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
外语
Age has its privileges in America, and one of the more prominent of them is the senior citizen discount. Anyone who has reached
Age has its privileges in America, and one of the more prominent of them is the senior citizen discount. Anyone who has reached
admin
2016-04-30
22
问题
Age has its privileges in America, and one of the more prominent of them is the senior citizen discount. Anyone who has reached a certain age—in some cases as low as 55—is automatically entitled to a dazzling array of price reductions at nearly every level of commercial life. Eligibility is determined not by one’s need but by the date on one’s birth certificate. Practically unheard of a generation ago, the discounts have become a routine part of many businesses—as common as color televisions in motel rooms and free coffee on airliners.
People with gray hair often are given the discounts without even asking for them; yet, millions of Americans above age 60 are healthy and solvent(有支付能力的). Businesses that would never dare offer discounts to college students or anyone under 30 freely offer them to older Americans. The practice is acceptable because of the widespread belief that "elderly" and "needy" are synonymous(同义的). Perhaps that once was true, but today elderly Americans as a group have a lower poverty rate than the rest of the population. To be sure, there is economic diversity within the elderly, and many older Americans are poor. But most of them aren’t.
It is impossible to determine the impact of the discounts on individual companies. For many firms, they are a stimulus to revenue. But in other cases the discounts are giveh at the expense, directly or indirectly, of younger Americans. Moreover, they are a direct irritant in what some politicians and scholars see as a coming conflict between the generations.
Generational tensions are being fueled by continuing debate over Social Security benefits, which mostly involves a transfer of resources from the young to the old. Employment is another sore point. Buoyed(支持)by laws and court decisions, more and more older Americans are declining the retirement dinner in favor of staying on the job—thereby lessening employment and promotion opportunities for younger workers.
Far from a kind of charity they once were, senior citizen discounts have become a formidable economic privilege to a group with millions of members who don’t need them.
It no longer makes sense to treat the elderly as a single group whose economic needs deserve priority over those of others. Senior citizen discounts only enhance the myth that older people can’t take care of themselves and need special treatment; and they threaten the creation of a new myth, that the elderly are ungrateful and taking for themselves at the expense of children and other age groups. Senior citizen discounts are the essence of the very thing older Americans are fighting against— discrimination by age.
What assumption lies behind the practice of senior citizen discounts?
选项
A、Businesses, having made a lot of profits, should do something for society in return.
B、Old people are entitled to special treatment for the contribution they made to society.
C、The elderly, being financially underprivileged, need humane help from society.
D、Senior citizen discounts can make up for the inadequacy of the Social Security system.
答案
C
解析
第2段第3句讲到,这个做法之所以被接受是因为人们普遍认为“年老的”和“贫穷的”是同义的,也就是说因为老年人在经济方面处于弱势地位,需要社会的帮助,由此得出答案为C。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/0jG7777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
Somepeoplebelievethatyouhavetobeaspecialkindofpersontosellaproduct.Butalthoughitisclearthatasuccessfuls
A、Twoimportanttestsofanewairlinerbecauseitisputintouse.B、Howtocarryouttanktestinthewater.C、Howpilotscarr
A、Weshouldn’tjudgepeoplebyreadingtheirfaces.B、Weshouldn’tsmileinthewrongplace.C、Weshouldn’tcoverourtruefeeli
A、Therearetoomanypeopleinthesmallcornershop.B、Theyarealwaysfriendlytocustomersandreadytohelp.C、Theyalwayss
Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteanessayontheremark"Lieshaveshortlegs."Youcangiveexamplestoillus
Likemostpeople,I’velongunderstoodthatIwillbejudgedbymyoccupation,thatmyprofessionisagaugepeopleusetoseeh
Peopletendtounderestimatetheirlifeexpectancy,andit’snotsurprising.It’sthelook-aroundproblemagain:You【C1】______fr
A、Theyhavenoassignments.B、Theyaresupposedtoreadthenextchapter.C、Theyneedtocomposeanessayabouttheshowtheywi
Nowadaysmoreandmoreforeignenterprisesandcompaniesarenolongerrelyingoninterviewsfor【B1】______.Yearsofstudyingi
Americansgavealmosttwohundredfiftythousandmilliondollarstocharityin2004.Itwasafivepercent【B1】______toanewrec
随机试题
A、大豆磷脂B、单硬脂酸甘油酯C、羟丙甲纤维素D、聚山梨酯80E、乙基纤维素亲水凝胶骨架
患儿,5岁。多次患肺炎,查体无发绀,左缘第2肋间闻及响亮的连续性机器样杂音,伴有震颤,脉压增宽,有周围血管搏动征。以下诊断最正确的是
投资项目可行性研究阶段对投资估算的误差率要求控制在()以内。
信息技术在工程管理中的开发和应用的意义不包括()
从2003年4月以来,( )专门从事银行监管职能。
某蛋糕店装蛋糕的盒子有大、小两种,大盒每盒能装15个,小盒每盒能装8个,要把77个蛋糕装入盒内,要求每个盒子都恰好装满,需要盒子的数量共多少个?()
德育过程是组织学生的活动和交往的过程。()
下列不属于抽象行政行为的是:
(对外经贸2012)由一些信用等级较高的大型工商企业及金融公司发行的一种短期无担保的期票,称为()。
Theconceptofobtainingfreshwaterfromicebergsthataretowedtopopulatedareasandaridregionsoftheworldwasoncetrea
最新回复
(
0
)