（英语专业八级考试真题 2019 年）
Read carefully the following two excerpts on consumption, and then write your response in NO LESS THAN 300 WORDS, in which you should:
1. summarize the main message of the two excerpts, and then
2. comment on the role of consumption in human society, especially on whether consumption may lead to desirable or undesirable results.
You can support yourself with information from the excerpts.
Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
Excerpt 1
Consequences of Consumerism
In Human Development Report 1998 Overview by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), “World consumption has expanded at an unprecedented pace over the 20th century, with private and public consumption expenditures reaching $24 trillion in 1998, twice the level of 1975 and six times that of 1950. In 1990 real consumption expenditure was barely $1.5 trillion.”
In September 2001, the BBC aired a documentary called “Shopology,” where psychologists looked into the psychology of shopping and consumerism in countries like Britain, USA, and Japan and asked if it was healthy for consumers. Of the many points they raised, they observed that:
Consumption now helps to define who we are;
We essentially “buy” a lifestyle;
Consumerism can increase stress for various reasons;
To deal with social and consumerism pressures and their effects, people may on occasion consume even more to feel better;
Raising consumer debt puts pressure on families.
Two years later, the BBC aired another documentary called “Spend, Spend, Spend.” It looked at the issues of whether or not the increased wealth and consumerism had led to more content and satisfied individuals. The documentary observed that research evidence seemed to suggest that increased wealth did not necessarily lead to more satisfaction in Britain. When interviewed in the program, Professor Andrew Oswald of Warwick University said that the key reason for this was because as we get wealthier there is often a tendency to compare more with others, which contributes to more anxiety. The “keeping up with Joneses” syndrome. The implications of this are profound. As Oswald suggested, it is “hard to make society happier as they get richer and richer because human beings look constantly over their shoulders. That’s the curse of human beings; making comparisons.”
Excerpt 2
Consumption as a Path to Cultivation
Consumption, for George Simmel, German sociologist and philosopher, lies at the heart of the process through which people become cultivated, that is, grow to become participating, reflective members of society. This is because consumption provides an excellent site for the interaction between subject and object, which Simmel believed to be the key to cultivation. Subjectivity, the uniquely human capacity for self-reflection, which allows for the self-conscious construction of action and identity, is not naturally endowed; it only develops through the creative tension provided by interaction with objects (including people) existing in the world. For Simmel, consumption provides a vital forum for this subject-object interaction. Through consumption, people come to understand, instill meaning in, and act upon objects encountered in the world. Consumption provides people with the opportunity to refine themselves through interaction with objects in the world. In addition, by confronting, adapting, and integrating various world-views directly or indirectly demonstrated in consumption objects, people not only realize their potential as unique human beings, they also become well-socialized members of a society.
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