2.Directions:For each blank in the following passage there are four words or phrases marked A,B,C and D.Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.
Early in the age of affluence (富裕) that followed World War II,an American economic analyst declared,"Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life,that we convert the buying and use of goods into habits,that we seek our (51)B satisfaction,our self-satisfaction in consumption.We need things consumed,burned up,worn out,replaced at an ever(52)D rate."Americans have (53)C to the call,and much of the world has followed.
Consumption has become a central pillar of life in industrial lands and is even deeply rooted in social (54)A.Opinion surveys in the world's two largest economies,Japan and the United States,show consumerist definitions of success becoming very popular.
Over consumption by the fortunate in the world is an environmental problem (55)B in severity by anything but perhaps population growth.Their increasing exploitation of resources(56)D to exhaust or unalterably spoils forests,soils,water,air and climate.
Ironically (有讽刺意味的),high consumption may be a(57)A blessing in human terms,too.The time-honored values of integrity of character,good work,friendship,family and community have often been (58)B in the rush to riches.
Thus,many people in the industrial lands have a sense that their world of plenty is somehow hollow.With the(59)D of a consumerist culture,they also think that they have been (60)A attempting to satisfy what are essentially social,psychological and spiritual needs with material things.
(61)C,the opposite of overconsumption-poverty-is no(62)A to either environmental or human problems.It is much worse for people and bad for the natural world too.Peasants who have nothing left cut-and-burn their way into the rain forests of Latin America,and hungry nomads (游牧民) turn their animals out onto African grassland,reducing it to(63)D.
If environmental (64)B results when people have either too little or too much,we are left to wonder how much is enough.What level of consumption can the earth support?When does having more (65)C to add noticeably to human satisfaction?
51.A.natural | B.spiritual | C.cultural | D.actual |
52.A.promising | B.promoting | C.falling | D.increasing |
53.A.proved | B.returned | C.responded | D.persevered |
54.A.values | B.moralities | C.identities | D.problems |
55.A.qualified | B.unmatched | C.compared | D.unprocessed |
56.A.happens | B.manages | C.starts | D.threatens |
57.A.mixed | B.detected | C.counted | D.terrified |
58.A.promoted | B.sacrificed | C.satisfied | D.relieved |
59.A.improving | B.neglecting | C.sponsoring | D.misleading |
60.A.fruitlessly | B.successfully | C.occasionally | D.eagerly |
61.A.As a result | B.For instance | C.Of course | D.From then on |
62.A.solution | B.pollution | C.consideration | D.contribution |
63.A.attraction | B.rubbish | C.homeland | D.desert |
64.A.construction | B.destruction | C.development | D.improvement |
65.A.remain | B.occur | C.cease | D.happen. |