2. 外语
  3. Answer Questions 71 to 80 by referring to the four articles on the topic " Does the free market erode character?" written by fou

Answer Questions 71 to 80 by referring to the four articles on the topic " Does the free market erode character?" written by fou

admin2014-06-20  37
问题     Answer Questions 71 to 80 by referring to the four articles on the topic " Does the free market erode character?" written by four experts on the following pages. Answer each question by choosing A, B, CorDand mark it on ANSWER SHEET 1.
    Note: When more than one answer is required, these may be given in any order. Some choices may be required more than once.
A = John Gray
B = Ayaan Hirsi
C = Qinglian He
D = Michael Walzer
Which author(s)believe(s)that the free market

A
                            John Gray
    Free markets erode some aspects of character while enhancing others. Whether the result is good, on balance, depends on how one envisions a good life. Much also depends on whether one believes other economic systems can do better. The question can only be answered by comparing realistic alternatives and by understanding how different systems promote divergent types of human character.
    In real time, free markets rarely work according to the models constructed by economists. There are booms and bubbles, busts and crashes. It is only in economics textbooks that markets are self-regulating. Against this background, the relation between economics and ethics can be seen more clearly. The traits of character most rewarded by free markets are entrepreneurial boldness, the willingness to speculate and gamble, and the ability to seize or create new opportunities. It is worth noting that these are not the traits most praised by conservative moralists. Prudence, thrift, and the ability to press on patiently in a familiar pattern of life may be admirable qualities, but they do not usually lead to success in the free market.
B
                            Ayaan Hirsi
    There is little consensus on what is moral, let alone on what erodes morality. A man of faith measures moral character by one’s ability to abide by the demands of his God. A socialist might measure moral strength by one’s dedication to the redistribution of wealth. A liberal—by which I mean a classical, Adam Smith or Milton Friedman liberal, not a liberal in its American meaning of "pro-big government"—might be religious, and he might see the merits of income equality, but he will always put freedom first. This is the moral framework to which I subscribe.
    According to this school of thought, freedom of the individual is the highest aim, and the ultimate test of a person’s character is his ability to pursue his own chosen goals in life without infringing upon the freedom of others to pursue their own goals. From this perspective, free economic activity among individuals, corporations, and nations boosts such desirable qualities as trust, honesty, and hard work. Producers are compelled to continually improve their goods and services. The free market establishes a meritocracy and creates opportunities for better jobs for those students who work hard at school. The same mechanism pushes parents to invest more time and money in the education of their children. Producers invest in research and innovation to beat their competitors in the marketplace.
C
                            Qinglian He
    Over the past several centuries, the world has seen the many ways in which an active free market spurs material and social progress while at the same time strengthening moral character. By contrast, people who have lived under the free market’s primary modern rival, the ideologically-driven planned economy of state socialism, have suffered as economic performance stagnated, civil society withered, and morality was eroded. In recent decades, as planned economies collapsed under their own contradictions, this Utopian experiment has proved to be a systematic failure. Citizens who had endured long years of economic, moral, and political disaster were eager to get rid of them.
    Of course, the market economy is not a perfect system. But the market’s flaws stem from the actions and motivations of its human participants rather than from its design. Experience has taught us that a free market is closely associated with a free society. And in free societies, people are better able to act in concert to improve their lives. Free societies afford people the opportunity to make their own political and social systems more just. In general, these activities support rather than erode morality.
D
                          Michael Walzer
    Competition in the market puts people under great pressure to break the ordinary rules of decent conduct and then to produce good reasons for doing so. It is these rationalizations—the endless self-deception necessary to meet the bottom line and still feel okay about it—that erode moral character. But this isn’t in itself an argument against the free market. Think about the ways that democratic politics also erodes moral character. Competition for political power puts people under great pressure—to make promises they can’t keep, to take money from shady characters, to compromise principles that shouldn’t be compromised. All this has to be defended somehow, and moral character doesn’t survive the defense—at least, it doesn’t survive intact. But these obvious flaws don’t constitute an argument against democracy.
    To be sure, economic and political competition also produce cooperative projects of many different sorts—partnerships, companies, parties, unions. Within these projects, empathy, mutual respect, friendship, and solidarity are developed and reinforced. People learn the give-and-take of collective deliberation. They stake out positions, take risks, and forge alliances. All these processes build character. But because the stakes are so high, participants in these activities also learn to watch and distrust one another, to conceal their plans, to betray their friends. They become "characters" in familiar stories of corporate corruption, political scandal, defrauded stockholders, and deceived voters.
选项 A、 
B、 
C、 
D、 
答案A
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.kaotiyun.com/show/cfXd777K
本试题收录于： 公共英语五级笔试题库公共英语（PETS）分类
0

公共英语五级笔试

公共英语（PETS）

相关试题推荐
随机试题
最新回复(0)