Among rich countries, people in the United States work the longest hours. They work much longer than in Europe. This difference is quite surprising because productivity(生產(chǎn)力) per hour worked is the same in the United States as it is in France, Spain and Germany, and it is growing at a similar speed.
In most countries and at most times in history, as people have become richer they have chosen to work less. In other words they have decided to “spend” a part of their extra income on a fuller personal life. Over the last fifty years Europeans have continued this pattern, and hours of work have fallen sharply. But not in the United States. We do not fully know why this is. One reason may be greatly lower taxes in America, which increase the rewards to work. Another may be more satisfying work, or less satisfying personal lives.
Longer hours do of course increase the GDP(國(guó)內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值). So the United States has produced more per worker than, say, France. The United States also has more of its people at work, while in France many more mothers and older workers have decided to stay at home. The overall result is that American GDP per head is 40% higher than in France, even though productivity per hour worked is the same.
It is not clear which of the two situations is better. As we have seen, work has to be compared with other values like family life, which often get lost in its interest. It is too early to explain the different trends（趨勢(shì)）in happiness over time in different countries. But it is a disappointing idea that in the United States happiness has made no progress since 1975, while it has risen in Europe. Could this have anything to do with trends in the work-life balance?
【小題1】Which of the following countries has more of its people at work?

A．Spain. B．France. C．Germany. D．America.
【小題2】What message can we get from the text?
A．The GDP of Europe is higher than that of America.
B．Two possible reasons are given for working longer hours in the US.
C．People all over the world choose to work less when they are richer.
D．Americans are happier than Europeans.
【小題3】Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A．Americans and Europeans
B．Staying at Home
C．Work and Productivity
D．Work and Happiness


【小題1】D
【小題2】B
【小題3】D

解析試題分析: 盡管美國(guó)人工作時(shí)間長(zhǎng)但是每小時(shí)的生產(chǎn)效率卻和其他一些富裕的歐洲國(guó)家相同，作者認(rèn)為美國(guó)人喜歡工作時(shí)間長(zhǎng)是因?yàn)楣ぷ鲿?huì)給人帶來(lái)一種滿足感，因此美國(guó)也成為了工作人數(shù)最多的國(guó)家。在本文中作者通過(guò)對(duì)比的方法對(duì)此現(xiàn)象進(jìn)行了剖析。
【小題1】D細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章第三段The United States also has more of its people at work,可知美國(guó)工作的人數(shù)比別的國(guó)家要多，故答案選D。
【小題2】B細(xì)節(jié)理解題。文章第二段介紹了為什么在美國(guó)人們的工作時(shí)間要更長(zhǎng)一些，給出了兩種可能的原因，由此判斷B選項(xiàng)內(nèi)容正確。
【小題3】D主旨大意題。在文中作者對(duì)比了美國(guó)和其他富裕國(guó)家人們的不同工作時(shí)間和工作效率，分析認(rèn)為工作帶來(lái)的滿足感可能是美國(guó)人喜歡工作的原因，但是最后提出盡管美國(guó)人喜歡長(zhǎng)時(shí)間工作，但是人們的幸福感卻沒(méi)有像其他國(guó)家一樣增長(zhǎng)，由此可知文中中心內(nèi)容是講述工作和幸福的關(guān)系，故D選項(xiàng)內(nèi)容更能反應(yīng)文章中心，答案選D。
考點(diǎn)：考查社會(huì)生活類短文閱讀。

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