|
|
A Return To The Past
Faced with rapid change and the fear and uncertainty that go with it,
individuals as well as nations sometimes seek to return to the ways of the past
as a solution. in the early 1980s the idea of returning to the ways of the past
had a strong appeal to many americans who increasingly viewed their past as
being better than their future. Two famous experts have observed that until the
1970 s americans generally believed that the present was a better time for their
country than the past and that the future would be better than the present; by
1978, however, public opinion polls showed that many americans had come to
believe that just the opposite was true: the past had been better for the
country than the present, and the present was better than the future would
be.
The popular appeal of returning to the ways of the past as a solution to
the problems of the 1980s was demonstrated when ronald reagan was elected
president of the united states in 1980 . time magazine chose president reagan as
its "man of the year" and said of him, "intellectually, emotionally, reagan
lives in the past."
One of president reagan’s basic beliefs is that the united states should
return as much as possible to its pre-19307 ways. in those times business
institutions were strong and government institutions were weak. reagan believes
that the american values of individual freedom and competition are strengthened
by business and weakened by government. therefore, his programs as president
have been designed to greatly strengthen business and reduce the size and power
of the national government. by moving in this way toward the practices of the
past, president reagan believed that the standard of living of americans would
begin to improve once more in the 1980s as it had done throughout most of the
nation’s history.
阅读自测：
Ⅰ. add the correct prefix to the following words:
plan
bearable
expected
pay
certain
war
known
common
decided
Ⅱ. fill in the blanks with the words or phrases in the passage:
1. happiness doesn't necessarily ________( 伴随) money.
2. traveling has a strong ________ ( 吸引力) to many young people
nowadays.
3. bill clinton has ever been chosen as ________ ( 年度风云人物) in the
1990s.
4. we all want to learn ________ ( 尽可能) to get a better future. 5. we are
confident that the ________ ( 生活水平) of china has been greatly improved since the
open-up.
参考答案
Ⅰ. preplan / unbearable / unexpected prepay / uncertain / prewar unknown /
uncommon / undecided
Ⅱ. 1. go with 2 . appeal 3 . man of the year 4. as much as possible 5.
standard of living |
|
发表于 2016-12-4 13:30:30