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  3. America’s recent history has been a persistent tilt to the West—of people, ideas, commerce and even political power. California

America’s recent history has been a persistent tilt to the West—of people, ideas, commerce and even political power. California

admin2022-07-29  83
问题     America’s recent history has been a persistent tilt to the West—of people, ideas, commerce and even political power. California and Texas are the twin poles of the West, but very different ones. For most of the 20th century the home of Silicon Valley and Hollywood has been the brainier and trendier of the two. Texas has trailed behind: its stereotype has been a conservative Christian in cowboy boots. But twins can change places. Is that happening now?
    It is easy to find evidence that California is in a panic. At the start of this month the once golden state started paying creditors in IOUs. The gap between projected outgoings and income for the current fiscal year has leapt to a horrible $26 billion. With no sign of a new budget to close this gulf, one credit agency has already downgraded California’s debt. As budgets are cut, universities will let in fewer students, prisoners will be released early and schemes to protect the vulnerable will be rolled back.
    By contrast, Texas has coped well with the recession, with an unemployment rate two points below the national average and one of the lowest rates of housing repossession. In part this is because Texan banks, hard hit in the last property bust, did not overexpand this time. Texas also clearly offers a different model, based on small government. It has no state capital-gains or income tax, and a business-friendly and immigrant-tolerant attitude. It is home to more Fortune 500 companies than any other state.
    Despite all this, it still seems too early to hand over America’s future to Texas. To begin with, that lean Texan model has its own problems. It has not invested enough in education, and many experts rightly worry about a "lost generation" of mostly Hispanic Texans with insufficient skills for the demands of the knowledge economy.
    Second, it has never paid to bet against a state with as many inventive people as California. Even if, Hollywood has gone into depression, it still boasts an unequalled array of sunrise industries and the most brisk venture-capital industry on the planet. The state also has an awesome ability to reinvent itself—as it did when its defense industry collapsed at the end of the cold war.
    The truth is that both states could learn from each other. Texas still lacks California’s great universities and lags in terms of culture. California could adopt not just Texas’s leaner state, but also its more bipartisan approach to politics. There is no perfect model of government: it is America’s genius to have 50 public-policy laboratories competing to find out what works best.
In what way is Texas different from California?
选项 A、It practices small government.
B、It has a large Hispanic population.
C、It is home to traditional industries.
D、It has an enviable welfare system.
答案A
解析 本题关键词是Texas和California，问题是：得克萨斯州与加利福尼亚州的不同点是什么?可以定位到第三段。根据第三段第三句，得州显然实行了一种与加利福尼亚州截然不同的治理模式——以小政府(small government)为基础的模式。由此可见，得克萨斯州与加利福尼亚州的不同之处在于它实行小政府模式，因此选项A与原文一致，是正确选项。选项B属于答非所问，第四段第三句提到了大批西班牙裔的得克萨斯州人缺乏足够的技能，这是在论述得克萨斯州的缺点，而非两州的不同之处。选项C是偷换概念，财富500强(Fortune 500 companies)不等同于传统工业。选项D属于无中生有，全文并未真正提到福利政策。第三段：得克萨斯州在应对经济衰退方面表现良好。
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