Among rich countries, people in the United States work the longest hours. They work much longer than in Europe. This difference is quite surprising because productivity(生产力) 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 bee richer they have chosen to work less. In other words they have decided to “spend” a part of their extra ine 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 greatly lower taxes in America, which increase the rewards to work. Another may be more satisfying work, or less satisfying personal lives.
Longer hours do of course increase the GDP(国内生产总值). 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 situations is better. As we have seen, work has to be pared with other values like family life, which often get lost in its interest. It is too early to explain the different trends（趋势）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?
【小题1】Which of the following countries has more of its people at work?A．Spain.B．France.C．Germany.D．America.【小题2】What message can we get from the text?A．The GDP of Europe is higher than that of America.B．Two possible reasons are given for working longer hours in the US.C．People all over the world choose to work less when they are richer.D．Americans are happier than Europeans.【小题3】Which of the following would be the best title for the text?A．Americans and EuropeansB．Staying at HomeC．Work and ProductivityD．Work and HappinessD
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(答案→)D
解析：
试题分析: 尽管美国人工作时间长但是每小时的生产效率却和其他一些富裕的欧洲国家相同，作者认为美国人喜欢工作时间长是因为工作会给人带来一种满足感，因此美国也成为了工作人数最多的国家。在本文中作者通过对比的方法对此现象进行了剖析。
【小题1】D细节理解题。根据文章第三段The United States also has more of its people at work,可知美国工作的人数比别的国家要多，故答案选D。
【小题2】B细节理解题。文章第二段介绍了为什么在美国人们的工作时间要更长一些，给出了两种可能的原因，由此判断B选项内容正确。
【小题3】D主旨大意题。在文中作者对比了美国和其他富裕国家人们的不同工作时间和工作效率，分析认为工作带来的满足感可能是美国人喜欢工作的原因，但是最后提出尽管美国人喜欢长时间工作，但是人们的幸福感却没有像其他国家一样增长，由此可知文中中心内容是讲述工作和幸福的关系，故D选项内容更能反应文章中心，答案选D。