點擊查看：2018年6月大學英語六級閱讀100篇

　　Early in the age of affluence(富裕)that followed World War II, an American retailing analyst named Victor Lebow proclaimed, "Our enormously productive economy... demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption...We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing rate."

　　Americans have responded to Lebow's call, and much of the world has followed.

　　Consumption has become a central pillar of life in industrial lands and is even embedded in social values.

　　Opinion surveys in the world's two largest economies-Japan and the United

　　States-show consumerist definitions of success becoming ever more prevalent.

　　Overconsumption by the world's fortunate is an environmental problem unmatched in severity by anything but perhaps population growth. Their surging exploitation of resources threatens to exhaust or unalterably spoil forests, soils, water, air and climate.

　　Ironically, high consumption may by a mixed blessing in human terms, too.

　　The time-honored values of integrity of character, good work, friendship, family and community have often been sacrificed in the rush to riches.

　　Thus many in the industrial lands have a sense that their world, of plenty is somehow hollow-that, misled by a consumerist culture, they have been fruitlessly attempting to satisfy what are essentially social. psychological and spiritual needs with material things.

　　Of course,. the opposite of overconsumption-poverty-is no solution to either environmental or human problems. It is infinitely worse for people and bad for the natural world too. Dispossessed(被剝奪得一無所有的) peasants slash-and-burn their way into the rain forests of Latin American, and hungry nomads (游牧民族) turn their herds out onto fragile African grassland, reducing it co desert.

　　If environmental destruction results when people have either too little or too much, we arc left to wonder how much is enough. What level of consumption can the earth support? When does having more cease to add noticeably to human satisfaction?

　　1. The emergence of the affluent society after World War II__________.

　　A) gave birth to a new generation of upper class consumers

　　B) gave rise to the dominance of the new egoism

　　C) led to the reform of the retailing system

　　D) resulted in the worship of consumerism

　　2. Apart from enormous productivity, another important impetus co high consumption is___________.

　　A) the conversion of the sale of goods into rituals

　　B) the people's desire for a rise in their living standards

　　C) the imbalance that has existed between production and consumption

　　D) the concept that one's success is measured by how much they consume

　　3.Why does the author say high consumption is a mixed blessing?

　　A) Because poverty still exists in an affluent society.

　　B) Because moral values are sacrificed in pursuit of material satisfaction.

　　C) Because overconsumption won't last long due to unrestricted population growth.

　　D) Because traditional rituals are often neglected in the process of modernization.

　　4.According to the passage, consumerist culture________.

　　A) cannot thrive on a fragile economy

　　B) will not aggravate environmental problems

　　C) cannot satisfy human spiritual needs

　　D) will not alleviate poverty in wealthy countries

　　5.It can be inferred from the passage that___________.

　　A) human spiritual needs should match material affluence

　　B) there is never an end to satisfying people's material needs

　　C) whether high consumption should be encouraged is still an issue

　　D) how to keep consumption at a reasonable level remains a problem

　　答案：

　　1.第二次世界大戰后富裕社會的出現_________。

　　A)導致新一代上層消費者的產生

　　B)導致新利己主義占據主導地位

　　C)導致零售系統的改革

　　D)導致消費主義崇拜

　　[D]文章前幾段提到“Lebown呼吁我們生產力極高的經濟要求我們將消費作為我們的生活方式，將購買和使用商品看成是生活的慣例，并要求我們在消費中尋求精神滿足和自我滿足”，“美國人響應他的號召，世界上大部分人也尾隨其后”，“在工業國家中消費已成為生活的中心支柱，甚至滲透到社會的價值觀中”。而這種種均是二戰后富裕社會的出現帶來的結果，亦是崇尚消費主義的表現，因此D正確。

　　2.除了巨大的生產能力，導致高消費的另一個重要推動力是_______。

　　A)商品的銷售轉變為一種慣例

　　B)人們渴望生活水平提高

　　C)生產和銷售之間存在的不平衡

　　D)個人成功由他消費多少商品衡量這一觀念

　　[D]文章第3段提到“在日本和美國這兩個最大的經濟強國，民意調查表明對成功從消費主義角度所下的定義日益得到廣泛認同”，由此可見，“成功是由他們高消費多少來衡量的”這一概念對人們的高消費起著重要的推動作用。因此D正確。

　　3.為什么作者說高消費好壞參半7

　　A)因為在富裕社會依然存在貧窮。

　　B)因為人們在追求物質滿足中舍棄了道德觀念。

　　C)因為在不受限制的人口增長情況下，過度消費不會長久。

　　D)因為在現代化過程中傳統慣例總是被忽視。

　　[B]文章第5段提到“長期以來人們推崇的種種價值觀，如誠實的品格、好的工作、以及友誼、家庭和社區等，都在追逐財富的過程中被舍棄了”，B是其中一個方面，因此B正確。

　　4.根據文章，消費主義文化___________。

　　A)不可能在薄弱的經濟中繁榮

　　B)不會使環境問題惡化

　　C)不能滿足人類的精神需求

　　D)不會緩和富裕國家的貧窮問題

　　[C]文章第6段提到“工業國家的很多人感覺到他們物質豐富的世界不知怎地變得空洞了——受消費主義觀念的誤導，他們一直試圖用物質來滿足社會、心理和精神上的需求，而這毫無效果”，因此C正確。

　　5.由文章可以推斷_____________。

　　A)人的精神需求應當與物質的富裕保持一致

　　B)人的物質需求永遠無法滿足

　　C)高消費是否應受到鼓勵仍是個問題

　　D)怎樣將消費保持在合理的水平依然是個問題

　　[D]文章最后一段提到“人們消費過多或過少都會破壞環境，我們納悶究竟多少才算足夠。地球能承受什么樣的消費水平呢?”，因此D正確。

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