G M A T GMAT - GMAT currency1“fifl “ currency1 ” fl GMAT GMAT fl75. The following appeared in a letter to the editor of apopular science and technology magazine.It is a popular myth that consumers are really benefitingfrom advances in agricultural technology. Granted consumersare, on the average, spending a decreasing proportion of theirincome on food. But consider that the demand for food does notrise in proportion with real income. As real income rises,therefore, consumers can be expected to spend a decreasingproportion of their income on food. Yet agricultural technologyis credited with having made our lives better. Discuss how well reasoned. etc. fl 占他 收入 比例越越fl但 虑到人 求 会随着他 收入 增长 增长fl因此随着绝收入 增加 可以指他 比例会降fl 却据此 成让我 生活变得更好 原因flThe conclusion of this letter is that consumers are not trulybenefiting from advances in agricultural technology. The authorconcedes that, on the average, consumers are spending adecreasing proportion of their income on food. But the authorcontends that this would happen without advances in agriculturaltechnology. The author reasons that demand for food does notrise in proportion with real income, so as real income rises,consumers will spend a decreasing portion of their income onfood. This argument turns on a number of dubious assumptions.First of all, while asserting that real incomes are rising, theauthor provides no evidence to support this assertion; moreover,it might be false. Even if salaries and wages go up, this fact maynot indicate that real income has increased proportionally. Realincome takes into account any effect inflation might have on therelative value of the dollar. It is possible that, when salaries andwages are adjusted for inflation, what appear to be increases inreal income are actually decreases.In addition, the author assumes that increases in real incomeexplain why, on the average, consumers are now spending adecreasing proportion of their income on food. But no evidenceis provided to show that this explanation is correct. Moreover,the author fails to consider and rule out other factors that mightaccount for proportional decreases in spending on food.Finally, the entire argument turns on the assumption thatbenefits to consumers from advances in agricultural technologyare all economic ones specifically, ones reflected in food prices.The author ignores other likely benefits of agriculturaltechnology that affect food prices only indirectly or not at all.Such likely benefits include increased quality of food as it reachesthe market and greater availability of basic food items. Moreover,the author cannot adequately assess the benefits of agriculturaltechnology solely on the basis of current food prices becausethose prices are a function of more than just the technology thatbrings the food to market.In conclusion, this letter has provided little support for theclaim that consumers are not really benefiting from advances inagricultural technology. A stronger argument would account forthe benefits of technology other than the current price of food,and would account for other factors that affect food prices. Tobetter evaluate the argument, we would need more informationabout whether real incomes are actually rising and whether thisalone explains why consumers now spend a proportionatelysmaller amount of income on food.以 关GMAT 相关内容 够了解fl 了解GMAT相关 息 争取做到万无失fl更关GMAT 会呈fl最后祝顺 GMAT 早日梦圆名校fl