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
Passage Two Depending on whom you believe, the average American will, over a lifetime, wait in lines for two years (says Nat
Passage Two Depending on whom you believe, the average American will, over a lifetime, wait in lines for two years (says Nat
admin
2022-10-07
66
问题
Passage Two
Depending on whom you believe, the average American will, over a lifetime, wait in lines for two years (says National Public Radio) or five years (according to some customer-loyalty experts).
The crucial word is average, as wealthy Americans routinely avoid lines altogether. Once the most democratic of institutions, lines are rapidly becoming the exclusive province of suckers (people who still believe in and practice waiting in lines). Poor suckers, mostly.
Airports resemble France before the Revolution: first-class passengers enjoy " élite" security lines and priority boarding, and disembark before the unwashed in coach, held at bay by a flight attendant, are allowed to foul the Jet-way.
At amusement parks, too, you can now buy your way out of line. This summer I haplessly watched kids use a $ 52 Gold Rash Pass to jump the lines at Six Flags New England, and similar systems are in use in most major American theme parks, from Universal Orlando to Walt Disney World, where the haves get to watch the have-mores breeze past on their way to their seats.
Rash Pass teaches children a valuable lesson in real-world economics: that the rich are more important than you, especially when it comes to waiting. An NBA player once said to me, with a bemused chuckle of disbelief, that when playing in Canada—get this—"We have to wait in the same customs line as everybody else. "
Almost every line can be breached for a price. In several U. S. cities this summer, early arrivers among the early adopters waiting to buy iPhones offered to sell their spots in the lines. On Craigslist, prospective iPhone purchasers offered to pay "waiters"or "placeholders"to wait in line for them outside Apple stores.
Inevitably, some semi-populist politicians have seen the value of sort-of waiting in lines with the ordinary people. This summer Philadelphia mayor John Street waited outside an AT&T store from 3:30 a. m. to 11:30 a. m. before a stand-in from his office literally stood in for the mayor while he conducted official business. And billionaire New York mayor Michael Bloomberg often waits for the subway with his fellow citizens, though he’s first driven by motorcade past the stop nearest his house to a station 22 blocks away, where the wait, or at least the ride, is shorter.
As early as elementary school, we’re told that jumping the line is an unethical act, which is why so many U. S. lawmakers have framed the immigration debate as a kind of fundamental sin of the school lunch line. Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, to cite just one legislator, said amnesty would allow illegal immigrants "to cut in line ahead of millions of people. "
Nothing annoys a national lawmaker more than a person who will not wait in line, unless that line is in front of an elevator at the U. S. Capitol, where Senators and Representatives use private elevators, lest they have to queue with their constituents.
But compromising the integrity of the line is not just antidemocratic, it’s out-of-date. There was something about the orderly boarding of Noah’s Ark, two by two, that seemed to restore not just civilization but civility during the Great Rood.
How civil was your last flight? Southwest Airlines has first-come, first-served festival seating. But for $5 per flight, an unaffiliated company called BoardFirst. com will secure you a coveted "A" boarding pass when that airline opens for online check-in 24 hours before departure. Thus, the savvy traveler doesn’t even wait in line when he or she is online.
Some cultures are not renowned for lining up. Then again, some cultures are too adept at lining up: a citizen of the former Soviet Union would join a queue just so he could get to the head of that queue and see what everyone was queuing for.
And then there is the U. S. , where society seems to be cleaving into two groups; Very Important Persons, who don’t wait, and Very Impatient Persons, who do—unhappily.
For those of us in the latter group—consigned to coach, bereft of Flash Pass, too poor or proper to pay a placeholder—what do we do? We do what Vladimir and Estragon did in Waiting for Godot:"We wait. We are bored. "
Which of the following is NOT cited as an example of breaching the line?
选项
A、Going through the customs at a Canadian airport.
B、Using Gold Flash Passes in amusement parks.
C、First-class passenger status at airports.
D、Purchase of a place in a line from a placeholder.
答案
A
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/UTBK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
A、Toinitiatenewtopics.B、Tosupporttheinterview.C、Tointroducenewpolicies.D、Toexplainsomestatistics.A本题询问采访者在访谈中的作用
A、Lackofinterestinreading.B、Thepurposeforimprovingreadingability.C、TheinfluenceofHinton’sbooks.D、HisEnglishtea
MeaninginLiteratureInreadingliteraryworks,weareconcernedwiththe’meaning’ofoneliterarypieceoranother.Howev
StressManagementI.Thegoalofstressmanagement—takingchargeofthoughts,emotions,【T1】______andenvironmentetc.【T1】___
StressManagementI.Thegoalofstressmanagement—takingchargeofthoughts,emotions,【T1】______andenvironmentetc.【T1】___
ConversationalSkillsPeoplewhousuallymakeusfeelcomfortableinconversationsaregoodtalkers.Andtheyhavesomething
CulturalDifferencesbetweenEastandWestI.FactorsleadingtotheculturaldifferencesA.Differentculture【T1】______【T1】_
PASSAGEFIVE
PASSAGEONEWhatcanbeinferredfromradicalIslamicpartiesinlocalelections?
(1)Toooften,investorsfocusonfiguresthatsupposedlyofferinsightintoacompany’sperformancewithoutsheddinglightonho
随机试题
学校事故的责任形式和制裁方式:学校事故的责任形式主要是_______,其制裁方式也相应是民事制裁方式。
WhydoWeUseE-mail?PersonalcomputersandtheInternetgivepeoplenewchoicesabouthowtospendtheirtime.Somemayus
Christopherisnotmarriedyet;heisstill【41】.Heisinterestedinfootball,【42】isanexcitingeventandenjoys【43】towatcha
眼球的折光系统包括()
肾病综合征患者检查可有
某依法设立的药品企业(单体门店),具有与经营药品相适应的营业场所、设施设备和卫生环境,建有企业门户网站。为拓展业务,向所在地省级药品监督管理部门申请办理向个人消费者提供互联网药品交易机构资格证书。该药品监督管理部门收到材料,进行形式审查后,批准其可以从事交
在需要作地下室防水情况下,下列说法正确的是:()。
自始至终全部由关键工作组成的线路为关键线路,或线路上总的工作持续时间( )的线路为关键线路。
会计职业道德既有国家法律相应要求,又要求会计人员自觉遵守。()
(福建2010春一103)数列…中,数值最小的项是()。
最新回复
(
0
)