首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
Living standards soared during the twentieth century, and economists expect them to continue rising in the decades ahead. Does t
Living standards soared during the twentieth century, and economists expect them to continue rising in the decades ahead. Does t
admin
2013-01-25
47
问题
Living standards soared during the twentieth century, and economists expect them to continue rising in the decades ahead. Does that mean that we humans can look forward to increasing happiness?
Easterlin admits that richer people are more likely to report themselves as being happier than poorer people are. But steady improvements in the American economy have not been accompanied by steady increases in people’s self-assessments of their own happiness. "There has been not improvement in average happiness in the United States over almost a half century—a period in which real GDP (gross domestic product) per capital more than doubled," Easterlin reports.
The explanation for this paradox may be that people become less satisfied over time with a given level of income. In Easterlin’s word: "As incomes rise, the aspiration level does too, and the effect of this increase in aspirations is to invalidate the expected growth in happiness due to higher income."
Money can buy happiness, Easterlin seems to be saying, but only if one’s amounts get bigger and other people aren’t getting more. His analysis helps to explain sociologist Lee Rainwater’s finding that Americans’ perception of the income "necessary to get along" rose between 1950 and 1986 in the same proportion as actual per capital income. We feel rich if we have more than our neighbors, poor if we have less, and feeling relatively well off is equated with being happy.
Easterlin’s findings challenge psychologist Abraham Maslow’s "hierarchy of wants" as a reliable guide to future human motivation. Maslow suggested that as people’s basic material wants are satisfied they seek to achieve nonmaterial or spiritual goals. But Easterlin’s evidence points to the persistence of materialism.
Science has developed no cure for envy, so our wealth boosts our happiness only briefly while shrinking that of our neighbors. Thus the outlook for the future is gloomy in Easterlin’s view:
"The future, then, to which the era of modem economic growth is leading is one of never ending economic growth, a world in which ever growing abundance is matched by ever rising aspirations, a world in which cultural difference is leveled in the constant race to achieve the good life of material plenty, it is a world founded on belief in science and the power of rational inquiry and in the ultimate capacity of humanity to shape its own destiny. The irony is that in this last respect the lesson of history appears to be otherwise: that there is no choice. In the end, it is not the triumph of humanity over material wants; rather, it is the triumph of material wants over humanity."
选项
A、the richer people become, the happier they feel.
B、people feel unhappy just because they are not rich enough.
C、the increase of wealth certainly results in the increase of happiness.
D、the increase of wealth does not necessarily result in the increase of happiness.
答案
D
解析
事实细节题。文章第二段前两句指出"Easterlin承认,一般来说,富人比穷人更有可能称自己是幸福的;但是美国经济的稳定发展并没有带来相应的人们对自己是否幸福的自我评价度的提高"。由此可知,随着经济稳步发展,人们并未感到比以往更幸福。可见,财富的增长并不一定导致幸福感的增长。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/Zap4777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
Accordingtothepassage,wecansaythatanthropology______.Whichofthefollowingisthebesttitleforthepassage?
Accordingtothepassage,wecansaythatanthropology______.Whichofthefollowingdoestheauthormostprobablyagreewith?
Whichofthefollowingtitlesbestsummarizesthecontentofthetext?Accordingtotheauthor,thedebatehasspecialsignific
Theauthorraisestheissueofethicalconsiderationincloninginparagraph1inordertoParagraph4iswritteninorderto
TheviewsofKassandO.T.A.oncloningresearchareTheword"it"(Para.2)mostprobablyrefersto
ItcanbeinferredfromParagraph1thatoneimportantfactorintheincreasingimportanceofeducationintheUnitedStateswas
Youaregoingtoreadatextoftipsoninterview,followedbyalistofexplanations(orexamples).Choosethebestexplanation
Inordertounderstand,howeverimperfectly,whatismeantby"face",wemusttake【1】ofthefactthat,asarace,theChineseha
Inordertounderstand,howeverimperfectly,whatismeantby"face",wemusttake【1】ofthefactthat,asarace,theChineseha
随机试题
某患者在检影验光时,90°轴向用+2.00D柱镜可中和,180°轴向用-1.00D柱镜可中和。该例患者的屈光不正属于
CT扫描前,病人必须去除金属物的目的是
属于稳定细胞的是
已知D:|x|+|y|≤1,D1:x≥0,y≥0,x+y≤1,,则()。
工程项目施工图审查能否通过,是建设行政主管部门颁发项目()的前提条件。
地理老师在讲地形时,使用彩色图片的效果往往比只用黑白图片的效果好,这主要体现了知觉的()。
抵抗外界诱惑的能力属于()
某企业准备将3项任务X、Y、Z分配给甲、乙、丙3名信息处理技术员,每人分别做一项。估计各人完成各项工作所需的天数如表3-1所示。设最优的分配方案为完成这3项工作所需的总天数最少,则以最优分配方案完成任务共需(24)天。
Readingstory-booksismyhobby.Ilikereadingstory-books______.
PASSAGETWO
最新回复
(
0
)