Few ideas have more profoundly poisoned the minds of more people than the notion of a “free market” existing somewhere in the universe, into which government “intrudes” According to this view, whatever we might do to reduce inequality or economic insecurity-to make the economy work for most of us- runs the risk of distorting the market and causing it to be less efficient, or of unintended consequences that may end up harming us. The “free marker” is to be preferred over “government”.
This prevailing view is utterly false. There can be no “free market” without government. A market-any market-requires government to make and enforce the rules of the game. In most modern democracies, such rules emanate from legislatures, administrative agencies and courts. Government doesn’t “intrude”on the “free market”. It creates and maintains the market.
The interminable debate over whether the free market is better than “government” makes it impossible for us to examine who exercises power, how they benefit from doing so and whether such rules need to be altered so that more people benefit from them. The myth of market fundamentalism is therefore highly useful to those who do not wish such an examination to be undertaken.
The debate over market vs. government serves to distract the public from the underlying realities of how the rules are generated and changed, from the power of the moneyed interests over this process, and the extent to which they gain from the results. In other words, not only do these “free market”advocates want the public to agree with them about the superiority of the market, but also about the central importance of the interminable and distracting debate over whether the market or the government should prevail.
This is why its so important to expose the underlying structure of the so-called “free market” and show how and where power is exercised over it. Its why l write a weekly column for the Guardian - one of the few publications in the world committed to revealing the truth about the economy and exposing the myths that distract the public's attention from what is really going on.The Guardian can do this because its not financed by commercial sponsors or any party with a financial or other interest in what it reports but exists solely to serve the public.
Inequalities of income, wealth, and political power continue o widen across all advanced economies. To reverse them we need an informed public capable of seeing the mythologies that protect and preserve today's super-rich no loo than did the Divine, Right at Kings centuries ago.
A kind of market fundamentalism is promoted by those who __________.
本题句意为“市场原教旨主义是由那些……的人倡导的？”A项：希望提升社会福利；B项：希望推动自身利益；C项：拒绝接受基本挑战；D项：辩论市场走向。根据文章第三段The interminable debate over whether the free market is better than “government” makes it impossible for us to examine who exercises power, how they benefit from doing so and whether such rules need to be altered so that more people benefit from them.可知，关于自由市场是否优于“政府”的无休止的辩论使我们无法审查谁行使权力，他们如何从中受益，以及是否需要改变这些规则以便更多的人从中受益。即市场原教旨主义是由那些希望推动自身利益的人倡导的。
故正确答案为B。
The author suggests that the debate over market vs. Government__________.
本题句意为“作者认为，关于市场与政府的争论······”
A项：有助于明确市场的真正作用；B项：引起公众太多关注；C项：不会产生有价值的结果；D项：富人比公众受益更多。根据文章第四段The debate over market vs. government serves to distract the public from the underlying realities of how the rules are generated and changed, from the power of the moneyed interests over this process, and the extent to which they gain from the results.可知，关于市场与政府的争论分散了公众对规则如何产生和改变的注意力，也分散了金钱利益对这一过程的影响，以及他们从结果中获得的好处，因此这样的争论不会产生有价值的结果。
故正确答案为C。
The Guardian does a good job in __________.
本题句意为“《卫报》在哪一方面做得好？”
A项：主张市场的优越性；B项：揭露市场背后的力量；C项：谴责超级富豪的贪婪；D项：回避关于市场作用的辩论。根据文章第五段This is why its so important to expose the underlying structure of the so-called “free market” and show how and where power is exercised over it可知, 揭露所谓的“自由市场”的根本结构并展示权力是如何以及在哪里行使很重要。后面作者紧接着提到这就是他为《卫报》写专栏的原因，因此，《卫报》在揭露市场背后的力量这一方面做的好。
故正确答案为B。
To redress inequalities in advanced countries, we need to _____________.
本题句意为“为了纠正发达国家的不平等现象，我们需要······”
A项：了解公众利益所在，并为其服务；B项：保护弱势群体的利益；C项：揭露“自由市场”的神话；D项：遏制超级富豪的贪婪。根据文章最后一段To reverse them we need an informed public capable of seeing the mythologies that protect and preserve today's super-rich可知，为了扭转这种局面，我们需要知情的公众，看清保护超级富豪的神话。
故正确答案为C。
The author thinks that the ideas of free market and government are__________.
本题句意为“作者认为，关于自由市场和政府的观点是······”
A项：兼容的；B项：虚幻的；C项：矛盾的；D项：令人困惑的。根据文章第二段There can be no “free market” without government.可知，没有政府就没有“自由市场”，任何市场都要求政府制定和执行规则，因此关于政府和自由市场的观点是矛盾的。
故正确答案为C。