Forget Iraq and budget deficits. The most serious political problem on both sides of the Atlantic is none of these. It is a diff

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问题     Forget Iraq and budget deficits. The most serious political problem on both sides of the Atlantic is none of these. It is a difficulty that has dogged the ruling classes for millennia. It is the servant problem.
    In Britain David Blunkett, the home secretary, has resigned over an embarrassment (or one of many embarrassments, in a story involving his ex-girlfriend, her husband, two pregnancies and some DNA) concerning a visa for a Filipina nanny employed by his mistress. His office speeded it through for reasons unconnected to the national shortage of unskilled labour. Mr. Blunkett resigned ahead of a report by Sir Alan Budd, an economist who is investigating the matter at the government’s request.
    In America Bernard Kerik, the president’s nominee for the Department of Homeland Security, withdrew last week because he had carelessly employed a Mexican nanny whose Play-Doh skills were in better order than her paperwork. Mr. Kerik also remembered that he hadn’t paid her taxes. The nominee has one or two other "issues" (an arrest warrant in 1998, and allegations of dodgy business dealings and extra-marital affairs). But employing an illegal nanny would probably have been enough to undo him, as it has several other cabinet and judicial appointees in recent years.
    There is an easy answer to the servant problem—obvious to economists, if not to the less clear-sighted. Perhaps Sir Alan, a dismal scientist of impeccable rationality, will be thoughtful enough to point it out in his report.
    Parents are not the only people who have difficulty getting visas for workers. All employers face restrictive immigration policies which raise labour costs. Some may respond by trying to fiddle the immigration system, but most deal with the matter by exporting jobs. In the age of the global economy, the solution to the servant problem is simple: rather than importing the nanny, offshore the children.

选项 A、the political problem to the ruler.
B、the embarrassment to the home secretary.
C、the chronic ailment to the patient.
D、the government’s request to the economist.

答案C

解析 本题是一道细节题,其答案信息来源在第一段,尤其是第一段第三句中的"millennia"(一千年)一词。该词充分暗示:"servant problem"(佣人问题)是一个长久以来的问题。故从第一段中可以推导出本题的正确答案应该是C,佣人问题对于统治阶级而言等同于慢性病和病人之间的关系。在解题时要注意词语的引申含义和寓意。
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