Passage 15
（2006 四川 C）

Juanito Estrella has been a housekeeping manager on the US-based large passenger ship carnival Spirit for 18 months and feels he has found the suitable position in his career （職業）.He has always wanted to travel.“I guess I am a really restless spirit.I like traveling, so when the chance came, I jumped at it,”he says.

The chance came in the form of a newspaper advertisement for work on cruise ships （游船）.At the time Estrella was the housekeeping manager at a Melbourne hotel.He applied and, after two interviews,a medical check and police clearance, the job was his.

Estrella is responsible （負責的）for the cleanliness of the ship, making sure that 160 crew work properly.“I enjoy it because there is no other work—you wake up each day in a different place and a different culture.It's exciting when you go to the next country and you don't understand the language,”he says.

Estrella likes being busy and getting to know people from all over the world. The 1,000 crew come from 94 countries, and Estrella has learnt Spanish and a little croatian.

but there is a downside.“You cannot get really drunk…because you have safety responsibilities to yourself and others,”he says.“You don't really think about home.You start to think about home only when you get closer to your vacation and wonder what you'll be doing.”

Life on the ship is anything but cruising.Estrella and his fellows work at least 10 hours a day, seven days a week.He warns the job is not for everybody.“You have to love being busy and be prepared to work every day—and to give up drinking too much alcohol.”In his spare time, if the ship sails into a port, Estrella explores it, otherwise he works out in the crew's gym, goes on the Internet or calls home.

1.What do we know about Estrella?

A. He is very fond of traveling.

B. He doesn't drink wine now.

C. He cannot speak a foreign language.

D. He used to be a housekeeping manager.

2.The underlined word “downside”in paragraph 5 probably means ______.

A. disappointment

B. disadvantage

C. failure

D. loss

3.Which of the following is true?

A. Estrella doesn't often feel homesick because of his work.

B. The work on the ship is not suitable for a married person.

C. Estrella can find no other job except the one on the ship.

D. The people on the ship are from 94 countries.

4.In the last paragraph, the writer thinks that life on the ship is ______.

A. not a tiring journey at all

B. just an interesting voyage

C. far from a voyage for pleasure

D. more than a pleasant travel by sea

【重點詞匯】

housekeeping n.家務管理

US-based 總部設在美國的

restless adj.得不到休息的

apply v.申請

clearance n.安全檢查

police clearance 保安審查

crew n.全體船員

croatian n.克羅地亞語

downside n.不利方面

alcohol n.酒精

anything but 絕不是

in one's spare time 在某人的空閑時間

【疑難長句】

In his spare time, if the ship sails into a port, Estrella explores it, otherwise he works out in the crew's gym, goes on the Internet or calls home.

（參考譯文）在空余時間里，如果船駛進了碼頭，Estrella就會去碼頭參觀。否則，他會在員工健身房健身、上網或者給家里打電話。