单选题
A curious phenomenon occurs during every economic crisis—the rich whine that they are the ones who are suffering most. In current context, the wealthy even demands more tax cuts and more cuts in spending for programs aiding the poor, as every Republican presidential candidate promises. I first noticed this woe-is-me attitude among the rich in 1974 when Alan Greenspan had just been named chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. One of his first tasks was to address a conference with emphasis on cutting programs to aid the poor, which broughtdemonstrators to the event. In an effort to show that everyone was suffering from inflation, Mr. Greenspan said, "If you really wanted to examine percentage-wise who was hurt the most on their income, it was Wall Street brokers. " The urge to find ways to pity the well-off is still alive and well. Last week, BloombergNews reported that declining bonuses are creating severe hardship for many in the top 1 percent of income distribution. One of them, Andrew Schiff, complained that his $ 350, 000 salary barely covers his expenses. Others lamented that they could no longer go to Aspen to ski and must buy discount salmon. I have to admit that everyone's suffering is subjective. But there does seem to be a widespread view that the poor don't suffer as much from economic downturns because they are used to being at the bottom. As Bob Dylan put it, "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose. " Those with expectations of staying on top, who have grown used to living the good life, no doubt do suffer meaningfully when those expectations are shattered and they must learn to get by on incomes only five or 10 times the poverty-level income rather than 20 or 30 times. Admittedly, there doesn't yet seem to be much downside for Republican candidates pandering to the rich. For one thing, they all have billionaires and other ultra rich people funding super political action committees for them. But one of these days, the Republican nominee will be chosen and will have to compete in the general election against President Obama. And it is unlikely that the Republican nominee can win with only conservative Republican votes; he will have to reach out to those who don't necessarily believe that cutting taxes for the rich is the one and only policy that will stimulate growth. As a Januarypoll from the Pew Research Center shows, two-thirds of Americans see strong conflict between the rich and the poor, up from 47 percent in 2009. And a number of polls show that Americans support higher tax rates on millionaires by a ratio of 2-to-1 or more. I think the Republican nominee is going to have a hard time responding if all he has to say is the rich need more tax cuts to compensate them for all their suffering during the economic crisis.
单选题
From the passage, we know that Allan Greenspan ______. A. is a successful economic advisor that wins unparallel popularity B. identifies with the Republicans in tax cut for the rich and aid cut for the poor C. backs up the rich's claim that they are hardest hit in economic crisis D. sympathizes more with the have-nots than with the haves
单选题
The tone the author adopts in describing the sufferings of the rich in Paragraph 3 is ______. A. painful B. satirical C. suspicious D. sympathetic
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】作者态度题 [解析] 作者在第三段中提到了富人们对自己受到的苦难的描述。Andrew Schiff, complained that his $350, 000 salary barely covers his expenses．Others lamented that they could no longer go to Aspen to ski and must buy discount salmon．安德鲁·希夫就是抱怨自己35万美元的年薪几乎入不敷出。其他人则唉声叹气说自己再也不能去阿斯彭滑雪了，还得买打折的鲑鱼才行。滑雪、鲑鱼这些本身都不是生活中的必需品，弃之也无甚要紧，但是富人却在这里为了不能享受奢华的生活而怨声载道，作者这里的态度明显是反讽的态度。
单选题
In the author's opinion, "when you get nothing, you get nothing to lose" is ______. A. a prevailing misconception about the poor's condition in economic recession B. a famous saying illustrative of the rich's huge loss in economic recession C. descriptive of the mainstream view that the poor should be given more aid D. indicative of the huge wealth gap between the rich and the poor in America
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】句子理解题 [解析] 题干中的这句话出现在文章的第四段。作者在第四段的第二句话中谈到，But there does seem to be a widespread view that the poor don't suffer as much from economic downturns because they are used to being at the bottom，“确实有一种广为流传的观点认为经济低迷时期穷人要比富人好过，因为他们已经习惯了社会底层的生活”。接着作者就引出了鲍勃’迪伦的这句名言，“When you got nothing，you got nothing to lose”。因此作者引用这句话的目的，是为了再次强调社会上对于穷人在经济危机中的处境的一种普遍看法，人们认为穷人在经济危机中不可能遭到什么惨痛损失，因为本来也就一无所有，如果认同了这种观点，自然而然地也就会认同富人们在经济危机中损失惨重的观点。因此，在作者看来鲍勃·迪伦的这句名言，代表了人们的一种普遍心理，但这种心理是有失公允的。正确答案应该选[A]。这里的选项都比较长，读者做题时需要十分耐心，将选项看完整，然后再解题。
单选题
The phrase "pandering to" in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to ______. A. adjusting to B. opposing toC. catering to D. attaching to
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】词汇题 [解析] “pandering to”这个短语出现在文章第五段的第一句话中。作者在上文表明了自己对于富人哭穷这一做法的鲜明态度之后，在文章的最后两段将笔锋一转，抨击了共和党人支持对富人减税的做法。作者认为，毫无疑问，支持给富人减税能够给共和党人捞到不少好处，他们需要依靠那些亿万富翁来赞助他们各式各样的政治宣传活动。因此这里的pandering to the rich意思指共和党人趋炎附势，迎合富人。在四个选项中，只有[C]catering to表示迎合，因此为正确答案。
单选题
It can be inferred from the last two paragraphs that ______. A. there is ulterior political considerations behind Republican's proposal to cut tax for rich B. the Republican will lose its edge over President Obama in next presidential election C. the Republican bases their political proposals on deep insights into public opinion poll D. the poll shows that preferential policies for the rich deepen misunderstanding between classes