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  3. In this year’s State of the Union address, President Obama outlined a plan to gradually raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9/

In this year’s State of the Union address, President Obama outlined a plan to gradually raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9/

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问题     In this year’s State of the Union address, President Obama outlined a plan to gradually raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9/hour. Raising the minimum wage has always been contentious, but necessary. Yet this is a political fight we shouldn’t have to have. The poor-mostly women and minorities—make too little. And the more radical aspect of Obama’s plan could fix that for good. The president has proposed indexing minimum wage, meaning that it would increase each year as the cost of living slowly climbs, free from the whims of partisan fighting.
    Our federal minimum wage began in 1938, when President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which also limited the work-week to 44 hours, provided guaranteed overtime and placed limits on child labor. The minimum wage was set at 25 cents an hour (about $4.10 today). Its purpose was simple: guarantee that Americans who went to work received a wage they could live on. And the hope was that higher wages for workers would mean more consumer spending, thus strengthening the U. S. economy. Since its enactment, the benefits of a minimum wage have been well established.
    It is important to consider how much people earning the minimum wage actually make. At present, a minimum wage earner working 40 hours a week without ever taking a vacation will make $15,080 a year. Obama’s proposed increase would mean an additional $3,640. Most minimum wage workers are adults, not teens, and most work for large corporations, not mom-and-pop stores. This means there are hard-working parents who are employed full-time at places that make billions in profits and often receive considerable tax breaks. And yet these parents still don’t earn enough to live above the poverty line.
    How have we gotten to a place where people can work tirelessly and still not make ends meet? In large part it’s the result of political ambivalence to the conditions of poverty and the wages of our lowest paid workers. As the minimum wage has remained flat, productivity has increased, and so too have corporate profits.
    While the economic arguments for raising the minimum wage are important, we should also not forget to think about the morality of our economy. We all derive not just wages from our labors, but purpose, meaning and a sense that we are part of something greater than ourselves: by supporting our family, helping our co-workers, and participating in the shared enterprise of community. Yes, the minimum wage should be higher. But it’s not just because it’s good for the economy and will help raise the wages of even nonminimum wageworkers. It’s because there is a value to work that is deeper than money.
The author would most probably agree that
选项 A、the government has forgotten the morality of the economy.
B、one’s work bears more significance beyond one’s wage.
C、people acquire a sense of belonging from their wages.
D、non-minimum wageworkers also need to earn more.
答案B
解析 根据文章最后一段的最后一句，作者主张there is a value to work that is deeper than money，可断定B项正确。而事实上这也是整个最后一段的中心思想，那就是工作对于一个人的意义远远不只是工资。A项的错误点：最后一段第1句话作者呼吁人们不应该忘记经济中的道德性；但这并不是指责政府忘记这一点。而是作者在阐释经济中除了金钱以外的含义。C项具有较强的干扰性，最后一段中间部分，作者提出人们通过工作“感到自己身处更大环境之中的归属感”。有同学也许会根据这一句选择C项。然而其中错误在于：1)这是“劳动”带来的价值，而并不是工资；2)所谓“归属感”范围较大，这里有扩大内涵的错误，因而使得C项不如B项明确和准确。D项的错误之处在于：作者只是提到最低工资线的提升有可能带来其他非贫困工人的收入增加，但没有提出需要增加的意思。
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