[originaltext] Among western rich countries, people in the United States wor

游客2024-04-28  12

问题  
Among western rich countries, people in the United States work the longest hours. They work much longer than those 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 do of course increase the GDP. 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 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?
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
22. What do we know about the speaker from the passage?
23. Which country has more of its people at work?
24. What message can we get from the passage?
25. Which would be the best title for the passage?

选项 A、He thinks neither of the work patterns is good.
B、He believes that longer working hours are better.
C、He prefers shorter working hours to longer ones.
D、He says nothing certain about which pattern is better.

答案 D

解析 根据选项中的thinks neither…good,believes…better,prefers和says ntothing…better 可知,本题考查作者的观点态度。短文中提到两种生活方式:美国工作时间长,GDP增长快,但幸福指数没有增加;欧洲国家如法国,工作时间短,GDP增长慢,但幸福指数在增加。由说话者提到的It is not clear which ofthe two situations is better.可知作者态度并不明确,故答案为D)。
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