2016年12月英语四级阅读练习题及答案(六)

　　Questions 46-55 are based on the following passage.

　　How to Make Peace with Your Workload

　　A)Swamped (忙碌的), under the gun, just struggling to stay above water...; whateveroffice cliche you employto depict it. we've all been in that situation where wefeel like we might be swallowed up by our workload.Nonetheless many a way maybe used to manage your to-do list to prevent feeling overwhelmed. How tomakepeace with your workload once and for all goes as follows.

　　B)Getorganized. "Clear the deadwood outof your desk and keep your office in shape, which enhances yourcapability tohandle other tasks and raises the probability that you'll retrieve the itemsyou do need in a fasterand easier fashion," says Jeff Davidson who worksas a work/life expert and writer of more than 50 books onworkplace issues."When something can be disposed, let i! go, given in reality most of whatyou retain isreplaceable." Joel Rudy, vice president of operations forPhotographic Solutions, with better than thirty yearsof business managementexperience, believes that keeping organized is a must. "Messy work areas arenonproductive insome measure. Provided that you can't locate a document or report easily becauseit's lost in　 apile of mess, then you have a problematic situation," he says."Thereby you are supposed to take the time totidy up your work areas andkeep your important files, manuals and reports in an accessible location,whichwill maximize your efficiencies."

　　C)Make ato-do list, then cover it up. It may sound weird, but it works, says JessicaCarlson, an accountexecutive at Bluefish Design Studio which is an advertisingconsulting firm. Carlson urges her team to utilizeto-do lists to stay on trackand highlight items that are a priority. "Cover up the list, with theexception of onehigh-priority task at one time," she suggests. "This will allow you to focus better onthe task at hand;otherwise, it will be easy to get overwhelmed if you're readingthrough a to-do list that spans an entire page.Concentrating on a single itemwill make your tasks appear like they are more doable," Carlson says.

　　D)Stopmultitasking. Despite what you may consider multitasking, it'scounterproductive. Unless you're drinkingcoffee while scanning your morninge-mails, you're not saving any time by attempting to do ten things atonce. "If you find yourself getting tangled intoo many things, it may be of much necessity of you to re-- evaluate yourinvolvement," Rudy says. "Your mind will wander from one topic toanother and you.may endup never accomplishing a thing." Rudy recommendsthe best way to stop multitasking is to create priority listswith deadlines."When applicable, complete one project before you move further on to thenext one," he says.

　　E)Set timelimits. Deborah Chaddock-Brown, a work-at-home s'.mgle parent, says she'sfrequently overwhelmedby the demands of maintaining order in her residence andrunning her own business. Still, she manages to "doit all" by settinga time limit for each task. "I have the type of personality thatflits (轻轻地掠过)from thingto thing because I do have so much on my plate,"Brown says. "As a consequence I assign time slots: For thenext 15 minutesI will participate in Social media for the purpose of marketing mybusiness (not sendingphotos or playingFarmville)and that is the only thing I am about to do for the next 15 minutes.When thetime is up, I move on to the next task. That way, at night I don't endup with a pile of tasks to accomplish eventhough I felt busy all day."

　　F)Talk toyour manager. "Quite often, peopleare working on things that are no longer a top priority, butsomeone forgot totell them (that they're no longerimportant). There are usually clear priorities in themanager's head; he or shehas just not done a great job communicating those with the employee," saysHollyGreen, CEO of The Human Factor. Green's suggestion unfoldsin thismanner: "If you find yourselfconfrontedwith too many responsibilitieS, sit down， note the significantthings you are in charge of, and go toyour manager to have a conversation todiscuss priorities, trade-offs, timecommitments andinterdependencies required to do each thing well, and then ask whatyou should stop working on or work onless so you can get the right thingsdone." Greefi says managers should be willing to help sort out priorities,solong as employees have a can-do approach and aren't just complaining abouttheir workload.