单选题
For a large number of young adults in Britain, homeownership has become increasingly difficult to achieve, viewed as a distant goal attainable only later in life, if at all.
That is a significant shift for Britain. For years owners occupy a higher percentage of homes in Britain than in the United States, France or Germany.
One reason homeownership is so attractive in Britain is because property values dropped less drastically than in the United States, in part because of a shortage in housing.
Prices in some large cities, including London, have even increased recently. People still perceive a home to be a better and safer investment than a pension fund, said Andrew Hull, research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research. "Homeownership is also culturally
entrenched
, " he said. "Owning a home is the main way of showing you made it. "
The big shift toward homeownership came in the 1980s when Mrs. Thatcher issued right-to-buy policy, which allowed many in rented government housing to buy their homes.
About two million homes were sold, earning the government tens of billions of pounds. At the same time, the rental market became increasingly unattractive. Unlike Germany and other Continental European countries, Britain"s private rental market is highly
fragmented
, with many landlords and laws that generally favor the
property
owner. Most leases are for six months only, with landlords rarely agreeing to commit to longer terms; this makes renting highly insecure.
But as the pain of government-imposed
austerity
sinks in,
disposable
income has shrunk and loan requirements have
toughened
, forcing more and more Britons into renting rather than buying. Over the last 10 years the number of people who owned homes here dropped to 67 percent from 70 percent. Meanwhile, the number of people in private rented housing rose to 16 percent from 10 percent over the same period, according to the Office for National Statistics. Rising demand has pushed up rents by an average of 4.4 percent over the last year, according to LSL Property Services. In London rents increased 7.8 percent.
"A growing number of young would-be buyers are preparing for lifelong renting—by necessity rather than choice, " said Jonathan Moore, director of easy roommate, co. uk, a property Web site. Charlotte Ashton, 30, has lived in rented
accommodations
ever since she left her parent"s home to attend university. She said she was saving for a down payment to buy her own home. "I do believe in the
fundamentals
of owning bricks and mortar as security for the future, more than leaving my money in the banks at a low interest rate, " said Ms. Ashton, who works in public relations. "But now it seems unless you have a very well paid job and are willing to save every penny, it"s
unfeasible
to buy without the help of the bank of Mum and Dad. "
Some economists are concerned that as more people are forced to wait to buy a home, it could open up a widening of the wealth gap that already exists between homeowners and non homeowners, endangering the retirement prospects for a swelling group of young adults they call "generation rent. "
It could also have
implications
for the cohesion of neighborhoods, Alison Blackwell, a research director at the National Center for Social Research and author of the Halifax report said. Renters tend to be less involved in local communities because they are forced to move more often. And the economy as a whole may suffer because renters tend to curb spending to save for a deposit.
单选题
For British people, buying home is ______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】具体细节题
[解析] 本题考查文中关于英国人购房理念的细节。第一段是主题段，开篇即提出，对于英国的年轻人来说，购房已经变成了一个越来越遥远的目标。这里特别注意论述对象是“英国年轻人”，而非“全体英国人”，[A]正是利用这一细小差别，偷换概念，制造干扰项。第二段是作者具体论述英国人购房理念的段落，其中提到英国人之所以如此重视买房，第一是因为他们将购房看做很好的投资。但是不可就此选择[D]，因为除了投资功能外，房产还承载着一定的文化含义。第二段最后一句话就通过引用别人的语言指出，“购房也是英国文化中根深蒂固的一部分，人们将买得起房子看做是成功的象征”，因此[B]正确，a symbol of success是对the main way of showing you made it的同义改写。[C]属于无中生有。
单选题
Mrs. Thatcher"s right-to-buy policy has lead to ______.