题目内容
anxiety A. achieve B. thief C. variety D. belief
Just 25 years ago, the top three career hopes for young people in Britain were teacher, banker and doctor. Now, they want to be sports star, pop star and actor, according to a survey by the Guardian newspaper.
Rachel, a character in the popular TV show Glee, may be said to speak for British teenagers. “Nowadays being nobody is worse than being poor.” He said.
Emma Brockes, a reporter with the Guardian, believes it is “the bad influence of celebrity(名人) culture” that is to blame. “When children wanted to be doctor, it wasn’t because they were really more interested in the functions of human organs than they are now; you go where the respect is.” She wrote.
It could explain why there has been such an increase in levels of anxiety and depression. Dr Carlo Stranger, of Tel Aviv University, studied the sense of self for his new book The Fear of Insignificance: Searching for Meaning in the 21st Century. He told the Daily Mail that young people now are “affected by the close connection to the global entertainment network, which has turned ranking and rating people according to wealth and celebrity into an obsession(痴迷).”
“As humans, we naturally measure ourselves to those around us, but now we live in a global village. We are comparing ourselves with the most ‘important’ people in the world and finding ourselves wanting…” he said. Today, even high achievers constantly fear that they are insignificant when they compare themselves to success stories in the media.
The way out? Simply stop measuring your achievement through a fantasy of wealth and celebrity. Dr Strenger said that it is a process called “active self-acceptance through a constant search for self-knowledge through life.”
“The fear of insignificance can only be overcome through strong individual and cultural identity over and above measurable achievement,” he said.
【小题1】.Nowadays, young people in Britain want to .
A.choose jobs based on interests | B.become famous |
C.be teacher, banker and doctor | D.earn more money |
A.Choices of future careers. | B.Access to the global network. |
C.Bad influences of celebrities. | D.Endless comparison with others. |
A.He is a newspaper reporter. | B.He is the spokesman of teenagers. |
C.He tells success stories on TV. | D.He is against ranking people with wealth. |
A.seek active self-acceptance | B.stick to their own dreams |
C.make great achievements | D.search for the secret of wealth |
A.talk about job choices | B.analyse a social phenomenon |
C.encourage celebrity culture | D.introduce three famous people |
E
Almost every day we come across situations in which we have to make decisions one way or another. Choice, we are given to believe, is a right. But for a good many people in the world. In rich and poor countries, choice is a luxury, something wonderful but hard to get, not a right. And for those who think they are exercising their right to make choices, the whole system is merely an illusion, a false idea created by companies and advertiser, hoping to sell their products.
The endless choice gives birth to anxiety in people’s lives. Buying something as basic as a coffee pot is not exactly simple. Easy access to a wide range of everyday goods leads to a sense of powerlessness in many people, ending in the shopper giving up and walking away, or just buying an unsuitable item(商品) that is not really wanted. Recent studies in England have shown that many electrical goods bought in almost every family are not really needed. More difficult decision-making is then either avoided or trusted into the hands of the professionals, lifestyle instructors, or advisors.
It is not just the availability of the goods that is the problem, but the speed with which new types of products come on the market. Advances in design and production help quicken the process Products also need to have a short lifespan so that the public can be persuaded to replace them within a short time. The typical example is computers, which are almost out-of-date once they are bought. This indeed makes selection a problem. Gone are the days when one could just walk with case into a shop and buy one thing; no choice, no anxiety.
1. What does the author try to argue in Paragraph 1?
A.The exercise of rights is a luxury. |
B.The practice of choice is difficult. |
C.The right of choice is given but at a price. |
D.Choice and right exist at the same time. |
2. Why do more choices of goods give rise to anxiety?
A.Professionals find it hard to decide on a suitable product. |
B.People are likely to find themselves overcome by business persuasion. |
C.Shoppers may find themselves lost in the broad range of items. |
D.Companies and advertisers are often misleading about the rage of choice. |
3.By using computers as an example, the author wants to prove that .
A.advanced products meet the needs of people |
B.products of the latest design fold the market |
C.competitions are fierce in high-tech industry |
D.everyday goods need to be replaced often |
4. What is this passage mainly about?
A.The variety of choices in modern society. |
B.The opinions on people’s right in different countries |
C.The Problems about the availability of everyday goods. |
D.The helplessness in purchasing decisions |