2. 职称英语
  3. Writing in the Edinburgh Review in 1820, Sidney Smith bemoaned: The inevitab

Writing in the Edinburgh Review in 1820, Sidney Smith bemoaned: The inevitab

游客2024-04-17  20
问题     Writing in the Edinburgh Review in 1820, Sidney Smith bemoaned: The inevitable consequences of being too fond of glory—TAXES upon every article which enters into the mouth, or covers the back, or is placed under die foot; taxes upon everything which is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste; taxes upon warmth, light and locomotion(出行); taxes on everything on the earth, and the waters under the earth, on everything that comes from abroad or is grown at home; taxes on the raw material; taxes on every fresh value that is added to it by the industry of man; taxes on the sauce which pampers man’s appetite, and the drug which restores him to health; on the ermine(貂的白皮毛)which decorates the judge, and the rope which hangs the criminal; on the poor man’s salt, and the rich man’s spice; on the brass nails of the coffin, and the ribands of the bride; at bed or board; couchant or levant, we must pay. The schoolboy whips his taxed top; the beardless youth manages his taxed horse, with a taxed bridle, on a taxed road; and the dying Englishman, pouring his medicine, which has paid 7 percent, into a spoon which has paid 15 percent, flings himself back upon his chintz(印花棉布)bed, which has paid 22 percent, and expires in the arms of an apothecary who has paid a license of a hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death. His whole property is then immediately taxed from 2 to 10 percent. Besides the probate, large fees are demanded for burying him in the chancel; his virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed marble; and he is then gathered to his fathers to be taxed no more.
    How far this reliance on taxing consumption helped or hindered British economic growth remains a matter for debate. The Hanoverian tax system certainly encouraged exports(which were not only duty free, but in some cases subsidized by bounties); but it is doubtful that the large transfers from consumers to untaxed rentiers had beneficial macroeconomic effects. It is striking that contemporary critics of Spanish and Dutch finance—among them Adam Smith—believed that excessive reliance on taxes on consumption tended to push up labor costs and inhibit internal trade. [br] The authorities rely on the heavy taxes because they want to______.
选项 A、encourage the exports
B、force people to gather developing funds
C、fulfill the glory emotion
D、prepare for the first industrial revolution
答案 C
解析 通过第一段第一、二句可知，让自己过一种奢华的生活是他们征税的直接原因，故C)“满足统治者的虚荣心”正确。
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