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.