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Professor Plumb has just invented a highly concentrated form. of food. All the essential n
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Yesterday he lived and moved, responsive to a thousand external influences, reflecting earth and sky in his small brilliant brain as in a looking-glass; also he had a various language, the inherited knowledge of his race, and the faculty of flight, by means of which he could shoot, meteor-like, across the sky, and pass swiftly from place to place; and with it he was able to drop himself plumb down from the tallest tree-lop, or out of the void air, on to a slender spray, and scarcely cause its leaves to tremble.
Now, on this morning, he lies stiff and motionless; so easy and swift is the passage from life to death in wild nature! But he was never miserable.
An answer to the flint of these has been difficult to obtain. Although it has been possible to infer from the goods and services actually produced what manufacturers and servicing trades thought their customers wanted, only a study of relevant personal documents written by actual consumers will provide a precise picture of who wanted what. We still need to know how large this consumer market was and how far clown the social scale the consumer demand for luxury goods penetrated. With regard to this last question, we might note in passing that Thompson, while rightly restoring laboring people to the stage of eighteenth century.
English history, has probably exaggerated the opposition of these people to the inroads of capitalist consumerism in general: for example, laboring people in eighteenth century England readily shifted from home-brewed beer to standardized beer produced by huge, heavily capitalized urban breweries.
To answer the question of why consumers became so eager to buy, some historians have pointed to the ability of manufacturers to advertise in a relatively uncensored press. This, however, hardly seems a sufficient answer. McKendrick favors a Veblen model of conspicuous consumptions stimulated by competition for status. The "middling sort" bought goods and services because they wanted to follow fashions set by the rich. Again, we may wonder whether this explanation is sufficient. Do not people enjoy buying things as a form. of self-gratification? If so, consumerism could be seen as a product of the rise of new concepts of individualism and materialism, but not necessarily of the frenzy for conspicuous competition.
Finally, what were the consequences of this consumer demand for luxuries? McKendrick claims that it goes a long way toward explaining the coming of the Industrial Revolution. But does it? What for example does the production of high-quality pottery and toys have to do with the development of iron manufacture or textile mills? It is perfectly possible to have the psychology and reality of a consumer society without a heavy industrial sector.
That future exploration of these key questions is undoubtedly necessary should not, however, diminish the force of the conclusion of re cent studies: the insatiable demand in eighteenth century England for frivolous as well as useful goods and services foreshadows our own world.
In the first paragraph, the author mentions McKendrick and Plumb most probably in order to _______.
A.contrast their views on the subject of luxury consumerism in eighteenth century England
B.indicate the inadequacy of historiographical approaches to eighteenth century English history
C.give examples of historians who have helped to establish the fact of growing consumerism in eighteenth century England
D.support the contention that key questions about eighteenth century consumerism remain to be answered
Professor Smith has great confidence () his students.
A.in
B.over
C.on
D.at
Professor Nash has been equipped with much (know) ______ in this field.
The professor’s lecture ()light on the problem that has puzzled us for so long.
A、give
B、shed
C、show
D、donated
The professor has finished ______ the students' papers.
A.to correct
B.in correcting
C.correcting
D.being corrected
听力原文:W: Professor, have you graded my term paper yet?
M: To tell you the truth, I've been tied up in committee meetings all week.
Q: What can be inferred about the conversation?
(13)
A.The professor has graded the paper.
B.The professor has been in the meeting all week.
C.The professor hates to grade the paper.
D.The professor has read his paper on the meeting.
An answer to the first of these has been difficult to obtain. Although it has been possible to infer from the goods and services actually produced what manufacturers and servicing trades thought their customers wanted, only a study of relevant personal documents written by actual consumers will provide a precise picture of who wanted what. We still need to know how large this consumer market was and how far down the social scale the consumer demand for luxury goods penetrated. With regard to this last question, we might note in passing that Thompson, while rightly restoring laboring people to the stage of eighteenth-century English history, has probably exaggerated the opposition in general; for example, laboring people in eighteenth- century England readily shifted from home-brewed beer to standardized beer produced by huge, heavily capitalized urban breweries.
To answer the question of why consumers became so eager to buy, some historians have pointed to the ability of manufacturers to advertise in a relatively uncensored press. This, however, hardly seems a sufficient answer. McKendriek favors a Velen model of conspicuous consumption stimulated by competition for status. The "middling sort" bought goods and services because they wanted to follow fashions set by the rich. Again, we may wonder whether this explanation is sufficient. Do not people enjoy buying things as a form. of self-gratification? If so, consumerism could be seen as a product of the rise of new concepts of individualism and materialism, but not necessarily of the frenzy for conspicuous competition.
Finally, what were the consequences of this consumer demand for luxuries? McKendrick claims that it goes a long way toward explaining the coming of the Industrial Revolution. But does it? What, for example, does the production of high-quality pottery and toys have to do with the development of iron manufacture or textile mills? It is perfectly possible to have the psychology and reality of a consumer society without a heavy industrial sector.
The future exploration of these key questions is undoubtedly necessary. It should not, however, diminish the force of the conclusion of recent studies: the insatiable demand in eighteenth-century England for frivolous as well as useful goods and services foreshadows our own world.
In the first paragraph, the author mentions McKendrick and Plumb most probably in order to ______.
A.contrast their views on the luxury consumerism in eighteenth-century England
B.indicate the inadequacy of the traditional approaches to eighteenth-century English history
C.support the contention that key questions about eighteenth-century consumerism remain unanswered
D.give examples of historians who have explored the eighteenth-century consumerism in England
A.The professor has graded the paper.
B.The professor has been in the meeting all week.
C.The professor hate, to grade the paper.
D.The professor has read his paper on the meeting.
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