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Passage 1

Economically speaking,are we better off than we were ten years ago Twenty years ago

In their thirst for evidence on this issue,commentators seized on the recent report by the Census Bureau,which found that average household income rose by 5.2%in 2014.Unfortunately,that conclusion puts too much weight on a useful,but flawed and incomplete,statistic.Among the more significant problems with the Census's measure are that:1）it excludes taxes,transfers,and compensation like employer-provided health insurance;and 2）it is based on surveys rather than data.Even if precisely measured,income data exclude important determinants of economic well-being,such as the hours of work needed to earn that income.

While thinking about the question,we came across a recently published article by Charles Jones and Peter Klenow,which proposes an interesting new measure of economic welfare.While by no means perfect,it is considerably more comprehensive than average income,taking into account not only growth in consumption per person but also changes in working time,life expectancy,and inequality.Moreover,it can be used to assess economic performance both across countries and over time.

The Jones-Klenow method can be illustrated by a cross-country example.Suppose we want to compare the economic welfare of citizens of the U.S.and France in 2005.

In 2005,as the authors observe:real consumption per person in France was only 60%as high as the U.S.,making it appear that Americans were economically much better off than the French on average.However,that comparison omits other relevant factors:leisure time,life expectancy,and economic inequality.The French take longer vacations and retire earlier,so typically work fewer hours;they enjoy a higher life expectancy,presumably reflecting advantages with respect to health care,diet,lifestyle,and the like;and income and consumption are somewhat more equally distributed there than in the U.S.Because of these differences,comparing France's consumption with the U.S.'s overstates the gap in economic welfare.

Similar calculations can be used to compare the U.S.and other countries.For example,this calculation puts economic welfare in the United Kingdom at 97%of U.S.levels,but estimates Mexican well-being at 22%.

The Jones-Klenow measure can also assess an economy's performance over time.According to this measure,as of the early-to-mid-2000s,the U.S.had the highest economic welfare of any large country.Since 2007,economic welfare in the U.S.has continued to improve.However,the pace of improvement has slowed markedly.

Methodologically,the lesson from the Jones-Klenow research is that economic welfare is multi-dimensional.Their approach is flexible enough that in principle other important quality-of-life changes could be incorporated-for example,decreases in total emissions of pollutants and declines in crime rates.

What do Jones and Klenow think of the comparison between France and the U.S.in terms of real consumption per person （　　）

A.It reflected the existing big gap between the two economies
B.It neglected many important indicators of people's welfare
C.It covered up the differences between individual citizens
D.It failed to count in their difference in natural resources

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答案： B

本题解析：

根据题干关键词France and US定位至第四段和第五段，However,that comparison omits other relevant factors:leisure time,life expectancy,and economic inequality.然而，这种比较忽略了其他相关因素：闲暇时间、预期寿命和经济不平等。很明显，B项中neglected和important indicators分别与该句中omits和relevant factors对应。A项明显与文章主旨不符，而D项中美、法两国在自然资源方面的差异文中根本没有提到，可以排除，C相中有很大的迷惑性，国民个人之间的差异比较含糊，到底指的是美、法两国公民之间的个体差异还是两个国家内部公民之间的个体差异或两者兼而有之相比较而言，B项意思更为明确，而且该选项中的相关表述与对应的阅读点之间存在明显的对应关系。故本题正确答案选B。