阅读试题

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.

阅读试题

72. 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

73. 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 related to ideas of quality.

74. What does the underlined word "escalation" in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A. Understanding.

B. Increase

C. Difference

D. Study

75.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

参考译文

著名经济学家约翰·凯恩斯在他1930年的文章《我们后代的经济前景》中写道，人类需求分为两个部分：不受他人需求影响的绝对需求，以及让我们感到优于同伴的相对需求。他认为虽然相对需求确实是无止境的，但是这并不适用于绝对需求。

凯恩斯说的很正确，只有总支出的一小部分是由占优势的渴望所决定的。然而，他误将这种渴望当作是永无止境的需求的唯一源泉。

决定开支的因素也受质量原则左右，质量原则几乎可以影响所有需求，甚至包括基本需求，例如对食物的需求。例如，当一对夫妻出去吃纪念他们一周年的晚餐时，他们可能永远不会有超越其他人的优越感。他们的目标是分享这一比其他晚餐突出的特殊晚餐。

质量需求的增加没有明显的限制。例如，保时捷是一个著名的车辆生产公司，它有一款被认为是市场上最好的跑车，其价值超过12万美金，它非常好驾驭，并且它的加速性能也很好。但是在2004年，厂家引进了一些改变，使得车辆在驾驭和加速性能上较之前稍好。真正在意车的人发现了这些小的改进，他们很兴奋。然而，要想得到这些车辆，他们必须付出几乎是之前四倍的价格。

通过把超越他人的渴望摆在他所描述的永无止境的需求中心，凯恩斯确实减少了类似的需求。但是，对更高质量的渴望并没有自然的极限。

答案解析

72. C 考查细节理解。根据第一段最后一句中的"although relative needs may indeed be insatiable (无止境的), this is not true of absolute needs"可知John Keynes认为相对的需求可能会导致无止境的需求。故选C项。

73. D 考查细节理解。根据第三段中的"Decision to spend are also driven by ideas of quality"以及下面列举的例子可知答案为D项。

74. B 考查词义猜测。根据第四段后面举的事例可知人们对质量的要求的增长没有明显的限制。故选B项。

75. A 考查作者意图。根据文章第一段最后一句中的"although relative needs may indeed be insatiable(无止境的), this is not true of absolute needs"，第二段中的"He was greatly mistaken"以及文章中的其他内容可知作者对"绝对的需求是没有限制的"提出了质疑。故选A项。