听力材料

　　Offering employees the option of a four-day workweek won’t affect the company profits, economic conditions or the lives of employees in the ways the reading suggests.
　　给雇员提供四天工作日的选择不会像阅读部分上所说的对企业、经济状况和雇员个人的生活带来积极的影响的。

　　First, offering a four-day workweek will probably force companies to spend more, possibly a lot more. Adding new workers means putting much more money into providing training and medical benefits. Remember the costs of things like health benefits can be the same whether an employee works four days or five. And having more employees also requires more office space and more computers. These additional costs would quickly cut into company profits.
　　首先，采用四小时工作制可能会对导致企业支出增加，甚至大幅增加。增加新的员工以为这要再员工培训和医疗保险上花费更多的钱。别忘了，无论是四天工作制还是五天工作制，每个人在诸如保健福利金方面的花费是一样的。而新增的员工统一也需要更多的工位和更多的电脑。这些额外的支出很快就会影响到公司的利润。

　　Second, with respect to overall employment, it doesn’t follow that once some employees choose a four-day workweek, many more jobs will become available. Hiring new workers is costly, as I argued a moment ago. And companies have other options. They might just choose to ask their employees to work overtime to make up the difference. Worse, companies might raise expectations. They might start to expect that their four-day employees can do the same amount of work they used to do in five days. If this happens, then no additional jobs will be created and current jobs will become more unpleasant.
　　第二，至于整个社会的就业问题，也不是像阅读部分所说的，只要有雇员选择四天工作制，就会创造更多的就业机会。鉴于我刚才说的，雇佣新员工花费颇多，很多公司都另作选择了。他们可能就是要求他们的员工加班已完成任务差额。甚至公司可能会提高它们对员工效率的预期。它们可能会要求改成四天工作制的员工完成过去他们五天完成的任务。如果这样，不但没有新的工作机会，而且现有的工作也变得不那么令人愉快了。

　　Finally, while a four-day workweek offers employees more free time to invest in their personal lives, it also presents some risks that could end up reducing their quality of life. Working a shorter week can decrease employees’ job stability and harm their chances for advancing their careers. Four-day employees are likely to be the first to lose their jobs during an economic downturn. They may also be passed over for promotions because companies might prefer to have five-day employees in management positions to ensure continuous coverage and consistent supervision for the entire workweek.
　　最后，虽然四天工作日给员工更多的空闲时间去安排他们的私人生活，但是他们也会冒有一定风险，这些风险甚至可能会降低他们的生活质量。时间较短的工作制将会降低雇员工作的稳定性，同时阻碍他们事业的发展。在面临经济危机的时候，选择四天工作制的员工将会首当其冲地被裁掉。同时由于公司更倾向于把管理岗给那些五天工作的员工，这样四天工作制的员工将会错失进行集会。企业的考虑是为了保证在整个工作周期中都有持续的管理覆盖和持续的监督机制。