阅读理解 It may be summertime, but the living isn't easy—not for weary workers whose last vacation is a distant memory. According to one recent study, 1 in 4 employees in the United States doesn't get any paid vacation. Almost half don't take even a week off every year. Economists estimate that the average American works one more month per year today than in 1976. Small-business owners are taking this daily grind to a whole new level. The number of employers at companies with fewer than 100 workers who plan to take a summer vacation has continued to fall in the past four years. Two in three bosses worry about their businesses when they're out of the office. Fully 75 percent check in by phone or E-mail even when they're on "vacation," many of them several times a day.
But is all this work good for business? As the last weeks of summer vacation days slip away—yet again, researchers are insisting these extreme jobs have a dark side. All work and no play really can make Jack a dull boy: Apart from health risks that come with overwork, people who don't get out of the office tend to be less creative, less productive, and, ultimately, less effective. If there is one thing small-business owners can do to improve their companies' performance, experts say, it is taking some time off.
There's a good chance the benefits of vacation will go straight to the bottom line. According to a study by American Express, more than a third of small-business people say their best ideas—the ones that lead to business growth—come not at work but during their downtime. "Having a life outside of work doesn't detract from work success" but enhances it, a study by the Families and Work Institute concluded in 2005.
Happier people, no surprise, tend to be more productive than unhappy people. Two business professors, Sigal Barsade of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and Donald Gibson of Fairfield University, found in a recent study that employee moods have a measurable effect on just about everything anyone does at work—job performance, decision making, creativity, turnover, teamwork, and leadership.
Overwork also comes with serious health risks. Researchers have found that people who work long hours can even become addicted to their own stress hormones. They feel sluggish when they're out of the office, so they head back for their fix, and the cycle repeats itself. Continuous stress also affects the performance of the part of the brain responsible for memory.
单选题 6.Most small-business owners in America today have the characteristic of_____.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】事实细节题。根据small-business owners定位在第一段。该段最后一句提到即使在“休假”中,75%的小企业老板还时不时地通过电话或电子邮件询问公司状况,故B项正确。
单选题 7.The suggestion given by the experts to improve companies' performance is that _____.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】事实细节题。根据improve companies’performance定位在第二段。其中讲到专家认为“如果小企业业主想要采取措施提高企业业绩的话,那么放假将是很好的选择”,故D项正确。
单选题 8.The findings of the study of American Express suggest that _____
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推理判断题。根据American Express定位在第三段。其中讲到超过三分之一的小企业员工认为他们的好点子来自于假期中,而工作的时候却什么都想不到,故C项正确。
单选题 9.According to the study of the two business professors, _____.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】事实细节题。考查例证细节。根据two business professors定位到第四段。该段讲述心情对工作效率的影响,两位教授提出员工情绪对工作产生多方面影响,其中就包括工作表现(job/work performance),result from意为“来自……”,故B项表述正确。
单选题 10.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】主旨大意题。从全文可以推断出,文章围绕员工休假对工作的积极影响展开讨论,故A项与之相符。