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,冶 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” incoming 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.

58. 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.

59. 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

60. 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

【語篇解讀】本文是一篇議論文，題材是生活中購物買票等的插隊問題。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(wù)，就要額外付出更多的費用，由此對在道德和市場競爭之間產(chǎn)生的矛盾進行探討。

段落	關(guān)鍵詞、句	大意推測
第一部分（Para. 1）	ways of paying to cut in line；replaces the morals of the queue；with the morals of the market；	舉例提出論點：想出許多通過付費來解決排隊等候的問題，市場代替排隊問題。
第二部分（Para. 2-3）	Markets and queues; ways of allocating things; morals of the queue,  ignore privilege, power, and deep pockets，seems right，But ，not govern，different standards	分析論點：市場和排隊是分配事務(wù)的倆種方式，排隊的道德問題的不同運用場合。
第三部分（Para. 4-5）	Sometimes standards change; unclear; the recorded message; essential;  too seriously; enables; queue jumping	舉例論證：有時評價標準也是變化的，以記錄的消息為例進行論證說明。
第三部分（Para. 6）	not the only ways；However；so common； striking；scarcely imaginable；but	其他標準原則：市場的介入給我們的生活帶來的巨大變化。

【解析】

58.A。細節(jié)理解題。難度：中等。題干關(guān)鍵詞為“First come, first served”，定位第二、三段。第二段描述的是排隊的道德問題，又根據(jù)The principle seems right on playgrounds and at bus stops. Selling my house and waiting for a bus are different activities, properly governed by different standards.（賣房和等公交車是不同的活動，受不同標準的制約。）可知等公交車受到“先到先得”這一標準制約的，而賣房不在此列。

干擾項排除：由上面的分析課排除B項賣房的問題；再根據(jù)第一段第一句可知，直接從航空公司和游樂園購買票的專利權(quán)可以避免排隊等候的問題，可以排除C和D兩項。

59.C。細節(jié)理解題。難度：中等。題干關(guān)鍵詞為illustrates ，定位于第四五段。第四段第一句話Sometimes standards change, and it is unclear which principle should apply.說明了適用規(guī)則的不確定性，第五段第一句話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。

干擾項排除：A項排隊耐心等待的必要性與這兩段的描述內(nèi)容不符，可排除；B項現(xiàn)代科技的優(yōu)勢不是作者敘述的重點，只是一個舉例論證方法；D項電話服務(wù)業(yè)的公平性也不對，應該說是其時效性和優(yōu)質(zhì)的服務(wù)性等。

60. B。主旨大意題。難度：中等。題干關(guān)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多次表明了這篇文章的一個核心話題就是分配事務(wù)的道德問題的探討。

解題思路：找出文中多次出現(xiàn)的復現(xiàn)句，反復討論的話題大多就是文章的主旨。

干擾項排除：A項說快速支付服務(wù)的證明，這樣的總結(jié)過于片面；C項是對第一段內(nèi)容的據(jù)不理解；D項批評插隊行為也是過于狹隘，不能從整體上把握全篇的主旨。

【難句學習】

1. 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.

翻譯：如果我賣房子，我沒有義務(wù)接受第一個提出購房的客戶的條件，不會僅僅因為他是第一個出資人。

分析：本句是一個主從復合句。其主干是I have no duty to accept the first offer。分句是if引導條件狀語從句，主句中包含一個that引導的定語從句修飾先行詞the first offer；同時主句中還包含了一個because引導的原因狀語從句。

1.        Sometimes standards change, and it is unclear which principle should apply.

翻譯：有時標準也是會發(fā)生變化的，而且到底適用那一條原則也不明確。

分析：本句是一個并列句。And后面的分句中含有一個名詞性從句，it為形式主語，真正的主語是which principle should apply這一個主語從句。