I want to talk about the economy．Not "the economy" we hear about endle

I want to talk about the economy．Not "the economy" we hear about endlessly inthe news each day and in politicians' speeches．I wantto talk about the real economy, the one we live in day by day．

Most people aren't particularly interested in"the economy"．"Share prices are flying high;interest rates are soaring;  the Dow Jones Index closed sixty-three pointsdown on 8472．35．" Wehear this and subconsciously switch off．

Notice that "the economy" is not the same asthe economy, "The economy" is what men in suits play with to makevast personal wealth．The economy is where the rest of us live ona daily basis, earning our living, paying our taxes, and purchasing thenecessities of life．

We are supposed to be benefiting from all theadvantages of a well-off society．So why do wefeel tired and stressed? We have no time for anything other than work, which isridiculous given the number of labor-saving devices in our lives．Our towns become more and more crowded．We poison our air and seas, and our food is full ofchemicals．There's something wrong here．If times were truly good, then you may think we'd allfeel optimistic about the future．Yet themajority of us are deeply worried．More than 90percent of us think we are too concerned about ourselves and not concernedenough about future generations．

The term "economic expansion" suggestssomething desirable, but expansion simply means spending more money．More spending doesn't mean that life is getting better．We all know it often means the opposite - greed,crime, poverty, pollution．More spending merely feeds our wholeeconomic system, which is based on production and consumption．Unless money keeps circulating,  the economybreaks down．If we don't keep consuming,  the wholesystem goes into stalemate（僵局）．

How do we break the cycle and make some changes? Weneed to become far more aware of the results of our actions．We buy clothes that are made in sweat shops by virtualslaves in poor parts of the world．We createmountains of waste．We demand cheap food,  mindless of thefact that it totally lacks taste and is produced using chemicals that poisonthe land．

The consumption culture makes us unaware of the effectof our own behavior．Our main problem is not that we don't knowwhat to do about it．It is gathering the desire to do it．

1.According to the author, which one belongs to thereal economy?

A．The Dow JonesIndex．

B．Increases ininterest rates

C．Skyrocketingshare prices

D．Shopping in asupermarket

2.It can be concluded from Paragraph 4 that        ．

A．people arebenefiting from a well-off society

B．the futuregeneration is a big concern for most people

C．people stillfeel much pressure despite labor-saving devices

D．the majorityof people are optimistic about the future

3.What is true about economic expansion?

A．It guaranteesa better life for us．

B．It may leadto some social problems．

C．It will stopthe circulation of money．

D．It has onlybrought desirable effects．

4.The author writes the passage mainly to       ．

A．call on us tochange our behavior

B．suggest asolution for over-consumption

C．make adistinction between two economies

D．inform us ofthe effects of economic expansion

试题答案

【答案】

1.D

2.C

3.B

4.A

【解析】

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