Governments that want their people to prosper in the burgeon..

第1题

Governments that want their people to prosper in the burgeoning world economy should guarantee two basic rights: the right to private property and the right to enforceable contracts, says Mancur Olson in his book Power and Prosperity. Olson was an economics professor at the University of Maryland until his death in 1998.

Some have argued that such rights are merely luxuries that wealthy societies bestow, but Olson turns that argument around and asserts that such rights are essential to creating wealth. "Incomes are low in most of the countries of the world, in short, because the people in those countries do not have secure individual rights," he says.

Certain simple economic activities, such as food gathering and making handicrafts, rely mostly on individual labor; property is not necessary. But more advanced activities, such as the mass production of goods, require machines and factories and offices. This production is often called capital-intensive, but it is really property-intensive, Olson observes.

"No one would normally engage in capital-intensive production if he or she did not have rights that kept the valuable capital from being taken by bandits, whether roving or stationary," he argues. "There is no private property without government--individuals may have possessions, the way a dog possesses a bone, but there is private property only if the society protects and defends a private right to that possession against other private parties and against the government as well."

Would-be entrepreneurs, no matter how small, also need a government and court system that will make sure people honor their contracts. In fact, the banking systems relied on by developed nations are based on just such an enforceable contract system. "We would not deposit our money in banks ... if we could not rely on the bank having to honor its contract with us, and the bank would not be able to make the profits it needs to stay in business if it could not enforce its loan contracts with borrowers," Olson writes.

Other economists have argued that the poor economies of Third World and communist countries are the result of governments setting both prices find the quantities of goods produced rather than letting a free market determine them. Olson agrees that there is some merit to this point of view, but he argues that government intervention is not enough to explain the poverty of these countries. Rather, the real problem is lack of individual rights that give people incentive to generate wealth. "If a society has clear and secure individual rights, there are strong incentives (刺激，动力) to produce, invest, and engage in mutually advantageous trade., and therefore at least some economic advance," Olson concludes.

Which of the following is true about Olson?

A．He was a fiction writer.

B．He edited the book Power and Prosperity.

C．He taught economics at the University of Maryland.

D．He was against the ownership of private property.

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第2题

Large companies need a way to reach the savings of the public at large. The same problem, on a smaller scale, faces practically every company trying to develop new products and create new jobs. They can be little prospect of raising the sort of sums needed from friends and people we know, and while banks may agree to provide short-term finance, they are generally unwilling to provide money on permanent basis for long-term project. So companies mm to the public, inviting people to lend them money, or take a share in the business through the Stock Exchange. By doing so they can put into circulation the saving of individuals and institutions, both at home and overseas.

When the saver needs his money back, he dose not have to go to the company with whom he originally placed it. Instead, he sells his shares through a stockbroker to some other saver who is seeking to invest his money.

Many of the services needed both by industry and by each of us are provided by the Government or by local authorities. Without hospitals, roads, electricity, telephones, railways, this country could not function. All these require continuous spending on new equipment and new development if they are to serve us properly, requiring more money than is raised through taxes alone. The Government, local authorities, and nationalized industries therefore frequently need to borrow money to finance major capital spending, and they, too, come to the Stock Exchange.

There is hardly a man or woman in this country whose standard of living dose not depend on the ability of his or her employers to raise money to finance new development. In one way or another this new money must come from the savings of the country. The Stock Exchange exists to provide a channel through which these savings can reach those who need finance.

Almost ail companies involved in new production and development must ______.

A．rely on their own financial resources

B．persuade the banks to provide long-term fin0ance

C．borrow large sums of money from friends and people they know

D．depend on the population as a whole for finance

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第3题

Sometimes the student may be asked to write about his ______ to a certain book or article that has some bearing on the subject being studied.

A．comment

B．reaction

C．impression

D．comprehension

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第4题

A hundred years ago it was assumed and scientifically "proved" by economists that the laws of society make it necessary to have a vast army of poor and jobless people in order to keep the economy going. Today, hardly anybody would dare to voice the principle. It is generally accepted that nobody should be excluded from the wealth of the nation, either by the law of nature or by those of society. The opinions are outdated, which were current a hundred years ago, that the poor owed their conditions to their ignorance, lack of responsibility. In all western industrialized countries, a system of insurance has been introduced which guarantees everyone a minimum of subsistence in case of unemployment, sickness and old age. I would go one step further and argue that, even if these conditions are not present, in other words, one can claim this substance minimum without having to have any "reason". I would suggest, however, that it should be limited to a definite period of time, let's say two years, so as to avoid the encouragement of an abnormal attitude which refuses any kind of social obligation.

This may sound like a fantastic proposal, but so, I think, our insurance system would have sounded to people a hundred years ago. The main objection to such a scheme would be that if each person were entitled to receive minimum support, people would not work. This assumption rests on the fallacy of the inherent laziness. In human nature, actually, aside from abnormally lazy people, there would be very few who would not want to earn more than the minimum, and who would prefer to do nothing rather than work.

However, the suspicions against a system of guaranteed subsistence minimum are not groundless from the standpoint of those who want to use ownership capital for the purpose of forcing others to accept the work conditions they offer. If nobody were forced to accept work in order not to starve, work would be sufficiently interesting and attractive in order to induce one to accept it. Freedom of contract is possible only if both parties are free to accept and reject if; in the present capitalist system this is not the case.

But such a system would not only be the beginning of real freedom of contract between employers and employees, its principal advantage would be the improvement of freedom in interpersonal relationships in every sphere of daily life.

People used to think that poverty and unemployment were due to ______.

A．the slow development of the economy

B．the poor and jobless people's own faults

C．the lack of responsibility on the part of the society

D．the large number Of people who were not well-educated

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第5题

Governments that want their people to prosper in the burgeoning world economy should guarantee two basic rights: the right to private property and the right to enforceable contracts, says Mancur Olson in his book Power and Prosperity. Olson was an economics professor at the University of Maryland until his death in 1998.

Some have argued that such rights are merely luxuries that wealthy societies bestow, but Olson turns that argument around and asserts that such rights are essential to creating wealth. "Incomes are low in most of the countries of the world, in short, because the people in those countries do not have secure individual rights," he says.

Certain simple economic activities, such as food gathering and making handicrafts, rely mostly on individual labor; property is not necessary. But more advanced activities, such as the mass production of goods, require machines and factories and offices. This production is often called capital-intensive, but it is really property-intensive, Olson observes.

"No one would normally engage in capital-intensive production if he or she did not have rights that kept the valuable capital from being taken by bandits, whether roving or stationary," he argues. "There is no private property without government--individuals may have possessions, the way a dog possesses a bone, but there is private property only if the society protects and defends a private right to that possession against other private parties and against the government as well."

Would-be entrepreneurs, no matter how small, also need a government and court system that will make sure people honor their contracts. In fact, the banking systems relied on by developed nations are based on just such an enforceable contract system. "We would not deposit our money in banks ... if we could not rely on the bank having to honor its contract with us, and the bank would not be able to make the profits it needs to stay in business if it could not enforce its loan contracts with borrowers," Olson writes.

Other economists have argued that the poor economies of Third World and communist countries are the result of governments setting both prices find the quantities of goods produced rather than letting a free market determine them. Olson agrees that there is some merit to this point of view, but he argues that government intervention is not enough to explain the poverty of these countries. Rather, the real problem is lack of individual rights that give people incentive to generate wealth. "If a society has clear and secure individual rights, there are strong incentives (刺激，动力) to produce, invest, and engage in mutually advantageous trade., and therefore at least some economic advance," Olson concludes.

Which of the following is true about Olson?

A．He was a fiction writer.

B．He edited the book Power and Prosperity.

C．He taught economics at the University of Maryland.

D．He was against the ownership of private property.

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第6题

In The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society, Revised and Enlarged Edition (W. W. Norton) Schlesinger provides deep insights into the crises of nationhood in America. A new chapter assesses the impact both of radical multiculturalism and radical monoculturalism on the Bill of rights. Written with his usual clarity and force, the book brings a noted historian' s wisdom and perspective to bear on America' s "culture wars".

Schlesinger addresses the questions: What holds a nation together? And what does it mean to be an American? Describing the emerging cult of ethnicity, Schlesinger praises its healthy effect on a nation long shamed by a history of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. But he warns against the campaign of multicultural advocates to divide the nation into separate ethnic and racial communities. From the start, he observes, the United States has been a multicultural nation, rich in its diversity but held together by a shared commitment to the democratic process and by the freedom of intermarriage. It was this national talent for assimilation that impressed foreign visitors like Alexis de Tocqueyille and James Bryce, and it is this historic goal that Schlesinger champions as the best hope for the future. Schlesinger analyzes what he sees as grim consequences of identity politics: the widening of differences. Attacks on the First Amendment, he argues, threaten intellectual freedom and, ultimately, the future of the ethnic groups. His criticisms are not limited to the left. As a former target of McCarthyism, be understands that the radical right is even more willing than the radical left to re strict and weaken the Bill of Rights.

The author does not minimize the injustices concealed by the "melting pot" dream. The Disuniting of America is both academic and personal, forceful in argument, balanced in judgment. It is a book that will no doubt anger some readers, but it will surely make all of them think again. The winner of Pulitzer Prizes for history and for biography, an authoritative voice of American liberalism, Schlesinger is uniquely positioned to bring bold answers and healing wisdom to this passionate debate over who we are and what we should become.

According to Schlesinger, the United States is ______.

A．a melting pot

B．a nation with diverse cultures held together by the democratic process

C．a federation of ethnic and racial communities

D．a nation with various ethnic and racial groups

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第7题

When did man begin to explore the Antarctic?A.About 100 years ago.B.In this century.C.At t

When did man begin to explore the Antarctic?

A．About 100 years ago.

B．In this century.

C．At the beginning of the 19th century.

D．In 1798.

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