美國人是怎麼消磨時光的
【英文原文】
Americans enjoy some of the highest standards of living in the world. Although the United States trails other countries in such significant measures of health and wellbeing as infant mortality and life expectancy, the world generally respects—even envies—the quality of life enjoyed by most Americans.
Americans do work hard. Although the number of hours of nonwork time available to Americans has not changed significantly since the 1970s, public opinion surveys consistently report that Americans believe they have less free time today than in the past. Workers who participated in the Shell Poll, a study conducted by Shell Oil Company in 2000, indicated that if given a choice between an extra day off from work or an extra day's wages every two weeks, they preferred more time off by a margin of 58% to 40%. For workers aged thirty-five to sixty-four, 67% indicated that they would rather have more time off.
Working parents report the least free time. According to the Shell Poll, only 48% of mothers believe they have enough personal leisure time. This reflects a dramatic decline from a Gallup survey conducted in 1963, when 70% of mothers were happy with their free time. Almost three-quarters of working mothers reported to Shell that on Sunday nights, after doing household chores and running errands on weekends, they do not feel rested and ready for a new work week.
In the free time Americans do have, they are sleeping less. According to Sleep in America, a survey published in 2002 by the nonprofit National Sleep Foundation, 68% of poll respondents admitted getting less than eight hours' sleep on weeknights. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed believed they were not getting the minimum amount needed to avoid feelings of drowsiness during the day.
【中文譯文】
美國人喜歡世界上的一些高標準的生活質量。儘管美國在嬰兒死亡率和平均壽命等一些重要的健康和福利等方面的措施落後於其他國家，總的來說人們還是非常關心甚至是嫉妒大部分美國人享受高質量的生活。
美國人的確工作很勤奮。儘管自1970年以來，美國人現有的空閒時間並沒有太大的改變，但是公衆輿論調查顯示，美國人認爲他們現在的空閒時間比過去有所減少。參加2000年殼牌石油公司組織的殼牌民意測驗的工人，表示如果在每兩週多一天休假的時間和每兩週多一天的工資做出選擇，他們中40%-58%的人希望多一天假期。對於35歲到64歲的年齡段，67%工人認爲他們寧願有更多的休息時間。雙職工的家長感覺空閒時間最少。根據殼牌民意調差，只有48%的的母親認爲她們有足夠的休閒的時間。這與1963年的蓋洛普調查相比，比例大幅度下降，那時70%的母親對她們的空閒時間感到滿意。將近四分之三的母親反應週日的晚上當她們做完家務瑣事和處理好週末的事情以後並沒有感覺到休息，並且還要爲新的一週做準備。
美國人確實有空閒的時間，他們睡覺時間很少。根據《美國睡眠》調查顯示，這個結果是由非營利性機構美國睡眠協會在2002年發佈，68%的調查民衆承認每晚的睡眠時間少於八個小時。將近四分之一的被調查者認爲他們在白天沒有多少人能夠避免的產生睡意。
