Horse-drawn coaches were neither a competitive nor a comfortable alternative given the deplorable state of the nation’s highways and though bicycles were popular in both town and country, they, too, were hampered by poor road surfaces.
Most economists in the United States seem captivated by the spell of the free market. Consequently, nothing seems good or normal that does not accord with the requirements of the free market. A price that is determined by the seller or, for that matter, established by anyone other than the aggregate of consumers seems pernicious. Accordingly, it requires a major act of will to think of price-fixing (the determination of prices by the seller) as both “normal” and having a valuable economic function. In fact, price-fixing is normal in all industrialized societies because the industrial system itself provides, as an effortless consequence of its own development, the price-fixing that it requires. Modern industrial planning requires and rewards great size. Hence, a comparatively small number of large firms will be competing for the same group of consumers. That each large firm will act with consideration of its own needs and thus avoid selling its products for more than its competitors charge is commonly recognized by advocates of free-- market economic theories. But each large firm will also act with full consideration of the needs that it has in common with the other large firms competing for the same customers. Each large firm will thus avoid significant price cutting, because price cutting would be prejudicial to common interest in a stable demand for products. Most economists do not see price-fixing when it occurs because they expect it to be brought about by a number of explicit agreements among large firms; it is not.Moreover those economists who argue that allowing the free market to operate without interference is the most efficient method of establishing prices have not considered the economies of non-socialist-countries other than the United States. These economies employ intentional price fixing, usually in an overt fashion. Formal price-fixing by cartel and informal price-fixing by agreements covering the members of an industry are commonplace. Were there something peculiarly efficient about the free market and inefficient about price-fixing, the countries that have avoided the first and used the second would have suffered drastically in their economic development. There is no indication that they have.Socialist industry also works within a framework of controlled prices. In the early 1970’s the Soviet Union began to give firms and industries some of the flexibility in adjusting prices that a more informal evolution has accorded the capitalist system. Economists in the United States have hailed the change as a return to the free market. But Soviet firms are no more subject to prices established by a free market over which they exercise little influence than are capitalist firms; rather, Soviet firms have been given the power to fix prices.50. The author’s attitude toward “Most economists” in the United States (para 1) can best be described as ____.51. It can be inferred from the author’s argument that a price fixed by the seller “seems pernicious” (para 1) because ____.52. The suggestion in the text that price fixing in industrialized societies is normal arises from the author’s statement that price-fixing is ____.53. According to the author, price fixing in non-socialist countries is often ____.
1. Patterns of trade and travel may encourage enthusiasms for language learning. Languages other than English may become important regional business languages. Already the number of learners of Chinese as a second or foreign language is on the increase.2. The first gay couple to wed since France became the 14th country to permit same-sex marriage, Vincent Autin (文森特•奥丁), 40, and Bruno Boileau (布鲁诺•波洛), 29, exchanged vows and rings on Wednesday to cheers and applause at a city hall ringed by riot police.3. Snowden’s (斯诺登) leaks of highly classified material have resulted in numerous news stories about U.S. surveillance activities at home and abroad and have caused debate about the legality of those activities and the privacy implications for average Americans.4. In the United States, individuals have their own definitions of success. One of them might be financial wealth—and many are the college dropouts working in their parents’ garage in hopes of creating the next Google, Microsoft, or Apple Computer.5. Are humans justified in feeding on animal meat and making animals carry burdens? The fundamental question here is: should animals be treated with the same consideration we extend to other humans? Or, to put it another way, do animals have rights?
1. 贸易和旅游的模式可能会鼓励语言学习的热情。除了英语，其他语言可能成为重要的地区性商务语言。越来越多的人把中文作为第二语言或外语来学习。2. 自从法国成为第14个允许同性结婚的国家以来，周三，这首对同性夫妻——40岁的文森特•奥丁和29岁的布鲁诺•波洛宣誓和交换了戒指，在由防暴警察围住的市政厅中欢呼和庆祝。3. 斯诺登泄露的高度机密材料已经引发了众多关于美国对国内和国外的监视活动的新闻报道，引发了关于这些监测活动的合法性和对美国普通民众的隐私影响的辩论。4. 在美国，每个人都有自己对成功的定义。其中之一也许就是拥有财富——许多在大学就辍学的人在父母的车库里工作，希望创造下一个谷歌、微软或苹果公司。5. 人类是否有正当理由以动物肉为食，让动物承担自己的负担？这里最根本的问题是：动物是否像我们对待其他人类一样受到关怀？或者，换句话说，动物有权利吗？
We rarely perceive more than a minute ______ of the sights and sounds that fall upon our sense organs; the great majority pass us by.
This week we will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, one of Britain’s most extraordinary scientists. His theory of evolution, one of the greatest discoveries of all time, gives us a way of understanding the connectedness of all life and the uniqueness of human life within it. Together with other branches of scientific exploration, evolution begins to unfold and illuminate the interplay of forces that make our universe such an extraordinary dynamic reality. In this sense, science is itself a journey of learning and exploration. This I find exciting and humbling.Towards the end of his life Darwin wrote: “It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist and an evolutionist.” The science opens me not only to puzzles and to questions about the world I live in; it leads me to marvel at its complexity. Here, I find science is a good friend to my faith. It also calls me to a journey of learning and understanding. One of the things that mars our culture is the fracture between faith and science. It impoverishes our inquiry into the realities that make up our life and world. This is a false opposition.If we see the two as fundamentally opposed—science endangering and undermining faith, or faith obstructing knowledge—then distortions are produced on both sides. For example, some Christians argue for “Young Earth Creationism” or Intelligent Design as an alternative to evolutionary theory. Creationism is the belief that the biblical stories of Creation as described in the Book of Genesis are literally true.Is genuine Christianity obliged to adopt any of these positions? No, it is not. Belief in creation is not equivalent to any one of them. It is a mistake to treat the theology of creation in the Book of Genesis as a scientific textbook. It does unfold a profound and valid truth about the world in which we live, its order and purpose. The Book of Genesis speaks about the relationship between God and creation and especially about the place of humanity in that relationship. That wonderful narrative of creation offers us a first vision of an “ecology of holiness” in which every material and living thing has a place and its creativity is consecrated in goodness by God. The account of creation in Genesis is pointing us beyond the question “how?” to the question “why?” Ultimately, science as well as faith must come to that most fundamental of all questions: the question of meaning and purpose.31. According to the author, Darwin’s theory of evolution shows that ______.32. Which of the following would Darwin most probably agree to?33. The author finds science “humbling” because it ______.34. The author believes that The Book of Genesis is true in that it ______.35. In the author’s opinion, the relationship between science and faith is ______.
Employers need to better understand people who are disabled. Most of us take offence at the assumption that collecting Social Security Income can provide us everything we need. Unemployment is humiliating and awfully boring, and there’s no meaning there. Excluding someone because he or she has a disability that does not affect performance is equivalent to wrongs such as hiring based on race. Everyone deserves to have the opportunity to do a good job, and as a result have a sense of pride in being a part of society.