8．Cowboy or spaceman？A dilemma for a children's party，perhaps．But also a question for economists，argued Kenneth Boulding，a British economist，in an essay published in 1966．We have run our economies，he warned，like cowboys on the open grassland：taking and using the world's resources，confident that more lies over the horizon．But the Earth is less a grassland than a spaceship-a closed system，alone in space，carrying limited supplies．We need，said Boulding，an economics that takes seriously the idea of environmental limits．In the half century since his essay，a new movement has responded to his challenge．"Ecological economists"，as they call themselves，want to revolutionise its aims and assumptions．What do they say-and will their ideas achieve lift-off？
To its advocators，ecological economics is neither ecology nor economics，but a mix of both．Their starting point is to recognise that the human economy is part of the natural world．Our environment，they note，is both a source of resources and a sink for wastes．But it is ignored in conventional textbooks，where neat diagrams trace the flows between firms，households and the government as though nature did not exist．That is a mistake，say ecological economists．
There are two ways our economies can grow，ecological economists point out：through technological change，or through more intensive use of resources．Only the former，they say，is worth having．They are suspicious of GDP，a crude measure which does not take account of resource exhaustion，unpaid work，and countless other factors．In its place they advocate more holistic（全面的） approaches，such as the Genuine Progress Indicator （GPI），a composite index（复合指标） that includes things like the cost of pollution，deforestation and car accidents．While GDP has kept growing，global GPI per person peaked in 1978：by destroying our environment we are making ourselves poorer，not richer．The solution，says Herman Daly，a former World Bank economist and eco-guru，is a"steady-state"economy，where the use of materials and energy is held constant．
Mainstream economists are unimpressed．The GPI，they point out，is a subjective measure．And talk of limits to growth has had a bad press since the days of Thomas Malthus，a gloomy 18th century cleric who predicted，wrongly，that overpopulation would lead to famine．Human beings find solutions to some of the most annoying problems．But ecological economists warn against self-satisfaction．In 2009 a paper in Nature，a scientific journal，argued that human activity is already overstepping safe planetary boundaries on issues such as biodiversity（生物多样性） and climate change．That suggests that ecological economists are at least asking some important questions，even if their answers turn out to be wrong．
73．Why does Boulding compare the way economy is run with cowboy and spaceship？D
A．To advocate the importance of space programs．
B．To applaud the appearance of ecological economists．
C．To arouse people's interest in cowboys'adventures on grassland．
D．To awaken people to the need of sustainable development of economy．
74．What does the underlined word"challenge"in paragraph 1 refer to？B
A．Sending a cowboy into space through a spaceship．
B．Establishing an economics taking environmental limits into account．
C．Revolutionizing the ecological economists'aims and assumptions．
D．Enabling ecological economists to make their ideas achieve lift-offs．
75．Ecological economists will disagree thatA．
A．economies are worth growing through intensive use of resources
B．economics should attach importance to the idea of environmental limits
C．ecological economics is neither ecology nor economics
D．the human economy is part of the natural world
76．According to the passage，which of the following about GPI is true？C
A．It keeps growing although the peak appeared in the year 1978．
B．Mainstream economists regard it as a holistic and objective approach．
C．Ecological economists believe it is a better indicator of economy than GDP．
D．It fails to take the factors such as deforestation and car accidents into consideration．
77．We can infer from the last paragraph that the mainstream economists'attitude toward ecological economics isA．
A．doubtful B．sensitive C．optimistic D．over-concerned．
分析 本文属于说明文阅读，作者通过这篇文章主要向我们描述了生态经济学家认为我们需要建立一种新的经济学理论，在这个理论中认真的考虑环境限制的情况，GDP不够有真实意义，GPI是一种考虑更为全面的模式，然而主流经济学家并不赞同，但无论他们的想法是否正确，目前的经济学理论确实应该开拓创新．
解答 73．D．细节理解题．根据第一段"We need，said Boulding，an economics that takes seriously the idea of environmental limits"，Boulding说，我们需要建立一种新的经济学理论，在这个理论中认真的考虑环境限制的情况，因此是为了要唤醒人们对经济可持续发展的需要；故选D．
74．B 细节理解题．根据第一段"We need，said Boulding，an economics that takes seriously the idea of environmental limits"，Boulding说，我们需要建立一种新的经济学理论，在这个理论中认真的考虑环境限制的情况，可知他的挑战时建立一个考虑环境限制的经济学；故选B．
75．A．细节理解题．根据第三段"by destroying our environment we are making ourselves poorer，not richer"，通过损害环境的方式发展经济，我们只会使自己更穷，而不是更富有，可知经济学家不同意过度损耗资源去发展经济；故选A．
76．C．细节理解题．根据第三段"In its place they advocate more holistic approaches，such as the Genuine Progress Indicator （GPI）"在他们看来，他们推崇更全面的考虑模式，比如真实发展指数GPI，可知他们更相信GPI；故选C．
77．A．推理判断题，根据最后一段"Mainstream economists are unimpressed"主流经济学家并不接受这一观点，可知他们的态度是怀疑的；故选A．
点评 考察学生的细节理解和推理判断能力，做细节理解题时一定要找到文章中的原句，和题干进行比较，再做出正确的选择．在做推理判断题不要以个人的主观想象代替文章的事实，要根据文章事实进行合乎逻辑的推理判断．
