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       考研英语阅读水平的提升，并非一朝一夕的事情!需要每天抽出一点时间用在英语时事阅读上面，才能让英语阅读能力有所进步!下面，北京文都考研网小编整理了考研英语时事阅读:美国人也是“工作狂”?供考生参考。

2020考研英语时事阅读:美国人也是“工作狂”?

Americans like to work hard whereas Europeans prefer a more leisurely life. That is the widely held perception of the continental divide in business culture. But it has not always been the case; 40 years ago, there was precious little difference between the two. In the 1980s Europeans began to take more annual leave but Americans did not. Over the year as a whole, Americans average 34 hours a week, six more than the French and eight more than the Germans.

In America, by contrast, champions of workers’ rights have recently focused on raising the minimum wage (so far to little avail at the federal level, though some states have enacted more generous wage floors). Wage gains have certainly skewed toward the better-off.

In the developed world most workers have more than enough to feed themselves and their families. But they still want "positional" goods—homes in a good location, holidays in sun-drenched resorts and possessions that demonstrate their social status. Prices of these goods will be pushed higher, driving status-seeking employees to work more hours to earn them.

文本选自：The Economist(经济学人)

 

【单词】

whereas

英 [ˌweərˈæz] 美 [ˌwerˈæz]

conj. (用以比较或对比两个事实)然而，但是，尽管;(用于正式文件中句子的开头)鉴于

perception

英 [pəˈsepʃn] 美 [pərˈsepʃn]

n. 知觉;感知;洞察力;悟性;看法;见解

skew

英 [skjuː] 美 [skjuː]

v. 歪曲;曲解;使不公允;影响…的准确性;偏离;歪斜

drench

英 [drentʃ] 美 [drentʃ]

v. 使湿透

【译文】

美洲(国)人愿意努力工作，而欧洲人更愿意悠闲的生活——这是商业文化中被广泛认可的“大陆分界线”，但情况并非总是如此，40年前，美洲和欧洲之间几乎没有区别。20世纪80年代，欧洲人开始休年假，而美洲人依旧在工作，整整一年，美洲人平均每周工作34个小时，比法国人多6个小时，比德国人多8个小时。

相比之下，在美国，工人权利的拥护者最近把注意力集中在最低工资上(尽管一些州已经制定了丰厚的最低工资标准，但在联邦层面上收效甚微)。工资增长肯定偏向于较富裕的人群。

在发达国家，大多数工人有足够的食物养活自己和家人。但是他们仍然想要“有地位”的商品——位置好的房子，阳光充足的度假胜地，以及能显示他们社会地位的财产。这些商品的价格将被推高，促使追求地位的员工工作更多时间来赚取(获得)这些商品。

       以上是北京文都考研网给出“2020考研英语时事阅读:美国人也是“工作狂”?”，希望该英语时事资料，对2020考研学子在英语学习方面有很大的帮助!祝2020考研硕果累累，加油!

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