研究生英语阅读教程(基础级2版)课文10及其翻译.docVIP

American Values at the Crossroads [1] Faced with the rapid change and the fear and uncertainty that go with it, individuals (citizens) as well as (and) nation sometimes seek to return to the ways of the past as a solution. In the early 1980s the idea of returning to the ways of the past had a strong appeal to (attraction) many Americans who increasingly viewed their past as being better than their future. It has been observed that until the 1970s Americans generally believed that the present was a better time for their country than the past and that the future would better than the present; by 1978, however, public opinion polls showed that many Americans had come to believe that just the opposite was true: the past had been better for the country than the present, and the present was better than the future would be. [2] The popular (present) appeal (desire) of returning to the ways (styles) of the past as a solution (solve-solution) to the problems of the 1980s was demonstrated (shown) when Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States in 1980. Time magazine chose President Reagan as its man of the year and said of (commented) him: intellectually, emotionally, Reagan lives in the past. [3] One of President Reagans basic beliefs is that the United States should return as much as possible to its pre-1930 ways. In those times business institutions (organization) were strong and government institutions were weak. Reagan believed that American values of individual freedom and competition are strengthened by business and weakened by government. Therefore, his programs (goal/ objectives) as President have been designed to greatly strengthen business and reduce the size and power of the national government. By moving in this way toward the practices of the past, President Reagan believed that the standard of living of Americans would begin to improve once more (again) in the 1980s as it had done throughout most of the nations history. [4] A number of leaders in