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  3. Now that the economy is at last growing again, the burning issue in Britain is the cost of living. Prices have exceeded wages fo

Now that the economy is at last growing again, the burning issue in Britain is the cost of living. Prices have exceeded wages fo

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问题     Now that the economy is at last growing again, the burning issue in Britain is the cost of living. Prices have exceeded wages for the past six years. But the thing that is really out of control is the cost of housing. In the past year wages have risen by 1%; property prices are up by 8.4%. This is merely the latest in a long surge. If since 1971 the price of groceries had risen as steeply as the cost of housing, a chicken would cost ￡51 ($83).
    By subsidising mortgages, and thus boosting demand, the government is aggravating the problem. But that is not the main reason for rising prices. Driven by a baby-boom, immigration and longer lives, Britain’s population is growing by around 0.8% per year, faster than in most rich countries. Foreign wealth, in the meantime, is pouring into London.
    If supply were rising fast too, increasing demand would not matter; but it is not. Though some 221,000 additional households are formed in England annually, just 108,000 homes were built in the year to September 2013.
    The lack of housing is an economic drag. About three-quarters of English job growth last year was in London and its inland, but high prices make it hard for people to move there from less favoured spots. It also damages lives. New British homes are smaller than those anywhere else in Europe, household size is rising in London and slums are spreading as immigrants squash into shared houses (and, sometimes, garden sheds). Inequality is growing, because the higher property prices are, the greater the advantage that belongs to those whose parents own their homes.
    This is all the result of deliberate policymaking. Since the 1940s house-building in Britain has been regulated by a system designed to prevent urban sprawl, something it has achieved well. It is almost impossible to construct any new building anywhere without permission from the local council. In the places where people most want to live—suburbs at the edge of big cities—councils tend not to give it.
We know from the first paragraph that ______.
选项 A、at present, a chicken in Britain costs ￡51
B、the urgent problem in Britain is the cost of housing
C、prices of goods have gone up by 8.4% in the past year
D、housing prices grow much faster than people’s income
答案D
解析 选项A对应第一段最后一句：If since 1971 the price of groceries had risen as steeply as the cost of housing，a chicken would cost ￡51 ($83). 其中if…had risen…would…这样的结构提示我们这是虚拟语气，因此A项的表述是错误的。选项B“the urgent problem(当务之急)”。对应第一句的“the burning issue(燃眉之急)”，而该项的“the cost of housing”与原文的“the cost of living”不符，属于偷换概念，故错误。选项C的数字8.4％对应原文第三行第四句：In the past year wages have risen by 1％；property prices are up by 8.4％. 原文说的是“房价上涨了8.4％”，而该项却说“物价上涨了8.4％”，也属于偷换概念，故错误。选项D同样对应原文第三行第四句，该句意为：在过去的一年，工资增长了1％，而房价上涨了8.4％。可见该项“房价比工资增长速度快得多”的表述是正确的，故选项D为答案。
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