Question

 

Among rich countries, people in the Untied States work the longest hours. They work much longer than in Europe. This difference is quite surprising because productivity per hour worked is the same in the Untied 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 Untied States. We do not fully know why this is. One reason may be greatly lower taxes in America, which increase the rewards（回報）to work. Another may be more satisfying work, or less satisfying personal lives.

Longer hours do of course increase the GDP（國民生產總值）. 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 situation is better. As we have seen, work has to be compared with other values like family life, which often get lost in its interest. It is too early to explain the different trends（趨勢）in happiness over time in different countries. But it is a disappointing idea that in the Untied States happiness had made no progress since 1975, while it has risen in Europe. Could this have anything to do with trends in the work-life balance（平衡）?

1.From the text we know that author ________.

    A. says nothing certain about which pattern is better

    B. prefers shorter working hours to longer ones

    C. believes that longer working hours is better

    D. thinks neither of the patterns is good

2.Which of the following countries has more of its people at work?

    A. Spain            B. America          C. Germany          D. France

3.In the last paragraph , the underlined word “which” refers to _______.

    A. family life      B. situations           C. other values     D. trends

4.What message can we get from the text?

    A. People all over the world choose to work less when they are richer.

    B. Americans are happier than Europeans

    C. The GDP of Europe is higher than that of America.

    D. Two possible reasons are given for working longer hours in the US.

5.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

    A. Staying at Home                      B. Work and Happiness

    C. Work and Productivity                D. Americans and Europeans

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.A

【解析】從文章第二段最后一句One reason may be …Another may be…可知。

【考點】細節歸納題。

2.B

【解析】從第三段可看出選項B正確。

【考點】細節理解題。

3.C

【解析】從文章最后一段“正如我們所看到的那樣，工作必須與像家庭生活一樣的其他價值相比較的話，它們往往就失去了其重要性”可知。

【考點】細節推理題。

4.D

【解析】選項A的敘述明顯與文意相違背；從文章最后一段看出B項錯誤；選項C與文章第三段意思不一致。D項是文章第二段結束時所提及的。

【考點】細節歸納題。

5.B

【解析】文章最后一段揭示了主題。

【考點】主旨大意題。

【備考建議】

       提高閱讀理解能力最有效的辦法就是平時多讀多練，閱讀不僅有助于擴大詞匯量，豐富語言知識，培養語感，而且可以幫助學生了解英語文化背景，擴大知識面。所以，復習階段要注意選擇緊貼生活的原汁原味的文章。尤其要涉獵各種題材和體裁的語言材料，最好每天讀一點報刊雜志上的英語文章或其他淺顯的英文讀物，以積累語言知識。在這個過程中，要做到認真閱讀，反復理解，重點把握。在此基礎上，熟悉掌握NMET閱讀理解題的特點以及問題類型，加強限時訓練，提高閱讀速度。同時，要養成良好的閱讀習慣。