Claiming to have a migraine headache has become one of the most popular excuses for 'throwing a sickie', a survey suggested a few years ago.
The YouGov poll of 2,105 people found 15% of workers who admitted to making up illness to get a day off used migraine as their excuse.
The month when absenteeism is most likely to happen is February, because some people feel a need to recharge batteries after the post-Christmas shock of having to go back to work.
But job insecurity brought about by the economic downturn might be discouraging employees from pretending to be sick.
In the UK, the Office of National Statistics says that the average worker now takes just 4.5 days off because of illness or injury, compared with 7.2 in 1993. A total of 131m work days were lost in 2011, down 6m on the year before.
Mr Marshallsea might be upset about becoming part of the unemployment statistics right now. But it could work to his benefit in the future. The bravery he showed to defuse a possible shark attack might make his CV shine. And even if he doesn't get a more challenging job as a result, at least he'll be cured of his stress.
Quiz 測驗 1. Who approved of Mr Marshallsea's actions?
The lifeguards.
2. What did the charity worker's bosses say?
They said that they don't trust him anymore.
3. Look at the article. What excuse do people use most often when they don't want to go to work?
They say they have a migraine.
4. Is this statement true, false or not applicable? People have been avoiding absences from work because they are afraid of being sacked.
True.
5. What expression in the article means 'to become an important news story'?
To make headlines.
Glossary 词汇表 on sick leave休病假 work-related stress工作帶來的壓力 a charity worker一名慈善工作者 to be sacked被炒魷魚 the boss老闆 to make headlines上新聞頭條 to be praised被誇獎 the manager經理 absent缺勤 to throw a sickie謊稱生病不上班 migraine偏頭痛 to make up佯裝 a day off休息一天 absenteeism缺勤現象 to recharge batteries (figurative)充電（休息調節的形容方式） job insecurity擔心工作不保 the economic downturn經濟衰退 upset沮喪 the statistics統計數字 challenging有挑戰性的
