Part three Reading comprehension

　　Passage one (09年聯(lián)考真題)

　　Job sharing refers to the situation in which two people divide the responsibility of one full-time job. The two people willingly act as part-time workers， enough hours between them to fulfill the duties of a full-time worker. If they each work half the job， for example， they each receive 50 percent of the job‘s wages， its holidays and its other benefits. Of course， some job sharers take a smaller or larger share of the responsibilities of the position， receiving a lesser or greater share of the benefits.

　　Job sharing differs from conventional part-time work in that it occurs mainly in the more highly skilled and professional areas， which require higher levels of responsibility and employee commitment. Job sharing should not be confused with the term work sharing， which refers to increasing the number of jobs by reducing the number of hours of each existing job， thus offering more positions to the growing number of unemployed people. Job sharing， by contrast， is not designed to address unemployment problems; its focus， rather， is to provide well-paid work for skilled workers and professionals who want more free time for other activities.

　　As would be expected， women constitute the bulk of job sharers. A survey carded out in 1988 by Britain’s Equal Opportunities Commission revealed that 78 per cent of sharers were female， the majority of whom were between 20 and 40 years of age. Subsequent studies have come up with similar results. Many of these women were re-entering the job market after having had children， but they chose not to seek part-time work because it would have meant lower status.

　　Job sharing also offered an acceptable shift back into full-time work after a long absence. The necessity of close cooperation when sharing a job with another person makes the actual work quite different from conventional one-position jobs. However， to ensure a greater chance that the partnership will succeed， each person needs to know the strengths， weaknesses and preferences of his or her partner before applying for a position. Moreover， there must be a fair division of both routine tasks and interesting ones. In sum， for a position to be job-shared well， the two individuals must be well matched and must treat each other as equals.

　　1. “Employee commitment” in Paragraph 2 refers to the employee‘s ________.

　　A. loyalty

　　B. qualification

　　C. experience

　　D. achievement

　　2. Work sharing is different from job sharing in that __________.

　　A. it requires more working hours

　　B. it depends on the employer’s decision

　　C. it provides more work positions

　　D. it offers a more satisfactory salary

　　3. Job sharing is popular with young mothers mainly because _________.

　　A. they can take care of both work and family

　　B. they are over ideal working ages

　　C. they seek equal opportunities with men

　　D. they have difficulty finding full-time jobs

　　4. In job sharing the partners should __________.

　　A. be social equals

　　B. know each other very well

　　C. be intimate friends

　　D. have similar working experience

　　5. The main purpose of the passage is to ___________.

　　A. recommend job sharing to women

　　B. describe job sharing in general

　　C. criticize job sharing as inefficient

　　D. discuss a way to tackle unemployment