关于小安阅读第二篇的文章结构疑问

wu si

passage2

Woodrow Wilson wasreferring to the liberal idea of the economic market when he said that the freeenterprise system is the most efficient economic system. Maximum freedom meansmaximum productiveness; our “openness” is to be the measure of our stability.Fascination with this ideal has made Americans defy（态度词） the “Old World” categories of settled possessiveness versus unsettling deprivation, thecupidity of retention versus thecupidity of seizure, a “status quo” defended or attacked. The United States, it was believed, had no status quo ante. Our only “station” wasthe turning of a stationary wheel, spinning faster and faster. We did not baseour system on property but opportunity—which meant we based it not on stabilitybut on mobility. The more things changed, that is, the more rapidly the wheelturned, the steadier we would be. The conventional picture of class politics iscomposed of the Haves, who want a stability to keep what they have, and theHave-Nots, who want a touch of (a touch of: 有一点) instability and change inwhich to scramble for (scramble for: v.争夺, 勉强拼凑) the things they have not. But（转折词） Americans imagined a condition in which speculators, self-makers, runnersare always using the new opportunities given by our land. These economicleaders (front-runners) would thus be mainly agents of change.The nonstarters were considered the ones who wanted stability, a strongreferee to give them some position in the race, a regulative hand to calm manicspeculation; an authority that can call things to a halt, begin things againfrom compensatorily staggered “starting lines.”

“Reform”in America has been sterile（态度词） because it can imagine nochange except through the extension of this metaphor of a race, wider inclusionof competitors, “a piece of the action,” as it were, for thedisenfranchised. There is no attempt to call off the race. Since our only stabilityis change, America seems not to honor the quiet work that achieves socialinterdependence and stability. There is, in our legends, no heroism of the office clerk (officeclerk: n.职员), no stable industrial work force of the people who actually make the system work. There is no pride in being an employee (Wilsonasked for a return to the time when everyone was an employer). There has beenno boasting about our social workers—they are merely signs of the system’sfailure, of opportunity denied or not taken, of things to be eliminated. Wehave no pride in our growing interdependence, in the fact that our system canserve others, that we are able to help those in need; empty boasts from thepast make us ashamed of our present achievements, make us try to forget or denythem, move away from them. There is no honor but in the Wonderland (wonderland: n.仙境, 奇境) race we must all run, all trying to win, none winningin the end (for there is no end).

不太明白这篇文章，作者的观点是什么
其中有一道主旨题   
The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A)criticize the inflexibility of American economic mythology

(B) contrast“Old World” and “New World” economic ideologies

(C) challengethe integrity of traditional political leaders

(D) championthose Americans whom the author deems to be neglected（A）

(E) suggest asubstitute for the traditional metaphor of a race

虽然选对了，但是觉得这只是概括了第一段的内容，因为总觉得第二段中作者对flexibility 持保留意见
Since our only stability is change, America seems not to honor the quiet work that achieves social interdependence and stability. There is, in our legends, no heroism of the office clerk, no stable industrial work force of the people who actually make the system work. There is no pride in being an employee (Wilson asked for a return to the time when everyone was an employer). There has been no boasting about our social workers—they are merely signs of the system’s failure, of opportunity denied or not taken, of things to be eliminated. We have no pride in our growing interdependence, in the fact that our system can serve others, that we are able to help those in need; empty boasts from the past make us ashamed of our present achievements, make us try to forget or deny them, move away from them. There is no honor but in the Wonderland race we must all run, all trying to win, none winning in the end (for there is no end).
我认为这段的意思是因为美国人认为唯一不变的是改变。所以不尊重社会的相互依赖和稳定性。所以在他们的历史里没有文职人员的英雄主义，每个人都不甘于当一个雇员，等等。。
我不太理解作者写这段话的意思是在说人人都追求变化的弊端，还是仅仅是中立的说变化带来的结果。

还有一点不太理解就是第二段第一个词reform指的是什么？？

求NN解答！！感激不尽！！

wu si

没有大神吗

荆棘鸟。

我觉得第二段是在说明如果采用了这种free enterprise的情况美国会出现什么样的变化，最后一句说了所有人都想win但是没人会win所以也是在说明这个free的东西是有问题的

同问reform是什么意思。。。那道问reform的题我做错了也没有解析不太明白自己哪里想的部队

amazinganne

荆棘鸟。 发表于 2016-12-7 11:20
我觉得第二段是在说明如果采用了这种free enterprise的情况美国会出现什么样的变化，最后一句说了所有人都 ...

“reform”就是全面改革的意思，作者认为reform在美国是sterile（不育）的，就是行不通的，没有意义的。答案选E意思是作者主张reform在美国不是基本原则。（个人理解）