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
Depending on whom you believe, the average American will, over a lifetime, wait in lines for two years (says national public rad
Depending on whom you believe, the average American will, over a lifetime, wait in lines for two years (says national public rad
admin
2011-01-08
30
问题
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 "elite" 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 Flash 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.
Flash 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 Flood.
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."
选项
A、Lines are symbolic of America’s democracy.
B、Lines still give Americans equal opportunities.
C、Lines are now for ordinary Americans only.
D、Lines are for people with democratic spirit only.
答案
C
解析
本题为理解题。这句话是说,在最民主的体制下,排队很快成为那些容易上当的笨蛋们的专利(他们还相信应当排队并且真的在排队)。这些笨蛋大多数都是穷鬼。故而选C,只有普通人才排队。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/XNeO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
WhichofthefollowingwordsisNOTaderivative?
EducationalValuesDuringthefirstweekatNorthAmericanuniversities,studentsmustdoafewthingsinpreparation,solif
WhichofthefollowingbestdescribesthenatureofThomasHardy’slaterworks?
Thedeclineofcivilityandgoodmannersmaybeworryingpeoplemorethancrime,accordingtoGentilityRecalled,editedbyDigb
Thedeclineofcivilityandgoodmannersmaybeworryingpeoplemorethancrime,accordingtoGentilityRecalled,editedbyDigb
Thedeclineofcivilityandgoodmannersmaybeworryingpeoplemorethancrime,accordingtoGentilityRecalled,editedbyDigb
WhichofthefollowingisNOTconsideredpartofsemanticchange?
WhichofthefollowingdoesNOTbelongtotheIndo-Europeanfamily?
A、ThestoriesofHarryPotterarecriticizedinsomeothercitiesinU.SexceptNewMexicon.B、Youngpeoplearefascinatedwith
随机试题
慢性淋巴细胞白血病患者出现下列哪种核型时预后较好A.+12B.t(11,14)C.t(14,19)D.inv(14)E.(q11,q32)
输注哪种血液成分,一般不产生HLA抗体
为了在较短的时间内了解某群体口腔健康状况,并估计在该群体中开展口腔保健工作所需的人力和物力,可采用
A.第一类精神药品B.第二类精神药品C.麻醉药品D.第一类疫苗经批准具备一定条件的药品零售连锁企业可以经营的是()
可计量性是所有会计要素确认的前提,只有当有关资源的成本或者价值能够可靠地计量时,资产才能予以确认。 ( )
教师“双目微眯,嘴角微翘,面露微笑”是表示()的面势语,是教师在工作中的表情常态。
为预防幼儿发生“星期一综合症”,在执行幼儿园生活制度时应该做到()
A、 B、 C、 D、 D每行前两个图形叠加得到第三个图形,选择D。
青年人的梦想是无边无际的,有时候好像是不可思议的。但这恰巧是青年人的可爱之处。也是他们的个性所在,对于他们的梦想,我们不应嘲笑和讥讽,相反应该理解和包容。每个青年人都有自己的棱角,也许通过时间的考验和历练,棱角会慢慢被磨平,梦想逐渐被现实所击败。但是这个过
属于犯罪集团成立条件的有()。
最新回复
(
0
)