Question

We’ve considered several ways of paying to cut in line：hiring line standers，buying tickets from scalpers (票販子)，or purchasing line?cutting privileges directly from，say，an airline or an amusement park.Each of these deals replaces the morals of the queue (waiting your turn) with the morals of the market (paying a price for faster service)．

Markets and queues—paying and waiting—are two different ways of allocating things，and each is appropriate to different activities.The morals of the queue，“First come，first served，”have an egalitarian(平等主義的) appeal.They tell us to ignore privilege，power，and deep pockets.

The principle seems right on playgrounds and at bus stops.But the morals of the queue do not govern all occasions.If I put my house up for sale，I have no duty to accept the first offer that comes along，simply because it’s the first.Selling my house and waiting for a bus are different activities，properly governed by different standards.

Sometimes standards change，and it is unclear which principle should apply.Think of the recorded message you hear，played over and over，as you wait on hold when calling your bank：“Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received.”This is essential for the morals of the queue.It’s as if the company is trying to ease our impatience with fairness.

But don’t take the recorded message too seriously.Today，some people’s calls are answered faster than others.Call center technology enables companies to“score”incomings calls and to give faster service to those that come from rich places.You might call this telephonic queue jumping.

Of course，markets and queues are not the only ways of allocating things.Some goods we distribute by merit，others by need，still others by chance.However，the tendency of markets to replace queues，and other non?market ways of allocating goods is so common in modern life that we scarcely notice it anymore.It is striking that most of the paid queue?jumping schemes we’ve considered—at airports and amusement parks，in call centers，doctors’offices，and national parks—are recent developments，scarcely imaginable three decades ago.The disappearance of the queues in these places may seem an unusual concern，but these are not the only places that markets have entered.

1.According to the author，which of the following seems governed by the principle“First come，first served”？

A．Taking buses.

B．Buying houses.

C．Flying with an airline.

D．Visiting amusement parks.

2.The example of the recorded message in Paragraphs 4 and 5 illustrates________.

A．the necessity of patience in queuing

B．the advantage of modern technology

C．the uncertainty of allocation principle

D．the fairness of telephonic services

3.The passage is meant to________.

A．justify paying for faster services

B．discuss the morals of allocating things

C．analyze the reason for standing in line

D．criticize the behavior of queue jumping

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.A

2.C

3.B

【解析】本文是一篇議論文，題材是生活中購物、買票等時的插隊問題，作者通過舉例、道理分析來解讀道德和市場的平衡問題。要想得到快速的服務，就要額外付更多的費用，并由此對在道德和市場競爭之間產生的矛盾進行了探討。

1.

2.2】解析：選C。細節理解題。題干中的關鍵詞為illustrates，定位于第四、五段。第四段第一句Sometimes standards change，and it is unclear which principle should apply.說明了適用規則的不確定性，第五段第一句But don’t take the recorded message too seriously.又說不要太把這個事例當回事，也說明了這一點。A項“排隊耐心等待的必要性”與這兩段的描述內容不符，可排除；B項“現代科技的優勢”不是作者敘述的重點，只是一個舉例論證的方法；D項“電話服務業的公平性”也不對，應該說是其時效性和優質的服務性等。

3.3】解析：選B。主旨大意題。題干中的關鍵詞為is meant to，定位于全篇文章。第二段和第六段的第一句都表明了這篇文章的核心話題就是對分配性事務的道德問題的探討，找出文中的復現句，其反復討論的話題大多就是文章的主旨。A項“快速支付服務的證明”，這樣的總結過于片面；C項“分析排隊的理由”，是對第一段內容的誤解；D項“批評插隊行為”也是過于狹隘，這三項均不能從整體上把握全篇的主旨。