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  3. The American dream is that any child can make it from the bottom to the top. That may still be true in politics: the son of a Ke

The American dream is that any child can make it from the bottom to the top. That may still be true in politics: the son of a Ke

admin2019-04-19  6
问题    The American dream is that any child can make it from the bottom to the top. That may still be true in politics: the son of a Kenyan immigrant, raised partly by his grandparents, is now president of the United States. But it is much less true, in economic terms, than most Americans think. Social mobility is less easy in America than in other countries. For example, three-quarters of Danes born in the lowest-earning 20% of the population escape their plight in adulthood. Seven out of ten poor children in supposedly class-ridden Britain achieve the same feat. But fewer than six in ten Americans do so.
   Similarly, with rags-to-riches stories. It is far less common for Americans from the bottom 20% in childhood to move into the top 20% in adulthood than it is in Denmark or in Britain. On the whole, America’s wealthy prosper while the average citizen struggles. The pay workers get has failed to move in line with productivity in the past 30 years. But Americans have yet to realise the extent of this tectonic shift.
   Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize-winner in economics and a regular critic of liberal capitalism, addresses this issue in his new book, which he wrote in response to the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Indeed, he argues that their slogan, "We are the 99% " , echoes an article entitled, "Of the 1% , by the 1% , for the 1% " , that he wrote in Vanity Fair in May 2011.
   To Mr Stiglitz, this inequality is the result of public policy being captured by an elite who have feathered their own nests at the expense of the rest. They have used their power to distort political debate, pushing through tax cuts to favour the rich and adjusting monetary policy to favour the banks. Many of the new rich are not entrepreneurs but "rent-seekers" , he says, who use monopoly power to boost profits.
   When it comes to solutions to the inequality problem, Mr Stiglitz wants a top income tax rate of "well in excess of" 50% , targeted fiscal stimulus and greater bank regulation. Here, perhaps, he might have been more open about the tradeoffs. Controls on bank leverage, caps on interest rates and greater protection for bankrupts are all likely to reduce bank lending at a time when there already is a credit squeeze. He admits that the 2009 fiscal stimulus was " not as well designed as it could have been" , but blithely hopes that the convoluted American budget-setting process will result in much better stimulus packages in future.
   Whether or not he has the right answers, Mr Stiglitz is surely right to focus on the issue. Across the developed world, the average worker is suffering a squeeze in living standards while bankers and chief executives are still doing very nicely. This dichotomy is bound to have social and political consequences.
It can be inferred from the first two paragraphs that
选项 A、a supplement to the social cure is hardly made in the States
B、a stimulus to economic dynamics is readily launched in the East
C、an impetus to social progress is directly consolidated for both the rich and the poor in the world
D、a dream from being extremely poor to being very rich is hardly realized in the States
答案D
解析 本题是一道上下段落关联题。根据题干中“the first two paragraphs(前两段)”的提示以及这类题型的答题规律，应该首先针对第二段首句进行上下段之间相互关系的研究。第二段首句中的“Similarly(同样地)”是破解本题的关键。该词表明：第二段所涉及的“rags-to-riches(由贫致富)”问题与第一段所涉及的问题在某个方面存在共性。第一段第四句“Social mobility is less easy in America than in other countries．(在美国，社会流动不如在其他国家容易。)”暗示第二段首句所涉及的“rags-to-riches(由贫致富)”之事也不容易实现。由此推断，选项D“a dream from being extremely poor to being very rich is hardly realized in the States(美国由贫致富的梦想难以实现)”应该是本题的正确答案。解答本题时，应该注意段落之间承上启下的词语，否则就无法进行清晰的推断和分析。
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