高中英语语法填空:短文题型基础练习 Test 19

“Your money or your life.” The choice traditionally presented by the highwayman（拦路强盗） is supposed to have only one sensible answer. Money is, 　61　 all, no use to a corpse. Yet economists often study something rather like the highwayman's offer in an attempt to uncover the answer to an important question: how much is your life actually worth?

Like many awkward（尴尬的） questions, this is one 　62　 has to be 　63　 (answer). Safety regulations save lives but also raise the cost of doing business, a cost we all pay through 　64　 (high) prices. Are they worth it? Our taxes pay for life-saving 　65　 (spend) on road safety and fire fighting. Are they high enough, or too high?

So how much are we willing to spend to save a life? A traditional planner's approach used to be to measure the value of wages 　66　 (lose) due to death or injury. That's dreadful: it confuses 　67　 I think my life is worth with what my boss thinks my life is worth.

So an alternative is to ask people how much they would pay for a safer car or kitchen cleaner. But such surveys do not always produce 　68　 (sense) results. Our answers depend on 　69　 we're being offered a safer household cleaner and then asked if we want the more dangerous version, or whether we're offered the brand and then asked if we'll pay for the safer product. People often answer “no” to both questions, 　70　 (contradict) themselves. These inconsistencies mean that we're either irrational or lying to pollsters, and perhaps both.