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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  16
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 text, the culprit of the social phenomenon revealed in the 3rd paragraph is______.
选项 A、the Occupy Wall Street protester
B、a sort of public policy
C、the current functions of state funding
D、a long-lasting social effect of liberal capitalism
答案B
解析 本题是一道细节信息题型。第四段首句的主语“this inequality(这种不平等)”暗示第三段解释了一种社会现象，即：社会不公平。但是第三段并没有指出造成这种“社会不公平”的“根本原因”(culprit)。所以，应该继续阅读第四段，寻找产生这种“社会不公平”现象的原因。第四段首句中的“the result of．．．(……的结果)”表达的恰恰是“因果关系”。第四段首句的主系表结构“…this inequality is the result of public policy…(这种不公平是公共政策的结果)”表明：选项B“a sort of public policy(一种公共政策)”应该是本题的正确答案。解答此题时，应该抓住题干核心词“culprit(根源)”在原文中的相应词语，否则就无法判定答案的来源。
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