In 2016, Agent, a British company, tested five-hour working days for a month. The hope was that the people in the company would feel happier with reduced working hours. However, the results of the experiment were mixed.
“Lots of good things happened,” says Agent CEO Paul Corcoran. “We looked at tasks in terms of time: Do this in 15 minutes and that in half an hour. We wasted no time. People were missing the worst of the traffic because they were coming in at 10 a. m. instead of 8:30 a. m.”
Problems, however, quickly came up. “People used to have eight hours to finish their jobs. Now, they only had five hours,” Corcoran explains. “The idea was to give people more freedom, but they ended up feeling more stressed.”
In most companies around the world, an employee works for eight hours every workday. But many researchers have looked at the links between working hours and productivity (生产效率). They found that most people could only be productive for five hours each day.
Some companies have been experimenting with shorter working days. In these companies, people work from 8 a. m. to 1 p. m. with no breaks. In order to have the afternoons to themselves, they become much more focused than before. Their productivity increases by 50 percent.
But just like Corcoran, many managers have seen problems with reduced working hours. In addition to the added pressure to complete tasks on time, people are losing something on the relationship level. Since they no longer have time for small talk, it has been harmful for team culture.
It’s hard to say how long the perfect working day should be. Reduced working hours sound great, but having to do more work in less time is tiring. Which would you prefer, five-hour working days or traditional eight-hour ones?
1. When Agent decided to test five-hour working days, it expected ________ results.| A．encouraging | B．mixed | C．lasting | D．harmful |
| A．They had much more work to do. |
| B．They suffered from the worst traffic. |
| C．They had to spend more time communicating with each other. |
| D．They were under more pressure to complete their jobs on time. |
| A．a person who receives a reward from a company | B．a person who does a research for a company |
| C．a person who is asked to learn from a company | D．a person who is paid to work for a company |
| A．Supportive. | B．Negative. | C．Neutral (中立的). | D．Uninterested. |
相似题推荐
1. If visitors cannot see the animals, the animals may be______.
| A．playing | B．eating | C．acting | D．sleeping |
| A．$18. | B．$22. | C．$28. | D．$32. |
| A．We should ride bikes. | B．We should keep quiet. |
| C．Ｗe should feed the animals. | D．We should keep the zoo clean. |
| A. Museum Rules B. Great Sale C. School Show D. School Subjects E. Friends wanted F. The Book Club |
| Family Rules | 1. Got up at 6:00 am and go to bed by 10:00 pm. 2. Don’ t talk loudly in the room. 3. Clean your bedroom every day. 4. Wash your skirts and T—shirts 5. Don’t meet friends before you finish your homework. |
| ________ Rules | 1. Come into the room with clean shoes. 2. Don’t eat or drink in the room. 3. Don’t talk loudly in the room. 4. Turn on the computers and turn off them after class. |
1. The word（s） in the blank（空格） can be_____
| A．Computer room | B．Library | C．Classroom | D．Supermarket |
| A．打开 | B．搬走 | C．冲洗 | D．关闭 |
| A．you can’t talk loudly in both of the two kinds of rules. |
| B．you may come into the room with skirts and T—skirts. |
| C．you can go to bed after 10:00 pm. |
| D．you cannot meet friends. |
Do you like exercise? Do you know something about plank exercise?
Plank exercise has become more and more popular in recent years. It requires little time. It’s easy to do. What’s more, doing plank exercise regularly may bring you lots of benefits.
Performing plank exercise as a daily home exercise before or after school will not only speed up your metabolism（新陈代谢）, but also keep your metabolic rate high all day long. Doing the exercise regularly will make you burn lots of calories. This is especially useful if you have to sit in the classroom for hours every day. A high metabolic rate will help you lose weight and keep in good shape.
Have you ever tried standing on one leg? You couldn’t stand straight for more than ten seconds, right? It’s not because you are drunk, of course. Instead, it’s because your muscles（肌肉） aren’t strong enough to give you the balance you need. Doing plank exercise regularly will improve your balance. Stronger muscles will also help you stand with straight posture（姿势） at all times.
You will also see some mental benefits. Just think about it: You are sitting in your chair, at home or at school, all day long. Your muscles get tired, and your legs get heavy. Plank exercise will relax the muscle groups that may cause stress in the body. As a result, it can have a powerful and positive effect on our mood.
Considering all the benefits of plank exercise, will you make it part of your everyday life?
1. Plank exercise ________ according to the passage.| A．requires much time | B．is kind of hard to do |
| C．may bring you lots of benefits | D．in only welcomed by young people |
| A．By making our muscles strong. | B．By speeding up our metabolic rate. |
| C．By slowing down our metabolic rate. | D．By relaxing the muscle groups that usually cause stress. |
| A．The danger of regular plank exercise. | B．The benefits of regular plank exercise. |
| C．The growing popularity of plank exercise. | D．The common mistakes in doing plank exercise. |
| A. We don’t like advertisements. B. Don’t worry! Be happy! C. Rest up while you can! D. Healthy food. E. Laughter is the best medicine. F. Say no to smoking and drugs. G. Keep doing sports. |
【推荐3】At night, look up at the sky. How many stars do you see? If you live in the country, bright stars will fill the sky. If you live in the city, on the other hand, you might not see any stars. What’s happening? Bright lights from the city are lighting the sky, making the stars unseen. This is light pollution.
Light can also come into city homes, like an uninvited guest. Sometimes, a visitor to a big city can’t sleep because of the bright signs outside his or her window. Darkness helps us sleep. Without darkness, we lie awake and can’t sleep, which may lead to serious health problems.
Living things need darkness. It’s part of the natural 24-hour cycle. Trees and plants that are too close to artificial light grow in strange ways and die quickly. Animals become puzzled(困惑的) when light and dark are changed. For example, night animals might think it’s day when it’s night.
Finally, using too many lights consumes(消耗) energy and money. The huge lights for all-night parking lots are too bright and unnecessary. Every city spends millions of dollars to light its thousands of buildings and streets, and much of this lighting is just to make the city look beautiful, rather than to serve a certain purpose.
True, we feel safer in the light, but our eyes are able to see a little in darkness. And we don’t need to light the whole city just to create a beautiful night view. We should try to turn the lights off to save the earth and all the living things from light pollution.
1. Why can’t people see many stars in the city at night?| A．The city has many high buildings. |
| B．The living things in the city need darkness. |
| C．The city spends too much money on the lights. |
| D．The bright lights in the city make the stars unseen. |
| A．Man-made. | B．Medical. | C．Weak. | D．Wild. |
①People may have health problem. ②People can not see in the darkness.
③Night animals may become puzzled. ④It consumes much energy and money.
| A．①②③ | B．①②④ | C．①③④ | D．②③④ |
| A．Did the writer tell us a story? | B．Did the writer make an advertisement? |
| C．Did the writer want us to do something? | D．Did the writer express a kind of feeling? |
| A．Living Things Need Darkness | B．Let’s Reduce Light Pollution |
| C．How to Avoid Light Pollution | D．Lights Make the City Beautiful |
【推荐1】The World Tourism Organization says that space will soon become a popular place to go on holiday-possibly by 2020. One Japanese company is planning a space holiday centre. It will look like a bicycle wheel and have a very modern hotel for 100 people and a park. It will travel round the Earth at a height of 300km. The company hopes the centre will be ready in 2017. The company manager says he thinks that flying to the centre will probably be quicker than flying from Hong Kong to Singapore. After they arrive at the centre, tourists can take trips to the moon or go for walks in space. What about the cost? Well, the company believes that people will be happy to pay about $100,000f or a trip. But they think that as more people want to go, the trip will become much cheaper.
An American company is also thinking of building a very modern hotel, called the Lunar Hotel, on the moon. Most of the hotel will be under the ground, so it won't become too hot or too cold. The rooms will look just like they do on Earth. The guests will eat normal food for lunch. The cooks will just push a button (按钮) to mix dried food with water to become a meal! There will be little or no dirt (尘土) and there won't be much water. So the hotel won't wash the towels and sheets (床单)-they will be thrown away.
根据短文内容，判断句子正(T)误(F)。
1. The space holiday center will look like a bicycle wheel.
2. Tourists can travel under the ground after they reach the space holiday enter.
3. If more people go to spare for holiday, the price of the cost will be higher.
4. There might not be any washing machines in the Lunar Hotel.
5. Both Japanese and American companies will build a hotel with a park.
【推荐2】People in Wuhan had a hard time in 2020. So did some pets.
In Wuhan, many pet owners (主人) couldn’t go back to their homes because of COVID—19 (新型冠状病毒肺炎). So these pets had no food or water. All they could do was wait.
The number of these pets could be about 50,000. That’s bad, right? Luckily, there are a lot of animal rescue (营救) groups. They were doing just about everything to help them. When pet owners knew about these animal rescue groups, they just called them for help. Then the rescuers went to their houses and got their pets out of houses, and brought them to some new places. They could take good care of these animals there. For some lucky pets, they could go to their owners’ friends’ homes or animal hospitals.
One animal doctor from Wuhan said that his rescue group, Wuhan Pet Life, had saved more than 2,000 pets from all over the city.
Some workers from another animal rescue group in Wuhan said that their job was not easy. “First, we need more money for the animal food. And it’s difficult for us to get food, too. Second, we mustn’t get into houses without permission (允许).”
Thanks to (多亏) these rescue groups, many pets are living a healthy life now.
1. Pets in Wuhan had a hard time, because ________.| A．they lost their homes | B．they didn’t have food or water |
| C．they lost their owners | D．they couldn’t go back to their homes |
| A．It is a rescue group from Wuhan. | B．Its rescuers are all doctors. |
| C．It has saved about 5,000 pets. | D．It only saves pet dogs and cats. |
① It was difficult to get into houses. ② They couldn’t find pet owners.
③ They needed more money. ④ It was not easy for them to get food.
| A．①②③ | B．②③④ | C．①③④ | D．①②③④ |
| A．Thankful. | B．Sorry. | C．Afraid. | D．Sad. |
| A．COVID—19 in Wuhan | B．Pet Owners in Wuhan |
| C．Two Animal Rescue Groups | D．Great Help in Difficult Times |
【推荐3】Many people with physical disabilities think that they cannot do any sports. However, at Adaptive Outdoors, we believe that everyone can do sports! We teach disabled people whitewater rafting, skiing, snowboarding, and many other exciting outdoor sports. Many disabled people don’t do any sports because they think it’s too dangerous for them. They are afraid that they will get hurt. However, in the past 12 years, we have proved (证明) to our students again and again that this is not true.
Our excellent coaches are very careful when they teach disabled people, so our students are always safe. In fact, many of our coaches have disabilities, too, so they really understand how their students feel. They also know that many people with disabilities need new challenges in their lives. When people with disabilities reach their goals successfully by trying something new, it is an exciting experience for them! Many students tell us that after they learned how to do a new sport, they discovered that they felt much more self-confident, not only about doing sports, but about all parts of their life. Here is what the father of one of our students said about us:
“My wife and I both love to ski, so when our daughter was born with a disability, we thought that unluckily she could never enjoy the sport that we love so much. When she was six, we heard about Adaptive Outdoors, and we decided to take her to your ski school for one week. This was the best decision we ever made! We learned that when your child has a disability, you have to keep teaching her to do new, more difficult things. This teaches her how to take a risk. Being successful helps her to become a strong and happy person. Now our daughter says that skiing is easy, and she makes up her mind to learn how to snowboard! Thank you, Adaptive Outdoors!”
1. What does the underlined word “this” refer to in Paragraph 1?| A．It’s too dangerous for disabled people to do sports. |
| B．It’s not necessary to teach disabled people to do sports. |
| C．It’s easier for disabled people to hurt others during sports. |
| D．It’s useful for disabled teachers to teach disabled children. |
| A．They are more confident and careful. |
| B．They always like to try something new. |
| C．They can understand their students’ feelings. |
| D．They are really good at doing outdoor sports. |
| A．By telling a regrettable story. | B．By using a personal experience. |
| C．By providing some numbers. | D．By questioning some famous experts. |
| A．Sports clubs for disabled coaches and teachers. |
| B．Useful training for parents with disabled children. |
| C．Summer camps for children who love outdoor sports. |
| D．Special programs for children and adults with disabilities. |
