Question

B [2015 •安徽合肥第二次质裣〗Why do people feel so rushed? Part of this is a perception (感知)problem. Generally, people in rich countries have more free time than they used to. This is particularly true in Europe, but even in America free time has been inching up. Women's paid work has risen a lot over this period,but their time in unpaid work, like cooking and cleaning, has fallen even more significantly, thanks in part to dishwashers, wash?ing machines and microwaves, and also to the fact that men shift themselves a little more around the house than they used to.

   The problem, then, is less how much time people have than how they see it. Ever since a clock was first used at a workplace to record labour hours in the 18th century, time has been understood in relation to money. Once hours are fi?nancially quantified (量 化)， people worry more about wast?ing, but tend to save or use them more profitably. When economies grow and incomes rise, everyone's time becomes more valuable. And the more valuable something becomes, the rarer it seems.

Once seeing their time in terms of money, people often grow stingy with the former to maximize the latter. Workers who are paid by the hour volunteer less of their time and tend to feel more upset when they are not working.

The relationship between time, money and anxiety is something Gary S. Becker noticed in America's post-war boom years. "If anything, time is used more carefully today than a century ago?" he noted in 1965. He found that when people are paid more to work? they tend to work longer hours, because working becomes a more profitable use of time. So the rising value of work time puts pressure on all time. Leisure time starts to seem more stressful, as people are forced to use it wisely or not at all.

5.Women's time in unpaid work has fallen partly because

 A.  men's ability to support their families has been im?proved

B.   men's involvement in housework has increased

C.   women's leisure time was taken up by heavy house?work

D.  women become more skilled at household equipment

6. From the second paragraph, we learn that .

 A. labour hours were recorded with a clock

B. people haven't realized the value of time

C. more work hours bring in more money

D.  the rise of incomes makes time less valuable

7.The underlined phrase "grow stingy with" in Paragraph 3
can probably be replaced by "___________

 A.     refuse to delay

B.     intend to kill

C.     try to accumulate

D.     hesitate to spend

8. According to Gary Becker, what causes people feel anx?ious about time?

 A.     The wrong way of time being spent.

B.     People's willingness to work hard.

C.     The increasing value of work time.

D.     More and more leisure time.

Answer 1

B [文章大意]本文是一篇社会现象类文章，讲述了人们的生活节奏越来越快的原因——时间被赋予的价值越来越高。人们工作的时间越长，得到的报酬越多，因此大家非常忙碌。

5. B 细节理解题。根据第一段"Women's paid work has risen a lot over this period? but their time in unpaid work, like cooking and cleaning, has fallen even more significantly, thanks in part to .dishwashers, washing machines and microwaves* and also to the fact that men shift themselves a little more around the house than they used to."可知选B项。

6.C 细节理解题。根据第二段"When economies grow and incomes rise, everyone's time becomes more valuable. And the more valu?able something becomes, the rarer it seems.，，可知选C项。

7.D 推理判断题。根据"Once seeing their time in terms of money, people often grow stingy with the former to maximize the latter." 并结合上下文可知，因为时间与金钱相关，人们开始变得比之前吝啬花费时间，故选D项。

8.C 推理判断题。根据文章末段"So the rising value of work time puts pressure on all time. Leisure time starts to seem more stress?ful, as people are forced to use it wisely or not at all."可知选C项。