閱讀理解

　　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 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 more satisfying work, or less satisfying personal lives．

　　Longer hours does 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 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(平衡)?

(1)

From the text we know that the author ________．

[　　]

A．

believes that longer working hours is better

B．

prefers shorter working hours to longer ones

C．

says nothing certain about which pattern is better

D．

thinks neither of the patterns is good

(2)

Which of the following countries has none of its people at work?

[　　]

A．

Spain．

B．

France．

C．

Germany．

D．

America．

(3)

In the last paragraph, the underlined word “which” refers to ________．

[　　]

A．

family life

B．

situations

C．

other values

D．

trends

(4)

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．

(5)

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

答案：1．C;2．B;3．C;4．D;5．D;
解析：

(1)

這是一道主旨題。從最后一段第一句說“哪種狀況更好還不清楚”可知，選C項(xiàng)。

(2)

這是一道判斷題。第三段講到拿法國(guó)和美國(guó)比較，法國(guó)許多母親和年老的工人就不工作了，而美國(guó)有更多的人在工作。因此選B項(xiàng)。

(3)

這是一個(gè)非限制性定語(yǔ)從句，主要混淆答案是family life。而family life是對(duì)other values的舉例，因此which指的是other values。

(4)

這是一道主旨題。文中講了在美國(guó)工作時(shí)間更長(zhǎng)的兩個(gè)原因：greatly lower taxes; more satisfying work or less satisfying personal lives。其他選項(xiàng)能明顯排除。

(5)

這是一道主旨題。本文比較了美國(guó)和歐洲國(guó)家的工作效率、工作時(shí)間、工作人數(shù)和GDP，并說明了這種狀況的原因。最后一段說到美國(guó)人工作時(shí)間長(zhǎng)導(dǎo)致從1975年以來幸福感下降，而歐洲人幸福感在上升。因此，本文題目應(yīng)該是工作和幸福感。


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