问题详情：
I pulled the car into the garage and got out, just like every night for the past 16 years. The difference was that I wouldn’t have a job to go to in the morning.
I used to be a vice-president in technology for a national bank until it went bankrupt (倒闭). Not only did I work long hours, I was also on call 24 hours a day, weekends and holidays. If someone had a tech problem, even at 2:00 a.m. on Christmas morning, I was on it. My kids joked that even though they were the teenagers, I was the one who was absorbed in the cell phone and had to be told not to text at the dinner table.
My wife, Michelle, had been able to go to back to work full-time as an office manager once she heard my job was threatened. But our three kids would go to college — our son, TJ, was a high school senior, and the girls, Sarah and Tara, were in the ninth grade — and I wanted to give them the education and opportunities they deserved.
I stepped out into our yard. The lawn and flower beds that my mom had looked after so carefully were full of weeds. There was a tree in the middle of the yard that I remembered my parents planted when I was a boy. It needed pruning (修剪). But I’d put on a lot of weight. I went up to the house. Michelle greeted me at the door with a hug. “It’s going to be okay,” she said. “Maybe you should think of this time as a break. You deserve one.”
“I’m sorry, Dad,” TJ said. “I know how much your job meant to you.” His concern was mirrored in the girls’ faces. When had they grown up?
“I’ll take care of this,” I told them. “I’m going to find a new job and get our lives back to normal.”
The next morning I got up before everyone else. I searched for a job online. I e-mailed friends with connections. By midmorning the quiet of the house was driving me crazy. I missed the noise of the office. I saw those overgrown flower beds. I made my way to the backyard with the hoe (锄头).
I settled into a new routine. Every day, I took breaks to do other things I’d neglected when I was working all the time. The new lawn I’d planned for so long began to take shape. So did I. With the physical labor, the extra weight dropped off, and I felt healthier than I had in ages. And I cleaned the empty family rooms completely and bought some video games. Soon TJ, Sarah and Tara were bringing their friends over after school. There were so many teenagers hanging out in the family room that I called “the kid zone”. At weekends Michelle and I gardened together. On summer evenings the five of us hung out.
One day I noticed TJ sitting alone, looking thoughtful. I knew he had worries about going to college and he’d lost touch with some of his friends.
“TJ, I know how it feels to lose something,” I began.
“I know, Dad,” he said. “I learned that from watching how you’ve handled being unemployed. You might have been stressed, but you never let it affect our family. You kept us together.”
I looked at my son, and it hit me. This was the last year he was at home. The girls would be off to college soon too. Luckily, I had this time to be the husband and father my family needed. I’d had the chance to find a healthy balance between work and family — a balance that even after I found a new job with a great company, I have made sure to keep.
1. The second paragraph mainly intends to tell us that the writer .
A. was a cell phone lover
B. disliked the long work hours
C. devoted all his life to work
D. wanted to change jobs
2. We can learn from Paragraph 4 that .
A. the writer’s family still lived in the house where the writer grew up
B. the writer’s wife hoped he could use the free time to lose weight
C. the writer liked pruning the tree that he planted when small
D. the writer did not like the lawn and flower beds in the yard
3. By saying “When had they grown up?” in Paragraph 5, the writer may regret .
A. not going back home every day on time
B. spending little time with his three children
C. not asking what his children needed most
D. letting his children know his unemployment
4. “Other things” mentioned in the eighth paragraph don’t include .
A. doing the housework
B. tending the garden
C. applying for jobs
D. looking after his children
5. What did the writer conclude from what TJ said?
A. If TJ didn’t go to college, he would keep in touch with his friends.
B. Although people had worries now and then, life had to go on.
C. Being unemployed meant nothing to the whole family.
D. If he hadn’t had this time with them, he’d be wishing for it.
6. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A. A plan made after I lost my job
B. A reminder to focus on family
C. My family
D. My job
【回答】
CABCDB
知识点：日常生活类阅读
题型：阅读理解
