But with the supply of cheap credit _3_ up and a generation of school and university leaversabout to _4_ the recession-hit job market, thousands of young people with no memory of theearly 1990s recession are shocked into the _5_ that the world of 2009 is very different.

　　Katie Orme, 19，who lives in Birmingham, says she has decided never to get a credit card afterseeing the problems that her parents and 22year-old sister have had with debt—just one of the_6_ lessons that she has had to learn.

　　Orme finished her A-levels a year ago, and has been searching for a job—and living at homewith her parents—ever since. She has had to _7_ on to support herself and is now on a 12-week internship (實習期)at the Prince’s Trust to improve her _8_ . The Trust says that thenumber of calls from _9_ people such as Orme has shot up by 50% over six months. “It’s sohard to get a job at the moment,” she says, “it’s better to go and get more qualifications sowhen more jobs are _10_ you will be better suited.”

　　A) sign B) skipped C) available D) mostly

　　E) anxious F) mug G) hardly H) remedy

　　I) realization J) dynamic K) resume L) tough

　　M) neglected N) drying O) flood

　　解題思路

　　1.[B]此處應為過去式的動詞作謂語。空格后的from one job…to another表明此動詞應能表示某種動作去向，詞庫中的動詞skipped可與空格后的from…to…搭配，表示很多人隨意換工作,符合文中語境。

　　2.[G]空格位于主語與謂語之間，應為副詞。結合上文的內容可知，當時的英國人不用擔心失業，此句中such...that…引出一種結果。既然窮困時期那么遙遠(a distant memory),也就沒有必要節儉了，因此，表否定含義的hardly符合句意。

　　3.[N]結合句首的with和空格后的介詞up推知此處應為動詞的分詞形式。詞庫中可與up搭配的分詞只有drying一詞，drying up表示低利率信貸供給日趨“枯竭”，這正好體現了2009年的經濟狀況已大不如之前，故drying為本題答案。

　　4.[O]不定式標記詞to提示此處應為動詞原形。由本段開頭的But—詞可推斷2009年的經濟狀況與上文提到的繁榮時期的經濟狀況相反，這一段應該是說人們很難找到工作，由此可推斷空格處應為flood,體現出人多職位少的情況。

　　5.[I] the提示此處應為名詞。隨著經濟狀況的改變，年輕人應該會“發現”世界已與以前不同了，因此，本題答案應為 realization。

　　6.[L]此處應為修飾lessons的定語,可為名詞、形容詞或分詞。父母和姐姐飽受債務纏身對于凱蒂?奧勒姆應該是沉痛的教訓，tough符合句意。

　　7.[A] has had to提示空格處應填入動詞原形,且能與on構成搭配。上句講到凱蒂?奧勒姆在找工作，本句講到她得養活自己，現在巳在一家信托公司實習。動詞詞庫中只有sign可與介詞on搭配，sign on “簽約受雇” 符合句意。

　　8.[K] her提示此處應為名詞。凱蒂?奧勒姆正在做一份實習工作，通過這份工作她的“能力”、“經驗”等可以得到提升，故選用resume —詞，improve her resume意為“充實她的簡歷”。

　　9.[E]此處應為名詞、形容詞或分詞，作定語修飾people。根據上文提到的經濟衰退情況和后文凱蒂?奧勒姆所講的so hard to get a job可推知，諸如凱蒂?奧勒姆這些人對找工作很“擔憂”，anxious符合上下文語境。

　　10.[C]此處應填入名詞、形容詞或分詞作表語。凱蒂?奧勒姆建議拿到更多的資格證，以便能更好地勝任工作，這個前提是有工作機會，available“可得到的”符合句意。

　　The number of executive branch employees retiring this fiscal year, which ends next month,is on track to be nearly twice the total who retired in 2009, according to government figures.And the rate looks certain to _1_. In 2000, about 94,000 people age 60 and older worked forthe government. Last year, the number was 262,000.

　　The wave of retirement is helping to bring down the size of the federal _2_ and—where fundingis available—could afford agencies the chance to hire younger workers with _3_ skills. Theretirement of clerks could clear the way for experts in cyber security and informationtechnology.

　　But among those leaving are people with specific _4_ that cannot easily be replaced—forinstance, nuclear physicists at the Energy Department and a large number of air trafficcontrollers who were hired three decades ago. And with most hiring on hold, the _5_ arealready reshaping agencies that cannot replace most of the retirees or mentor and train newexecutives.

　　In some corners of government, the challenge is grim. By 2016， _6_. 42 percent of theDepartment of Housing and Urban Development workforce will be _7_ to retire. At the SmallBusiness Administration, it’s 44 percent.

　　There is no _8_ retirement age for most civilian federal employees, but retiring is looking evermore attractive, employees say, with their salaries frozen for three years by Congress andpublic service _9_ by many politicians.

　　“It finally got to the point where I got completely _10_ said Richard Swensen, 60, who retiredfrom the Agriculture Department last year after 38 years. “You get weary of work that doesn’tpay off.”

　　A) abolished B) payroll C) mandatory D) previously

　　E) crucial F) departures G) huddles H) eligible

　　I) disappointed J) criticized K) institutions L) accelerate

　　M) presumably N) prevalent O) expertise

　　解題思路

　　1.[L]空格位于不定式to之后，應為動詞原形。空格所在句的主語是rate(速度)，根據后面兩個句子的對比數據可知，退休人員的比例不斷“上漲”，因此選用accelerate。

　　2.[B]空格位于形容詞federal的后面，應為名詞。本段講的是退休潮帶來的好處，根據定語從句wherefunding is available可推知，空格處與金錢有關,故選用payroll“工資總支出”。

　　3.[E]空格處應為名詞、形容詞或分詞，作skills的定語。下一句的cyber security和informationtechnology提示，要招聘的就是此類具備重要技能的年輕人，故選用crucial—詞，crucial skills意為“關鍵的技能”。

　　4.[O]空格處后接定語從句，且在從句中充當主語,故應填人名詞。根據破折號舉例提及的nuclearphysicists“核物理學家”和air traffic controllers“空中交通管制員”，可以推斷有些退休人員具有難以取代的特殊“專長”，因此選用expertise。

　　5.[F]空格位于定冠詞the之后，且句子缺少主語，由此推斷應填人名詞。由reshaping agencies可知，該句子主要講“退休潮”對政府機構的影響，因此，此處的名詞應該帶有“退休潮”或者“人員退休”的意思，故選用departures。

　　6.[M]空格單獨位于兩個逗號之間，由此推斷此處應填入副詞，補充說明數據的來源或真實性等。詞庫中的副詞presumably符合此處語義。

　　7.[H]空格前的be提示，此處應填入名詞、形容詞或分詞。本段主要講政府面臨嚴峻挑戰，即很多人即將到退休年齡。eligible“有恰當資格的”符合此處語義。

　　8.[C]空格在句中作定語修飾retirement age。空格所在句前一分句講“聯邦政府對退休年齡無______規定”,后一分句以轉折連詞but引出“但是退休看起來吸引力更大”,可見聯邦政府沒有強制規定退休年齡，故選用mandatory。

　　9. [J] public service... politicians和前面的their salaries frozen為并列結構，說明退休吸引力更大的原因。空格后的by提示此處應填人過去分詞，且該詞應包含消極意義，詞庫中criticized符合此處語境。

　　10. [I]空格位于動詞get的后面，且被副詞completely修飾,應為形容詞或過去分詞。該段最后一句中，說話人提到他.“厭倦沒有奔頭的工作”，據此可以推斷他對于工作感到很“失望”，所以選擇辭職退休，故選擇disappointed—詞。