In his 1930 essay “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren ”, John Keynes,
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In his 1930 essay “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren ”, John Keynes, a famous economist, wrote that human needs fall into two classes: absolute needs ,which are independent of what others have , and relative needs ,which make us feel superior to our fellows. He thought that although relative needs may indeed be insatiable (无止境的) , this is not true of absolute needs.
Keynes was surely correct that only a small part of total spending is decided by the desire for superiority. He was greatly mistaken, however, in seeing this desire as the only source of insatiable demands.
Decisions to spend are also driven by ideas of quality which can influence the demands for almost all goods, including even basic goods like food. When a couple goes out for an anniversary dinner, for example, the thought of feeling superior to others probably never comes to them. Their goal is to share a special meal that stands out from other meals.
There are no obvious limits to the escalation of demand for quality. For example, Porsche, a famous car producer, has a model which was considered perhaps the best sport car on the market Priced at over $120,000, it handles perfectly well and has great speed acceleration. But in 2004, the producer introduced some changes which made the model slightly better in handling and acceleration. People who really care about cars find these small improvements exciting. To get them, however, they must pay almost four times the price.
By placing the desire to be superior to others at the heart of his description of insatiable demands, Keynes actually reduced such demands. However, the desire for higher quality has no natural limits.
小题1:According to the passage, John Keynes believed that_______.| A．desire is the root of both absolute and relative needs | | B．absolute needs come from our sense of superiority | | C．relative needs alone lead to insatiable demands | | D．absolute needs are stronger than relative needs |
小题2:What do we know about the couple in Paragraph 3?| A．They want to show their superiority. | | B．They find specialty important to meals. | | C．Their demands for food are not easily satisfied. | | D．Their choice of dinner is |
小题3:What does the underlined word “escalation” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?| A．Understanding. | B．Increase | C．Difference | D．Study |
小题4:The author of the passage argues that ______.| A．absolute needs have no limits | | B．demands for quality are not insatiable | | C．human desires influence ideas of quality | | D．relative needs decide most of our spending |
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答案
小题1:C
小题2:D
小题3:B
小题4:A |
解析
本次高考的最后一篇阅读，确有难度，是一篇议论文。它从英国著名经济学家约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯的一篇文章《我们后代的经济前景》入手，辩证地指出了他在文中提出的、关于消费需求的正确的和错误论点，指出了他的“人类对于优越生活的***是过度消费的唯一源泉”的错误。作者列举事例，从结婚周年庆的夫妇吃大餐的原因分析，并列举了保时捷一个成功的营销战例，力图证明消费也是由真实的、对生活质量的需求而决定的。在经济学上，绝对需求，指的是包括吃、喝、睡、性等一系列与我们的动物属性相关的对于生存的要求；相对需求，则指衣住行、柴米油盐、烟酒糖茶…享受类等与心理更为相关的社群性需求。
小题1:同学们要注意，这个题考的不是作者的观点，而是凯恩斯的观点。在约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯看来，人类对于奢华生活的相对需求才是造成过度消费的罪魁祸首。这也是作者极力批驳他的地方。
related to ideas of quality.
小题2:夫妻的周年庆，确是两人婚姻里值得庆贺的事情。两人在这天选择用餐可能是与平时不同，因为具有纪念意义。但“the thought of feeling superior to others probably never comes to them”，想借此感受优越奢华生活的念头可能从来没有过。所以相对需求还是和平时生活质量有关。B选项仅停留于表面，非解释作者论证意图而得出的论点结论。
小题3:escalation的意思是“扩大；增加”，文章中表示“对生活质量需求的增加”。
小题4:按凯恩斯的观点，人类需求分为“绝对需求”和“相对需求”。从文章第一段可知“He thought that although relative needs may indeed be insatiable (无止境的) , this is not true of absolute needs.”（词组be not true of…对…不适用、不符合…）凯恩斯认为相对需求是无止境的。作者所做的就是辩驳他的论点，应是绝对需求无限，相对需求则和生活质量有关，是可控的、有条件性的和有限的，故选A。 |
举一反三
Facial expressions carry meaning that is determined by situations and relationships. For example, in American culture (文化) the smile is in general an expression of pleasure. Yet it also has other uses. A woman’s smile at a police officer does not carry the same meaning as the smile she gives to a young child. A smile may show love or politeness. It can also hide true feelings. It often causes confusion (困惑) across cultures. For example, many people in Russia smiling at strangers in public to be unusual and even improper. Yet many Americans smile freely at strangers in public places (although this is less common in big cities). Some Russians believe that Americans smile in the wrong places; some Americans believe that Russians don’t smile enough. In Southeast Asian culture, a smile is frequently used to cover painful feelings. Vietnamese people may tell a sad story but end the story with a smile.
Our faces show emotions (情感), but we should not attempt to “read” people from another culture as we would “read” someone from our own culture. The fact that members of one culture do not express their emotions as openly as do members of another does not mean that they do not experience emotions. Rather, there are cultural differences in the amount of facial expressions permitted. For example, in public and in formal situations many Japanese do not show their emotions as freely as Americans do. When with friends, Japanese and Americans seem to show their emotions similarly.
It is difficult to generalize about Americans and facial expressiveness because of personal and cultural differences in the United States. People from certain cultural backgrounds in the United States seem to be more facially expressive than others. The key is to try not to judge people whose ways of showing emotion are different. If we judge according to our own cultural habits, we may make the mistake of “reading” the other person incorrectly.
小题1:What does the smile usually mean in the U.S.?| A．Love. | B．Politeness. | C．Joy. | D．Thankfulness. |
小题2:The author mentions the smile of the Vietnamese to prove that smile can ___ .| A．show friendliness to strangers | | B．be used to hide true feelings | | C．be used in the wrong places | | D．show personal habits |
小题3:What should we do before attempting to “read” people?| A．Learn about their relations with others. | | B．Understand their cultural backgrounds. | | C．Find out about their past experience. | | D．Figure out what they will do next. |
小题4:What would be the best title for the test?| A．Cultural Differences | B．Smiles and Relationship | | C．Facial Expressiveness | D．Habits and Emotions |
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Among various programs, TV talk shows have covered every inch of space on daytime television. And anyone who watches them regularly knows that each one is different in style(风格). But no two shows are more opposite in content, while at the same time standing out above the rest, than the Jerry Springer and the Oprah Winfrey shows.
Jerry Springer could easily be considered the king of “rubbish talk”. The contents on his show are as surprising as can be. For example, the show takes the ever-common talk show titles of love, sex, cheating, and hate, to a different level. Clearly, the Jerry Springer show is about the dark side of society, yet people are willing to eat up the troubles of other people’s lives.
Like Jerry Springer, Oprah Winfrey takes TV talk show to its top. But Oprah goes in the opposite direction. The show is mainly about the improvement of society and different quality(质量) of life. Contents are from teaching your children lessons, managing your work week, to getting to know your neighbors.
Compared to Oprah, the Jerry Springer show looks like poisonous waste being poured into society. Jerry ends every show with a “final word”. He makes a small speech about the entire idea of the show. Hopefully, this is the part where most people will learn something very valuable.
Clean as it is, the Oprah show is not for everyone. The show’s main viewers are middleclass Americans. Most of these people have the time, money, and ability to deal with life’s tough problems. Jerry Springer, on the other hand, has more of a connection with the young adults of society. These are 18-to-21-year-olds whose main troubles in life include love, relationship, sex, money and drug. They are the ones who see some value and lessons to be learned through the show’s exploitation.
小题1:Compared with other TV talk shows, both the Jerry Springer and the Oprah Winfrey are ______.| A．more interesting. | B．very popular. | | C．more detailed. | D．more formal. |
小题2:Though the social problems Jerry Springer talks about appear unpleasant, people who watch the shows ______.| A．remain interested in them. | | B．are ready to face up to them. | | C．remain cold to them. | | D．are willing to get away from them. |
小题3:Which of the following is likely to be a topic of the Oprah Winfrey show?| A．A new type of robot. | B．Nation hatred(憎恨). | | C．Family income planning. | D．Street accident. |
小题4:We can learn from the passage that the two talk shows ______.| A．have become the only ones of its kind. | | B．exploit the weaknesses in human nature. | | C．appear at different times of the day. | | D．attract different people. |
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URBANA, ILL. (AP)--Mike dropped out of college to support his pregnant(***的) girlfriend and now works as a manager of a trucking company, Lynn graduated with honors from Harvard University and was hired as a lawyer with a top law firm in a major city. What do these two people have in common? Ten years ago they were both high school valedictorians (致告别辞者).
A University of Illinois study follows the lives of 81 valedictorians and salutatorians (致词的学生代表) who graduated a decade ago from public and private high schools in the state.
Tales of Success and Failure
The study found tales of success and failure. The research on 46 women and 35 men found that some were doctors and scientists, one was a drug addict, another was a waitress with emotional problems.
"There is a popular idea about people who do well in school doing well in life," said Terry Denny, professor of education. Denny conducted the study with Karen Arnold, a former graduate student of Denny" s who is now a professor at Boston College. Denny and Arnold contacted the 81 students before graduation, and then followed up with interviews nearly every other year. They also sent them questionnaires in the mail.
Varied Careers
One-third of the students are lawyers, or have a doctorate. Nineteen are in business and 15 are engineers or computer scientists. Others include a farmer, a stock broker, and an aerobics instructor.
Arnold says many of the students have only average positions in the work world and that "most are not headed for greatness in their careers." Denny, however, says that it is too early to make such predictions. "Who expects someone to be on the Supreme Court at the age of 28 or to be the discoverer of an important scientific invention right after college?" he said. "These students are just getting started in life. They are just beginning to find out what life is all about."
小题1:What can we conclude from Paragraph 1?| A．Mike got married before he went to college. | | B．Lynn was honored by a law firm in the city. | | C．Mike was not so lucky as Lynn after graduating from college. | | D．Mike and Lynn both graduated first in their high school class. |
小题2:According to the article Denny is probably older than Arnold because .| A．Denny was her professor | | B．Arnold did well at school. | | C．Denny interviewed some students | | D．Arnold helped Denny in the research |
小题3:What is probably the best title for the article?| A．Successful Careers for College Graduates | | B．Success in Education Predicts Success in Later Life | | C．High School Honors Not Always Key to Life Success | | D．A study on Successful Jobs and College Graduates |
小题4:Who probably wrote this article?| A．College graduates | B．Reporters | | C．Professors and researchers | D．Teachers |
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Money spent on advertising is money spent as well as any I know of. It selves directly to bring about a rapid sale of goods at reasonable prices, so setting up a firm home market and so making it possible to provide for export at good prices. By drawing attention to new ideas it helps greatly to raise standards of living. By helping to increase demand it causes an increased need for labor, and is therefore a nice way to fight unemployment. It lowers the costs of many services: without advertisements your daily newspaper would cost four times as much, the price of your television program would need to be doubled, and travel by bus or subway would cost more.
And perhaps most important of all, advertising provides a promise of reasonable value in the products and services you buy. Besides the fact that twenty-seven Acts of Parliament govern the terms of advertising, no regular advertiser dare promote a product that fails to live up to the promise of his advertisements. He might fool some people for a little while through misleading advertising. He will not do so for long, for the public has the good sense not to buy the poor article more than once. If you see an article frequently advertised, it is the proof I know that the article does what is promised for it, and that it has good value.
Advertising does more for the good of the public than any other force I can think of.
There is one more point I feel I ought to touch on. Recently I heard a well-known television person declare that he was against advertising because it persuades rather than informs. He was telling us the real difference. Of course advertising tries to persuade.
If its message were nothing but information, that would be difficult to get more people to buy, for even a detail such as the choice of the color of a shirt is a bit persuasive-advertising would be so boring that no one would pay any attention. But perhaps that is what the well-known television person wants.
小题1:By the first sentence of the passage the writer means that . | A．he is fairly familiar with the cost of advertising | | B．everybody knows well that advertising is a waste of money | | C．advertising costs more money than everything else | | D．money spent on advertising is worth while |
小题2:In the passage, which of the following is NOT included in the advantages of advertising?| A．Getting greater fame. | B．Providing more jobs. | | C．Raising living standards. | D．Reducing newspaper cost. |
小题3:The author thinks that the well-known TV person is .| A．quite right in passing his judgment on advertising | | B．interested in nothing but the buyer’s attention | | C．correct in telling the difference between persuasion and information | | D．obviously unfair in his views on advertising |
小题4:In the author’ opinion . | A．advertising can seldom bring material benefit to man by providing information | | B．advertising informs people of new ideas rather than wins them over | | C．there is nothing wrong with advertising in persuading the buyer | | D．the buyer is not interested in getting information from an advertisement |
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In choosing a friend, one should be very careful. A good friend can help you study. You can have fun together and make each other happy. Sometimes you will meet fair-weather friends. They will be with you as long as you have money or luck, but when you are down, they will run away. How do I know when I have found a good friend? I look for certain qualities (品质) of character, especially understanding, honesty and reliability (可靠).
Above all else, I look for understanding in a friend. A good friend tries to understand how another person is feeling. He is not quick to judge. Instead, he tries to learn from others. He puts himself in the other person"s place, and he tries to think of ways to be helpful. He is also a good listener.
At the same time, however, a good friend is honest. He does not look for faults (过错) in others. He notices their good points. In short, a friend will try to understand me and accept me.
Another quality of a friend is reliability. I can always depend on (信赖) a good friend. If he tells me he will meet me somewhere at a certain time, I can be sure that he will be there. If I need a favor, he will do his best to help me. If I am in trouble, he will not run away from me.
There is a fourth quality that makes a friend special. A special friend is someone with whom we can have fun. We should enjoy our lives, and we would enjoy our friendship. That is why I especially like friends who are fun to be with. A good friend likes the same things I like. We share experience (经验) and learn from each other. A good friend has a good sense of humor (幽默), too. He likes to laugh with me. That is how we share in the joy of being friends. And I know that he is looking for the same quality in me.
When I meet someone who is reliable, honest, and understanding, I know I"ve found a friend!
小题1:Which of the following qualities the writer thinks is the most important in choosing a friend?| A．understanding. | B．honesty. | | C．reliability. | D．a sense of humor. |
小题2:If you have fair-weather friends, ______ .| A．they will give you all that they have when you need help | | B．you will be refused when you get into trouble | | C．you will become rich | | D．you can be sure that you get real friends |
小题3:Good friends need to ______.| A．always point out each other"s mistakes | | B．be helped with money | | C．understand each other"s feelings | | D．have money or luck |
小题4:This passage mainly discuss ______ .| A．the qualities of a friend | | B．where to choose friends | | C．how to get along with friends | | D．the importance of having a friend |
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