to the author, the decisivefactor for one to perform well at work is ______.

A.responsibility and devotion

B. rightqualifications

C. originalityand open-mindedness

D. an IQ atleast above 130

3．What seems always problematic for one’sfamily life is that ______.

A. money neverseems to be enough

B. friendshipsand family relationships are hard to keep up

C. one simplycan’t afford the time

D. it’simpossible to share feelings with everyone around

4．According to the passage, the constantcause of a bad conscience lies in the fact that ______.

A. one attemptsto achieve a good balance between work and family-life

B. people haveunknowingly played stereotyped sex roles in family

C. our minds arebeset with exaggerated information about family problems

D. no couple iscapable of handling more than one thing at a time

5．What does the underlined pronoun ‘them’(line 19) refer to in the context?

A. Minds

B. Parents

C. Failures

D. Priorities

6．As suggested by Kuukka, the right way toapproach the problem is to ______.

A. exchange rolemodels between the couple in the same boat

B. look at thesame problem from a different perspective

C. turn a deaf earto whatever other people would say

D. get thecouple’s priorities right to ensure a rewarding life

7．From the last paragraph, it can besafely inferred that ______.

A. workrelationships are as difficult to keep up as family relationships

B. working parentsusually feel more comfortable at work than at home

C. growingcompetition has affected the otherwise good terms with co-workers

D. the bestmoment of the day is when you might have escaped from family chores

【答案与解析】

1．B 第一段首句“the list of ‘should’ is very long.”意思为：生活中“应该做的事”很多。后面列举了工作、个人修养与提高以及家庭生活的几个例子。这一段是全文的引言段，目的不在列举本身，是为了说明下文中作者要提到的双职工家庭工作与生活中所遇到的问题与解决的办法。在第六段第四句“couples should decide together if…”中，作者明确指出了夫妻双方应如何面对这些问题。

2．A 第二段作者列出了要做好工作所具备的条件。该段最后一句意思为：工作中承担责任与工作热情是最根本的条件。

3．C 第三段作者列出了要管好家庭所要做的一系列事情。该段最后一句说：可是你得有时间。言外之意就是要做好这些事是要花很多时间的，可是我们没有那么多时间。

4．A 根据文中第四段“A bad conscience comes from conflicting…”可知：我们的负罪感是来源于相互冲突的压力，即我们感到我们没能把我们认为重要的每一件事都做好。这里主要是指工作与生活的冲突。

5．C 第六段第二句意为：如果我们身边的人唠叨我们的失败，我们就会觉得问题更加严重。这里them是指代主句中的主语。

6．D 第六段第三句作者引用Kuukka的话：夫妻双方应决定把什么放在首位，一起决定谁要以工作为主，谁要以家庭为主。

7．B 文章最后一段作者说：我们在工作中与成年人打交道，而且你可以发挥你的专长。你上班时比在家更舒服吗？一般人都这么认为，这也是我们有负罪感的另一个原因。 h9+tM/dZNJlg6JaLFNeoBCaRnNtuKs7q9hcsvLo7ED1TUUy9aQDM2JZxdERoTuIL