浙江大学博士英语复习Reading.docVIP

Reading Text 1 Few social problems have increased so suddenly or been dramatized so effectively as the plight of the homeless in the 1980s and 1990s.Once an invisible people who could easily be ignored, the homeless are now recognized everywhere on the streets and in the public facilities of major cities. There are bag ladies who roam the streets carrying what is left of their possessions in shopping bags or grocery carts. There are disoriented men curled up on benches, in stairwells, or alongside walls. There are children – some runaways and some throwaways scrounge(偷，骗取) for food and shelter. The number of homeless people in underdeveloped societies in the mid-1980s was estimated by the United Nations (UN) to be more than 100 million. The so-called “new” homeless live in the developed, industrialized nations of Europe, North America, and East Asia. Accurate statistics have been impossible to verify, in part because of the conflicting viewpoints on the subject of homelessness. Politicians, lawyers, and others who become advocates for the homeless have said that there are from 2 to 3 million homeless in the US alone. Others who have studied the problem from a less sympathetic point of view suggest that the number is closer to 300,000. One reason for statistical uncertainty is the composition of the homeless population. Some families suffer temporary poverty because of loss of a job. Unable to afford rent or mortgage payment, they may temporarily join the ranks of the homeless of the homeless for a period of days or weeks (or they may live with relatives). Once another job is found, the family can usually afford shelter once more. The number of those who are truly homeless consist of possibly 3 percent or less of the very poor. Their most common characteristic is poverty, though some work at least part-time, while others receive various kinds of welfare payments. The makeup of the homeless population, according to a study by the US Conference of Magors, indicated the