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  3. The American dream is that any child can make it from the bottom to the top. That may still be true in politics: the son of a Ke

The American dream is that any child can make it from the bottom to the top. That may still be true in politics: the son of a Ke

admin2019-04-19  13
问题    The American dream is that any child can make it from the bottom to the top. That may still be true in politics: the son of a Kenyan immigrant, raised partly by his grandparents, is now president of the United States. But it is much less true, in economic terms, than most Americans think. Social mobility is less easy in America than in other countries. For example, three-quarters of Danes born in the lowest-earning 20% of the population escape their plight in adulthood. Seven out of ten poor children in supposedly class-ridden Britain achieve the same feat. But fewer than six in ten Americans do so.
   Similarly, with rags-to-riches stories. It is far less common for Americans from the bottom 20% in childhood to move into the top 20% in adulthood than it is in Denmark or in Britain. On the whole, America’s wealthy prosper while the average citizen struggles. The pay workers get has failed to move in line with productivity in the past 30 years. But Americans have yet to realise the extent of this tectonic shift.
   Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize-winner in economics and a regular critic of liberal capitalism, addresses this issue in his new book, which he wrote in response to the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Indeed, he argues that their slogan, "We are the 99% " , echoes an article entitled, "Of the 1% , by the 1% , for the 1% " , that he wrote in Vanity Fair in May 2011.
   To Mr Stiglitz, this inequality is the result of public policy being captured by an elite who have feathered their own nests at the expense of the rest. They have used their power to distort political debate, pushing through tax cuts to favour the rich and adjusting monetary policy to favour the banks. Many of the new rich are not entrepreneurs but "rent-seekers" , he says, who use monopoly power to boost profits.
   When it comes to solutions to the inequality problem, Mr Stiglitz wants a top income tax rate of "well in excess of" 50% , targeted fiscal stimulus and greater bank regulation. Here, perhaps, he might have been more open about the tradeoffs. Controls on bank leverage, caps on interest rates and greater protection for bankrupts are all likely to reduce bank lending at a time when there already is a credit squeeze. He admits that the 2009 fiscal stimulus was " not as well designed as it could have been" , but blithely hopes that the convoluted American budget-setting process will result in much better stimulus packages in future.
   Whether or not he has the right answers, Mr Stiglitz is surely right to focus on the issue. Across the developed world, the average worker is suffering a squeeze in living standards while bankers and chief executives are still doing very nicely. This dichotomy is bound to have social and political consequences.
According to the concluding paragraph, the author has yet to comment upon______.
选项 A、the issue addressed by Mr Stiglitz
B、blueprint of living standards set by bankers
C、the answers advanced by Mr Stiglitz
D、the working performance of chief executives
答案C
解析 本题是一道细节信息题型。但是本题的难点在于题干中的这一固定表达形式“have／has yet to do…(还未做某事)”。如果对这一固定表达形式理解有误，就无法确定本题答案的信息来源。尾段首句涉及本文作者对施蒂格利茨的“评论(comment)”。但是，该句只是对施蒂格利茨聚焦该问题做出了肯定的评论，却未对其“回答(answers)”的正确与否做出评论。原句如下：“Whether or not he has the right answers，Mr Stiglitz is surely right to focus on the issue．(不管他给出的答案是否正确，施蒂格利茨对这个问题的关注无疑是正确的。)”由此推断，选项C“the answers advanced by Mr Stiglitz(施蒂格利茨所给出的答案)”是本题的正确选项。解答此题时，一定要认真审题，另外更要对题干中的固定表达形式进行精准的理解，否则就迷失了解题思路。
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