阅读理解 Passage Two If you like to take lots of vacation , the United States is not the place to work .Besides a handful of national holidays the typical American worker gets two or three precious weeks off out of a whole year to relax and see the world ---much less than what people in many other countries receive. And even that amount of vacation often comes with strings attached. So what’s going on here? A big reason for the difference is that paid time off is demanded by law in many parts of the world .Germany is among more than two dozen industrialized countries---from Australia to Japan---that require employers to offer four weeks or more of paid vacation to their workers , according to a 2009 study by the human resources consulting company Mercer. Finland , Brazil and France are the champions, guaranteeing six weeks of time off. But employers in the United States are not obliged under federal law to offer any paid vacation , so about a quarter of all American workers don’t have access to it , government figures show . That makes the U.S . the only advanced nation in the world that doesn’t guarantee its workers annual leave. Most U.S. companies , of course , do provide vacation as a way to attract and retain workers . But the fear of layoffs and the ever –faster pace of work mean many Americans are reluctant to be absent from the office ---anxious that they might look like they’re not committed to their job. Or they worry they won’t be able to cope with a pile of work waiting for them after a vacation. Then, there’s the way we work . Working more makes Americans happier than Europeans , according to a study published recently in the Journal of Happiness Studies. That may be because Americans believe more than Europeans do that hard work is associated with success. So despite research documenting the health and productivity benefits of taking time off , a long vacation can be undesirable , scary , unrealistic or just plain impossible for many U.S. workers.

单选题 According to the passage , the United States is a nation_________.

单选题 The phrase “with strings attached”(Para.1) probably means “_________”.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析]根据文章第一段后两句“Besides a handful of national holidays the typical American worker gets two or three precious weeks off out of a whole year to relax and see the world—much less than what People in many other countries receive． And even that amount of vacation often comes with strings attached．”可知，除了少数几个全国‘性节假日之外，典型的美国工人一整年只有两三个星期的宝贵假期来放松和游览世界——这比其他国家的工人得到的假期要少得多。甚至这样少的假期通常也是有附带条件的。所以，答案是A。

单选题 Which of the following countries offers the longest annual leave to its workers?

单选题 Many Americans are hesitant to take a vacation because they __________.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析]根据文章第四段第二句“But thefear of layoffs and the ever—faster pace of work mean many Americans are reluctant to be absent from the office—anxious that they might loo like they're not committed to their job．”可知，但由于担心被裁员和越来越快的工作节奏意味着许多美国人不愿缺勤——担心他们可能被罚款就像他们不努力工作一样。所以，答案是A。

单选题 According to the author , Americans’ chance of taking a long vacation is ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析]根据文章最后一段最后一句“So despite research documentingthe health and productivity benefits of taking time off，a long vacation can be undesirable， scary， unrealistic or just plainimpossiblefor many U．S．workers．”可知，因此，尽管研究证明了休假带来的健康和生产力效益，但是对于大多数美国人来说，长假可能不受欢迎，其可怕、不切实际或不可能。即美国工人拥有长假的机会很渺茫。所以，答案是B。