Unemployment seems now to be regarded by some economists as ______ part of societies conce
A.a feature
B.an exponent
C.a component
D.an exposed
A.a feature
B.an exponent
C.a component
D.an exposed
第1题
But we need to go further. We must ask some fundamental questions about the future of work. Should we continue to treat employment as the norm? Should we not rather encourage many other ways for self-respecting people to work? Should we not create conditions in which many of us can work for ourselves, rather than for an employer? Should we not aim to revive(使复活)the household and the neighborhood, as well as the factory and the office, as centers of production and work?
The industrial age has been the only period of human history in which most people' s work has taken the form. of jobs. The industrial age may now be coming to an end and some of the changes in work patterns which it brought may have to be reversed. This seems a discouraging thought. But, in fact, it could offer the prospect of a better future for work. Universal employment, as its history shows, has not meant economic freedom.
Employment became widespread when the enclosures (圈地运动) of the 17th and 18th centuries made many people dependent on paid work by depriving them of the use of the land, and thus of the means to provide a living for themselves. Then the factory system destroyed the cottage industries and removed work from people's homes. Later, as transport improved, first by rail and then by road, people traveled longer distances to their places of employment until eventually many people's work lost all connection with their home lives and the places in which they lived.
Meanwhile, employment put women at a disadvantage. It became customary for the husband to go out to paid employment, leaving the unpaid work of the home and family to his wife.
All this may now have to change. The time has certainly come to switch some effort and resources away from the impractical goal of creating jobs for all, to the urgent practical task of helping many people to manage without full-time jobs.
We can conclude from the first paragraph that______.
A.the public in general are indifferent to the high unemployment in the country
B.the public in general feel optimistic towards the high unemployment situation in the country
C.people in general will readily share employment with other people
D.the present high unemployment figures are a fact of life
第9题
In New York, Boston and other cities, homelessness is at record levels, a consequence of a faltering (摇晃的) economy that has crumbled even further after the Sept. 11 attacks.
A survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors released last week found that requests for emergency shelter in 27 cities had increased an average of 13 percent over last year. The report said the increases were 26 percent in Trenton; 25 percent in Kansas City, Mo; 22 percent in Chicago; 20 percent in Denver; and 20 percent in New Orleans.
An unusual confluence of factors seems to be responsible for the surge. Housing prices, which soared in the expansion of the 1990's, have not gone down, even though the economy has tumbled. A stream of layoffs has newly unemployed people taking low-wage jobs that might have otherwise gone to the poor. Benefits for welfare recipients are expiring under government imposed deadlines. And charitable donations to programs that help the disadvantaged are down considerably, officials around the country said, because of the economy and the outpouring of donations for people affected by Sept. 11.
"This is an unprecedented convergence (集中) of calamities (灾难)," said Xavier De Souza Briggs, an assistant professor of public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. "It's really a crisis."
More than half the cities surveyed by the mayors' group reported that in the last year people had remained homeless longer, an average of six months.
There is no total number for the homeless nationwide. Experts said it was difficult to compare the situ- ation with statistics in previous decades, because counting methods have improved. Yet, several experts said they believed that the increases reported by cities like Boston and Chicago reflected a national trend.
"My impression is that there is more homelessness now than there was 20 years ago." Gary Burtless, an economist at the Brookings Institution, said, adding that he believed that economic factors were not the sole explanation.
"I think that there must be a greater segment of our population that has tenuous connections to family and friends, and therefore has fewer resources to fall back on when something very bad happens like when they lose their job." he said.
Which of the following is NOT a reason for the increase of homelessness?
A.Unemployment.
B.Housing prices.
C.Sept. 11 attacks.
D.Floods.