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
You hear the refrain all the time: the U.S. economy looks good statistically, but it doesn’t feel good. Why doesn’t ever-greater
You hear the refrain all the time: the U.S. economy looks good statistically, but it doesn’t feel good. Why doesn’t ever-greater
admin
2010-01-26
47
问题
You hear the refrain all the time: the U.S. economy looks good statistically, but it doesn’t feel good. Why doesn’t ever-greater wealth promote ever-greater happiness? It is a question that dates at least to the appearance in 1958 of The Affluent(富裕的) Society by John Kenneth Galbraith, who died recently at 97.
The Affluent Society is a modern classic because it helped define a new moment in the human condition. For most of history, "hunger, sickness, and cold" threatened nearly everyone. Galbraith wrote. "Poverty was found everywhere in that world. Obviously it is not of ores." After World War. Ⅱ , the dread of another Great Depression gave way to an economic boom. In the 1930s unemployment had aver aged 18.2 percent; in the 1950s it was 4.5 percent.
To Galbraith, materialism had gone mad and would breed discontent. Through advertising companies conditioned consumers to buy things they didn’t really want or need. Because so much spending was artificial, it would be unfulfilling. Meanwhile, government spending that would make everyone better off was being cut down because people instinctively and wrongly labeled government only as "a necessary evil".
It’s often said that only the rich are getting ahead; everyone else is standing still or tailing behind, Well, there are many undeserving rich overpaid chief executives, for instance. But over any meaningful period, most people’s incomes are increasing. From 1995 to 2004, inflation-adjusted average family in come rose 14.3 percent, to $ 43,200. People feel "squeezed" because their rising incomes often don’t satisfy their rising wants for bigger homes, more health care, more education, faster Internet connections.
The other great frustration is that it has not eliminated insecurity. People regard job stability as part of their standard of living. As corporate layoffs increased, that part has eroded. More workers fear they’ve become "the disposable American," as Louis Uchitelle puts it in his hook by the same name.
Because so much previous suffering and social conflict stemmed from poverty, the arrival of wide spread affluence suggested utopian(乌托邦式的) possibilities. Up to a point, affluence succeeds. Then; is much less physical misery than before. People are better off. Unfortunately, affluence also creates new complaints and contradictions.
Advanced societies need economic growth to satisfy the multiplying wants of their citizens. But the quest for growth lets loose new anxieties and economic conflicts that disturb the social order. Affluence liberates the individual, promising that everyone can choose a unique way to self-fulfillment. But the promise is so extravagant that it predestines many disappointments and sometimes inspires choices that have anti-social consequences, including family breakdown and obesity(肥胖症). Statistical indicators of happiness have not risen with incomes.
Should we be surprised7 Not really. We’ve simply reaffirmed an old truth: the pursuit of affluence docs not always end with happiness.
Why do people feel squeezed when their average income rises considerably?
选项
A、Their material pursuits have gone far ahead of their earnings.
B、Their purchasing power has dropped markedly with inflation.
C、The distribution of wealth is uneven between the rich and the poor.
D、Health care and educational costs have somehow gone out of control.
答案
A
解析
文章第四段最后一句提到People feel“squeezed”because their rising incomes often don’t satisfy their rising wants,与选项A意思相符。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/TrdK777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
A、Ithasbeenthebestsellerforweeks.B、Itadvisespeopletochangethemselves.C、Itisbeingsoldatavery,lowprice.D、It
Bringingupchildrenisahardwork,andyouareoftentoblameforanybadbehaviorofyourchildren,Ifso,JudithRichHarris
AmericanopinionbegantochangesomewhatafterPresidentRoosevelt’s"quarantine(使在政治或商业上独立)theaggressor"speechatChicago(
K.C.couldrecallsomesentenceswithoutrememberinghehadtakensuchlessonsbecausehelearnedthembyhimself.Theresulto
A、Atestinacompositionclass.B、Aroadtest.C、Thewrittentestforherdriver’slicense.D、Aroad.CWhatdidHelenrecently
A、Howtowriteabookonlanguagelearning.B、Howtolearnlanguageswell.C、Howtofindoutalanguagelearner’slearningstyle
PeopleintheUnitedStatesinthenineteenthcenturywerehauntedbytheprospectthatunprecedentedchangeinthenation’seco
A、Sendingthenextpackageearlier.B、Waitingpatiently.C、Usingairfreight.D、Lookingforthepackage.CM:Isentthepackage
A、Aprofessorandastudent.B、Ahotelmanagerandatourist.C、Asalesmanandacustomer.D、Astoreownerandhismanager.AW:
A、Inadoctor’soffice.B、Inaprofessor’soffice.C、Inalawyer’soffice.D、Inabusinessman’soffice.A由对话中的关键词treatment,h
随机试题
类风湿关节炎患者出现急性关节疼痛时,不应采取的护理措施是
正常三尖瓣与二尖瓣的血流多普勒频谱有什么不同:
某省政府批准一大型基础建设项目,须占用耕地外的农田30公顷,关于审批手续,下列说法正确的是:()
()是实施可持续发展战略的一项重大课题。
在中国共产党领导下,中国人民真正掌握了自己的命运。从根本上看,这体现在()。
2004年,某市房地产市场供需高位均衡,并呈现供略大于需的合理态势,商品房竣工面积1956.29万平方米,比去年同期增长45.3%;销售面积1876.31万平方米,比去年同期增长21.0%。供需绝对差额79.98万平方米。10月份,商品房竣工面积348.0
根据以下资料。回答问题。内资企业数同比增长最多的是:
现在选秀普遍缺少社会责任也是一个现实问题。电视娱乐节目多了也不是什么坏事,关键是电视台和导师嘉宾在赚的_______的同时,是否也应该懂得回馈和_______社会,这方面要像央视学习,不管是《站够100秒》还是《越战越勇》,不管是《梦想合唱团》还是《梦想星
甲、乙双方第一次用30元/千克的价格购买了一批材料,到第二次再购买时,价格涨到了40元/千克。已知甲每次购买10000千克,乙每次用10000元购买。则甲、乙双方这两次交易的平均价格差约为()元/千克。
下列关于异常类型的说明中错误的是()。
最新回复
(
0
)