Passage Four Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage:

The home service industry in Beijing is expected to become more attractive both as a job and as an industry.

Sources at the Beijing People’s Political Consultative Conference said resistance to home service work is melting away from minds of the city’s laidoff workers.The Conference suggested the establishment of municipal centers which supervise property management, household mending and installation, and house keeping services.Modern city life is creating a need for industrialization home services. This will create job opportunities for laidoff workers, said vice¹ director of the Social Judicial² Committee of the Conference.

Beijing residents have long desired a home service industry. The demand is expected to drive new economic growth. There are few high quality home help services in Beijing and customers are always complaining.

In the past, few laidoff workers in  work as home helpers, jobs largely taken by young women from the countryside. At the same time, some city residents have not felt safe trusting rural girls with modern household machines or with their small children. Many people would pay more for reliable house keepers who are more familiar with city life, but they have had no way of getting one, even though the city is home to thousands of laidoff workers.

By the end of June this year, there were 30,600 jobless workers in the city. Most of them are women in their 40’s, who are not blessed with particular skills and who have had their work ethics³ shaped by the planned economy. Many of them were at a loss when they first realized they had lost their jobs and a way of life they had got used to for decades.

They never imagined being laidoff by state; they never considered other kinds of employment. For them, the private sector⁴ meant taking risks; housekeeping implied lower social status. Gao yunfang, 44, is a pioneer who is breaking the ice. She sells the Beijing Morning Post in the morning, and works at two households in the afternoon. She earns 1,000 yuan per month.
So she no longer worries about her daughter’s tuition at a university in Shanghai.

36.What is talked about in the passage
A) Home service. B) Modern city life.
C) Laidoff workers. D) Social status.

37.What does the word “laidoff” in the passage mean
A) Heavilyburdened. B) Old.
C) Inexperienced. D) Jobless.

38.Why didn’t the laidoff workers like to do home services in the past
A) Low salary.
B) Lower social status.
C) Dirty working condition.
D) Too much extra work.

39.Why were many laidoff workers at a loss
A) Because they didn’t get used to the new way of life.
B) Because they are too old to find a new job.
C) Because they dislike being laid off.
D) Because they think they lost their social status.

40.In which ways is home service industry good for our society
A) It meets the needs of modern life.
B) It provides work opportunities for the laidoff worker
C) It is a new industry.
D) A and B.

内容概要:在北京，家政服务业越来越引人注意，城市里下岗工人对家政行业的抵触心理慢慢变弱。家政服务业不仅给下岗工人提供就业机会，也使得城里人有了更可靠的家政工作人员，更促进经济增长。

36. 【答案】A。【译文】文章谈论什么【试题分析】中心大意题。最先得知道通常在谈论什么。【详细解答】文中第一段就点明了主题“The home service industry in Beijing is expected to become more attrative both as a job and as an industry.”由此可知选项A是对的。

37. 【答案】D。【译文】文中“laidoff”一词是什么意思【试题分析】细节词义题。文中有很多处暗示了这种意思。【详细解答】首先文中有 “jobless workers”，又提到“they had lost their jobs.”由此可知选项D是对的。

38. 【答案】B。【译文】为什么过去下岗工人不喜欢从事家政服务工作【试题分析】细节题，也是因果题。【详细解答】文中提到“For them, the private sector meant taking risks; housekeeping implied lower social status.”，由此可知，选项B是对的。

39. 【答案】A。【译文】为什么下岗工人都不知所措【试题分析】细节题，从文中找到相应段落即可。【详细解答】文中提及“Many of them were at a loss when they first realized they had lost their jobs and a way of life they had got used to for decades.”由此可判断选项A是对的。

40. 【答案】D。【译文】家政服务业在哪些方面对我们社会有好处。【试题分析】细节题。该题得从全篇来寻找答案。【详细解答】首先我们可以知道“home service industry creates job opportunities for laidoff workers.”另一层我们从家政工作本身来看，因为家政工作有市场，满足社会需求才会形成一种新的产业。