Text 1 In order to“change lives for the better”and reduce“dependency”George Osborne,Chancellor of the Exchequer,introduced the“upfront work search”scheme.Only if the jobless arrive at the jobcentre with a CV,register for online job search,and start looking for work will they be eligible for benefit and then they should report weekly rather than fortnightly.What could be more reasonable?More apparent reasonableness followed.There will now be a seven-day wait for the jobseeker’s allowance.“Those first few days should be spent looking for work,not looking to sign on.”he claimed.“We’re doing these things because we know they help people stay off benefits and help those on benefits get into work faster.”Help?Really?On first hearing,this was the socially concerned chancellor,trying to change lives for the better,complete with“reforms”to an obviously indulgent system that demands too little effort from the newly unemployed to find work,and subsidises laziness.What motivated him,we were to understand,was his zeal for“fundamental fairness”—protecting the taxpayer,controlling spending and ensuring that only the most deserving claimants received their benefits.Losing a job is hurting:you don’t skip down to the jobcentre with a song in your heart,delighted at the prospect of doubling your income from the generous state.It is financially terrifying,psychologically embarrassing and you know that support is minimal and extraordinarily hard to get.You are now not wanted;you support is minimal and extraordinarily hard to get.You are now not wanted;you are now excluded from the work environment that offers purpose and structure in your life.Worse,the crucial income to feed yourself and your family and pay the bills has disappeared.Ask anyone newly unemployed what they want and the answer is always:a job.But in Osborneland,your first instinct is to fall into dependency—permanent dependency if you can get it—supported by a state only too ready to indulge your falsehood.It is as though 20 years of ever-tougher reforms of the job search and benefit administration system never happened.The principle of British welfare is no longer that you can insure yourself against the risk of unemployment and receive unconditional payments if the disaster happens.Even the very phrase“jobseeker’s allowance”—invented in 1996—is about redefining the unemployed as a“jobseeker”who had no mandatory right to a benefit he or she has earned through making national insurance contributions.Instead,the claimant receives a time-limited“allowance,”conditional on actively seeking a job;no entitlement and no insurance,at￡71.70 a week,one of the least generous in the EU.21.George Osborne’s scheme was intended to
事实细节此题考查英国财政大臣乔治?奥斯本提出新方案的目的，根据题干人名关键词定位到文章第一段，原文提到“Only if the jobless arrive at the jobcentre with a CV,register for online job search,and start looking for work will they be eligible for benefit”，即只有失业人员带上简历、网上注册并开始找工作了，才能获得福利。很明显要获得救济福利更难而并非容易。因此排除B；而选项A“促使失业人员自愿进行报告”，原文是“they should report weekly rather than fortnightly”，即他们应该每周报告一次，文章只提及了报告的时间频率，并未涉及是否自愿的问题，该选项中的“自愿”属于无中生有；选项D“保证求职者获取救助金的合法权利”，文章同样并未提及如何保证获得福利的相关信息，因此排除。选项C“鼓励求职者积极找工作”，同样对应原文“Only if the jobless arrive at the jobcentre with a CV,register for online job search,and start looking for work will they be eligible for benefit”，说明只有积极找工作才能获得失业救助福利，即鼓励找工作，该项属于原文的同义替换。
