8．Cowboy or spaceman？A dilemma for a children's party，perhaps．But also a question for economists，argued Kenneth Boulding，a British economist，in an essay published in 1966．We have run our economies，he warned，like cowboys on the open grassland：taking and using the world's resources，confident that more lies over the horizon．But the Earth is less a grassland than a spaceship-a closed system，alone in space，carrying limited supplies．We need，said Boulding，an economics that takes seriously the idea of environmental limits．In the half century since his essay，a new movement has responded to his challenge．"Ecological economists"，as they call themselves，want to revolutionise its aims and assumptions．What do they say-and will their ideas achieve lift-off？
To its advocators，ecological economics is neither ecology nor economics，but a mix of both．Their starting point is to recognise that the human economy is part of the natural world．Our environment，they note，is both a source of resources and a sink for wastes．But it is ignored in conventional textbooks，where neat diagrams trace the flows between firms，households and the government as though nature did not exist．That is a mistake，say ecological economists．
There are two ways our economies can grow，ecological economists point out：through technological change，or through more intensive use of resources．Only the former，they say，is worth having．They are suspicious of GDP，a crude measure which does not take account of resource exhaustion，unpaid work，and countless other factors．In its place they advocate more holistic（全面的） approaches，such as the Genuine Progress Indicator （GPI），a composite index（復(fù)合指標(biāo)） that includes things like the cost of pollution，deforestation and car accidents．While GDP has kept growing，global GPI per person peaked in 1978：by destroying our environment we are making ourselves poorer，not richer．The solution，says Herman Daly，a former World Bank economist and eco-guru，is a"steady-state"economy，where the use of materials and energy is held constant．
Mainstream economists are unimpressed．The GPI，they point out，is a subjective measure．And talk of limits to growth has had a bad press since the days of Thomas Malthus，a gloomy 18th century cleric who predicted，wrongly，that overpopulation would lead to famine．Human beings find solutions to some of the most annoying problems．But ecological economists warn against self-satisfaction．In 2009 a paper in Nature，a scientific journal，argued that human activity is already overstepping safe planetary boundaries on issues such as biodiversity（生物多樣性） and climate change．That suggests that ecological economists are at least asking some important questions，even if their answers turn out to be wrong．
73．Why does Boulding compare the way economy is run with cowboy and spaceship？D
A．To advocate the importance of space programs．
B．To applaud the appearance of ecological economists．
C．To arouse people's interest in cowboys'adventures on grassland．
D．To awaken people to the need of sustainable development of economy．
74．What does the underlined word"challenge"in paragraph 1 refer to？B
A．Sending a cowboy into space through a spaceship．
B．Establishing an economics taking environmental limits into account．
C．Revolutionizing the ecological economists'aims and assumptions．
D．Enabling ecological economists to make their ideas achieve lift-offs．
75．Ecological economists will disagree thatA．
A．economies are worth growing through intensive use of resources
B．economics should attach importance to the idea of environmental limits
C．ecological economics is neither ecology nor economics
D．the human economy is part of the natural world
76．According to the passage，which of the following about GPI is true？C
A．It keeps growing although the peak appeared in the year 1978．
B．Mainstream economists regard it as a holistic and objective approach．
C．Ecological economists believe it is a better indicator of economy than GDP．
D．It fails to take the factors such as deforestation and car accidents into consideration．
77．We can infer from the last paragraph that the mainstream economists'attitude toward ecological economics isA．
A．doubtful B．sensitive C．optimistic D．over-concerned．
分析 本文屬于說明文閱讀，作者通過這篇文章主要向我們描述了生態(tài)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家認(rèn)為我們需要建立一種新的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)理論，在這個(gè)理論中認(rèn)真的考慮環(huán)境限制的情況，GDP不夠有真實(shí)意義，GPI是一種考慮更為全面的模式，然而主流經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家并不贊同，但無論他們的想法是否正確，目前的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)理論確實(shí)應(yīng)該開拓創(chuàng)新．
解答 73．D．細(xì)節(jié)理解題．根據(jù)第一段"We need，said Boulding，an economics that takes seriously the idea of environmental limits"，Boulding說，我們需要建立一種新的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)理論，在這個(gè)理論中認(rèn)真的考慮環(huán)境限制的情況，因此是為了要喚醒人們對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)可持續(xù)發(fā)展的需要；故選D．
74．B 細(xì)節(jié)理解題．根據(jù)第一段"We need，said Boulding，an economics that takes seriously the idea of environmental limits"，Boulding說，我們需要建立一種新的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)理論，在這個(gè)理論中認(rèn)真的考慮環(huán)境限制的情況，可知他的挑戰(zhàn)時(shí)建立一個(gè)考慮環(huán)境限制的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)；故選B．
75．A．細(xì)節(jié)理解題．根據(jù)第三段"by destroying our environment we are making ourselves poorer，not richer"，通過損害環(huán)境的方式發(fā)展經(jīng)濟(jì)，我們只會(huì)使自己更窮，而不是更富有，可知經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家不同意過度損耗資源去發(fā)展經(jīng)濟(jì)；故選A．
76．C．細(xì)節(jié)理解題．根據(jù)第三段"In its place they advocate more holistic approaches，such as the Genuine Progress Indicator （GPI）"在他們看來，他們推崇更全面的考慮模式，比如真實(shí)發(fā)展指數(shù)GPI，可知他們更相信GPI；故選C．
77．A．推理判斷題，根據(jù)最后一段"Mainstream economists are unimpressed"主流經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家并不接受這一觀點(diǎn)，可知他們的態(tài)度是懷疑的；故選A．
點(diǎn)評(píng) 考察學(xué)生的細(xì)節(jié)理解和推理判斷能力，做細(xì)節(jié)理解題時(shí)一定要找到文章中的原句，和題干進(jìn)行比較，再做出正確的選擇．在做推理判斷題不要以個(gè)人的主觀想象代替文章的事實(shí)，要根據(jù)文章事實(shí)進(jìn)行合乎邏輯的推理判斷．
