The Paper Chase

　　1. "Running a house is lot like running a business." says Stephanie Denton, a professional organizer based in Cincinnati, Ohio, who specializes in both residential and commercial paperwork and record keeping. To get a successful grip on organizing documents, bills, and other materials, Denton suggests the following tips:

　　2. Create a space in which you can always do your paperwork. This is perhaps the most important element of a successful system. If you can't devote an entire desk to the task, at least invest in a rolling file cart to store active paperwork and a two-drawer file cabinet for family records. Store the rolling file cart wherever it is most convenient and comfortable to do your work. whether that is the kitchen, office, or family room.

　　3. When in doubt, throw it out, the first step to implementing a workable filling system is to eliminate paper you don't use, don't need, or that you could easily access again elsewhere. Throw out duplicate statements, old catalogs, and all of the coupons, mailings, or offerings you'll never have an opportunity to use or even read.

　　4. Set aside two days a month to pay bills, if a monthly due date doesn't fit into your cycle, call up the creditor and suggest a more convenient date, keep two manila folders at the front of your system for current bills — one to correspond with each bill-paying day — and file all incoming bills. Keep a list in the front of each folder of what needs to be paid in case the invoice never arrives or gets misplaces.

　　5. Think of your filling system not as a rigid tool, but as a living, breathing system that can accommodate your changing needs. A good filling system is both mentally and physically flexible, everyone's needs are different, says Denton, but when devising a filling system, ask yourself: "Where would I look for this?" Create main headings for your filling system, such as investments, Taxes, Children, and so forth, and file individual folders under the main headings. Never overstuff your files.

　　練習(xí)：

　　1. Paragraph 2 __________

　　2. Paragraph 3 __________

　　3. Paragraph 4 __________

　　4. Paragraph 5 __________

　　A. Find a Place to Work on

　　B. Implementing a Workable Filing System

　　C. What Is a Good Filing System

　　D. How to Invest in a Rolling File Cart

　　E. Get Rid of Unimportant Things

　　F. Dealing With Bills

　　5. Stephanie Denton is expert _________.

　　6. You can put your file cart anywhere you like, on condition _____________.

　　7. Coupons should be thrown away because ____________.

　　8. "Mentally flexible" indicates the fact ______________.

　　A. they are useless

　　B. in paper chase

　　C. that it is easily reached

　　D. that different people have different requirements

　　E. they are not comfortable

　　F. in investing in coupons

　　答案與題解：

　　1.A　 這段的第一句是主題句，講的是要為整理文件找到工作空間。

　　2.E 　這段談及的是，沒有用的文件如各種復(fù)件、舊索引、優(yōu)待券等，要及時扔掉。

　　3.F 　這一段講的是如何處理賬單。

　　4.C 　這段講的是一個好的檔案系統(tǒng)應(yīng)具備的兩個條件：既要靈活又要調(diào)理清晰。

　　5. B　 Stephanie Denton非常擅長整理檔案，所以B是答案。雖然F在語法上講得過去，但優(yōu)待券不是可進行投資的東西，所以也就不存在是否擅長做此事的問題。

　　6. C 　文中提到，檔案車放在什么地方都可以，前提是使用方便。

　　7. A 　文章說，優(yōu)待券沒什么用，所以應(yīng)該扔掉。

　　8. D 　文章的最后一段談到，好的檔案系統(tǒng)要有心理和身體兩個方面的靈活性，接下去又說，每個人的需要都是不同的。所以答案是D。