首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
(1)Oscar Wilde said that work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do. If so, Americans are now among the world’s
(1)Oscar Wilde said that work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do. If so, Americans are now among the world’s
admin
2016-11-03
100
问题
(1)Oscar Wilde said that work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do. If so, Americans are now among the world’s saddest refugees. Factory workers in the United States are working longer hours than at any time in the past half-century. America once led the rich world in cutting the average working week—from 70 hours in 1850 to less than 40 hours by the 1950s. It seemed natural that as people grew richer they would trade extra earnings for more leisure. Since the 1970s, however, the hours clocked up by American workers have risen, to an average of 42 this year in manufacturing.
(2)Several studies suggest that something similar is happening outside manufacturing: Americans are spending more time at work than they did 20 years ago. Executives and lawyers boast of 80-hour weeks. On holiday, they seek out fax machines and phones as eagerly as Germans bag the best sun-loungers. Yet working time in Europe and Japan continues to fall. In Germany’s engineering industry the working week is to be trimmed from 36 to 35 hours next year. Most Germans get six weeks’ paid annual holiday; even the Japanese now take three weeks. Americans still make do with just two.
(3)Germany responds to this contrast with its usual concern about whether people’s aversion to work is damaging its competitiveness. Yet German workers, like the Japanese, seem to be acting sensibly: as their incomes rise, they can achieve a better standard of living with fewer hours of work. The puzzle is why America, the world’s richest country, sees things differently. It is a puzzle with sinister social implications. Parents spend less time with their children, who may be left alone at home for longer. Is it just a coincidence that juvenile crime is on the rise?
(4)Some explanations for America’s time at work fail to stand up to scrutiny. One blames weak trade unions that leave workers open to exploitation. Are workers being forced by cost-cutting firms to toil harder just to keep their jobs? A recent study by two American economists, Richard Freeman and Linda Bell, suggests not: when asked, Americans actually want to work longer hours. Most German workers, in contrast, would rather work less.
(5)Then, why do Americans want to work harder? One reason may be that the real earnings of many Americans have been stagnant or falling during the past two decades. People work longer merely to maintain their living standards. Yet many higher-skilled workers, who have enjoyed big increases in their real pay, have been working harder too. Also, one reason for the slow growth of wages has been the rapid growth in employment—which is more or less where the argument began.
(6)Taxes may have something to do with it. People who work an extra hour in America are allowed to keep more of their money than those who do the same in Germany. Falls in marginal tax rates in America since the 1970s have made it all the more profitable to work longer.
(7)None of these answers really explains why the century-long decline in working hours has gone into reverse in America but not elsewhere(though Britain shows signs of following America’s lead). Perhaps cultural differences—the last refuge of the defeated economist—are at play. Economists used to believe that once workers earned enough to provide for their basic needs and allow for a few luxuries, their incentive to work would be eroded, like lions relaxing after a kill. But humans are more susceptible to advertising than lions. Perhaps clever marketing has ensured that "basic needs"—for a shower with built-in TV, for a rocket-propelled car—expand continuously. Shopping is already one of America’s most popular pastimes. But it requires money—hence more work and less leisure.
(8)Or try this: the television is not very good, and baseball and hockey keep being wiped out by strikes. Perhaps Wilde was right. Maybe Americans have nothing better to do.
In the United States, working longer hours is _____.
选项
A、confined to the manufacturing industry
B、a traditional practice in some sectors
C、prevalent in all sectors of society
D、favoured by the economists
答案
C
解析
文章第1段最后一句说,美国人劳动时间延长;第2段开头即说,这一情况不局限于制造业,其他行业也一样。可见,美国各行业都出现了工作时间延长的现象。C“在社会各部门都很普遍”正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/lc7O777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Thenatureoflanguageisthenatureofhumanthoughtandhumanaction,forlanguageisnomorenorlessthanthetoolofboth
Language-basedlearningdisabilitiesareproblemswithage-appropriatereading,spelling,and/orwriting.Thisdisorderisnot
______isregardedasthePoetLaureateofHarlem.
Aftervaccinesandbednets,couldthehumblecookingstovebethenextbigideatosavemillionsoflivesinpoorcountries?Hi
Associetychanges,socialvaluesandlinguisticvaluesbegintodiverge.Languagecontainstraditionalvaluesthisiswhichis
Theprocessoftransformingalldirectexperienceintoimaginaryorintothatsuprememodeofsymbolicexpression,language,has
InterculturalLearningManyteachersmaywonder"whatIamactuallydoing"sometimes.Itdoesn’tseemenoughtoteachgramma
Therearearound6,000languagesintheworldtoday.AtleasttherewereuntilJanuaryof2001.ThenCarlosWestezdied.Westez
TheInternetprovidesanamazingforumforthefreeexchangeofideas.Giventherelativelyafewrestrictionsgoverningaccess
A、CreativityofGoogleengineers.B、The"twentycents".C、Therecentrecession.D、Theimportanceofcreativity.A根据对话开头介绍,B不准确,C
随机试题
孕妇易患急性肾盂肾炎的原因是
患者,女性,40岁。电子技术工人,全口牙大部牙体缺损。自述呈片状脱落多年。牙体颜色异常,牙龈色泽正常,牙本质暴露,面下1/3高度较低。询问病史,发现有遗传史。作为该患者的牙医,首先要做的是
()是一类特别的化学药品,对人体的影响主要包括急性中毒和长期接触后的不良健康效应。
在国债的发行方式中,必须通过金融市场或金融机构发行的是()
2007年12月31日,仁大公司库存B材料的账面价值(成本)为90万元,市场购买价格总额为80万元,假设不发生其他购买费用,由于B材料市场销售价格下降,市场上用B材料生产的乙产品的市场价格也发生下降,用B材料生产的乙产品的市场价格总额由225万元下降为20
成年人全身共有206块骨,按其所在部位可分为()两部分。
根据以下资料,回答下列问题。2011年既是盈利能力最强的公司(前10名)之一,又是收入增长最快的公司(前10名)之一的公司,在2011年利润占收入的比重与2010年相比:
下列哪些是弗洛伊德常用的心理治疗技术?()
给定程序MODI1.C中函数fun的功能是:从低位开始取出长整型变量S中偶数位上的数,依次构成一个新数放在t中。高位仍在高位,低位仍在低位。例如,当s中的数为:7654321时,t中的数为:642。请改正程序中的错误,使它能得出正确的结
A、 B、 C、 B
最新回复
(
0
)