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Early in the age of affluence（富裕）that followed World War Ⅱ, an American retailing analyst named Victor Lebow proclaimed, "Our enormously productive economy...demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption... We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing rate."
Americans have responded to Lebow's call, and much of the world has followed.
Consumption has become a central pillar of life in industrial lands and is even embedded in social values. Opinion surveys in the world's two largest economies—Japan and the United States—show consumerist definitions of success becoming ever more prevalent.
Overconsumption by the world's fortune is an environmental problem unmatched in severity by anything but perhaps population growth. Their surging exploitation of resources threatens to exhaust or unalterably spoil forests, soils, water, air and climate.
Ironically, high consumption may be a mixed blessing in human terms, too. The time-honored values of integrity of character, good work, friendship, family and community have often been sacrificed in the rush to riches.
Thus many in the industrial lands have a sense that their world of plenty is somehow hollow—that, misled by a consumerism culture, they have been fruitlessly attempting to satisfy what are essentially social, psychological and spiritual needs with material things.
Of course, the opposite of overconsumption—poverty—is no solution to either environmental or human problems. It is infinitely worse for people and bad for the natural world too. Dispossessed（被剥夺得一无所有的）peasants slash-and-burn their way into the rain forests of Latin America, and hungry nomads（游牧民族）turn their herds out onto fragile African grassland, reducing it to desert.
If environmental destruction results when people have either too little or too much, we are left to wonder how much is enough. What level of consumption can the earth support? When does having more cease to add noticeably to human satisfaction?
A.led to the reform of the retailing system
B.resulted in the worship of consumerism
C.gave rise to the dominance of the new egoism
D.gave birth to a new generation of upper class consumers
A.the people's desire for a rise in their living standards
B.the concept that one's success is measured by how much they consume
C.the imbalance that has existed between production and consumption
D.the conversion of the sale of goods into rituals
A.Because poverty still exists in an affluent society.
B.Because over consumption won't last long due to unrestricted population growth.
C.Because traditional rituals are often neglected in the process of modernization.
D.Because moral values are sacrificed in pursuit of material satisfaction.
A.will not alleviate poverty in wealthy countries
B.will not aggravate environmental problems
C.cannot thrive on a fragile economy
D.cannot satisfy human spiritual needs
A.human spiritual needs should match material affluence
B.whether high consumption should be encouraged is still an issue
C.it remains a problem to keep consumption at a reasonable level
D.there is never an end to satisfying people's material needs
答案：B. 导致了消费主义的崇拜
解释：文章提到，Victor Lebow 认为，生产力的提高要求人们把消费当成生活方式，消费成为生活的核心。这说明社会开始崇尚消费主义。
答案：B. 将个人成功与消费多少挂钩的观念
解释：文章中提到，在世界两大经济体——美国和日本，消费主义定义的成功越来越普遍。这说明人们将消费视为成功的标准。
答案：D. 因为在追求物质满足的过程中，道德价值被牺牲了。
解释：文章中提到，工业化社会为了追求财富，牺牲了许多传统的道德价值，如品德、友情、家庭和社区等。这表明，高消费在一定程度上牺牲了道德和精神的满足。
答案：D. 无法满足人类的精神需求
解释：文章提到，误入消费主义文化的人们一直试图通过物质满足来填补社会、心理和精神上的空虚，但结果往往是徒劳的，表明消费无法满足人类的深层次精神需求。
答案：C. 如何保持消费在合理水平上仍然是一个问题
解释：文章中提到，“地球能支持多少消费？”和“什么时候更多的消费不再显著增加人类满足感？”这些问题表明，如何控制消费仍然是一个待解的问题。
快速浏览文章：先大致了解文章的主要观点和作者的立场。
抓住关键词：关注如“消费”、“精神需求”、“环境问题”等关键词，帮助快速定位答案。
关注因果关系：文章中经常描述高消费带来的后果，理解这些因果关系能帮助选择正确答案。
排除明显错误的选项：通过分析选项与文章内容是否一致，排除不符合的答案。
