【問題２ 文章読解】
次の英文を読み、下記の設問に答えよ。
Should commuting hours count as part of the workday? This suggestion was made by university researchers in England who studied the commuting habits of thousands of business people.
It's no secret that the expansion of Wi-Fi on trains, planes and automobiles has led to the de facto expansion of the working day, tying employees to their electronic devices as they send and receive countless work emails after clocking out from their jobs.
Work-life balance has been a popular catchphrase of the modern era, in which employers provide a range of (１)
perks for their employees to get rid of the accumulated stress. But amid the emphasis on wellness programs come alarming tales like that of a ３１-year-old Japanese worker who amassed more than １５９ hours of overtime in one month and worked herself to death. Officials there and in other countries have moved to crack down on overworking.
Last year, France, which already has a ３５-hour workweek, introduced a law requiring large companies to give their employees “the right to disconnect” and block email when they are off duty.
Similar limits have been tested in Germany, where in ２０１３ the Labor Ministry ordered its supervisors not to contact employees ( イ ) office hours. And in ２０１１, Volkswagen began shutting off its company cellphone network at the end of the workday, stopping some employees in Germany from sending or receiving email.
In Britain, workers spend an hour on average getting to and from their jobs - more in and around London – but not everyone is able to be ( ロ ) in a busy rail car, where the temptation of computer games may be too strong.
Over ４０ weeks in ２０１６ and ２０１７, the research team at the University of the West of England studied ５,０００ commuters who traveled up to ２５０ miles a day for work on two busy lines that run northwest from London to Birmingham and Aylesbury. The workers were scrutinized for their use of free wireless internet on the routes. The team found that (Ａ)
commuters were using their time on the train to get work done. The longer the route, the more work was being accomplished. Fifty-four percent of commuters on the longer route, Birmingham to London, and ３６ percent on the shorter one, Aylesbury to London, were checking and sending work-related emails during the trips.
Dr. Jain, a researcher at the University of Bristol, said the study was still in its (２)
exploratory stage. Any changes in the length of the workweek would have to come from the British government.
But several European countries have proposed regulatory changes to take account of longer commutes and the seemingly (３)
permanent availability of mobile internet. And a court case decided before a European legal commission last year could affect how working time is calculated across the continent. The commission ruled that in Norway, some employees could count their commute as working time – the ( ハ ) being that while they may not be, strictly speaking, working, they are at the disposal of their employer.
This summer, France's highest court ordered a British company to pay one of its workers in France ６０,０００ euros (more than ７０,０００ dollars) in compensation, after the company required employees to have their phones on at all times to answer questions and complaints from clients and subordinates. “The right to disconnect is reminding everyone that we ought to have a reasonable attitude to new technologies,” said Ms. Sabbe-Ferri, a lawyer in Paris. “Having access to the internet around the clock ( ニ ) we should be working all the time.”
Palko Karasz.
What if Emailing During Your Commute Counted as Work
設問１ 次の1から4について、本文の内容にもっとも合うものを(a)～(d)からそれぞれ１つ選び、マーク解答用紙の所定欄にマークせよ。
１. Based on this article, which of the following statements is true?
(a) Companies in Germany abuse their employees by forcing them to work at home on their mobile devices.
(b) Death from overwork is still a common occurrence in the corporate world and some governments have largely ignored the problem.
(c) Examples in Germany, France and Japan demonstrate that modern technology has made work-life balance easier to achieve than in the past.
(d) Today, while many companies try to improve their working conditions, examples of overwork persist.
２. Which of the following statements accurately describes measures taken in Germany to help employees maintain a work-life balance?
(a) A private company made it impossible to use work-related email except during established business hours.
(b) Efforts have been made in both private and public sectors to limit the use of email during office hours.
(c) The first action to restrict the use of corporate email was undertaken by the German government to be followed two years later by a private company.
(d) The government and the private sector have been cooperating to pass laws requiring employers to use their best judgment when sending email to staff.
３. The results of the study undertaken by the University of the West of England show that
(a) a considerable minority of travelers between Aylesbury and London are engaged in personal communication while on the train.
(b) approximately a third of all passengers on a longer route try to catch up on work while traveling
(c) many commuters spend time on the train playing video games since the rail cars get too busy to do any work effectively.
(d) there is a positive correlation between the amount of work done on the train and the time spent getting to the destination.
４. What is so significant about the decision of the European legal commission?
(a) It has allowed certain employees to claim the time they spend getting to their workplace and back as the time spent in the office.
(b) It has forced the business world to change its attitude towards the use of new technologies.
(c) It has made it more difficult for the employers to require their workers to be at their disposal at all times.
(d) It has resulted in a number of high-profile legal cases, notably in France, in which employees demanded additional pay.
設問２ 下線部(1)–(3)の意味にもっとも近いものを(a)～(d)からそれぞれ１つ選び、マーク解答用紙の所定欄にマークせよ。
(１)
(a) benefits
(b) designations
(c) measures
(d) references
(２)
(a) critical
(b) decisive
(c) initial
(d) pivotal
(３)
(a) uncertain
(b) uninterrupted
(c) unresolved
(d) unstable
設問３ 空所( イ )～( ニ )を埋めるのにもっとも適当なものを(a)～(d)からそれぞれ１つ選び、マーク解答用紙の所定欄にマークせよ。
(イ)
(a) demanding
(b) outside
(c) regarding
(d) within
(ロ)
(a) ambitious
(b) entrepreneurial
(c) productive
(d) reluctant
(ハ)
(a) appeal
(b) effort
(c) rationale
(d) strategy
(ニ)
(a) cannot negate the fact that
(b) doesn't mean that
(c) fortunately suggests that
(d) often lets us forget that
設問４ 本文のタイトルとしてもっとも適当なものを(a)~(d)から１つ選び、マーク解答用紙の所定欄にマークせよ。
(a) Abuse of Power by Large Corporations： How Some Companies Are Forcing Their Employees to Work Overtime
(b) Major Changes Looming in Europe： Why Legal Pressure Is Forcing Companies to Expand the Work Responsibilities of Their Employees
(c) No Longer ９ to ５： The Traditional Definition of Working Hours May Be on Its Way Out
(d) Slaves of the Internet： The Frightening Reality of Today's Workplace in Many Countries
設問５ 下線部(A)を日本語に直し、記述解答用紙に書きなさい。
質問と回答