How is it that despite our amazing powers of production there are still hundreds of millions of people all over the earth in continuous want and poverty, and dangerously near the brink of starvation? What are the causes of poverty? Everyone is forced to realize and recognize its existence and no one has yet found a cure for it. Every thinking man has realized that poverty and starvation are not inevitable in the scheme of things. On the contrary, the fruitful earth yields enough for every one of the human beings inhabiting its surface without the twisted distribution of nature’s generosity(慷慨 ). This twisting is caused by our crude and ill developed ideas of distribution and the improper ordering of human services. In the first place, these services can be hindered at their source, and among the factors that operate in this direction may be war, crime, lack of healthy supervision, insufficient attention to rising generations, monopolies (垄断 ) and various private ownerships that limit the usefulness of property, and neglected and wasteful destruction of property.
In the second place, the great cause of poverty is unproductive consumption. Services become unproductive when they are devoted to supplying luxuries or an excessive quantity of necessaries, which may be summed up in a single word: waste. These are the primary causes of poverty; they are responsible for the presence of starvation. Is there a remedy?
The elimination of waste through perfect production and distribution is a problem that is slowly but surely being solved by the great combinations of capital that have destroyed competition. These monopolies, selfish in the extreme and with no thought beyond profit at any price, are rendering us useful service by teaching us the importance of cooperation and cooperative methods. When these great industrial combinations, these wonderfully smooth running great business machines become the property of all the people and cease to be operated for private gain, a great step will have been taken in the direction of the solution of the starvation problem. When everyone will produce according to his ability and consume according to his needs, then, and not until then will poverty and starvation depart entirely and forever from the minds of men.
6)
According to the passage, starvation _____.
A. is inevitable in whatever condition
B. is the result of insufficient production
C. is owing to the improper distribution of nature’s generosity
D. is due to excessive consumption by human beings
7)
Which of the following can hinder human services at their source?
A. Private ownerships and unproductive consumption.
B. Luxuries and an excessive quantity of necessaries.
C. Crime and lack of wealthy supervision.
D. War and destruction of property.
8)
Why does unproductive consumption is considered as the great cause of poverty in Paragraph Three?
A. Because people stop producing but only consume.
B. Because people devote too much to luxuries and don’t produce anything.
C. Because people are supplied with excessive quantity of necessaries and waste a lot.
D. Because people who don’t produce are responsible for the presence of starvation.
9)
How to eliminate waste through production and distribution according to the passage?
A. By seeking profit at any price and being selfish.
B. By privatizing business machines and teaching the importance of cooperation.
C. By creating more monopolies to make more profits.
D. By cooperating and making the industrial combinations public property.
10)
When can the starvation problem be solved according to the passage?
A. When the great industrial combinations cease to be operated for private gain.
B. When private monopolies become public property and the element of profit is eliminated.
C. When production is organized based on personal capabilities and distribution on individual needs.
D. When efficiency of production has been greatly enhanced.
参考答案：
6) C 7) D 8) C 9) D 10) C
