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
The current political debate over family values, personal responsibility, and welfare takes for granted the entrenched American
The current political debate over family values, personal responsibility, and welfare takes for granted the entrenched American
admin
2015-01-09
31
问题
The current political debate over family values, personal responsibility, and welfare takes for granted the entrenched American belief that dependence on government assistance is a recent and destructive phenomenon. Conservatives tend to blame this dependence on personal irresponsibility aggravated by a swollen welfare apparatus that saps individual initiative. Liberals are more likely to blame it on personal misfortune magnified by the harsh lot that falls to losers in our competitive market economy. But both sides believe that "winners" in America make it on their own that dependence reflects some kind of individual or family failure, and that the ideal family is the self-reliant unit of traditional lore—a family that takes care of its own, carves out a future for its children, and never asks for handouts. Politicians at both ends of the ideological spectrum have wrapped themselves in the mantle of these "family values," arguing over why the poor have not been able to make do without assistance, or whether aid has exacerbated their situation, but never questioning the assumption that American families traditionally achieve success by establishing their independence from the government.
The myth of family self-reliance is so compelling that our actual national and personal histories often buckle under its emotional weight. "We always stood on our own two feet," my grandfather used to say about his pioneer heritage, whenever he walked me to the top of the hill to survey the property in Washington State that his family had bought for next to nothing after it had been logged off in the early 1900s. Perhaps he didn’ t know that the land came so cheap because much of it was part of a federal subsidy originally allotted to the railroad companies, which had received 183 million acres of the public domain in the nineteenth century. These federal giveaways were the original source of most major western logging companies’ land, and when some of these logging companies moved on to virgin stands of timber, federal lands trickled down to a few early settlers who were able to purchase them inexpensively.
Like my grandparents, few families in American history—whatever their "values"—have been able to rely solely on their own resources. Instead, they have depended on the legislative, judicial and social-support structures set up by governing authorities, whether those were the clan elders of Native American societies, the church courts and city officials of colonial America, or the judicial and legislative bodies established by the Constitution.
At America’ s inception, this was considered not a dirty little secret but the norm, one that confirmed oar social and personal interdependence. The idea that the family should have the sole or even primary responsibility for educating and socializing its members, finding them suitable work, or keeping them from poverty and crime was not only ludicrous to colonial and revolutionary thinkers but dangerously parochial.
The word "parochial" in the last paragraph means_____.
选项
A、nimble
B、absurd
C、insular
D、liberal
答案
C
解析
题目问:最后一段的单词"parochial"是什么意思?parochial的意思是“地方范围的,狭小的”。句子意思是:在家庭成员的教育、社会交际工作等方面,认为家庭应承担惟一的甚至是主要的责任这种想法是极其荒谬的,也应该是不全面的。各选项的意思是:nimble“敏捷的,伶俐的,聪明的”; absurd“荒谬的,可笑的”:insular“海岛的,岛民的”;liberal“慷慨的,不拘泥的”。所以。答案是C。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/8QLO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
TheparentswereworriedaboutDorothybecausenoonewasaware______shehadgone.
Themostexcitingkindofeducationisalsothemostpersonal.Nothingcan【1】thejoyofdiscoveringforyourselfsomethingthat
Hemovedawayfromhisparents,andmissedthem______enjoytheexcitinglifeinNewYork.
Mostpeoplewouldbe【71】bythehighqualityofmedicine【72】tomostAmericans.Thereisalotofspecialization,agreatdealof【
Mostpeoplewouldbe【71】bythehighqualityofmedicine【72】tomostAmericans.Thereisalotofspecialization,agreatdealof【
Mostpeoplewouldbe【71】bythehighqualityofmedicine【72】tomostAmericans.Thereisalotofspecialization,agreatdealof【
Mostpeoplewouldbe【71】bythehighqualityofmedicine【72】tomostAmericans.Thereisalotofspecialization,agreatdealof【
Inthe1350spoorcountrymenbegantohavecottagesandgardenswhichtheycouldcalltheirown.Werethesefourteenth-centuryp
Farmersareallowedtogrowsmallgardensoftheirownandtheyselltheirvegetables______theblackmarket.
随机试题
审美经验的超越性主要体现在【】
疟疾的传染源是
甲国公民刘易斯在中国居留期间被甲国刑事追诉,甲国向中国提出引渡刘易斯的请求,中国和甲国间无引渡条约。依相关规则,下列选项正确的是哪项?()
建筑材料采购合同中应明确货物的验收依据和()。
某户农村居民家中有常住人口4名,某年的家庭收支情况如下:家庭总收入为10万元,家庭经营费用支出2.2万元,税费支出3000元,生产性固定资产折旧2400元,赠送农村内部亲友支出14000元。请根据上述资料,回答下面的问题:该调查户的农村居民人均纯收
论述当代中国社会主义法治在社会治理中的作用。
求过原点且与两条直线都平行的平面方程.
设Dk是圆域D={(x,y)|x2+y2≤1}在第k象限的部分,记Ik=(y-x)dxdy(k=1,2,3,4),则().
阅读以下程序说明和C++程序,将程序段中(1)~(7)空缺处的语句填写完整。[说明]使用MFC的CSocket类在两个或者多个应用程序之间建立通信。服务器应用程序先创建一个特殊的Socket,用于监听客户应用程序的连接请求,然后再创建新
Madewithwildsementrichosanthis(恬楼仁——食品名)growingintheremotemountainsatthesouthbankofTaihuLake,theproducthasfra
最新回复
(
0
)