2011年职称英语教材阅读理解新增文章英文+中文(8)

职称英语

The main impact of endless choice in people's lives is anxiety. Buying something as basic as a coffee pot is not exactly simple. Easy access to a wide range of consumer goods induces a sense of powerlessness, even paralysis, in many people, ending in the shopper giving up and walking away6, or just buying an unsuitable item that is not really wanted in order to solve the problem and reduce the unease. Recent surveys in the United Kingdom have shown that a sizeable proportion of electrical goods bought per household are not really needed. The

advertisers and the shareholders of the manufacturers are, nonetheless, satisfied.

It is not just their availability that is the problem, but the speed with which new versions of products come on the market. Advances in design and production mean that new items are almost ready by the time that goods hit the shelves7. Products also need to have a short lifespan so that the public can be persuaded to replace them within a short time. The classic example is computers which are almost obsolete once they are bought. At first, there were only one or two available

from a limited number of manufacturers, but now there are many companies all with not only their own products but different versions of the same machine. This makes selection a problem. Gone are the days when one could just walk with ease. into a shop and buy one thing8; no choice, no anxiety.

The plethora of choice is not limited to consumer items. With the greater mobility of people around the world, people have more choice about where they want to live and work — a fairly recent phenomenon. In the past, nations migrated across huge swathes of the earth in search of food, adventure, and more hospitable environments. Whole nations crossed continents and

changed the face of history, So the mobility of people is nothing new. The creation of nation states and borders9 effectively slowed this process down. But what is different now is the speed at which migration is happening.

练习：

1. What is the difference between the decision to shop in a certain supermarket and the decision to drop out of college according to the first paragraph? 根据短文第一段，选择在一家超市买东西和选择辍学的区别是___。

A) The former is a right while the latter is not..前者是正确的选择而后者是错误的。

B) The latter has more impact on life. 后者对于生活有重要的影响。（正确答案）

C) The former may happen for many times in life.前者在人的一生中也许会发生很多次。

D) The latter requires a fee.后者需要资金。

2. When people can not easily decide what to buy, what is the least possible choice? 当人们不能轻而易举的作出决定时，最不可能的选择是__________。

A) Give up.放弃。

B) Walk away.离开。

C) Buy an unsuitable item.买一个不合适的款式。

D) Seek advice. 寻求建议。（正确答案）

3. Why do products have short lifespan nowadays? 今天，商品的生命周期很短的原因是______________。

A) They are more often replaced with better ones. 它们经常被更好的东西所替代。（正确答案）

B) They have worse quality.它们的质量更差。

C) They have too many versions.它们有太多的版本。