写作题4.Read carefully the following excerpt on 2.5-day weekend in China, and then write your response in NO LESS THAN 200 words, in which you should: - summarize the main message of the excerpt, and then - comment on whether 2.5-day weekend policy should be adopted in China. You should support yourself with information from the excerpt. Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks. China to Implement 2.5-Day Weekends This Summer The State Administration of Tourism is mulling over a new plan to create two-and-a-half day weekends across the country sometime by the summer. The idea is to give employees more family time and also stimulate tourism. A number of provinces and municipalities across China, including Hebei, Jiangxi and Chongqing, have issued new policies, calling on companies to create 2.5-day weekends. Since being announced in November, the idea has begun gaining traction. "It's a good thing for us, because we can obviously take more time to relax." "I think it's a good idea. There are so many people commuting on Fridays. The traffic is usually very crowded." Liu Simin, Deputy Secretary General of the Beijing Tourism Society, says having 2.5-day weekends can help satisfy people's desire for more short trips. However, he notes the new policy is limited in scope. "Three key points contained in this plan suggest it's only a benefit for a certain group of people. Firstly, it's not a rule, but rather a suggestion. Secondly, the plan is conditional. Lastly, it's only applied to the summer months, rather than to all year. Because of these stipulations, the coverage of the 2.5-day weekends is going to be very limited." Under the provisions, a 40-hour working week is still required, meaning employees who get 2.5-day weekends are going to have to make up the hours somewhere else during their week.
【正确答案】 No Need to Implement 2.5-Day Weekends 2.5-day weekends in summer has aroused a debate among the public as it concerns people's family time and vacation plans. Many people believe that longer weekend will bring us more time to relax and boost tourism industry. However, this plan is only applied in summer and is not compulsory for all companies, so it has limited stimulation for tourism. From my perspective, 2.5-day weekends should not be adopted in China. Firstly, even though the plan is partially designed to encourage "leisure time," people are not necessarily given more time to spend with their families, because they need to make up the hours somewhere else during their week. So the plan does not make any sense if workers need to wake up earlier and stay up late during the other four days. Secondly, it is not worthwhile wasting a half day on Friday. If employees are allowed to take off at noon on Friday, it means most workers will be in a state of weekend in the morning on Friday, which may cause low efficiency in work. Meanwhile, companies will lose half-day productivity which is a great loss for small and medium enterprises. So we can predict that most private enterprises will not implement this non-compulsory policy. All in all, 2.5-day weekends are neither necessary nor viable in China. So our weekend should be two days again this summer, same as they were ever.