Text 2 Britain's flexible labour market

题库2022-08-02 141

问题 Text 2 Britain's flexible labour market was a boon during the economic slump,helping keep joblessness down and then,when the recovery began,allowing employment to rise.Yet one of its bendier bits is causing politicians to fret.Ed Miliband,the leader of the Labour Party,has promised a crackdown on"zero_hours contracts"if he wins the next election.The government has launched a consultation.Zero-hours contracts allow firms to employ workers for as few or as many hours as they need,with no prior notice.In theory,at least,people can refuse work.Fully l.4m jobs were based on these contracts in January 2014,according to a snapshot taken by the Office for National Statistics.That is just 4%of the total,but the share rises to a quarter in the hospitality business.The contracts are useful for firms with erratic pattems of demand,such as hotels and restaurants.They have also helped firms to expand during the recovery-allowing them to test new business lines before hiring permanent staff,who would be more costly to make redundant if things went wrong.Flexibility suits some workers,too.According to'one survey,47%of those employed on zero-hours contracts were content to have no minimum contracted hours.Many of these workers are in full-time education.The ability to tum down work is important to students,who want to revise（or sit in the sun）at this time of year.Pensioners keen for a little extra income can often live with the uncertainty of not having guaranteed hours.Yet that leaves more than a quarter of workers on zero-hours contracts who say they are unhappy with their conditions.Some of this is cyclical.During recessions,a dearth of permanent positions forces people into jobs with no contracted hours even if they do not want them（the govemment has just said that unemployed people who refuse to accept zero-hours contracts could be cut off from benerits）.Underemployment is particularly prevalent among these workers,35%of whom would like more hours compared with 12%in other jobs.As the economy recovers,many should be able to renegotiate their contracts or find permanent jobs.But the recovery will not cause unwanted zero hours contracts to disappear.Some workers will never have much negotiating power:they are constrained by geography,family commitments and lack of competition for their skills among a small number of big employers.Zero-hours contracts make it easier for employers to abuse their labour-market power.Some use them to avoid statutory obligations such as sick and maternity pay.Workers are penalised for not being available when requested.And some contracts contain exclusivity clauses which prevent workers from taking additionaljobs.These can harm other employers as well as workers,and actually reduce labour market flexibility.That,at least,is worth doing away with.What can we infer from the last two paragraphs?A.Many workers on zero-hours contracts are often unsatisfied with their conditions.B.Many people don't want to join permanent work.C.Economic recovery will eventually lead to zero-hours contracts out of date.D.Reducing labour-market flexibility is not the original idea of zero-hours contracts

选项 A.Many workers on zero-hours contracts are often unsatisfied with their conditions.
B.Many people don't want to join permanent work.
C.Economic recovery will eventually lead to zero-hours contracts out of date.
D.Reducing labour-market flexibility is not the original idea of zero-hours contracts

答案 D

解析推理判断题。解决此题的关键是通读段落后找到四个选项在段落中的位置，通读第五段可以得出零时工合同的影响即：Yet that leaves more thana quarter ofworkers on zero-hours contracts who say they are unhappy with their conditions．（然而．25%以上的零时合同工对自己的工作环境不满。）25%并不等同于很多，同时第六段结尾处也说了工人的初衷并不是要降低市场灵活性，与这个信息相对应的选项为D项Reducing labour-market flexibility js not the original idea of zero-hours corWacts．“减少劳动力市场的灵活性并不是零时工合同最初的目标”。所以D项为正确选项。【干扰排除】A项的Many与第五段第一句中的more than a quarter of workers不相符；B项与第五段的尾句相反；C项，文中没有提到“过时”，因此应当排除。

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Text 2 Britain's flexible labour market

英语二研究生

研究生入学