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  3. Utopias are supposed to be dreams of the future. But the American Utopia? Lately it’s a dream that was, a twilit memory of the G

Utopias are supposed to be dreams of the future. But the American Utopia? Lately it’s a dream that was, a twilit memory of the G

admin2009-09-13  81
问题     Utopias are supposed to be dreams of the future. But the American Utopia? Lately it’s a dream that was, a twilit memory of the Golden Age between V-J day and OPEC, when even a blue-collar paycheck bought a place in the middle class. The promise of paradise regained has become a key to the Democratic Party pitch. Mickey Kaus, a senior editor of the New Republic, says the Democrats are wasting their time. As the U. S. enters a world where only the highly skilled and well educated will make a decent living, the gap between rich and poor is going to keep growing. No fiddling with the tax code, retreat to protectionism or job training for jobs that aren’t there is going to stop it. Income equality is a hopeless cause in the U. S. "Liberalism would be less depressing if it had a more attainable end." Kaus writes," a goal short of money equality." Liberal Democrats should embrace an aim he calls civic equality. If government can’t bring everyone into the middle class, let it expand the areas of life in which everyone, regardless of income, receives the same treatment. National health care, improved public schools, universal national service and government financing of nearly all election campaigns, which would freeze out special-interest money -- there are the unobjectionable components of his enlarged public sphere.
    Kaus is right to fear the hardening of class lines, but wrong to think the stresses can be relieved without a continuing effort to boost income for the bottom half." No, we can’t tell them they’ll be rich," he admits." Or even comfortably well off. But we can offer them at least a material minimum and a good shot at climbing up the ladder, And we can offer them respect." And what might they. offer back? The Bronx had a rude cheer for it. A good chunk of the Democratic core constituency would probably peel off. At the center of Kaus’ book is a thoughtful but no less risky proposal to dynamite welfare. He rightly understands how fear and loathing of the chronically unemployed underclass have encouraged middle income Americans to flee from everyone below them on the class scale. The only way to eliminate welfare dependency, Kaus maintains, is by cutting off checks for all able-bodied recipients, including single mothers with children. He would have government provide them instead with jobs that pay slightly less than the minimum wage, earned-income tax credits to nudge them over the poverty line, drug counseling, job training and, if necessary, day care for their children. Kaus doesn’t sell this as social policy on the cheap. He expects it would cost up to ＄59 billion a year more than the ＄23 billion already spent annually on welfare in the U. S. And he knows it would be politically perilous, because he suggests paying for the plan by raiding Social Security funds and trimming benefits for upper-income retirees. Yet he considers if money well spent it would undo the knot of chronic poverty and help foster class rapprochement. And it would be too. But one advantage of being an author is that you only ask people to listen to you, not to vote for you.
选项 A、Methods like evading income tax or providing more chances for job training might help reduce the existing inequality.
B、The Democratic Party is spreading propaganda that they could regain the lost paradise.
C、Americans once had a period of time when they could obtain middle-class status easily.
D、Income inequality results from the fact that society needs more and more workers who have a high skill and a good education.
答案A
解析 本题是细节推理题。仔细阅读体会文章第一段可以得出本题答案。第一段前几句，a twilit memory of the Golden Age between V-J day and OPEC，when even a blue-collar paycheck bought a place in the middle class 表明，美国曾经有一段黄金时期，人们在这个时期很容易成为中产阶级。因此，选项C与文章内容相符，不能选。接下来一句The promise Of paradise regained has become a key to the Democratic Party pitch表明，如今民主党将重获这一天堂当成他们的宣传口号，因此选项B与文章内容相符，不能选。选项D(收入的不平等源于社会需要的是更多的技术熟练的工人或受过良好教育的人)与文章内容相符。因此B、C、D均不合题意。又从第一段最后两句No fiddling with the tax code, retreat to protectionism job training for jobs that aren’t there is going to stop it. Income equality is a hopeless cause in the U.S.可知，Kaus认为不交所得税或提供更多培训机会并不能缩小贫富差距。选项A的内容正好与这两句意思相反，故A为正确答案。
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