Do Part Two of the Reading Test. Give yourself 10-12
minutes to complete the task. PART
TWO ·Read this text about work-life balance.
·Choose the best sentence A-H to fill each of the gaps 1-6.
·Do not use any letter more than once. Business
life: Uncomfortable truths about the work-life balance
Balancing work and life is an unattainable goal. At least, it is for anyone who
wants to get ahead. ’Simply cutting back on work inevitably fails, because in
real life, success in work is predicated on achievement,’ Mr Hammonds writes.
’In a competitive business environment leadership requires commitment, passion
and a lot of time.’ It is not just that people who want to leave the
office at a reasonable time are competing against those who work until the early
hours. They are also, increasingly, competing against people on the other side
of the world who are ready to work any hours. Pavan Vishwakarma is a freelance
software developer who lives in Bhopal and who advertises himself as being
available at any time. Do you want balance Vishwakarma doesn’t. 1 If you’re competing against Pavan
Vishwakarma—and ultimately, we all are—you can’t have both a big paycheck and
reasonable hours. 2 It is
not that work-life balance is not worth having. 3
It is just that it has its price, which is that you are not going
to rise as high in the organisation or be as rich as those who have no interest
in work-life balance. You can work more intelligently, and delegate as much as
you like, but if you are the sort of person who, faced with a choice between a
school play and a crucial meeting, opts for the play, you will fall behind those
who would not dream of missing the meeting. Show me a high-riding
chief executive, or a successful politician. 4
There is no point, as Mr Hammonds rightly
argues, in pretending we can have it all. We can’t. The usually unspoken truth
about work-life balance is that if you want a life, you have to surrender some
of the rewards of work. Those who opt for children, spouse and friends will be
richer in all the ways that really count. 5 Of course, for most people, all this is academic. They
cannot afford to earn less. 6 For them,
life is an endless struggle to find jobs, put food on the table, arrange
childcare—and hope that grandparents can step in when children wake up covered
in chicken pox. Those who can afford to trade promotion and salary for family
time are a lucky minority. A. They can barely get by as it
is. B. I will show you someone who barely sees his or her
children. C. A few superhuman people may be able to achieve
this. D. He wants to work, and he’ll work cheap—a lot cheaper
than you will. E. However, unless they win the lottery, they
will have less money in the bank. F. The laws of economics
won’t allow it. G. They are also, increasingly, competing
against people on the other side of the world who are ready to work any
hours. H. It certainly is.