The first clue came when I got my hair cut. The stylist offered a complimentary nail-polish change while I waited for my hair to

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问题    The first clue came when I got my hair cut. The stylist offered a complimentary nail-polish change while I waited for my hair to dry. Maybe she hoped this little amenity would slow the growing inclination of women to stretch each haircut to last four months.
   Suddenly everything is on sale. The upside to the economic downturn is the immense incentive it gives retailers to treat you like a queen for a day. But now the customer rules, just for showing up. Finger the scarf, then start to walk away, and its price floats silkily downward. When the mechanic calls to tell you that brakes and a timing belt and other services will run close to $ 2,000, it’s time to break out the newly perfected art of the considered pause. You really don’t even have to say anything pitiful before he’ll offer to knock a few hundred dollars off.
   Restaurants are also caught in a fit of ardent hospitality, especially around Wall Street. New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni characterizes the new restaurant demeanor as "extreme solicitousness tinged with outright desperation."
   Now everyone is hoping to restart the economy. But human nature is funny that way. In dangerous times, we clench and squint at the deal that looks too good to miss, suspecting that it must be too good to be true. Store owners will tell you horror stories about shoppers with attitude, who walk in demanding discounts and flaunt their new power at every turn. These store owners wince as they sense bad habit forming: Will people expect discounts forever? Will their hard-won brand luster be forever cheapened, especially for items whose allure depends on their being ridiculously priced?
   There will surely come a day when things go back to "normal"; retail sales even inched up in January after sinking for the previous six months. Bargain-hunting can be addictive regardless of the state of the markets, and haggling is a low-risk, high-value contact sport. Trauma digs deep into habit, like my 85-year-old mother still calling her canned-goods cabinet "the bomb shelter." The children of the First Depression were saving string and preaching sacrifice long after the skies cleared. They came to be called the "greatest generation." As we learn to be decent stewards of our resources, who knows what might come of it? We have lived in an age of wanton waste, and there is value in practicing conservation that goes far beyond our own bottom line.
What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?

选项 A、The practice of frugality is essential.
B、Extravagant spending would accelerate economic development.
C、One’ s life experience would be transformed into lifelong habits.
D、Customers should cut the price of luxury goods.

答案A

解析 根据题干关键词定位到文章最后两段。通过最后一段末句there is value in practicing conservation that goes far beyond our own bottom line可知,作者崇尚节俭,因此A项“厉行节俭是很重要的”符合题意。此B项“奢侈的消费会加速经济的发展”、C项“一个人的生活经历会转变成一生的习惯”和D项“消费者应该期待奢侈品降价”均不符合题意,故选A。
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