5．
Telecommuting
For most people，a usual workday means waking up，eating breakfast，driving to the office，workingfor about 8hours and then driving back home．But not all workers have this experience．Many people work from thei rhomes．This kind of work is called telecommuting or telework．A person who telecomutes is called a telecommuter．
People have worked in their homes for thousands of years．But the modern idea of telecommuting started in the early 1970s．Improvements in technology，especially networking technology，helped support the development of telework．As communication technology became cheaper and more powerful，telecommuting became more of a choice for workers．
Both companies and individuals（個人）can benefit from telework．One benefit for companies is that it can save money．It can also help improve morale． This is because workers who have choices about how they work are often happier．If workers are happier，they are likely to do better jobs．This is good for the company．As for individuals，they can save money by cutting down their transportation costs．They also save time because they do not have to go to the office every day．Depending on how often they work from home，telecommuters can save between 15and 25workdays every year．
Even though there are many benefits to telework，there are also some disadvantages．Managers are worried about losing control of the workers．If the worker is not in the office，managers don't know what they are doing．Telework can also be bad for a person's working life．Managers are more likely to give a promotion（升職）
to workers that they see every day，so telecommuters have less chance of getting promoted than regular workers．As telecommuters often work alone，another bad effect of telecommuting is separation from other people．
Telecommuting has a place in the society today．Helped by more powerfu technologies，teleworkers of the future will be able to communicate in new and improved ways．This will make telework better and make sure that it will have a more important place in the future．
49．What does telecommuting mean？B
A．Driving to work．
B．Working from home．
C．Working in an office．
D．Working for 8hours a day．
50．What does the underlined word"morale"probably mean？C
A．Health．B．Abilities．C．Spirits．D．Wealth．
51．What's one of the disadvantages of telecommuting？C
A．It makes a worker unfit and upset．
B．It makes a worker uninterested in his job．
C．It makes a worker have less chance of promotion．
D．It makes a worker have worse control of his time．
52．What can we learn from the passage？A
A．Telework will get improved in the future．
B．Telework has a history of hundreds of years．
C．Teleworkers work for more days every year．
D．Teleworkers are good at communicating with others．
