单选题Passage Four Economics
has long been known as the dismal science. But is any economist so dreary as to
criticize Christmas? At first glance, the holiday season in western economies
seems a treat for those concerned with such vagaries as GDP growth. After all,
everyone is spending; in America, retailers make 25% of their yearly sales and
60% of their profits between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even so, economists
find something to worry about in the nature of the purchases being
made. Much of the holiday spending is on gifts for others. At
the simplest level, giving gifts involves the giver thinking of something that
the recipient would like—he tries to guess her preferences, as economists
say—and then buying the gift and delivering it. Yet this guessing of preferences
is no mean feat; indeed, it is often done badly. Every year, ties go unworn and
books unread. And even if a gift is enjoyed, it may not be what the recipient
would have bought had they spent the money themselves. Intrigued by this
mismatch between wants and gifts, in 1993 Joel Waldfogel, then an economist at
Yale University, sought to estimate the disparity in dollar terms. In a paper
that has proved seminal in the literature on the issue, he asked students two
questions at the end of a holiday season: first, estimate the total amount paid
(by the givers) for all the holiday gifts you received; second, apart from the
sentimental value of the items, if you did not have them, how much would you be
willing to pay to get them? His results were gloomy: on average, a gift was
valued by the recipient well below the price paid by the giver. The most
conservative estimate put the average receiver's valuation at 90% of the buying
price. The missing 10% is what economists call a deadweight loss: a waste of
resources that could be averted without making anyone worse off. In other words,
if the giver gave the cash value of the purchase instead of the gift itself, the
recipient could then buy what she really wants, and be better off for no extra
cost. If the results are generalized, a waste of one dollar in ten represents a
huge aggregate loss to society. It suggests that in America, where givers spend
$40 billion on Christmas gifts, $4 billion is being lost annually in the process
of gift-giving. Add in birthdays, weddings and non-Christian occasions, and the
figure would balloon. So should economists advocate an end to gift-giving, or at
least press for money to become the gift of choice?
单选题
Why do some people regard the holiday season in western economies a
treat?
A. Because the economic situation in US has been gloomy.
B. Because holiday spending can stimulate GDP growth.
C. Because American retailers make a quarter of their yearly sales through
holiday season.
D. Because retailers can make as much profit as 60% over holiday
season.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】treat指“乐事，有意义的事”，从“the holiday season in western economies seems a treat for those concerned with such vagaries as GDP growth”可知之所以有人认为这些节日是有意义的就是认为它们会刺激消费，从而促进GDP的增长，故选B项。
单选题
What's the main idea for the second paragraph?
A. Much of the holiday spending is on gifts for others.
B. The purchases made over holiday season are actually a waste of
money.
C. It's really not easy to guess the others' preferences.
D. In many cases the gifts present cannot meet the recipients'
needs.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】第二段一直在说送礼物在某种意义上是浪费钱，故选择B项。
单选题
The purpose of Joel Waldfogel's study is to ______.
A. prove the mismatch between wants and gifts
B. spark new ideas of economic studies on holiday spending
C. evaluate the disparity between wants and gifts in economic terms
D. discover the exact cost of holiday spending on gift-giving
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】文中表明Joel Waldfogel只是intrigued by this mismatch between wants and gifts，才想做进一步的研究，而他的研究不是为了证明需要与礼物之间的不相配，因为这已经被别人所证明，他正是受此激发才要做研究的。他的目的是estimate the disparity in dollar terms，即采用一种经济学的手段去估算这种不匹配的程度。所以应该选C。
单选题
Economists think of the missing 10% of holiday spending a deadweight
loss because ______.
A. the cash value of the purchase is lower than the buying price
B. it makes many people even worse off for spending more on unwanted
gifts
C. with the money the recipients can be better off for no extra cost
D. it is actually a waste of resources in economic terms
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】细节题。从文中“a deadweight loss: a waste of resources that…,…the recipient could then buy what she really wants, and be better off for no extra cost”可以得出答案为C。
单选题
According to the passage altogether how much money is wasted every
year on gift-giving?