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 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 (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 compared with other values like family life, which often get lost in 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 (平衡)?

From the text we know that the author_______.

A. believes that longer working hours is better

B. prefers shorter working hours to longer ones

C. says nothing certain about which pattern is better

D. thinks neither of the patterns is good

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

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

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.

阅读表达 (共5小题;每小题2分,满分10分)
After achieving a 9 percent GDP growth, hosting a successful Olympic Games and carrying out its first space walk in the year of 2008, you'd think China would be happy. _________. That, at least, is the opinion of a new book written by a group of Chinese authors.
China Is Not Happy was published in March, 2009. It is a follow-up to the 1996 work China Can Say No, a bestseller that complained about the influence of the West, and the US in particular on China. Thirteen years later, the authors of China Is Not Happy list their dissatisfaction with how China is being treated in the world today.
They argue that China needs to use its growing power and economic resources to build its own position of preeminence(卓越)."From looking at the history of human civilization, we are most qualified to lead this world." the book says.
The authors, single out the US for special scorn(轻蔑). "The economic problem has shown the Chinese people that America does have problems, that what we've been saying is right," said one of the authors.
The book has become a bestseller in many Chinese bookstores.Yet much of the response to the book has been negative.Several reviews in the Chinese media have criticized the book's radical(激进的) opinions.The book is a way to "fish money from the pockets of the angry youth and angry elderly," wrote one critic in the China Youth Daily.Meanwhile, a well-known sociologist, Li Yinhe, has said that China needs patriotism(爱国主义), but there is a limit.In her blog she wrote, "If we are to bully other countries, take the world's resources and try to lead it, we're going over the top."
【小题1】List two great achievements that China made in 2008 based on the text.(Please answer within 15 words.)
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【小题2】Fill in the blank in Paragraph 1 with proper words.(Please answer within 6 words.)
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【小题3】Fill in the blank to suit the meaning of the original sentence in the passage. (within 8 words)
Ancient China was advanced and it was Chinese who created developed civilization, so we Chinese ____________________________________________________________.
【小题4】What is the main idea of the last paragraph? (Please answer within l0 words.)
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【小题5】What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 5 refer to? (Within 3 words)
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