题目内容：

    Attacking billionaires is gaining popularity - especially among candidates to be America’s president. “Every billionaire is a policy failure,” goes a common left-wing slogan. In Britain’s election, too, the super-rich are under fire. Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party, says that a fair society would contain none.

Left-wingers’ criticizing inequality is nothing new. But the idea that huge personal fortunes are made  possible only when  government goes wrong  is a  more  novel and  serious idea. It is also misguided.

The left’s accusation is based on a bit of truth. When competition is fierce and fair, persistently high profits should be difficult to sustain. Yet on both sides of the Atlantic some companies make large profits in concentrated markets, and some billionaires have become successful where competition has failed. For example, Facebook and Google dominate online advertising. About a fifth of America’s billionaires made their money in industries in which government control or market failure is common.

Yet many others operate in competitive markets. The retailers owned by Mike Ashley, one of Mr Corbyn’s targets, are known for low prices and cruel competition. For every Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Facebook, there are several technology entrepreneurs( 创 业 者 )with lots of rivals. Nobody can seriously accuse these innovators of having dominated their markets or of depending on state favors. The same goes for sportsmen such as Michael Jordan or musicians like Jay-Z, billionaires both.

When capitalism functions well, competition reduces profits for some but also produces them for others as entrepreneurs seize more markets. Their success will eventually set off another cycle of disruption( 颠 覆 ), but in the meantime fortunes can be made. This process creates vast benefits for society. According to estimates by William Nordhaus, an economist, between 1948 and 2001 innovators captured only 2% of the value they created. Perhaps that is why billionaires are tolerated even by countries with perfect social-democratic system: Sweden and Norway have more billionaires per person than America does.

Taxes should be increased progressively. But that does not justify limitless redistribution or punitive(惩罚性的)tax increase. Ms Warren’s wealth tax has already doubled once during her campaign. Thomas Piketty, an economist behind many of the most-cited inequality statistics, proposes a wealth tax of up to 90% on the richest billionaires. Such expropriation(征收)would surely discourage motivation to innovate and to allocate capital efficiently. An economy with fewer entrepreneurs might have fewer billionaires but would ultimately be less dynamic, leaving everyone worse off.

Whatever Mr Corbyn says, Britain is hardly corrupt by global standards. But it does have a problem with inherited wealth, the source of one-fifth of billionaires’ fortunes. Higher inheritance taxes would be welcome there and in America, where it is too easy to pass wealth between the generations. Besides, a broader agenda of attacking monopoly(垄断)while maintaining dynamism would help weaken over-protection of intellectual-property and copyright, and promote competition in old and new industries alike.

Doing all this would achieve much more than an unfair attack on the rich - and without the associated damage. By all means, correct policy failures. But billionaires are usually the wrong target.

1.The examples of Facebook and Google are mentioned in Paragraph 3 to show _____.

A.the situation is unique to America

B.most billionaires benefit from government’s protection

C.some billionaires do succeed in less competitive situations

D.profits are impossible in fiercely competitive industries

2.What will happen when capitalism works well?

A.Tax on the rich will be increased as a punishment.

B.More wealth will be produced for the whole society.

C.Billionaires will get most of the wealth they have created.

D.Billionaires are not accepted even in social-democratic societies.

3.The writer thinks expropriation like Thomas Piketty’s proposal will _____.

A.increase taxes progressively B.allocate capital more efficiently

C.prevent economic development D.motivate people to strive for success

4.What does the writer mainly tell us in the last but one paragraph?

A.Intellectual property and copyright protection must be weakened.

B.It makes no sense for the government to increase inheritance taxes.

C.It’s possible to promote market competition without fighting monopoly.

D.Practical measures can be taken to deal with the gap between rich and poor.