20.However wealthy we may be,we can never find enough hours in the day to do everything we want.Economics deals with this problem through the concept of opportunity cost,which simply refers to whether someone's time or money could be better spent on something else.
Every hour of our time has a value.For every hour we work at one job we could quite easily be doing another,or be sleeping or watching a film.Each of these options has a different opportunity cost-namely,what they cost us in missed opportunities.
Say you intend to watch a football match but the tickets are expensive and it will take you a couple of hours to get to and from the stadium.Why not,you might reason,watch the game from home and use the leftover money and time to have dinner with friends?This-the alternative use of your cash and time-is the opportunity cost.
For economists,every decision is made by knowledge of what one must forgo-in terms of money and enjoyment-in order to take it up.By knowing precisely what you are receiving and what you are missing out on,you ought to be able to make better-informed,more reasonable decisions.Consider that most famous economic rule of all:there's no such thing as a free lunch.Even if someone offers to take you out to lunch for free,the time you will spend in the restaurant still costs you something in terms of forgone opportunities.
Some people find the idea of opportunity cost extremely discouraging:imagine spending your entire life calculating whether your time would be better spent elsewhere doing something more profitable or enjoyable.Yet,in a sense it's human nature to do precisely that-we assess the advantages and disadvantages of decisions all the time.
In the business world,a popular phrase is"value for money."People want their cash to go as far as possible.However,another is fast obtaining an advantage:"value for time."The biggest restriction on our resources is the number of hours we can devote to something,so we look to maximize the return we get on our investment of time.By reading this passage you are giving over a bit of your time which could be spent doing other activities,such as sleeping and eating.In return,however,this passage will help you to think like an economist,closely considering the opportunity cost of each of your decisions.

58.According to the passage,the concept of"opportunity cost"is applied toD.
A.making more money 
B.taking more opportunities
C.reducing missed opportunities 
D.weighing the choice of opportunities
59.The"leftover…time"in Paragraph 3probably refers to the timeC.
A.spared for watching the match at home 
B.taken to have dinner with friends
C.spent on the way to and from the match 
D.saved from not going to watch the match
60.What are forgone opportunitiesB?
A.Opportunities you forget in decision-making.
B.Opportunities you give up for better ones.
C.Opportunities you miss accidentally.
D.Opportunities you make up for.

分析 本文是一篇議論文.文章主要介紹了如何更好地支配自己的時間和金錢,以及如何在作決定時考慮花費(fèi)的機(jī)會成本.因為無論我們多么富有,我們也不可能在一天里找到足夠的時間做我們想要做的一切.因此,我們要放棄一些事情選擇做更好的事情.

解答 58.D  推理判斷題.根據(jù)第一段的"Economics deals with this problem through the concept of opportunity cost,which simply refers to whether someone's time or money could be better spent on something else".和第三段的"This-the alternative use of your cash and time-is the opportunity cost"可知,opportunity cost(機(jī)會成本)是指人們考慮自己的時間和金錢是否可以更好地被利用在其他的事情上,也就是在衡量自己的選擇是否合理.所以這個概念應(yīng)用于衡量機(jī)會的選擇方面,故選D.
59.C 詞義推測題.根據(jù)第三段的"Say…but the tickets are expensive and it will take you a couple of hours to get  to and from the stadium…use the leftover money and time to have dinner with friends?"可知,人們本來是想去看球賽,但是球賽的票太貴了.所以就把本來準(zhǔn)備看球賽的金錢和時間用在了別的地方,所以leftover …time所指的是"花在觀看比賽(路上)來去的時間".故選C.
60.B 推理判斷題.根據(jù)第四段的"Even if someone offers to take you out to lunch for free,the time you will spend in the restaurant still costs you something in terms of forgone opportunities."可知,即使有人帶你去享受免費(fèi)的午餐,在這種情況下,你吃飯的時間還是會讓你失去某些東西.所以推測出forgone opportunities是指"所放棄的可以做更有價值事情的更好的機(jī)會".故B正確.

點(diǎn)評 本文是政治經(jīng)濟(jì)類閱讀,考查學(xué)生對細(xì)節(jié)的理解把握和推理判斷能力,做題時一定要找到文章中的原句,和題干進(jìn)行比較,再做出正確選擇.在做推理判斷題時不要以個人的主觀想象代替文章的事實,要根據(jù)文章事實進(jìn)行合乎邏輯的推理判斷.

練習(xí)冊系列答案
相關(guān)習(xí)題

科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:選擇題

1.Last year the Browns moved to Toronto,         they had long dreamed of living in.( 。
A.whereB.whichC.thereD.one

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:選擇題

2.It is the duty of a teacher _____ the interest of students and pass on knowledge to them.(  )
A.to be stimulatingB.to have stimulated
C.to be stimulatedD.to stimulate

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解

8.It is reported that conservation groups in North America have been arguing about the benefits and dangers of wolves.Some groups believe wolves should be killed.Other people believe wolves
Must be protected so that they will not disappear from the wilderndss(荒野)
For Killing Wolves
    In Alaska,the wolf almost disappeared a few years ago,because hunters were killing hundreds 0f them forsport.However.1aws were established to protect the wolves from sportsmen and people who catch the animals for their fur.So the woIf population has greatly increased.Now there are so many wolves that they are destroying their own food supply.
   A wolf naturally eats animals in the deer family.People in the wilderness also hunt deer for food.Many of the animals have been destroyed by the very cold winters recently and by changes in the wilderness plant life.When the deer can't find enough food,they die.
    If the wolves continue to kill large numbers of deer,their prey(獵物)will disappear some day.And the wolves will.too.So we must change the cycle of life in the wilderness to balance the ecology.If we killed more wolves,we would save them and their prey from dying out.We'd also save some farm animals.
    In another northern state,wolves attack cows and chickens for food.Farmers want the government to send biologists to study the problem.They believe it necessary to kill wolves in some areas and to protect them in places where there is a small woIf population.
Against Killing Wolves
    If you had lived long ago,you would have heard many different stories about the dangerous wolf.According to most stories,hungry wolves often kill people for food.Even today,the stories of the"big bad woIf'"will not disappear.
    But the fact is wolves are afraid of people.a(chǎn)nd they seldom travel in areas where there is a human smell.When wolves eat other animals,they usually kill the very young.or the sick and injured.The strongest survive.No kind of animal would have survived through the centuries if the weak members had lived.And has always been a law of nature.Although some people say it is good sense to kill wolves,we say it is nonsense!Researchers have found wolves and their prey living in balance.The wolves keep the deer population from becoming too large,and that keeps a balance in the wilderness plant life.
    The real problem is that the areas where wolves can live are being used bv people.Even if wilderness land is not used directly for human needs.the wolves can't always find enough food.So they travel to the nearest source,which is often a farm.Then there is danger.The"big bad wolf"has arrived!And everyone knows what happens next.

60.According to the passage,some people in North America favor killing wolves for all the following reasons EXCET thatD.
A.there are too many wolves                B.they kill large numbers deer
C.they attack cows and chickens for food    D.they destroy the wilderness plant life
61.Some people are against killing wolves becauseA.
A.wolves help to keep the ecological balance in the wildemess
B.there is too small a wolf population in the wilderness
C.there are too many deer in the wilderness
D.wolves are afraid of people and never attack people
62.According to those against killing wolves,when wolves eat other animals,C.
A.they never eat strong and healthy ones
B.they always go against the law of nature
C.they might help this kind of animals survive in nature
D.they disturb the ecological balance in the wilderness
63.The last sentence"And everyone knows what happens next"implies that in such casesB.
A.farm animals will be in danger and have to be shipped away
B.woIves will kill people and people will in turn kill them
C.wolves wilI find enough food sources on famls
D.people will leave the areas where wolves can live.

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解

15.Here is an astonishing and significant fact:Mental work alone can't make us tire.It sounds absurd.But a years ago,scientists tried to find out how long the human brain could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue (疲勞).To the amazement of these scientists,they discovered that blood passing through the brain,when it is active,shows no fatigue at all!If we took a drop of blood from a day laborer,we would find it full of fatigue toxins(毒素) and fatigue products.But if we took blood from the brain of an Albert Einstein,it would show no fatigue toxins at the end of the day.
  So far as the brain is concerned,it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours of effort as at the beginning.The brain is totally tireless.So what makes us tired?
  Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue comes from our mental and emotional(情緒的) attitudes.One of England's most outstanding scientists,J.A.Hadfield,says,"The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin.In fact,fatigue of purely physical origin is rare."Dr.Brill,a famous American scientist,goes even further.He declares,"One hundred percent of the fatigue of sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems."
  What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired?Joy?Satisfaction?No!A feeling of being bored,anger,anxiety,tenseness,worry,a feeling of not being appreciated-those are the emotions that tire sitting workers.Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue.We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.

64.What surprised the scientists a few years ago?C.
A.Fatigue toxins could hardly be found in a laborer's blood.
B.Albert Einstein didn't feel worn after a day's work.
C.The brain could work for many hours without fatigue.
D.A mental worker's blood was filled with fatigue toxins.
65.According to the author,which of the following can make sitting workers tired?B.
A.Challenging mental work.
B.Unpleasant emotions.
C.Endless tasks.
D.Physical labor.
66.What's the author's attitude towards the scientists'idea?A.
A.He agrees with them.     B.He doubts them.
C.He argues against them.  D.He hesitates to accept them.
67.We can infer from the passage that in order to stay energetic,sitting workers need toB.
A.have some good food.
B.enjoy their work
C.exercise regularly
D.discover fatigue toxins.

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解

5.I didn't always appreciate rural America,because I was raised in town and could be called a city girl.But my country husband Tom helped change my opinion of the country.
When Tom was young,he would play around a wooden house deserted in the 1880s not far from his home.He spent so many days there that it became very special to him.Later he found that the house was used as a historical museum for school students on field trips.As Tom grew older,he watched the house age.After his retirement,he heard it was going to be destroyed.He paid a visit to the owner and offered to buy the place in order to save it.The owner agreed,but Tom had to have it moved within a month.
For three straight weeks,he took the building down and moved every piece of it to our farm.He insisted on doing everything the old-fashioned way to keep t his building as original as possible.He did make a few small changes to the house's design,such as adding a beautiful fieldstone fireplace.Even those stones had a history with---some were the same ones he had thrown out of his father's field as a boy.
With the help of his family and friends,Tom restored (修復(fù)) this house beautifully.Neighbors stop by to see his progress and admire his skills not only has he learned a great deal about construction,he has also built some friendships in the process.

39.From Paragraph 2 we learn thatC.
A.Tom's family was the owner of the old wooden house
B.Tom once went to the old wooden house for field trips
C.Tom was concerned about the changes of the wooden house
D.Tom used to live in the old wooden house in his childhood.
40.Tom restored the wooden house becauseA.
A.the old house carried his childhood memories
B.he wanted to build a new museum for the kids
C.he was interested in construction after retirement
D.the house was destroyed by time and needed rebuilding.
41.In the process of restoring the house,TomC.
A.did the job all by himself                     
B.kept the house exactly the same
C.learnt some construction skills                 
D.threw some stones out of his farm
42.According to the author,Tom's restoring work isC.
A.old-fashioned         
B.time-wasting       
C.a(chǎn)dmirable       
D.crazy.

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:短文改錯

12.下文中共有10處語言錯誤,每句中最多有兩處.每處錯誤僅涉及一個單詞的增加、刪 除或修改.
增加:在缺詞處加一個漏字符號(^),并在其下面寫出該加的詞.
刪除:把多余的詞用斜線(\)劃掉.
修改:在錯的詞下劃一橫線,并在該詞下面寫出修改后的詞.
注意:1.每處錯誤及其修改均僅限一詞;
2.只允許修改10處,多者(從第11處起)不計分.
My neighbor's children love playing hide-and-seek as other children do,but everybody
had imagined that the game they played themselves last week would be reported in the local
newspaper.One afternoon,they are playing at the street comer.Paul,only five year old,
hid and locked himself in a storage mailbox in accident His sister,Nancy,heard his cries and realized what had happened,so she immediately asked a mailman open the metal door.Paul
was free,but he had such bad a scare that he could not stop ay.The mailman told him that
next time he wanted to hide in a mail box,he should remember to put the stamp on himself.
When he heard that,Paul burst into laughing.

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:選擇題

9.         ,the growing lack of kindness is a social phenomenon that has caused great concern of society.( 。
A.As a consequenceB.On the whole
C.On the contraryD.In the meanwhile

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:選擇題

10.We are very grateful to you for your effort to come     to help us.( 。
A.all the wayB.in the wayC.on the wayD.by the way

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習(xí)冊答案