XDF补充材料 第5篇

mnwo

据说SECOND EARNER 是赚外快的意思

ziwingfong

第九题为什么选A不选D呢？

wangluobing

 第９题请教为什么选Ａ

 第９题请教为什么选Ａ

Passage 5

       How many really suffer as a result of labor mar-

ket problems? This is one of the most critical yet

contentious social policy questions. In many ways,

our social statistics exaggerate the degree of hard-

(5)
     ship. Unemployment does not have the same dire

consequences today as it did in the 1930’s when

most of the unemployed were primary breadwin-

ners, when income and earnings were usually much

closer to the margin of subsistence, and when there

(10)
     were no countervailing social programs for those

failing in the labor market. Increasing affluence, the

rise of families with more than one wage earner, the

growing predominance of secondary earners among

the unemployed, and improved social welfare pro-

(15) tection have unquestionably mitigated the conse-

quences of joblessness. Earnings and income data

also overstate the dimensions of hardship. Among

the millions with hourly earnings at or below the

minimum wage level, the overwhelming majority

(20) are from multiple-earner, relatively affluent

   families. Most of those counted by the poverty

statistics are elderly or handicapped or have family

responsibilities which keep them out of the labor

force, so the poverty statistics are by no means an

(25)
     accurate indicator of labor market pathologies.

  Yet there are also many ways our social statistics

underestimate the degree of labor-market-related

hardship. The unemployment counts exclude the

millions of fully employed workers whose wages are

(30)
     so low that their families remain in poverty. Low

wages and repeated or prolonged unemployment

frequently interact to undermine the capacity for

self-support. Since the number experiencing jobless-

ness at some time during the year is several times

(35)the number unemployed in any month, those who

suffer as a result of forced idleness can equal or

exceed average annual unemployment, even though

only a minority of the jobless in any month really

suffer. For every person counted in the monthly

(40) unemployment tallies, there is another working

part-time because of the inability to find full-time

work, or else outside the labor force but wanting a

job. Finally, income transfers in our country have

always focused on the elderly, disabled, and depen-

(45)dent, neglecting the needs of the working poor, so

that the dramatic expansion of cash and in-kind

transfers does not necessarily mean that those fail-

ing in the labor market are adequately protected.

 As a result of such contradictory evidence, it is

(50)
     uncertain whether those suffering seriously as a

result of thousands or the tens of millions, and,

hence, whether high levels of joblessness can be tol-

erated or must be countered by job creation and

(55)
     economic stimulus. There is only one area of agree-

ment in this debate---that the existing poverty,

employment, and earnings statistics are inadequate

for one their primary applications, measuring the

consequences of labor market problems.

9. Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of

  the author’s argument concerning why poverty

  statistics cannot properly be used to show the effects of

     problems in the labor market?

  (A) A short-term increase in the number of those in

     poverty can indicate a shortage of jobs because the

     basic number of those unable to accept employment

     remains approximately constant.

  (B) For those who are in poverty as a result of

     joblessness, there are social programs available

     that provide a minimum standard of living.

  (C) Poverty statistics do not consistently agree with

     earnings statistics, when each is taken as a

     measure of hardship resulting from unemployment.

  (D) The elderly and handicapped categories include

     many who previously were employed in the labor

     market.

  (E) Since the labor market is global in nature, poor

     workers in one country are competing with poor

     workers in another with respect to the level of

     wages and the existence of jobs.

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-4-21 12:45:26编辑过]

wangluobing

大家快来帮忙解答下

xiaofan1016

转一段译文

有多少人真正因为劳务市场问题而遭受不幸呢？这是最重要也是最有争议的社会政策问题之一。我们的社会统计数字在许多方面夸大了困难的程度。如今失业的后果已不像30年代那样悲惨了。那时，大部分失业者都是主要的挣钱养家的人，而那时的工资和收入只能勉强维持生活，而且那时候还没有为那些在劳务市场失败的人制订出补偿性的社会保障措施。财富的增加，家庭中出现更多的挣工资的人，失业者中次要挣钱者的日益普遍，社会福利保护的加强，这一切都毫无疑问减轻了失业造成的后果。工资与收入数据还夸大了困难范围。在几百万收入接近或低于最低工资标准的小时工中，绝大多数人来自有好儿份工资收入、相对来说比较富裕的家庭。计算在贫困统计之内的人大部分是年老者、残疾人或者由于家庭负担不能进入劳务市场者，因此这些贫困统计数字根本就不能精确地反映出劳动力市场所存在的问题。

    然而，社会统计数字在许多方面又低估了与劳务市场有关的问题。失业统计没有包括成百万虽然充分就业但工资却极低、家庭仍处在贫因之中的人。低收入、经常性和长期性失业往往互相作用，逐渐削弱了一个人的自立能力。由于一年内某一时期失业人数是任何一个月份中失业人数的好几倍，因无事可做而闲呆在家的受苦之人就有可能等于或者超过平均年度失业人数，尽管每个月中真正因失业而受苦的人只是少数。对于计算在每月失业人数统计之中的每个人来说，同样还存在一个做临时工的人，因为他无法找到做全日工作的职位，否则就是在劳务市场之外，但是需要一份工作。最后，我国的收入转移总是集中在老年人、残疾人或者吃闲饭人身上，却忽略了那些有工作的贫困者的需要。因此，现金和实物转移的急趋增加未必意味着在劳务市场上失败的人能够得到充分的保护。

    由于这种相矛盾的证据，人们无法肯定，那些因劳务市场问题而遭受严重不幸的人究竟是几十万还是几千万，因此也不能确定，高失业率是否能够容忍，是否必须通过创造就业机会和实行经济刺激来应对。在这场辩论中惟一意见一致的地方是，现有的关于贫困、就业和收入的统计数字都不足以起到它们的主要用途之一 － 衡量劳务市场问题所带来的后果。

ttss

顶起。。。慢慢琢磨。。

zlwww

multiple-earner应该指的是一个家庭有多种收入来源，不是一个人吧？后面的表语是family
B对应一个人
E对应一个家庭