There is an old saying that you can never ______ unless you give your consent.
We rarely perceive more than a minute ______ of the sights and sounds that fall upon our sense organs; the great majority pass us by.
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 ____.
这些读者既“温故”，读文史，了解过去；又“知新”，爱科学、展望未来。他们愿意从各种各样的书籍中探索找寻生活的乐趣、人生的乐趣、思维的乐趣和智慧的乐趣。他们看市井风俗、社会百态，看多彩人生和丰富感情。他们生活在现在，同时也生活在过去和未来，他们最大限度地体会读书带来的追求智慧的乐趣。正如王小波说的：“智慧本身就是好的。有一天我们都会死去，追求智慧的道路还会有人在走着。死掉以后的事我看不到，但在我活着的时候，想到这件事，心里就高兴。”
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.
A _____ lifestyle is one that is going nowhere fast: no new employment, no new love interest, no volunteer work, and no new life-changing commitments.