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  3. That mythical beast, homo economicus, otherwise called Economic man, is utterly clear about the purpose of work: to get paid. He

That mythical beast, homo economicus, otherwise called Economic man, is utterly clear about the purpose of work: to get paid. He

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问题     That mythical beast, homo economicus, otherwise called Economic man, is utterly clear about the purpose of work: to get paid. He is keener on leisure than on work, and if money can be got without effort, he downs tools. If real people feel the same, then bountiful out-of-work benefits should be found in the same places as work-shy citizens.
    Yet a cross-country comparison of benefits and attitudes to work published on January 28th finds precisely the opposite pattern. Researchers ranked 13 countries according to their generosity (measured by comparing typical benefits to those out of work with the average wage of a production worker) and their citizens’ commitment to work (gauged by asking whether they would work if they did not need the cash, and whether they regarded a job as merely a way to earn a living). They found that the more generous a state is the keener on work its people are. Britons, whose benefits were the stingiest (most ungenerous) after those that Americans get, were least keen of all on work.
    One reason may be the skills make-up of the British workforce. The researchers found, logically enough, that professionals and graduates were more positive about work than the unskilled and non-graduates. Fewer Britons than Norwegians (who came top on work commitment) have professional jobs or degrees. But this does not entirely explain their comparative immunity to the attractions of toil: Britons of every social class and level of education were less keen on work than their counterparts elsewhere.
    Could the "dependency culture" currently exercising British politicians be solved by raising benefits? Unlikely, says Alison Park, editor of the annual British Social Attitudes Report, in which the study appeared: attitudes to work vary from country to country for many reasons. The report states that the lavishness of what the report terms "encompassing" states, all Nordic with Lutheran traditions, may have been made possible by a strong work ethic, rather than a stronger commitment to work having emerged as a result of it.
    And work incentives are affected by features of welfare systems other than overall generosity: "corporatist" states such as Germany, which pay higher benefits to those with a longer work history, may be encouraging positive attitudes to work by such conditionality. Britain’s poor benefits, by contrast, are largely independent of previous employment, which may mean they are seen as an alternative to work, rather than as one of the good things that flow from it.
By saying  "their comparative immunity to the  attractions  of toil"  (Para.   3),   the   author  means
选项 A、Britons are healthy enough not to feel ill
B、Britons have good immune system
C、Britons are not keen on work
D、Britons are afraid of hard work
答案C
解析 语义理解题。答案在第三段第五行。该句中冒号后面的内容是对前半句的解释，即“每个社会阶层，每个教育层次的英国人对工作都更缺乏热情”，因此C项正确。
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