The Role of Government III. Homework 1. Remember the new words in this unit 2. Finish Listen to This Unit 3, 4, 5 in about 5 days. 3. Read the following passage Questions 55 to 58 are based on the following passage: Now here is a bright idea: when 12.5 percent of your people are out of work, just have everybody to work a few hours less a week and you will suddenly create more jobs. Sure, people will have less money—but they’ll have more time to spend it. Unemployment declines, and economy revives. If this sounds ridiculous it is the pride and joy of the French Labor Minister: a way to replace the vicious circle of unemployment with the" virtuous circle" of more, better work and increased leisure time. Women already make up 85 percent of all part time workers. For most, working less is far from a blessing. The majority has it imposed on them. Their position in the workplace is deteriorating. With unemployment on the rise, women are subject to hints from traditionalists who believe that they block higher (male) employment. One important Government adviser says: “There are large numbers of women at work who are spending a lot of money now on child care, and who we think would be happy to work less.” In truth, part-time work hasn’t done much to ease the stresses of working women and their families. Because they often work random hours, women who work reduced schedules don’t necessarily get time to spend with their children. By supporting a reduction of the workweek, the government is in part playing with wide spread voter anxiety over declining French “family values”. And, in part, it is spooning out a little sugar to help the bitter medicine of budgetary severity to go down. It is also simply desperate. “We’ve come up with no other solutions,” admits a close adviser to the government. The adviser certainly means that there are no politically appealing solutions. If the reduction of the work week is going to become a reality, somebody is going to have to agree to earn less money. But people with some measure of financial security are unwilling to give it up for those without. Some French laborers choose to be fired than accept working just a few hours a day, since they can get a big portion of their salaries on France’s generous unemployment program. 55. The first sentence of the text “here is a bright idea” tells us that the author is being ________. A) ironical B) critical C) objective D) emotional 56. What is the most likely interpretation for “virtuous circle” to replace the vicious circle in the second paragraph? A) it’s a play on words--they sound so similar. B) Women can both work and enjoy family life. C) Women can work more both at home and outside. D) Women become more virtuous staying at home. 57. What is the real reason for the French government to reduce the workweek for women? A) Women are spending much money on baby-sitting. B) Women are willing to work part-time. C) There are not enough jobs around. D) Working less is a blessing for women. 58. The most appropriate interpretation for the first two sentences in the fourth paragraph is that the French government ____________. A) does not take seriously the voters' concern for the declining family values. B) cannot offer any effective medicine to save the declining family values. C) has come to the end of its resources and is therefore desperate. D) pretends to be doing something good to make people accept its tight budget. (待续)