In his 1930 essay “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren ”, John Keynes, a famous economist, wrote that human needs fall into two classes: absolute needs ,which are independent of what others have , and relative needs ,which make us feel superior to our fellows. He thought that although relative needs may indeed be insatiable (无止境的) , this is not true of absolute needs.
Keynes was surely correct that only a small part of total spending is decided by the desire for superiority. He was greatly mistaken, however, in seeing this desire as the only source of insatiable demands.
Decisions to spend are also driven by ideas of quality which can influence the demands for almost all goods, including even basic goods like food. When a couple goes out for an anniversary dinner, for example, the thought of feeling superior to others probably never es to them. Their goal is to share a special meal that stands out from other meals.
There are no obvious limits to the escalation of demand for quality. For example, Porsche, a famous car producer, has a model which was considered perhaps the best sport car on the market Priced at over $120,000, it handles perfectly well and has great speed acceleration. But in 2004, the producer introduced some changes which made the model slightly better in handling and acceleration. People who really care about cars find these small improvements exciting. To get them, however, they must pay almost four times the price.
By placing the desire to be superior to others at the heart of his description of insatiable demands, Keynes actually reduced such demands. However, the desire for higher quality has no natural limits.
【小题1】According to the passage, John Keynes believed that .A．desire is the root of both absolute and relative needsB．absolute needs e from our sense of superiorityC．relative needs alone lead to insatiable demandsD．absolute needs are stronger than relative needs【小题2】What do we know about the couple in Paragraph 3?A．They want to show their superiority.B．They find specialty important to meals.C．Their demands for food are not easily satisfied. D．Their choice of dinner is【小题3】What does the underlined word “escalation” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?A．Understanding.B．IncreaseC．DifferenceD．Study【小题4】The author of the passage argues that .A．absolute needs have no limitsB．demands for quality are not insatiableC．human desires influence ideas of qualityD．relative needs decide most of our spendingC
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(答案→)C
解析：本次高考的最后一篇阅读，确有难度，是一篇议论文。它从英国著名经济学家约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯的一篇文章《我们后代的经济前景》入手，辩证地指出了他在文中提出的、关于消费需求的正确的和错误论点，指出了他的“人类对于优越生活的欲望是过度消费的唯一源泉”的错误。作者列举事例，从结婚周年庆的夫妇吃大餐的原因分析，并列举了保时捷一个成功的营销战例，力图证明消费也是由真实的、对生活质量的需求而决定的。在经济学上，绝对需求，指的是包括吃、喝、睡、性等一系列与我们的动物属性相关的对于生存的要求；相对需求，则指衣住行、柴米油盐、烟酒糖茶…享受类等与心理更为相关的社群性需求。
【小题1】同学们要注意，这个题考的不是作者的观点，而是凯恩斯的观点。在约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯看来，人类对于奢华生活的相对需求才是造成过度消费的罪魁祸首。这也是作者极力批驳他的地方。
related to ideas of quality.
【小题2】夫妻的周年庆，确是两人婚姻里值得庆贺的事情。两人在这天选择用餐可能是与平时不同，因为具有纪念意义。但“the thought of feeling superior to others probably never es to them”，想借此感受优越奢华生活的念头可能从来没有过。所以相对需求还是和平时生活质量有关。B选项仅停留于表面，非解释作者论证意图而得出的论点结论。
【小题3】escalation的意思是“扩大；增加”，文章中表示“对生活质量需求的增加”。
【小题4】按凯恩斯的观点，人类需求分为“绝对需求”和“相对需求”。从文章第一段可知“He thought that although relative needs may indeed be insatiable (无止境的) , this is not true of absolute needs.”（词组be not true of…对…不适用、不符合…）凯恩斯认为相对需求是无止境的。作者所做的就是辩驳他的论点，应是绝对需求无限，相对需求则和生活质量有关，是可控的、有条件性的和有限的，故选A。