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  3. Now that the economy is at last growing again, the burning issue in Britain is the cost of living. Prices have exceeded wages fo

Now that the economy is at last growing again, the burning issue in Britain is the cost of living. Prices have exceeded wages fo

admin2020-03-31  58
问题     Now that the economy is at last growing again, the burning issue in Britain is the cost of living. Prices have exceeded wages for the past six years. But the thing that is really out of control is the cost of housing. In the past year wages have risen by 1% ; property prices are up by 8.4%. This is merely the latest in a long surge. If since 1971 the price of groceries had risen as steeply as the cost of housing, a chicken would cost ￡ 51($ 83).
    By subsidising mortgages, and thus boosting demand, the government is aggravating the problem. But that is not the main reason for rising prices. Driven by a baby-boom, immigration and longer lives, Britain’s population is growing by around 0. 8% per year, faster than in most rich countries. Foreign wealth, in the meantime, is pouring into London.
    If supply were rising fast too, increasing demand would not matter; but it is not. Though some 221,000 additional households are formed in England annually, just 108,000 homes were built in the year to September 2013.
    The lack of housing is an economic drag. About three-quarters of English job growth last year was in London and its inland, but high prices make it hard for people to move there from less favoured spots. It also damages lives. New British homes are smaller than those anywhere else in Europe, household size is rising in London and slums are spreading as immigrants squash into shared houses(and, sometimes, garden sheds). Inequality is growing, because the higher property prices are, the greater the advantage that belongs to those whose parents own their homes.
    This is all the result of deliberate policymaking. Since the 1940s house-building in Britain has been regulated by a system designed to prevent urban sprawl, something it has achieved well. It is almost impossible to construct any new building anywhere without permission from the local council. In the places where people most want to live—suburbs at the edge of big cities—councils tend not to give it.
House-building in Britain is difficult because of______.
选项 A、government regulation
B、limited space
C、lack of fund
D、urbanization
答案A
解析 根据housing-building一词定位到第五段第二句：Since the 1940s house—building inBritain has been regulated by a system designed to prevent urban sprawl…其中出现一个关键信息house—building has been regulated(住房建设受到管制)，接着文章又提到：It is almost impossibleto construct any new building anywhere without permission from the local council．其中出现一个关键词local council(地方议会，地方政府)，从而得出该题的答案为“政府管制”，即选项[A]gov—ernment regulation是正确的。
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