单选题 According to anthropologists, people in preindustrial societies spent 3 to 4 hours per day or about 20 hours per week doing the work necessary for life. Modern comparisons of the amount of work performed per week, however, begin with the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840) when 10-12-hour workdays with six workdays per week were the norm. Even with extensive time devoted to work, however, both incomes and standards of living were low. As incomes rose near the end of the Industrial Revolution, it became increasingly common to treat Saturday afternoon as a half-day holiday. The half holiday had become standard practice in Britain by the 1870"s, but did not become common in the United States until the 1920"s.
In the United States, the first third of the twentieth century saw the workweek move from 60 hours per week to just 50 hours by the start of the 1930"s. In 1914 Henry Ford reduced daily work hours at his automobile plants from 9 to 8. In 1926 he announced that henceforth his factories would close for the entire day on Saturday. At the time, Ford received criticism from other firms such as United States Steel and Westinghouse, but the idea was popular with workers.
The Depression years of the 1930"s brought with them the notion of job sharing to spread available work around; the workweek dropped to a modern low for the United States of 35 hours. In 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act mandated a weekly maximum of 40 hours to begin in 1940, and since that time the 8-hour day, 5-day workweek has been the standard in the United States. Adjustments in various places, however, show that this standard is not immutable. In 1987, for example, German metalworkers struck for and received a 37.5-hour workweek, and in 1990 many workers in Britain won a 37-hour week. Since 1989, the Japanese government has moved from a 6- to a 5-day workweek and has set a national target of 1,800 work hours per year for the average worker. The average amount of work per year in Japan in 1989 was 2,088 hours per worker, compared to 1,957 for the United States and 1,646 for France.

单选题 What does the passage mainly discuss?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 题目问本文主要讨论了什么。文中首句就说“According to anthropologists, people in preindustrial societies spent 3 to 4 hours per day or about 20 hours per week doing the work necessary for life.”根据人类学家，在工业化前的社会人们为了生活每天必须花3到4小时或每周花约20小时来工作。随后又说现代每周工作量的比较开始于工业革命，接下来列举了不同时期的每周工作时间及其变化原因，因此本文主要讨论了人们每周工作时间发生的变化。所以答案是B。

单选题 Compared to preindustrial times, the number of hours in the workweek in the nineteenth century ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 题目问与工业化以前的年代相比，19世纪每周的工作时间有何变化。第一段中说“people in preindustrial societies spent 3 to 4 hours per day or about 20 hours per week doing the work necessary for life.”在工业化前的社会人们为了生活每天必须花3到4小时或每周花约20小时来工作。接着又说“Modem comparisons of the amount of work performed per week, however, begin with the Industrial Revolution (1760—1840) when 10—12-hour workdays with six workdays per week were the norm.”现代每周工作量的比较开始于工业革命(1760年至1840年)，当时每周6个工作日，每天工作10到12小时是标准。通过比较可知，19世纪每周的工作时间显著增加，所以答案是D。

单选题 What is one reason for the change in the length of the workweek for the average worker in the United States during the 1930"s?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 题目问20世纪30年代期间美国工人平均每周工作时间的长度发生变化的原因之一是什么。根据文中第三段的“The Depression years of the 1930"s brought with them the notion of job sharing to spread available work around; the workweek dropped to a modem low for the United States of 35 hours.”可知，20世纪30年代的大萧条使他们产生了工作分享的观念，即将工作分给几个人来做。在美国每周工作时间达到了新低，下降为35小时。因此A项“有时几个人共同做一个工作”正确。

单选题 Which of the following is mentioned as one of the purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 题目问下面哪项属于文中提及的1938年公平劳动标准法的目的之一。根据文中的“In 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act mandated a weekly maximum of 40 hours to begin in 1940, and since that time the 8-hour day, 5-day workweek has been the standard in the United States.”可知，1938年公平劳动标准法规定，从1940年开始每周的工作时间最多40小时。自那时起，每天8小时、每周5天成为美国的工作时间标准。因此B项“对每周工作时间确定了时限”正确。