With the US economy slowing down, layoffs are everywhere. No industry is spared. If you end up having to start over, in addition to starting your job search, there are several things you should take care of to make your transition a smooth one. First and foremost, clear up any misunderstanding about how and why you left your last job with your ex-boss. Whether you left voluntarily, were fired or were laid off due to budget cutbacks, make sure you both have the same explanation. Agree on job titles accordingly. Also ask for a reference if you think your ex-boss will offer one and you trust that he or she will speak honestly about your performance. You should have a source of emergency cash that you can use in the interim. Don’t panic and liquidate your stocks and bonds just yet, be optimistic in your prospects while also be more frugal than usual. You should save money on not having to dry clean work clothes so often and eating less take-out lunches. Save money by not eating out at restaurants and watch videos rather than going to the movies every weekend. Make a note of your job hunting expenses, such as career counselors’ consulting fees and resume printing costs, and save the receipts. By next year’s tax-filing time, you could get deductions on your job-search expense(unless you left a job willingly or was a college graduate looking for your first job). Most companies terminate your medical insurance coverage as soon as you stop working for them. But it doesn’t mean you have to forgo medical coverage altogether. There is something called Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act(COBRA)in the United States that legally protects an ex-employee’s right to stay in the company’s health care plan. However, the company will stop paying your premiums, and you will have to pay out of your pocket the expenses. This is still a good option compared to no health insurance at all. Another important thing to take care of when you change jobs is your 401(k)account. A 401(k)is the retirement fund that most companies offer. It’s named after section 401(k)in the Internal Revenue Service’s policy documents. You put aside a percentage of your paycheck each pay period, and the money accumulated will be managed by the 401(k)fund manager your employer has hired and is invested in the stock market. You cannot withdraw money from this account until you reach this age, or you will incur penalties. When you leave a job, the money can sometimes be kept with your ex-employer for a while. It’s always a good idea to compare your new employer’s 401(k)plan with your old one. Every company offers different types of investment options, from overseas stocks to high-tech stocks and everything in between. If you do want to transfer the account to your new employer, you need to go to the human resources department and ask for forms that help you make the transition. Don’t forget to ask for job leads from your ex-coworkers. Even if you are leaving for a job in another industry, you never know what people they happen to know that can help with your job search. Keep in touch with the friends you have made at your old job. Remember to anchor yourself to people, not institutions, and you will find that any transition is made easier.

Which statement is true according to this passage?

A．401(k)account can be terminated by the employers anytime they want.

B．401(k)account can be withdrawn by the unemployed staff before their retirement.

C．401(k)fund is invested in international stock market only.

D．401(k)account can be transferred from one’s ex-employer to one’s new employer.

COBRA ensures an ex-employee stay in the health care plan______.

A．as long as the ex-employer continues to pay the premium

B．as long as the ex-employee continues to pay the premium

C．as long as the ex-employee finds a new job

D．as soon as the ex-employee is called back to the company

What’s the point of saving the receipts of job-searching expense?

A．To get reductions at tax-filing time.

B．To keep a record of one’s job hunting experience.

C．To be aware of one’s expenditure and be frugal.

D．Because one’s ex-boss will reimburse the job-searching expense.

According to Paragraph 1, in the United States, ______.

A．most industries stay unaffected by global economic recession

B．each and every company spares no effort to survive the fierce competition

C．compulsory redundancy is going on in every industry

D．employees are laid off because they are not qualified for their jobs

To______the structural imbalances in the budget, and also in the economy the Administration has given its support to a constitutional amendment. relinquish remedy compensate redress

Digging the garden with a spade is a very______task. I am exhausted after such two-hour’s work. industrious manual conscientious laborious

Simon’s letter was in such a casual scrawl, and in such pale ink, that it was ______. vague ambiguous illegible obscure

It didn’t seem to have______to her that once she was addicted to drug smoking, she could hardly give it up. But it did happen. happened took place occurred came about

President Clinton______power when the US economy was slow. presumed consumed resumed assumed

She______for a while and was unable to make a decision, so she asked for my help. flickered glittered faltered blinked

Although the media have paid a great deal of attention to telecommuting, in most cases it is the employee’s situations, not the availability of technology, that______a telecommuting arrangement. precipitates reciprocates anticipates apprehends

Different cultures are more prone to______certain illnesses because of the food that is characteristic in these cultures. contract conduct confine conquer

Diana made a lot of effort to persuade her parents into______to her going to the United States to study business administration in MIT. contending contesting contenting consenting

Women have significant advantages over men in space because they need less food and less oxygen and they_____ radiation better. stand up to stand in for stand up for stand in with

Telecommuting—substituting the computer for the trip to the job—has been ______a solution to all kinds of problems related to office work. hailed as drawn out borne out lodged in

It is not enough to observe behavior and______them with physiological events that occur at the same time. correlate comply correspond pertain

They______themselves______the politician because they hoped he would become president one day. At last he did. connected, with combined, with linked, up attached, to

If you are a fan of science fiction, you’ve no doubt encountered the term nanotechnol-ogy. Yet over the past year also, a series of breakthroughs have transformed nanotech from sci-fi fantasy into a real world. Applied science, in the process, inspired huge investments by business, academia, and government. In industries as diverse as health care, computers, chemicals, and aerospace, nanotech is overhauling production techniques, resulting in new and improved products, some of which may already be in your home or workplace. The inspiration for nanotech goes back to a 1959 speech by the late physicist Richard Feynman, then a professor at the California Institute of Technology, titled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom. “ Four decades later, Chad Mirkin, a Chemistry professor at Northwestern University’s $34 million nanotech center, used a nanoscale device to etch most of Feynman’s speech onto a surface the size of about 10 tobacco smoke particles. What accounts for the sudden acceleration of nanotechnology? A key breakthrough came in 1990, when researchers at IBM’s Almaden Research Center succeeded in rearranging individual atoms at will. Using a device known as a scanning probe microscope, the team slowly moved 35 atoms to spell the three-letter IBM logo, thus proving Feynman right. The entire Logo was less than three nanometers. Soon, scientists were not only manipulating individual atoms but “spray painting“ with them as well. Using a tool known as a molecular beam epitaxy, scientists have learned to create ultra fine films of specialized crystals, built up one molecular layer at a time. This is the technology used today to build read-head components for computer hard drives. The next stage in the development of nanotechnology borrows a page from nature. Building a supercomputer no bigger than a speck of dust might seem an impossible task, until one realizes that evolution solved such problems more than a billion years ago. Living cells contain all sorts of nanoscale motors made of proteins that perform myriad mechanical and chemical functions, from muscle contraction to photosynthesis. In some instances, such motors may be re-engineered, or imitated, to produce products and processes useful to humans. How are these biologically inspired machines constructed? Often, they construct themselves, manifesting a phenomenon of nature known as self assembly. The macromole-cules of such biological machines have exactly the right shape and chemical binding preferences to ensure that when they combine they will snap together in predesigned ways. For example, the two strands that make up DNA’s double helix match each other exactly, which means that if they are separated in a complex chemical mixture, they are still able to find each other easily.

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Some people______in part the defeat of the revolution in France and Germany to the English diplomacy, do you agree? contributed attributed distributed owned

Small children can not______the difference between right and wrong. It is our duty to teach them. appreciate enjoy acknowledge confess

Building this road will______the construction of ten bridges, and then the total cost reaches 1 million US dollars. evolve involve revolve devolve

The school authority______against students’ smoking both in the classrooms and at home. resolved determined banned prohibited

The______meanings of the individual words do not help define all expressions like “Drop in any time. “ literary literature literal literate

Which statement is true according to this passage?

COBRA ensures an ex-employee stay in the health care plan______.

What’s the point of saving the receipts of job-searching expense?

The word “interim“ most probably means______.

According to Paragraph 1, in the United States, ______.