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阅读理解
America may still think of itself as the land of opportunity, but the chances of living a rags-to-riches life are a lot lower than elsewhere in the world, according to a new study．
The possibility that a child born into a poor family will make it into the top 5 percent is just 1 percent, according to a study by economist Tom Hertz from American University．
“By contrast, a child born rich has a 22 percent chance of being rich as an adult,”he said．
“In other words, the chances of getting rich are about 20 times higher if you are born rich, than if you are born in a low-income family,”Hertz said．
Compared to several European countries, it' s more possible in the United States for the poor to stay poor and the rich to stay rich．Consider a rich family and a poor one in the United States and a similar pair of families in Denmark, Hertz found that 22 percent of the American families would transmit the same income level from the parents generation to the children generation; in Denmark it would be 2 percent．
Another survey by the New York Times last year told a different story．It found that 80 percent of those polled(投票)believed that it was possible to start out poor, work hard and become rich, compared with less than 60 percent back in 1983．That is to say, most Americans are optimistic about making economic improvements in their own lifetime．
The contradiction implies that while people think they are going to make it, the reality is very different．
Hertz's research was based on data provided by over 4,000 children．Their parents' income was observed in 1968, and when they became adults their own income was reviewed again in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999．
This study may disprove the myth of America as the land of' opportunity, but it doesn't tell us what to do to fix it．
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