Question

However wealthy we may be, we can never find enough hours in the day to do everything we want. Economics deals with this problem through the concept of opportunity cost, which simply refers to whether someone's time or money could be better spent on something else.

Every hour of our time has a value. For every hour we work at one job we could quite easily be doing another, or be sleeping or watching a film. Each of these options has a different opportunity cost—namely, what they cost us in missed opportunities.

Say you intend to watch a football match but the tickets are expensive and it will take you a couple of hours to get to and from the stadium. Why not, you might reason, watch the game from home and use the leftover money and time to have dinner with friends? This—the alternative use of your cash and time—is the opportunity cost.

For economists, every decision is made by knowledge of what one must forgo—in terms of money and enjoyment—in order to take it up. By knowing precisely what you are receiving and what you are missing out on, you ought to be able to make better-informed, more reasonable decisions. Consider that most famous economic rule of all: there's no such thing as a free lunch. Even if someone offers to take you out to lunch for free, the time you will spend in the restaurant still costs you something in terms of forgone opportunities.

Some people find the idea of opportunity cost extremely discouraging: imagine spending your entire life calculating whether your time would be better spent elsewhere doing something more profitable or enjoyable. Yet, in a sense it's human nature to do precisely that—we assess the advantages and disadvantages of decisions all the time.

In the business world, a popular phrase is "value for money." People want their cash to go as far as possible. However, another is fast obtaining an advantage: "value for time." The biggest restriction on our resources is the number of hours we can devote to something, so we look to maximize the return we get on our investment of time. By readmg this passage you are giving over a bit of your time which could be spent doing other activities, such as sleeping and eating. In return, however, this passage will help you to think like an economist, closely considering the opportunity cost of each of your decisions.

1.According to the passage, the concept of "opportunity cost" is applied to    .

A. making more money                B. taking more opportunities

C. reducing missed opportunities    D. weighing the choice of opportunities

2.Hie "leftover ... time" in Paragraph 3 probably refers to the time    .

A. spared for watching the match at home

B. taken to have dinner with friends

C. spent on the way to and from the match

D. saved from not going to watch the match

3.What are forgone opportunities?

A. Opportunities you forget in decision-making.

B. Opportunities you give up for better ones.

C. Opportunities you miss accidentally.

D. Opportunities you make up for.

Answer

1.D

2.C

3.B

【解析】

1.推理题。根据文章第一段2，3行Economics deals with this problem through the concept of opportunity cost, which simply refers to whether someone's time or money could be better spent on something else.可知opportunity cost是指人们思考自己的时间金钱是否可以更好地被利用在其他的事情上。也就是在衡量自己的选择是否合理。故D项符合。

2.推理题。根据文章第三段Why not, you might reason, watch the game from home and use the leftover money and time to have dinner with friends?人们本来是想去看球赛，但是球赛的票太贵了。所以就把本来准备看球赛的金钱和时间用在了别的地方，那么这里的leftover money and time就是指看球赛来回所花费的时间。故C正确。

3.推理题。根据文章第三段Even if someone offers to take you out to lunch for free, the time you will spend in the restaurant still costs you something in terms of forgone opportunities.即使有人带你去享受免费的午餐，在这种情况下，你吃饭的时间还是会让你失去某些东西。这是从forgone opportunities的角度来说的，也就是说你还可以用这段时间做更有价值，更有意义的事情，但是你却把他用来享用这段免费的午餐。所以forgone opportunities就是指放弃的机会。故B正确。