2012年12月英语六级真题阅读原文_大学英语阅读

2012年12月英语六级真题阅读原文

Youve now heard it so many times, you can probably repeat it in your sleep. President Obama will no doubt make the point publicly when he gets to Beijing: the Chinese need to consume more; they needbelieve it or notto become more like Americans, for the sake of the global economy.

And its all true. But the other side of that equation is that the U.S. needs to save more. For the moment, American households actually are doing so. After the personal-savings rate dipped to zero in 2005, the shock of the economic crisis last year prompted people to snap shut their wallets.

In China, the household-savings rate exceeds 20%. It is partly for policy reasons. As weve seen, wage earners are expected to care for not only their children but their aging parents. And there is, to date, only the flimsiest (脆弱的) of publicly-funded health care and pension systems, which increases incentives for individuals to save while they are working. But China is a society that has long esteemed personal financial prudence (谨慎). There is no chance thatwill change anytime soon, even if the government creates a better social safety net and successfully encourages greater consumer spending.

Why does the U.S. need to learn a little frugality (节俭)?Because healthy savings rates are one of the surest indicators of a countrys long-term financial health. High savings lead, over time, to increased investment, which in turn generates productivity gains, innovation and job growth. In short, savings are the seed corn of a good economic harvest.