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MorningkillG

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 the “Old World” categoriesof settled possessiveness versusunsettling deprivation, the cupidity of retention versus the cupidity of seizure, a “status quo” defended or attacked. The United States, it wasbelieved, had no status quo ante. Ouronly “station” was the turning of a stationary wheel, spinning faster andfaster. We did not base our system on property but opportunity—which meant webased it not on stability but on mobility. The more things changed, that is,the more rapidly the wheel turned, the steadier we would be. The conventionalpicture of class politics is composed of the Haves, who want a stability tokeep what they have, and the Have-Nots, who want atouch of (a touch of: 有一点)instability and change in which to scramble for (scramble for: v.争夺, 勉强拼凑) the things they have not.But 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 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 onlystability is change, America seems not to honor the quiet work that achievessocial interdependence and stability. There is, in our legends, no heroism ofthe office clerk (office clerk: n.职员), no stable industrial workforce of the people who actually make the system work. Thereis no pride in being an employee (Wilson asked for a return to the time wheneveryone was an employer). There has been no boasting about our socialworkers—they are merely signs of the system’s failure, of opportunity denied ornot taken, of things to be eliminated. We have no pride in our growinginterdependence, in the fact that our system can serve others, that we are ableto help those in need; empty boasts from the past make us ashamed of ourpresent achievements, make us try to forget or deny them, 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 winning in the end (forthere is no end).

1.     Theprimary purpose of the passage is to

(A) criticizethe 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

2.     Accordingto the passage, “Old World” values were based on

(A) ability

(B) property

(C) familyconnections

(D) guildhierarchies（B）

(E) education

3.     Inthe context of the author’s discussion of regulating change, which of thefollowing could be most probably regarded as a “strong referee” (line30) in the United States?

(A) A schoolprincipal

(B) A politicaltheorist

(C) A federalcourt judge

(D) A socialworker（C）

(E) Agovernment inspector

4.     Theauthor sets off (set off: to set apart: make distinct or outstanding) theword “Reform” (line 35) with quotation marks in order to

(A) emphasizeits departure from the concept of settled possessiveness

(B) show hissupport for a systematic program of change

(C) underscorethe flexibility and even amorphousness of United States society

(D) indicatethat the term was one of Wilson’s favorites（E）

(E) assert thatreform in the United States has not been fundamental

5.     Itcan be inferred from the passage that the author most probably thinks thatgiving the disenfranchised “a piece of the action” (line 38)is

(A) a compassionate,if misdirected, legislative measure

(B) an exampleof Americans’ resistance to profound social change

(C) aninnovative program for genuine social reform

(D) a monumentto the efforts of industrial reformers（B）

(E) asurprisingly “Old World” remedy for social ills

6.     Whichof the following metaphors could the author most appropriately use to summarizehis own assessment of the American economic system (lines 35-60)?

(A) A windmill

(B) A waterfall

(C) A treadmill

(D) A gyroscope（C）

(E) A bellows

7.     Itcan be inferred from the passage that Woodrow Wilson’s ideas about the economicmarket

(A) encouragedthose who “make the system work” (lines45-46)

(B) perpetuatedtraditional legends about America

(C) revealedthe prejudices of a man born wealthy

(D)foreshadowed the stock market crash of 1929（B）

(E) began atradition of presidential proclamations on economics

8.     Thepassage contains information that would answer which of the followingquestions?

I.      Whattechniques have industrialists used to manipulate a free market?

II.    Inwhat ways are “New World” and “Old World” economic policies similar?

III.   Haseconomic policy in the United States tended to reward independent action?

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) III only

(D) I and IIonly（C）

(E) II and IIIonly

9.     Whichof the following best expresses the author’s main point?

(A) Americans’pride in their jobs continues to give them stamina today.

(B) The absence of a status quoante has underminedUnited States economic structure.

(C) The freeenterprise system has been only a useless concept in the United States.

(D) The myth ofthe American free enterprise system is seriously flawed.（D）

(E) Fascinationwith the ideal of “openness” has made Americans a progressive people.

这篇文章的文章架构看不懂啊，各方观点和作者观点也不是很清晰，有大神能解释一下么？？

MorningkillG

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