2. 外语
  3. Every time an old building is torn down in this country, and a new building goes up, the ground floor becomes a bank. The re

Every time an old building is torn down in this country, and a new building goes up, the ground floor becomes a bank. The re

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问题     Every time an old building is torn down in this country, and a new building goes up, the ground floor becomes a bank.
    The reason for this is that banks are the only ones who can afford the rent for the ground floor of the new buildings going up. Besides, when a bank loans someone money to build a new building, it usually takes an option for the street-floor facilities.
    Most people don’t think there is anything wrong with this and they accept it as part of the American free-enterprise system. But there is a small group of people in this country who are fighting for Bank Birth Control.
    This is how Huddlestone Hubbard, the BBC’s chairman, explained it.
    "Whenever you see an old building torn down," Hubbard said, "you usually see a candy store, a dry cleaner, a delicatessen, and possibly a florist torn down with it. These shops are all replaced in the new buildings with a beautiful glass, aluminum, wall-to-wall-carpeted money factory.
    "Now from an aesthetic viewpoint, a bank looks better than a fry cleaner, a candy store, a delicatessen and a florist. But from a practical point of view, it’s a sheer disaster, if you want a newspaper, a candy bar or a chocolate milk shake, you can’t get it at a bank. Nor can you run out to a bank for a pound of Swiss cheese and a six-pack of beer when have guests coming over.
    "A bank is great if you want to buy a car, but it’s useless if you want to have your dress cleaned.
    "And while a bank might buy flowers to give itself a human image, it doesn’t sell any when you want to make up with your wife. "
    "What you’re saying then, Mr. Hubbard, is that every time a bank goes up, something in all of us dies. "
    "Exactly. One of the reasons kids are getting in so much trouble these days is that there are no candy stores to hang around anymore. When tear down a delicatessen, the tangy smell of potato salad, corned beef and dill pickles are lost forever. Unless you’re trying to make a loan, no one ever salivates in a bank.
    "It is true," I said.
    "The situation is more crucial than anyone thinks," Hubbard said. "At the rate they’re tearing down consumer stores and replacing them with banks, we estimate that in ten years it will be impossible to buy a loaf of bread in the country. What good is it to get 7 percent on your money if you starve to death?"
    "Then what you’re saying is that it isn’t a question of not taking it with you. It’s a question of staying alive while you have it," I said.
    "Something like that. " Hubbard agreed. "We’re trying to get the public to wake up to a fact: it’s better to have a store that sells screwdrivers than a bank that gives away alarm clocks. "
    "What’s the solution?"
    "A government decree that a bank has to supply the same services of the stores it tore down on the same property, if it’s a bakery, they have to sell cake, if it’s a photography shop, they have to develop films, and if it’s a dry-goods store, they have to sell warm underwear, if they provide the services of the stores they tore down, then we’ll let them do a little money lending on the side. "
The central theme of the essay is______.
选项 A、practically every new commercial building erected today is owned by a bank
B、banks are attempting to drive small merchants out of service
C、new banks are not assets to a neighborhood in spite of their attractive appearance
D、by occupying ground floor space in new buildings, banks are replacing neighborhood shopping conveniences
答案D
解析 本文主要讲银行占据了新建大楼的底层，很多便利商店被银行取代，人们的便利生活被打扰。因此D项为正确答案。
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