Question

【題目】 While enjoying good incomes, physicians suffer from a lack of time. Between scheduled clinical work and being on call, it’s common to have only one full day off in seven. Not surprisingly, it’s far too easy to spend that entire day just trying to do the boring tasks for yourself and your family.

The good news, however, is that new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that many professionals can increase their happiness by using their incomes to buy back some of that lost time through the use of time-saving services such as housecleaners or online personal assistants.

Study authors Ashley Whillans and Elizabeth Dunn found that when people spend money on such services, happiness improves. Their findings suggest that “using money to buy time may provide benefits by serving as a buffer（緩沖器）against the harmful effects of time pressure on overall life satisfaction”.

Spending money on a big purchase, such as an expensive car, can feel good and serve as a reward for having worked so hard. Research has consistently shown, however, that the gains from such material purchases are short lived. Instead, buying back time and then using it to go after meaningful activities is more likely to result in long-term gains in well-being.

There are the obvious tasks that have been outsourced（外包）for decades，such as house cleaning or meal preparation. In my own physician coaching practice, it amazes me how many of my physician clients do not take full advantage of these classic opportunities to save time, particularly meal services. When your time is worth well over $100 to 200 an hour, how could you NOT pay another person far less than that to do the job better than you would do it yourself?

Regaining a couple of hours on your only day off can change your well-being. How different would you feel if you had a few more hours to spend quality time with other people, improve your health, or try a new hobby?

【1】Which of the following is true according to this passage?

A.Physicians often do boring tasks for their family.

B.Time pressure often has effects on life satisfaction.

C.Physician clients never use time-saving services.

D.People all should regain time to change their well-being.

【2】What will lead to long-term gains in well-being?

A.Meal preparation.B.Earning high incomes.

C.Buying expensive materials.D.Spending quality time with family.

【3】What is the author?

A.A physician coach.B.A salesman.

C.A researcher.D.A reporter.

【4】What’s the author’s purpose of writing the passage?

A.To persuade people to spend money wisely.

B.To introduce some ways to gain happiness.

C.To advise physicians to buy time for happiness.

D.To state physicians’ terrible working environment.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】D

【3】A

【4】C

【解析】

本文是一篇說明文。醫(yī)生可以通過購買時(shí)間（付錢讓別人做一些諸如家務(wù)活等事情）從而提高自己的幸福指數(shù)。

【1】

細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第三段最后一句“Their findings suggest that “using money to buy time may provide benefits by serving as a buffer（緩沖器）against the harmful effects of time pressure on overall life satisfaction.”可知他們的研究結(jié)果表明，“用錢買時(shí)間可能會帶來好處，因?yàn)樗�可以緩沖時(shí)間壓力對整體生活滿意度的負(fù)面影響。”也就是說時(shí)間方面的壓力往往會影響生活滿意度。故選B項(xiàng)。

【2】

推理判斷題。根據(jù)第四段中的“Research has consistently shown, however, that the gains from such material purchases are short lived. Instead, buying back time and then using it to go after meaningful activities is more likely to result in long-term gains in well-being.”可知然而，研究一直表明，從這些物質(zhì)購買中獲得的收益是短暫的。相反，把時(shí)間買回來，然后用它去做有意義的活動，更有可能帶來長期的幸福感。B項(xiàng)和D項(xiàng)都是跟物質(zhì)獲得的收益有關(guān)，先排除B,D項(xiàng)。根據(jù)第五段中的“There are the obvious tasks that have been outsourced（外包）for decades，such as house cleaning or meal preparation.”可知作者認(rèn)為很多任務(wù)是可以外包的，比如打掃屋子或者備餐，由此推知作者認(rèn)為備餐是不需要自己花時(shí)間做的，排除C項(xiàng)。綜合來看，D項(xiàng)（與家人共度美好時(shí)光）是很有意義的活動，根據(jù)作者的看法，這個(gè)會帶來長期的幸福感，故選D項(xiàng)。

【3】

細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第五段中的“In my own physician coaching practice,”可知作者是醫(yī)生指導(dǎo)師，故選A項(xiàng)。

【4】

推理判斷題。文章第一段提出很多醫(yī)生缺少時(shí)間，第二段到第四段中作者表明有個(gè)新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)對于醫(yī)生來說，用錢買時(shí)間可能會帶來好處，因?yàn)樗�可以緩沖時(shí)間壓力對整體生活滿意度的負(fù)面影響。第五段作者結(jié)合自己的經(jīng)歷再次表明某些任務(wù)比如打掃房間等可以外包來節(jié)約時(shí)間。最后一段中作者讓讀者想想用節(jié)約下來的時(shí)間休息或和他人度過美好時(shí)光會讓生活有多么不同。綜合全文，作者寫這篇文章的目的就是建議醫(yī)生通過購買時(shí)間（付錢讓別人做一些諸如家務(wù)活等事情）從而提高自己的幸福指數(shù)。故選C項(xiàng)。