2007年6月真题短文3(1/2)

Americans suffer from an overdose of work. Regardless of who they are or what they do, Americans spend more time at work than at any time since World War II. In 1950, the US had fewer working hours than any other industrialized country. Today, it exceeds every country but Japan, where industrial employees log 2,155 hours a year, compared with 1,951 in the US, and 1,603 in the former West Germany. Between 1969 and 1989, employed Americans added an average of 138 hours to their yearly work schedules. The workweek has remained at about 40 hours, but people are working more weeks each year. Specifically pay-time-off holidays, vacations, sick leave shrank by 50% in the 1980s. As corporations have experienced stiff competition and slower growth in productivity, they have pressed employees to work longer.

美国人正面临着超额的工作量。不管他们是谁或者他们在做什么，美国人的工作时间都已经超过了二战以来的任何时候。1950年，美国相比于其他所有工业化国家，拥有着最少的工作时间。而现在，美国以1951个小时的年工作时间超过了除了工人一年要工作2155个小时的日本以外的所有的国家，接着是1603个小时的前西德。在1969至1989年之间，受雇的美国人年工作时间平均增加138个小时。尽管人们一星期的工作时间仍保持在40个小时左右，但他们每年要工作更多个星期。确切的说，在20世纪80年代，带薪休假、假期、病假减少了50%。由于公司有着经验丰富的竞争机制和放缓增加的生产力，这也促使雇员工作更长的时间。