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  3. For most of the 20th century, Asia asked itself what it could learn from the

For most of the 20th century, Asia asked itself what it could learn from the

游客2024-05-01  15
问题     For most of the 20th century, Asia asked itself what it could learn from the modern, innovating West. Now the question must be reversed: what can the West’s overly indebted and sluggish (经济滞长的) nations learn from a flourishing Asia?
    Just a few decades ago, Asia’s two giants were stagnating (停滞不前) under faulty economic ideologies. However, once China began embracing free-market reforms in the 1980s, followed by India in the 1990s, both countries achieved rapid growth. Crucially, as they opened up their markets, they balanced market economy with sensible government direction. As the Indian economist Amartya Sen has wisely said, “The invisible hand of the market has often relied heavily on the visible hand of government.”
    Contrast this middle path with America and Europe, which have each gone ideologically overboard in their own ways. Since the 1980s, America has been increasingly clinging to the ideology of uncontrolled free markets and dismissing the role of government—following Ronald Reagan’s idea that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Of course, when the markets came crashing down in 2007, it was decisive government intervention that saved the day. Despite this fact, many Americans are still strongly opposed to “big government.”
    If Americans could only free themselves from their antigovernment doctrine, they would begin to see that America’s problems are not insoluble. A few sensible federal measures could put the country back on the right path. A simple consumption tax of, say, 5% would significantly reduce the country’s huge government deficit without damaging productivity. A small gasoline tax would help free America from its dependence on oil imports and create incentives for green energy development. In the same way, a significant reduction of wasteful agricultural subsidies could also lower the deficit. But in order to take advantage of these common-sense solutions, Americans will have to put aside their own attachment to the idea of smaller government and less regulation. American politicians will have to develop the courage to follow what is taught in all American public-policy schools: that there are good taxes and bad taxes. Asian countries have embraced this wisdom, and have built sound long-term fiscal (财政的) policies as a result.
    Meanwhile, Europe has fallen prey to a different ideological trap: the belief that European governments would always have infinite resources and could continue borrowing as if there were no tomorrow. Unlike the Americans, who felt that the markets knew best, the Europeans failed to anticipate how the markets would react to their endless borrowing. Today, the European Union is creating a $580 billion fund to ward off sovereign collapse. This will buy the EU time, but it will not solve the bloc’s larger problem. [br] What does Ronald Reagan mean by saying “government is the problem”(Line 5, Para.3)?
选项 A、Government action is key to solving economic problems.
B、Many social problems arise from government inefficiency.
C、Many social ills are caused by wrong government policies.
D、Government regulation hinders economic development.
答案 D
解析 根据题干中的(Line 4，Para．3)定位原文出处。第3段从美国民众思想观念的角度分析了美国经济停滞不前的原因。文中提到，在Ronald Reagan提出他的思想之后，美国越来越信奉“毫不控制地放任市场同时排挤政府干预”的思想观念。不难推断，美国人的这一观念应该是与Reagan的思想相符的，即Reagan也认为政府干预会阻碍经济发展，所以本题选D)。A)与原文表述正好相反；文章只谈论了经济问题，B)中的social problems和C)中的social ills在原文无法找到，属于过度推断。
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