With the development of digital technology, the number of SOHO workers has increased for the last two decades. The term SOHO stands for“small office/ home office”. It refers to the category of business which involves 1 to 10 workers.
Anyone with a computer, a fax machine, or even a telephone can become a SOHO worker, taking such jobs as a lawyer, a website designer, a writer, or a personal shopper. Since there is no boss around to supervise a SOHO worker, he or she must work independently.
Without the resources like those of a large company, a SOHO worker has to work harder than workers in a regular office. Therefore, to make the most profits, SOHO workers need to ensure the quality of their services, ideas, or products.
Many SOHO workers find it challenging to ignore the distractions that lie waiting around their homes. For instance, TV is hard to miss, and they may always have the desire to get a snack in the kitchen or refrigerator.
Besides, though they enjoy more freedom and independence, SOHO workers face more stress from work. For one thing, they must be more efficient to meet project deadlines, or they may run the risk of losing their business. For another, they face irregular income, which puts high pressure on those who need to raise a family. To sum up, making a living as a SOHO worker does not seem as easy as expected. 【題組】 In what way is a SOHO worker most different from a regular office worker?
(A)a SOHO worker does not have an office.
(B)a SOHO worker is more responsible than a regular office worker.
(C)a SOHO worker is better at using computers than a regular office worker.
(D)a SOHO worker does not work together with many people.
(五)閱讀測驗
Scientist Paul Johnson and his team did a research on the result of feeding a lot of junk food to some rats. They had a serious goal: to try to understand how parts of the brain play a role in obesity. (Obesity is the condition of being very overweight, which has been linked to a variety of health problems.) The scientists observed that the more junk food the rats ate, the more they wanted to eat—a behavior very similar to that of rats addicted to heroin, a dangerous drug. Johnson told Science News the experiment shows that the brain chemistry of obesity and drug addiction may be quite similar.
In their experiment, Johnson and his team studied the “pleasure center” of rats’ brains. The pleasure center is a complicated network of nerve cells. Together, these cells work as the body’s reward system. If the animal exercises or eats, the cells reward the animal by releasing chemicals into the body that make it feel good. And when the body feels good, the animal—or person—will want to do the behavior again. Pleasure centers can release these chemicals in less healthy ways, too. Drugs like heroin can cause the pleasurable chemicals to be released.
For the experiment, Johnson fed foods like cheesecake, bacon and Ho Hos to one group of rats. These foods are all high in calories and high in fat. Another group of rats received a regular, nutritious diet. The rats that ate junk food started to eat more and more.
【題組】80. What is obesity?
(A) a junk food (B) a weight problem
(C) a nerve cell in the brain (D) a kind of rat
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