【B1】 【B8】

Life-style is the way a person lives, work, leisure time, hobbies, other interests, and personal philosophy. One person’s life-style may be dominated work, including few social activities. Another’s may involve hobbies, recreational activities, or personal philosophy.
    There is little doubt that life-styles are changing and that these changes will have an influence on the way business operates in the years ahead. Several factors are causing life-style changes in U.S. society.
    First, there is more leisure time than ever before. The workweek is now less than forty hours, as compared to seventy hours a century ago. Some experts believe it will be twenty-five hours or less before the year 2000. Several firms have adopted four-day workweeks with more hours per day. Others have cut the number of hours worked each week. Reduced work schedules mean increased leisure time.
    Second, families have fewer children than before—and young couples are postponing childbirth instead of having their children early in the marriage. This trend has forced many, businessmen to modify their competitive strategies. Gerber Products Company used to advertise "babies are our business—our only business". Now Gerber products include infant clothing, stuffed animals, and accessories such as bottles, baby’s carriage, and baby powder.
    Third, people are better educated and more prosperous now than they were earlier. These advantages bring with them the freedom to question current life-styles and examine new ones. Inquiries of this nature have sometimes led to personal life-style changes.