“How are things back at the office?” one of the gentlemen in my bicycle tour group asked me as we were nearing the end of another lengthy ride through Croatia’s scenic countryside.
“I assume they are going fine,” I said.“I haven’t had any contact and I don’t plan to.”
“Your phone isn’t on?” he asked,incredulously.“You haven’t checked your email?”
“My phone is off and no,I’m not planning on checking email,” I said.
My wife Heidi and I took our children,Daniel and Rachel,on a two-week trip to Croatia,one of the most beautiful countries in the world.We made the choice to spend some of our money on this wonderful experience so we could spend time bonding with each other and the kids.
Why would I destroy the environment we had traveled thousands of miles to create by bringing my work environment into it?That would be counterproductive to everything I wanted out of this trip.If I had worked during this experience,I would have taken time away from my family and sent them the message that work takes priority over them.
In addition to sharing this incredible experience,I wanted to take us all out of the activity-driven world we live in.If I had had my cell phone on and been constantly searching out a wireless connection to keep up with the office,I would just have brought that hyper-connected environment into the peaceful,meaningful world I was trying to create.
In addition to creating lifelong memories with my family,another wonderful thing happened as a result of this bike trip.As we were returning home,I was flooded with new ideas.I came up with concepts for nine blog posts and several ideas that I wanted to incorporate into my business.
Taking time off restored and rejuvenated me and allowed my creative spirit to really come to the surface.How can you accomplish that goal if you simply move the source of that stress to a different location?
1.From the conversation at the beginning of the text,we can infer that .
A.the author had no access to the Internet during the tour
B.the gentleman was quite concerned about the author’s work
C.the author’s phone was off because he didn’t want to be disturbed
D.the speakers both experienced an unpleasant bicycle tour in Croatia
2.One of the purposes of the author’s Croatia’s bicycle tour is .
A.to spend some time creating closer ties with his family
B.to experience a primitive life without phone calls
C.to tell his family that his work is more important for him
D.to escape from his boring work environment at the office
3.What would the author probably do after returning home from their bike trip?
A.He would be busy with all his office work again. B.He would be caught in a big flood of new business.
C.He would have many new fresh ideas for his business. D.He would make up for his missing blog posts during the journey.
4.The underlined word “rejuvenated” in the last paragraph probably means “ ”.
A.got one exhausted B.drove one mad
C.caused one to lose temper D.made one more energetic
语篇解读:作者去克罗地亚旅游时完全放下了手头的工作,尽情地游玩并且他还产生了很多新的灵感。
答案及剖析:
1.C 推理判断题。在文章开头的对话中,作者说他把手机关机,并且没有查看电子邮件。再结合下文内容可知,他这样做是为了更好地和家人一起旅游,由此可以推断出,他不开手机是因为不想被打扰。
2.A 细节理解题。根据第五段最后一句 “We made the choice to spend some of our money on this wonderful experience so we could spend time bonding with each other and the kids.” 可知,作者是想借此机会增进与家人之间的感情。
3.C 细节理解题。根据倒数第二段的 “As we were returning home,I was flooded with new ideas.I came up with concepts for nine blog posts and several ideas that I wanted to incorporate into my business.” 可知,作者在旅游结束回家以后有了很多新的想法,而且他还想把这些想法运用到工作中去。
4.D 词义猜测题。本句中的 “restored” 与画线词 “rejuvenated” 理应意义接近,结合下文中的 “allowed my creative spirit to really come to the surface” 可知,休息之后,作者有了更多具有创造性的想法。由此可推知,休息使人精力更加充沛。
