首页
登录
职称英语
[originaltext] Free-market capitalism hasn’t freed us; it has trapped us. It’
[originaltext] Free-market capitalism hasn’t freed us; it has trapped us. It’
游客
2024-03-11
34
管理
问题
Free-market capitalism hasn’t freed us; it has trapped us. It’s imperative for us to embrace a workplace revolution. We are unlikely to spend our last moments regretting that we didn’t spend enough of our lives slaving away at work. We may instead find ourselves feeling guilty about the time we didn’t spend watching our children grow, or with our loved ones, or travelling, or on the cultural or leisure pursuits that bring us happiness. Unfortunately, the average full-time employee in the world works 42 hours a week— well over a third of the time we’re awake. Some of our all too precious time is being stolen: office workers do around two billion hours of unpaid overtime each year. So it’s extremely welcome that some government coalitions have started looking into potentially cutting the working week to four days.
The champions of free-market capitalism promised their way of life would bring us freedom. But it wasn’t freedom at all: from the lack of secure, affordable housing to growing job insecurity and rising personal debt, the individual is trapped. Nine decades ago, leading economists predicted that technological advances and rising productivity would mean that we’d be working a 15-hour week by now: that target has been somewhat missed.
Here is the most malignant threat to our personal freedom, particularly as the balance of power in the workplace has been shifted so dramatically from worker to boss. A huge portion of our lives involves the surrender of our freedom and personal autonomy. It’s time in which we are directed by the needs and desires of others, and denied the right to make our own choices. That’s bad for us: it’s hardly surprising that over half a million workers suffer from work-related mental health conditions each year, or that 15.4 million working days were lost to work-related stress last year, a jump of nearly a quarter.
Yes, there are those who, far from being overworked, actually seek more hours. But a shorter working week would enable us to redistribute hours from the overworked to the underworked. We need to look at ways of cutting the working week without slashing living standards: after all, the world’s workers have already suffered the worst deduction in wages since the early 1800s. And cutting the working week would be conducive to the individual, giving millions of workers more time to spend as they see fit.
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the recording you have just heard.
19. What do people often feel guilty about according to the speaker?
20. What did leading economists predict 90 years ago?
21. What is the result of denying workers’ right to make their own choices?
选项
A、People would be working only fifteen hours a week now.
B、The balance of power in the workplace would change.
C、Technological advances would create many new jobs.
D、Most workers could afford to have a house of their own.
答案
A
解析
事实细节题。讲座中提到,90年前,经济学家的领军人物预测,技术的进步和生产力的提高会让现在的我们每周仅需工作15个小时。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3525672.html
相关试题推荐
[originaltext]Thefocusoftoday’sclassisonanimportantelementinthed
[originaltext]Thefocusoftoday’sclassisonanimportantelementinthed
[originaltext]Thefocusoftoday’sclassisonanimportantelementinthed
[originaltext]So,nowweareintheroomwithnaiveart,producedintheUni
[originaltext]So,nowweareintheroomwithnaiveart,producedintheUni
[originaltext]Goodevening,IamSteveJohnsonandIrepresenttheAmerican
[originaltext]SummermeansinternshipsforthousandsofAmericancollegestu
[originaltext]Welcome,everybody,tothelovelyhouseandgardensofRosewoo
[originaltext]Welcome,everybody,tothelovelyhouseandgardensofRosewoo
[originaltext]W:Wu,doyouhavetimetotellmemoreaboutthemultimediateac
随机试题
Cananimalshaveasenseofhumor?SallyBlanchard,publisherofanewslette
试述高等教育的平等和效率的关系,并说说我国当前处理平等和效率关系的政策取向。
一女性来社区就诊,52岁。双手关节反复肿痛伴晨僵1年余,近两年来疼痛加重伴晨僵,
神经调节的基本方式是A.反射 B.反应 C.神经冲动 D.正反馈调
小儿腹部胀满,叩之有波动感,应首先考虑的是()A、气滞 B、食积 C、疳
刘老师在讲文艺复兴大师作品这课前,给学生介绍画家的生平故事,作品的传说等方式,让
甲企业盈余公积年初余额为100万元,本年利润总额为900万元,所得税费用为100
关于药品不良反应的控制,说法错误的是A.对不良反应大或者其他原因危害人体健康的药
D本题可以采用逆向思维的方式来解题,将右侧的四个图形按照左侧的小图形划分,可知,D项:
图所示某临时性屋架端节点的单齿连接,齿深范围内的弓形垂直面积为10400mm2。
最新回复
(
0
)