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  3. It is not compatible with the egalitarian ideal that there should be sharp differences in the scale of monetary reward fro servi

It is not compatible with the egalitarian ideal that there should be sharp differences in the scale of monetary reward fro servi

admin2011-03-10  57
问题     It is not compatible with the egalitarian ideal that there should be sharp differences in the scale of monetary reward fro services performed. In New Zealand, care of the underdog has long since been a more important consideration than is the case in very many other countries. Successive governments may claim with some justice to have abolished poverty, but this has not been done without there taking place a narrowing of margins between the rewards for skilled and unskilled labor, with its consequent denial of incentive to acquire skill, to strive for self-improvement. The country’s citizens have come to regard social security as their inalienable right, but by taking too readily for granted the State’s obligation towards themselves they re apt to lose sight of the converse proposition that they themselves have obligations to he state.
    The reluctance to reward skilled labor at rates calculated to provide an incentive for acquiring skill has its counterpart in the reluctance to remunerate the nations’ best scholars and scientists on a scale sufficient to keep a fair proportion of them at home.
    The fact is often deplored that so many young men of the highest ability prefer to take up a career overseas, but it is doubtful whether higher salaries would stem their exodus in more than a minor degree. Under any circumstances, regardless of monetary reward, the intellectual elite would be tempted to go abroad in search of a wider field of endeavor than can be found in so small a country as New Zealand.
    In a society where great wealth is regarded as antisocial, it is natural that ostentation should be looked at Cskance. Marks of distinction are liable to be a handicap, for instance, the politician who accepts a title does not usually improve his chances of gaining or retaining office by doing so, Richard Seddon, it will be remembered, consistently and doubtless wisely refused to accept a knighthood. Wealth carries with it a minimum of prestige; it is a positive disadvantage to the aspirant to a political career. Strongly marked individuality or eccentricity are seldom in evidence among New Zealanders, and even where they do exist, the qualities are tolerated rather than appreciate. The rule o conformity prevails, and if the American writer, Sydney Greenbie, is to be believed, it has already produced a considerable measure of standardization among the inhabitants of the Dominion. "In face and feature, in mind and taste." Writes Greenbie, "the modem New Zealanders are so much alike that it is hard to remember the names of persons you meet casually for lack of distinguishing characteristics to which the eye can cling."
    Under conditions such as those described above, it is not surprising that no Privileged class should have come into existence through long possession of landed estate or other permanent source of income. Nevertheless, the claim that New Zealanders have developed a classless society can scarcely be substantiated. Snobbery, when discouraged in one quarter, is prone to appear in some new form elsewhere. Recent investigations by A.A. Congalton and R. J. Havighurst show that there is a fairly well defined and universal appreciation of the graduated social status attaching to various social occupations. Results of a survey in which a cross section of he public was asked to answer a series of apposite questions showed, for example, that doctors, lawyers, and big businessmen were graded above heads of Government Departments, clergymen, and university professors; that office workers rated higher than shop assistants, miners than wharf laborers, and so on. Incidentally, the investigation also brought to light the fact that may attempt to inquire into the existence of social distinctions within the community invariably roused resentment.
    A privileged class being also a leisured class, its rejection is in keeping with a deep-seated belief that work has a virtue in its own right, without regard to its usefulness .In pioneer days, when hands were few and subsistence hard to win, it was indeed a crime to remain idle, and the habit of Seeing idleness as a vice has endured. At the beginning of he great slump, when Forbes the Prime Minister, shocked at what he had seen of the "dole" during a visit to England, declared that so long as he retained office there would be no payment without work, his words appealed to a moral precept deeply inculcated not only in the minds of reactionaries but of many radicals as well.
New Zealand is not a classless society in that ______.
选项 A、snobbery is discouraged everywhere in New Zealand
B、people with more wealth seem to enjoy a high social status
C、the difference between the rich and the poor is great
D、New Zealanders don’t have a permanent source of income
答案B
解析 第五段第一句话“Under conditions such as those described above，it is not surprising that no privileged class should have come into existence through long possession of landed estate or other permanent source of income．”，说的是“在这种情况下，没有哪个阶层能通过长期占有地产或其他永久收入成为特权阶级”，这样就排除了C和D。第三句话“Snobbery，when discouraged in one quarter, is prone to appear in some new form elsewhere.”说的是“势利，虽然为人不齿，总会以新的形式在别的地方表现出来”，这样就排除了A。第四句“Recent investigations by A.A. Congalton and R.J．Havighurst show that there is a fairly well defined and universal appreciation of the graduated social status attaching to various social occupations.”指的是新西兰人还是很倾慕那些职业带来的社会地位，因此答案为B。
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