单选题
What would happen if consumers decided to simplify their
lives and spend less on material goods and services? This question is taking on
a certain urgency as rates of economic growth continue to decelerate through the
industrialized world, and as millions of consumers appear to be opting for more
frugal lifestyles. The Stanford Research Institute, which has done some of the
most extensive work on the frugality phenomenon, estimates that nearly five
million American adults are pursuing lives of "voluntary simplicity", and double
that number "adhere to and act on some but not all" of its basic
tenets. The frugality phenomenon first achieved prominence as a
middle-class rejection of high-consumption lifestyle in the-industrialized world
during the 1950s and 1960s. In The Silent Revolution, Ronald Inglehart
of the University of Michigan's Institute of Social Research examined this
experience in the United States and 10 Western European nations. He concluded
that a change has taken place "from an overwhelming emphasis on material
well-being and physical security toward greater emphasis on the quality of
life," that is, "a shift from materialism to post-materialism."
Inglehart calls the 1960s the "fat years". Among their more visible trappings
were the ragged blue jeans favored by the affluent young. Most of the retreat
from materialism, however, was less visible. Comfortably fixed Americans were
going without change, making things last longer, sharing things with others,
learning to do things for themselves and so on. But while economically
significant, it was hardly discernible in a US Gross National Product climbing
vigorously toward the $ 2 thousand billion mark. Yet as the
frugality phenomenon matured—growing out of the soaring 1980s and into the sober
1990s—it seemed to undergo a fundamental transformation. American consumers
continued to lose faith in materialism and were being joined by new converts who
were embracing frugality because of the darkening economic skies they saw ahead.
Resource scarcities, soaring energy prices, persistent inflation, high-level
unemployment, balance-of-trade deficits, the declining value of the US dollar on
foreign exchange markets forced consumers to look to their own resources. The
one device which seemed most promising, the one over which they had the most
control, was frugality—learning to live with less in a world where a penny saved
was still a penny earned.
单选题
It can be inferred that the "frugality phenomenon" is one in which
______.
A. consumers give up the pursuit for luxuries
B. the rates of economic growth begin to decline
C. people stick to some basic principles and act on them
D. young people develop a detestation for the Industrial
Revolution
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】推断题。根据第一段，节俭现象是指消费者选择更为节俭的生活方式(opting for more frugal lifestyles)，自愿追求简单的生活(pursuing lives of "voluntary simplicity")。所以A(消费者放弃追求奢华)符合题意，是正确答案。C意为：人们坚持并执行一些基本原则(some basic principles)。此处的“基本原则”内容不详，与文章中的基本宗旨(basic tenets)是不同的，文章中的basic tenets是指上文中“自愿节俭”的宗旨。
单选题
According to Inglehart, the frugality phenomenon ______.
A. began to be noticed in the industrialized world during the 1950s and
1960s
B. was an old phenomenon in the disguise of a new cloak
C. indicated a turn of people's attention to the quality of life
D. was more visible among the affluent young
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】细节题。根据第二段最后一句，Inglehart对节俭现象的研究结论是：人们从注重物质安康转向更强调生活质量(greater emphasis on the quality of life)。这正好与C(表明人们的注意力转向生活质量)相一致。A意为：(节俭现象)在20世纪50年代和60年代才开始为工业化世界所注意。第二段第一句是说，节俭现象在20世纪50年代和60年代最显著，而非才开始被注意到。
单选题
The frugality phenomenon was less visible in the 1960s because ______.
A. most Americans were comfortably fixed and didn't want to change
B. the robust American economy then made it hardly discernible
C. the retreat from materialism was not economically significant
D. most people didn't want to be accused of resisting the
tradition