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In the United States today, business institutions have a higher prestige (status) than any other kind of organization, including the government. Why do business institutions possess this great prestige? One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the ideal of competition than other institutions in society. Since competition is seen as the major source of progress and prosperity by most Americans, competitive business institutions are respected. Competition is not only good in itself; it is the means by which other basic American values such as individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and hard work are protected. Competition protects the freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly(垄断) of power. In contrast to one, all-powerful government, many businesses compete against each other for profits. Theoretically, if one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to competing business which treats its customers more fairly. Where many businesses compete for the customers' dollar, they cannot afford to treat them like inferiors or slaves. A contrast is often made between business, which is competitive, and government, which is often a monopoly. Because business is competitive, many Americans believe that it is more supportive of freedom than government, even though government leaders are elected by the people and business leaders are not. Many Americans believe, then, that competition is as important as, or even more important than, democracy in preserving freedom. Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the idea of equality of opportunity. Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to the swiftest person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is commonly viewed as the American alternative to social rank based on family background. Business is therefore viewed as an expression of the idea of equality of opportunity rather than the aristocratic(贵族的) idea of inherited privilege. 柯立芝总统那句“美国的事业就是商业”的名言,至今仍印证着一个重要真理:在当今美国社会中,商业机构的声望(威望)甚至超越了政府等其他任何组织。为何商业机构能享有如此高的地位?其中一个关键原因在于,美国人普遍认为商业机构比其他社会机构更植根于竞争理念。由于多数美国人将竞争视为推动社会进步与繁荣的核心动力,具有竞争力的商业机构自然备受推崇。竞争不仅本身具有积极意义,更是守护个人自由、机会均等、勤奋工作等美国核心价值观的重要保障。 竞争通过杜绝权力垄断(垄断)来保障个人自由。与全能政府不同,众多企业为争夺利润展开竞争。理论上,若某企业试图剥削客户,终将败给更公平对待客户的竞争对手。当众多企业争夺客户资金时,它们绝不能将客户视为低等品或奴隶。 人们常将竞争性商业与垄断性政府进行对比。由于商业具有竞争性,许多美国人认为它比政府更支持自由,尽管政府领导人由人民选举产生,而商业领袖并非如此。因此,许多美国人认为,竞争在维护自由方面与民主同等重要,甚至更为重要。 商业竞争也被认为能强化机会均等的理念。竞争被视为一场公开公平的角逐,成功属于行动最迅速者,而不论其社会阶层背景。竞争性成功常被视为美国社会对基于家庭背景的社会等级制度的替代选择。因此,商业被视作机会均等理念的体现,而非贵族(贵族的)阶层所主张的世袭特权。【缺少答案,请补充】
Psychologist George Spilich and colleagues at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, decided to find out whether, as many smokers say, smoking helps them to "think and concentrate". Spilich put young non-smokers, active smokers and smokers deprived(被剥夺)of cigarettes through a series of tests. In the first test, each subject(试验对象)sat before a computer screen and pressed a key as soon as he or she recognized a target letter among a grouping of 96. In this simple test, smokers, deprived smokers and non-smokers performed equally well. The next test was more complex,requiring all to scan sequences of 20 identical letters and respond the instant one of the letters transformed into a different one. Non-smokers were faster, but under the stimulation of nicotine(尼古丁), active smokers were faster than deprived smokers. In the third test of short-term memory,non-smokers made the fewest errors,but deprived smokers committed fewer errors than active smokers. The fourth test required people to read a passage,then answer questions about it.Non-smokers remembered 19 percent more of the most important information than active smokers, and deprived smokers bested those who had smoked a cigarette just before testing.Active smokers tended not only to have poorer memories but also had trouble separating important information from insignificant details. "As our tests became more complex,"sums up Spilich,"non-smokers performed better than smokers by wider and wider margins".He predicts,"smokers might perform adequately at many jobs—until they got complicated.A smoking airline pilot could fly adequately if no problems arose, but if something went wrong,smoking might damage his mental capacity." 心理学家乔治·斯皮利奇与马里兰州切斯特敦华盛顿学院的同事决定验证吸烟者常说的‘吸烟有助于思考和专注’这一说法。斯皮利奇让年轻非吸烟者、活跃吸烟者以及 被剥夺 吸烟者接受了一系列测试。 在第一次测试中,每位受试者(试验对象)坐在电脑屏幕前,当从96个字母中识别出目标字母时立即按键。在这个简单的测试中,吸烟者、禁烟者和非吸烟者的表现相当。 接下来的测试更为复杂,要求所有人扫描20个相同字母的序列,并在字母立即变为另一个字母时作出反应。非吸烟者反应更快,但在尼古丁(尼古丁)刺激下,主动吸烟者比戒烟者反应更快。 在短期记忆的第三次测试中,非吸烟者犯错最少,但戒烟者比持续吸烟者犯错更少。 第四项测试要求受试者阅读一段文字并回答相关问题。非吸烟者对最重要信息的记忆力比活跃吸烟者高出19%,而戒烟者的表现优于测试前刚吸过烟的受试者。活跃吸烟者不仅存在记忆力较差的问题,还难以区分重要信息与无关细节。 斯皮利奇总结道:‘随着测试难度的增加,非吸烟者的成绩差距与吸烟者相比愈发显著。’他预测:‘吸烟者在多数工作中可能表现尚可——直到遇到复杂任务。若无意外,一名吸烟的航空飞行员或许能胜任飞行任务,但一旦出现问题,吸烟可能损害其认知能力。’【缺少答案,请补充】
The appeal of advertising to buying motives can have both negative and positive effects. Consumers may be convinced to buy a product of poor quality or high price because of an advertisement.For example,some advertisers have appealed to people's desire for better fuel economy for their cars by advertising automotive products that improve gasoline mileage.Some of the products work.Others are worthless and a waste of consumers'money. Sometimes advertising is intentionally misleading.A few years ago a brand of bread was offer to dieters(节食者)with the message that there were fewer calories(热量单位,大卡)in every slice.It turned out that the bread was not dietetic(适合于节食的),but just regular bread.There were fewer calories because it was sliced very thin,but there were the same number of calories in every loaf. On the positive side,emotional appeals may respond to a consumer's real concerns.Consider fire insurance.Fire insurance may be sold by appealing to fear of loss.But fear of loss is the real rea- son for fire insurance.The security of knowing that property is protected by insurance makes the pur- chase of fire insurance a worthwhile investment for most people.If consumers consider the quality of the insurance plans as well as the message in the ads,they will benefit from the advertising. Each consumer must evaluate her or his own situation.Are the benefits of the product important enough to justify buying it?Advertising is intended to appeal to consumers,but it does not force them to buy the product.Consumers still control the final buying decision.
The way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled,pain free life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness.if fun and pleasure are equal to happiness then pain must be equal to unhappiness.but in fact,the opposite is true:more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain. As a result,many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness.They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage,raising children,professional achievement, religious commitment(承担的义务),self-improvement. Ask a bachelor(单身汉)why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying.If he is honest he willtell you that he is afraid of making a commitment.For commitment is in fact painful.The single life is filled with fun,adventure,and excitement.Marriage has such moments,but they are not its most distinguishing features. Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night's sieep or a three-day vacaion.i don't know any parent who would chose the word "fun" to describe raising children.But couples who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild. Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations.It liberates time:now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness.It liberates money:buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless.And it liberates usfrom envy:we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.【缺少答案,请补充】