問題詳情
The internationally rated scientific journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletinrecently published the results of a conclusive study that showed early achievers (those whothrow themselves into work and achieve relative degrees of success) tend to have shorter lifespans than people who earn success simply by hanging around long enough. On a high-profilelevel, the trend is particularly evident among those US presidents and governors who wereelected while young, but it can also be seen among international scientists and writers whobecome Nobel Laureates in record time. It’s also been measured that young women who winBest Supporting Actress Oscars tend to exit stage left well before their time. Less well-knownis the disturbing relationship between the year a doctor of any description receives their PhDand their ultimate life span: it seems the earlier the mortar board, the sooner the camphorchest.Why is it so? Canadian psychology researcher Professor Stewart McCann believes workrelatedstress is the culprit. He says the strains, challenges and obligations associated withbusting a gut before the first set of hurdles can accelerate a person’s natural physical and mentaldecline. Early success can also, he believes, cause motivational levels to peak too early, leavingone without much incentive to bat on and keep scoring runs.In another study, the British Journal of Ophthalmology published results showing thatpower-dressing businessmen could be increasing their risk ofserious eye disease and even deathby wearing their ties too tight. (It shouldn’t therefore hurt your own career prospects to informyour stressed-out tie-fiddling supervisor to stop playing with it or he’ll go blind.)Even Japan, a nation well-recognized for its endless devotion to production, is finallyacknowledging that too much hard work can kill. In a landmark ruling in 2001, a Japanesecoroner announced that Nobuo Miuro, a forty-seven-year-old interiors fitter who regularlyworked eighteen-hour days, had finally keeled over due to karoshi, or ‘death by overwork’.Since then, hundreds of retrospective civil lawsuits, some pertaining to deaths up to fifteenyears earlier, have been filed by Japanese families accusing employers of causing karoshi. Withreports of up to 10,000 karoshi-related deaths occurring each year, companies are nowunderstandably growing nervous. Some have even introduced a firm policy of one ‘no overtime’day each week, wherein employees are only required to work their allotted number of paidhours (unless of course they want to stay longer).
【題組】31. Which profession of the following is NOT mentioned as an example of early death?
(A) film industry
(B) science
(C) politics
(D) medicine
參考答案
答案：D
難度：適中0.666667
統計：A(0),B(1),C(1),D(4),E(0)