| 
 | 
 
 
发表于 2017-8-6 16:32:48
|
显示全部楼层
 
 
 
    No one tries harder than the jobless to find silver linings in this  
national economic disaster. Many said that unemployment, while extremely  
painful, had improved them in some ways: they had become less materialistic and  
more financially prudent; they were more aware of the struggles of others. In  
limited respects, perhaps the recession will leave society better off. At the  
very least, it has awoken us from our national fever dream of easy riches and  
bigger houses, and put a necessary end to an era of reckless personal  
spending. 
    But for the most part, these benefits seem thin, uncertain, and far off. In  
The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, the economic historian Benjamin  
Friedman argues that both inside and outside the U.S., lengthy periods of  
economic stagnation or decline have almost always left society more  
mean-spirited and less inclusive, and have usually stopped or reversed the  
advance of rights and freedoms. Anti-immigrant sentiment typically increases, as  
does conflict between races and classes. 
    Income inequality usually falls during a recession, but it has not shrunk  
in this one. Indeed, this period of economic weakness may reinforce class  
divides, and decrease opportunities to cross them - especially for young people.  
The research of Till Von Wachter, the economic at Columbia University, suggests  
that not all people graduating into a recession see their life chances dimmed:  
those with degrees from elite universities catch up fairly quickly to where they  
otherwise would have been if they had graduated in better times; it is the  
masses beneath them that are left behind. 
    In the Internet age, it is particularly easy to see the resentment that has  
always been hidden within American society. More difficult, in the moment, is  
discerning precisely how these lean times are affecting society’s character. In  
many respects, the U.S. was more socially tolerant entering this recession than  
at any time in its history, and a variety of national polls on social conflict  
since then have shown mixed results. We will have to wait and see exactly how  
these hard times will reshape our social fabric. But they certainly will reshape  
it, and all the more so the longer they extend. 
    36. By saying “to find silver linings”(Line 1,Para.2)the author suggests  
that the jobless try to ___. 
    [A] seek subsidies from the government 
    [B] explore reasons for the unemployment 
    [C] make profit from the troubled economy 
    [D] look on the bright side of the recession 
    37. According to Paragraph 2, the recession has made people___. 
    [A] realize the national dream 
    [B] struggle against each other 
    [C] challenge their prudence 
    [D] reconsider their lifestyle 
    38. Benjamin Friedman believes that economic recessions may___. 
    [A] impose a heavier burden on immigrants 
    [B] bring out more evils of human nature 
    [C] promote the advance of rights and freedoms 
    [D] ease conflicts between races and classes 
     
                     |   
 
 
 
 |