2. 外语
  3. Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of unhappiness may perhaps be regarded as a doub

Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of unhappiness may perhaps be regarded as a doub

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问题      Whether work should be placed among the causes of happiness or among the causes of unhappiness may perhaps be regarded as a doubtful question. There is certainly much work that is exceedingly weary and an excess of work is always very painful. I think, however, that provided work is not excessive in amount, even the dullest work is to most people less painful than idleness. There are in work all grades, from mere relief of tedium up to the profoundest delights, according to the nature of the work and the abilities of the workers.
     Most of the work that most people have to do is not in itself interesting, but even such work has certain great advantages. To begin with, it fills a good many hours of the day without the need of deciding what one shall do. Most people, when they are left free to fill their own time according to their choice, are at a loss to think of anything sufficiently pleasant to be worth doing. And whatever they decide on, they are troubled by the feeling that something else would have been pleasanter. To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level. Moreover the exercise of choice is in itself tiresome. Except to people with unusual initiative it is positively agreeable to be told what to do at each hour of the day, provided the orders are not too much unpleasant. Most of idle rich men suffer unutterable boredom as the price of their freedom from toil. At times, they may find relief by hunting big game in Africa, or by flying round the world, but number of such sensation is limited, especially after youth is past. Accordingly the more intelligent rich men work nearly as hard as if they were poor, while rich women for the most part keep themselves busy with innumerable trifles of whose earthshaking importance they are firmly persuaded①.
     Work therefore is desirable, first and foremost, as a preventive of boredom, for the boredom that a man feels when he is doing necessary though uninteresting work is as nothing in comparison with the boredom that he feels when he has nothing to do with his days②. With this advantage of work another is associated, namely that it makes holidays much more precious when they come. Provided a man does not have to work so hard as to impair his vigor, he is likely to find far more zest in his free time than an idle man could possibly find.
     The second advantage of most paid work and of some unpaid work is that it gives chances of success and opportunities for ambition. In most work success is measured by income, and while our capitalistic society continues, this is inevitable. It is only where the best work is concerned that this measure ceased to be the natural one to apply. The desire that men feel to increase their income is quite as much a desire for success as for the extra comforts that a higher income can acquire. However dull work may be, it becomes bear able if it is means of building up a reputation, whether in the world at large or only in one’s own circle.
Which of the following could be the best title for the passage?
选项 A、Work and Happiness
B、The Last Stage of Civilization
C、The Cause of Happiness and Agony
D、Pains and Gains
答案A
解析 主旨题。本题考查对全文内容的把握。纵观全文我们可知作者一直在谈论工作和快乐的关系问题，工作可以排解无聊感和提供给人们成功和实现抱负的机会，从而带给人们快乐。文章只是说轻松愉悦的工作是人类文明的最终产物，是工作的最高境界，B 未能覆盖全文意思；C 过于宽泛，产生幸福和带来痛苦的因素不计其数，所以排除；选项D 提到痛苦与收获，同样过于宽泛，脱离了主要内容。所以正确答案为A 。
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