单选题
Passage Three

The United States in the 1990s has had seven years of economic boom with low unemployment, low inflation, and low government deficit. Amid all of this good news, inequality has increased and wages have barely risen. Common sense knowledge seems to be right in this instance, that is, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class is shrinking. Though President Clinton boasts that the number of people on welfare has decreased significantly under his regime to 8 million, a 44% decline from 1994, he forgets that there are still 36.5 million poor people in the United States, which is only a 2% decline in the same amount of time. How is it possible that we have increasing inequality during economic prosperity?
This contradiction is not easily explained by the dominant neoclassical economic discourse of our time. Nor is it resolved by neoconservative social policy. More helpful is the one book under review: James K. Galbraith's Created Unequal, a Keynesian analysis of increasing wage inequality.
James K. Galbraith provides a multicausal analysis that blames the current free market monetary policy for the increasing wage inequality. He calls for a rebellion in economic analysis and policy and for a reapplication of Keynesian macroeconomics to solve the problem. In Created Unequal, Galbraith successfully debunks the conservative contention that wage inequality is necessary because the new skill-based technological innovation requires educated workers who are in short supply. For Galbraith, this is a fantasy. He also critiques their two other assertions: first, that global competition requires an increase in inequality and that the maintenance of inequality is necessary to fight inflation. He points to transfer payments that are mediated by the state: payment to the poor in the form of welfare is minor relative to payment to the elderly in the form of social security or to the rich in the form of interest on public and private debt.
Galbraith minimizes the social indicators of race, gender, and class and tells us that these are not important in understanding wage inequality. What is important is Keynesian macroeconomics. To make this point, he introduces a sectoral analysis of the economy. Here knowledge is dominant (the K-sector) and the producers of consumption goods (the C-sector) are in decline. The third sector is large and low paid (the S-sector). The K-sector controls the new technologies and wields monopoly power. Both wages and profit decline in the other two sectors. As a result of monopoly, power inequality increases.

单选题 The author accuses President Clinton of ______.
A. being too optimistic about the economic prosperity
B. lying about the economic situation to the public
C. increasing the number of people on welfare
D. being reluctant to raise the salary of the average people
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】这是一道细节题。题干中的信号词为President Clinton，出自第一段第三句话。文章第一段指出：20世纪90年代，美国经济经历了持续7年的繁荣，这期间，失业率低，通货膨胀低，政府的赤字也低；但是，在所有这些好消息背后，不平等现象在增加，工资几乎没有增长；虽然克林顿总统鼓吹说，在他执政期间，靠福利生活的人数已经大幅度减少到800万，但是，他忘了，美国还有3650万穷人。这说明，克林顿总统对经济的形势比较乐观。A说“对经济繁荣太乐观了”，这与作者的观点符合。克林顿总统并没有撒谎，所以B不对；C与文章的意思相反；文中没有提到D。
单选题 According to the passage, Galbraith's book ______.
A. is devoted to analyzing why economic boom usually goes with wage inequality
B. reviews the dominant neoclassical economic discourse of our time
C. recommend resolving the present problem by neoconservative social policy
D. attributes the present increasing wage inequality to several factors
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】这是一道细节题。题干中的信号词为Galbraith，出自第二段第三句话。文章第二段提到了加尔布雷思的书。第三段指出：詹姆士·K·加尔布雷思进行了多重原因分析，将该问题归咎于目前的自由市场货币政策。这说明，加尔布雷思认为，目前的工资不平等现象是由好几个因素造成的。D说“把目前不断增长的工资不平等现象归因于好几个原因”，这与文章的意思符合。文中没有提到A；与B有关的信息是第二段的第一句话，文中是说“我们这个时代占主导地位的新古典主义经济理论不能轻易解释这种矛盾”，这并不是加尔布雷思的观点，所以B不对；与C有关的信息是第三段的第三句话，文中是说“加尔布雷思成功地批驳了这样的保守观点”，说明C不对。
单选题 According to the conservative theory, wage inequality is necessary because ______.
A. it is a condition created by the labor market
B. there is an overall decline in the world's economy
C. technological innovation has not produced the desired result
D. the number of people on welfare has decreased
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】这是一道细节题。题干中的信号词为conservative，出自第三段第三句话。文章第三段指出：在《创造的不平等》一书中，加尔布雷思成功地批驳了这样的保守观点，也就是，工资的不平等是必不可少的，因为以新技能为基础的技术革新需要的是受过教育的工人，而这些人供不应求。这说明，保守派理论认为，造成这种现象的原因是劳动力市场。A说“这是由劳动力市场导致的一种现象”，这与文章的意思符合。文中没有提到B和C；与D有关的信息是第一段的第四句话，文中是说“克林顿总统鼓吹说，在他执政期间，靠福利生活的人数已经大幅度减少”，而这并不是保守派理论的观点，所以D不对。
单选题 To which of the following statements would Galbraith agree?
A. The new skill-based technological innovation initiates the present wage inequality.
B. The maintenance of wage inequality is necessary to fighting inflation.
C. Worldwide competition entails an increase in wage inequality.
D. Transfer payment to the rich has made the rich even richer.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】这是一道细节题。文章第三段后半部分指出：加尔布雷思认为，由政府调控的转账支付导致了不平等现象——相对于以社会保险形式支付给老人的款项或者以公债和私人债务的利息形式支付给富人的款项，以福利金形式支付给穷人的款项少得多。这说明，加尔布雷思可能认为，政府调控的转账支付导致了富人更富，穷人更穷。D说“向富人转账支付使得富人更富有”，这与加尔布雷思的观点符合。以新技能为基础的技术革新问题是保守派的观点，是加尔布雷思批驳的观点，所以A不对；B和D是保守派的观点，也是加尔布雷思批驳的观点，所以不对。
单选题 "Monopoly" (in the last sentence) in the passage refers to ______.
A. the exclusive control of the market forces by the rich
B. the dominant control of the new technologies by a particular sector
C. the powerful control of the K-sector over the C-and S-sectors
D. the ignorance of the social indicators of race, gender, and class in understanding inequality
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】这是一道词义题。文章最后一段指出：在现代社会，知识(K成分)占主导地位，消费品生产者(C成分)的地位在下降，第三个成分(S成分)人数众多，收入却低；K成分控制着新技术，掌握着垄断力量；由于垄断的原因，权力不平等的现象在增加。这说明，该词指的是“某个成分控制新技术”。B说“某个特殊成分主控新技术”，这与文章的意思符合。A和C明显与文章的意思不符；与D有关的信息是该段的第一句话，文中是说“加尔布雷思淡化了种族、性别和阶级这些社会因素，他告诉我们，这些因素对于理解工资不平等都不重要”，这与该词指代的内容没有关系，所以D不对。