单选题
You hear the refrain all the time: the U. S. economy looks
good statistically, but it doesn't feel good. Why doesn't ever-greater wealth
promote ever-greater happiness? It is a question that dates at least to the
appearance in 1958 of The Affluent (富裕的) Society by John Kenneth Galbraith, who
died recently at 97. The Affluent Society is a modern classic
because it helped define a new moment in the human condition. For most of
history, "hunger, sickness, and cold" threatened nearly everyone, Galbraith
wrote. "Poverty was found everywhere in that world. Obviously it is not of ours.
" After World War Ⅱ, the dread of another Great Depression gave way to an
economic boom. In the 1930s unemployment had averaged 18.2 percent; in the 1950s
it was 4. 5 percent. To Galbraith, materialism had gone mad and
would breed discontent. Through advertising, companies conditioned consumers to
buy things they didn' t really want or need. Because so much spending was
artificial, it would be unfulfilling. Meanwhile, government spending that would
make everyone better off was being cut down because people instinctively—and
wrongly—labeled government only as "a necessary evil" It's
often said that only the rich are getting ahead; everyone else is standing still
or falling behind. Well, there are many undeserving rich—overpaid chief
executives, for instance. But over any meaningful period, most people's incomes
are increasing. From 1995 to 2004, inflation-adjusted average family income rose
14.3 percent, to $43,200. People feel "squeezed" because their rising incomes
often don't satisfy their rising wants—for bigger homes, more health care, more
education, faster Internet connections. The other great
frustration is that it has not eliminated insecurity. People regard job
stability as part of their standard of living. As corporate layoffs increased,
that part has eroded. More workers fear they've become "the disposable
American," as Louis Uchitelle puts it in his book by the same name.
Because so much previous suffering and social conflict stemmed from
poverty, the arrival of widespread affluence suggested utopian (乌托邦式的)
possibilities. Up to a point, affluence succeeds. There is much less physical
misery than before. People are better off. Unfortunately, affluence also creates
new complaints and contradictions. Advanced societies need
economic growth to satisfy the multiplying wants of their citizens. But the
quest for growth lets loose new anxieties and economic conflicts that disturb
the social order. Affluence liberates the individual, promising that everyone
can choose a unique way to self-fulfillment. But the promise is so extravagant
that it predestines many disappointments and sometimes inspires choices that
have anti-social consequences, including family breakdown and obesity (肥胖症).
Statistical indicators of happiness have not risen with incomes.
Should we be surprised? Not really. We've simply reaffirmed an old truth:
the pursuit of affluence does not always end with happiness.
单选题
What question does John Kenneth Galbraith raise in his book The
Affluent Society?
A. Why statistics don't tell the truth about the economy