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
What would happen if consumers decided to simplify their lives and spend less on material goods and services? This question is t
What would happen if consumers decided to simplify their lives and spend less on material goods and services? This question is t
admin
2014-02-20
57
问题
What would happen if consumers decided to simplify their lives and spend less on material goods and services? This question is taking on a certain urgency as rates of economic growth continue to decelerate through the industrialized world, and as millions of consumers appear to be opting for more frugal lifestyles. The Stanford Research Institute, which has done some of the most extensive work on the frugality phenomenon, estimates that nearly five million American adults are pursuing lives of "voluntary simplicity", and double that number "adhere to and act on some but not all" of its basic tenets.
The frugality phenomenon first achieved prominence as a middle-class rejection of high-consumption lifestyle in the industrialized world during the 1950s and 1960s. In The Silent Revolution, Ronald Inglehart of the University of Michigan’s Institute of Social Research examined this experience in the United States and 10 Western European nations. He concluded that a change has taken place "from an overwhelming emphasis on material well-being and physical security toward greater emphasis on the quality of life," that is, "a shift from materialism to post-materialism. "
Inglehart calls the 1960s the "fat years". Among their more visible trappings were the ragged blue jeans favored by the affluent young. Most of the retreat from materialism, however, was less visible. Comfortably fixed Americans were going without change, making things last longer, sharing things with others, learning to do things for themselves and so on. But while economically significant, it was hardly discernible in a US Gross National Product climbing vigorously toward the $ 2 thousand billion mark.
Yet as the frugality phenomenon matured—growing out of the soaring 1980s and into the sober 1990s—it seemed to undergo a fundamental transformation. American consumers continued to lose faith in materialism and were being joined by new converts who were embracing frugality because of the darkening economic skies they saw ahead. Resource scarcities, soaring energy prices, persistent inflation, high-level unemployment, balance-of-trade deficits, the declining value of the US dollar on foreign exchange markets forced consumers to look to their own resources. The one device which seemed most promising, the one over which they had the most control, was frugality—learning to live with less in a world where a penny saved was still a penny earned.
A fundamental change in the trend towards frugality in the 1980s was mainly attributable to ______factors.
选项
A、cultural
B、medical
C、political
D、economic
答案
D
解析
细节题。根据第四段第二句,美国消费者不再相信物质主义而更多地追求节俭,是因为他们看到的经济天空是黑暗的(because of the darkening economic skies they saw ahead),接着又列举了各种经济问题,因此本题答案显而易见,应该为D。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/iuXO777K
0
在职攻硕英语联考
相关试题推荐
AcenturyagointheUnitedStates,whenanindividualbroughtsuitagainstacompany,publicopiniontendedtoprotectthatcom
Allanimalsmustrest,butdotheyreallysleepasweknowit?Theanswertothisquestionseemsobvious.Ifananimalregularly
Allanimalsmustrest,butdotheyreallysleepasweknowit?Theanswertothisquestionseemsobvious.Ifananimalregularly
Dozensofscientificgroupsallovertheworldhavebeen______thegoalofapracticalandeconomicwaytousesunlighttosplit
ItisAestimatedthatascientificprinciplehasBalifeexpectancyofapproximatelyaCdecadebeforeDitdrasticallyrevisedor
Forme,scientificknowledgeisdividedintomathematicalsciences,naturalsciencesorsciencesdealingwiththenaturalworld(
Asalways,Ihadtofightthe______totakewhatshewillinglyoffered.
IntheChinesehousehold,grandparentsandotherrelativesplay______rolesinraisingchildren.
A、Awomanandherhusband.B、Acustomerandacardealer.C、Apassengerandataxidriver.D、AgarageattendantandamechaniA
Mary,accompaniedbyherbrothers,______warmlywelcomedbytheaudience.
随机试题
新生儿通过胎盘从母体中获得的免疫球蛋白是
借款人文华公司以自己公司所有的办公大楼作抵押向某工商银行贷款100万元,现贷款到期,文华公司无力偿还。该工商银行因依法行使抵押权而取得了作为抵押物的办公大楼,该工商银行应当自取得之日起()内予以处分。
(用户名:61;账套:601;操作日期:2013年1月31日)对销售发票进行账龄分析。
()的教育目的论者认为,教育纯粹是个人的事,教育无论是对公众、集体还是社会都不承担责任。
××省人民政府关于二○一二年安全生产工作的意见各市、县人民政府,省人民政府各委、厅,各直属机构:为深入贯彻落实科学发展观,进一步加强全省安全牛产工作,促进全省安全生产的形势持续稳定好转,保障我省转型跨越发展战略的顺利实施,现就切实抓好2012年安全生产工
你和小张以前平级,后来通过竞争上岗考试,你当了领导,小张心中不满,经常找理由请假。引来同事不少议论。说你与小张有私怨。你怎么办?
研究人员对5000余名美国成年人的健康状况和饮食习惯进行了长达18年的跟踪调查,结果显示,同那些每周吃早餐次数少于3次的对照组相比,天天吃早餐的“好孩子”腰腹部长出赘肉的概率低40%、变胖的风险小43%、患上2型糖尿病的比例也少了34%。即便无法做到每天吃
ManycriticsofourBritish"publicschool"considerthatfarmorestressisplaceduponachievementsinathleticsthaninthea
Artistsroutinelyderidebusinesspeopleasmoney-obsessedbores.Orworse.EverytimeHollywooddepictsanindustry,itdepicts
Hegaveme______directionsonhowtogetthere.
最新回复
(
0
)