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
Judging from tales about the rise and fall of empires, there is always a point when things are going so well that the emperors d
Judging from tales about the rise and fall of empires, there is always a point when things are going so well that the emperors d
admin
2011-03-10
19
问题
Judging from tales about the rise and fall of empires, there is always a point when things are going so well that the emperors doubt that anything could ever go wrong. "Thrift," warned Nero’s adviser Seneca, "comes too late when you find it at the bottom of your purse. " In the Old World, nations grew fat and then lazy, until they collapsed under their own weight. But that was not to be our story. American greatness—the vision of the founders, the courage of the pioneers, the industry of the nation builders—reflected a mighty faith in the power of sacrifice as a muscle that made young nations strong. Banks were like gyms for the soul: the first savings banks in Boston and New York were organized as charities, where "bumble journeymen" could exercise good judgment, store their money and not be tempted to waste it on drink. Architect Louis Sullivan carved the word THRIFT over the door of his "jewel box" bank nearly a century ago, for it was private virtue that made public prosperity possible.
That virtue died with the baby boom, but it had been ailing ever since the Depression, argues cultural historian David Tucker in the Decline of Thrift in America. That crisis, he writes, invited economists to recast thrift as "the contemptible vice which threw sand in the gears of our consumer economy. " A White House report in 1931 urged parents to let children pick out their own clothes and furniture, thereby creating in the child "a sense of personal as well as family pride in ownership, and eventually teaching him that his personality can be expressed through things. "
Somewhere along the way, thrift did not just stop being a value; it became a folly. Saving was for suckers; you’d miss the ride, die leaving money on the table when you could have lived it up. There are no pockets in a shroud, as the saying goes. We once saved about 15% of our income. By the roaring 80s the rate was 4%; now we’re in negative numbers. Bob Hope liked to joke that "a bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it. " But that too changed as easy credit bloomed and usury became another of those vices that had somehow lost its juice. The average American has nine credit cards with a total $17, 000 balance. We borrow against our houses and pensions to live in a way that dares us to actually grow old. "Never invest in any idea you can’t illustrate with a crayon. " Fidelity mastermind Peter Lynch advised, but we embraced all kinds of investments about which we understood nothing except the hollow promise that they would never fail. When the economy began to swoon we kept spending, effectively sending ourselves rebate checks from accounts already way overdrawn, as if it would make us feel better to buy a new TV and charge it to our kids.
George W. Bush has never been reluctant to frame policy debates in moral terms, targeting an "axis of evil", casting tax cuts as the removal of unfair burdens on hardworking people, calling tariff reduction a moral imperative. But thrift is one virtue he never invokes, and a restoration of restraint is a strain of conservatism he seldom promotes. In fact, it was after the most tragic day in modern U.S. history, when Bush urged people who wanted to help to go shopping, that profligacy officially replaced prudence as a patriotic duty.
There’s no way to tell during this cun’ent distress whether we’re repenting or just retrenching. Thriftstore sales are up. Cats are shrinking. P. Diddy retired his private jet to save on gas. In hard times, people often rediscover the peace that prudence brings, when you try to spend a little less than you have because tomorrow might be worse. But that feels almost un-American; we’re optimists by nature, and we’ve been living large for so long that solvency feels like a sacrifice. It will take some sustained character education—and leadership—to understand that morning in America is more likely to come again if we prepare for midnight.
What is the author’s main purpose in writing this passage?
选项
A、To criticize banks that now indulge people to spend insensibly.
B、To analyze causes of American economic crisis.
C、To raise people’s consciousness of prudent spending.
D、To call for American leaders to learn from nation builders.
答案
C
解析
主旨题。[A]在文中有涉及但非整个文章的主旨;文中只提到了经济危机,没有分析原因,排除[B];[D]太宽泛;文章开头就指出历史上帝国的沉浮证明了“兴于俭,衰于奢”。最后一段作者明确提出在经济危机时节俭的必要性。故答案为[C]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/BJYO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Americansoftentrytosaythingsasquicklyaspossible,soforsomeexpressionsweusethefirstlettersofthewordsinstead
Americansoftentrytosaythingsasquicklyaspossible,soforsomeexpressionsweusethefirstlettersofthewordsinstead
Proponentsofdifferentjazzstyleshavealwaysarguedthattheirpredecessors,musicalstyledidnotincludeessentialcharacte
Proponentsofdifferentjazzstyleshavealwaysarguedthattheirpredecessors,musicalstyledidnotincludeessentialcharacte
Proponentsofdifferentjazzstyleshavealwaysarguedthattheirpredecessors,musicalstyledidnotincludeessentialcharacte
Onethingthatdistinguishestheonlineworldfromtherealoneisthatitisveryeasytofindthings.TofindacopyofTheEc
Onethingthatdistinguishestheonlineworldfromtherealoneisthatitisveryeasytofindthings.TofindacopyofTheEc
Onethingthatdistinguishestheonlineworldfromtherealoneisthatitisveryeasytofindthings.TofindacopyofTheEc
随机试题
滤过分数是指【】
AIDS最主要的传播途径是
胸部外伤早期剖胸探查的指征是
男性,45岁,吸烟史20年,间断痰中带血3个月,伴消瘦,诊断首先考虑女性,40岁,糖尿病史3年,未治疗,咳嗽、咳黄痰伴发热10天,消瘦、乏力,最应考虑的诊断是
下列对于刑事缺席审判程序认识不正确的是:()
[2014年,第106题]一个典型的计算机网络系统主要是由()。
环境保护法律法规体系建立的依据和基础是()。
根据《第1号准则》的规定,在招股说明书中,发行人应披露影响本行业发展的有利和不利因素,包括()。
外国旅行社在我国境内设立常驻旅游办事机构,可以从事()。
下列属于刘天华创作的琵琶曲是()。
最新回复
(
0
)