Historians have only recently begun io note the increase in demand for luxury goods and secrviccs that took place in eighteenth century England. McKendrick has explored the Wedgwood firm&39;s remarkable success in marketing luxury pottery. Plumb has written about the proliftration(繁荣的) of provincial theater,music festivals and children&39;s toys and books. While the fact of this consumer revolution is hardly in doubt.three key question remain：Who were the consumers? What were their motives? And what were the effects of the new demand for luxuries? An answer to the first of these has been difficult io obtain. Although it has possible to infer from the goods and services actually produced what manufacturers and servicing trades thought their customers wanted,only a study of relevant personal documents written by actual consumer will provide a precise picture of who want what. We still need to know how large consumer market was and how far down the social scale the consumer demand for luxury good penetrated. With regard to last question,we might note in passing that Thompson, while rightly restoring laboring people to the stage of eighteenth century English history,has probably exaggerated the opposition of these people to the inroads of capitalist consumerism in general:for example,laboring people in eightcenth-century England readily shifted from home-brewed beer to standardized beer produced by huge.heavily capitalized urban breweries(啤酒厂). To answer the question of why consumers became so eager to buy，some historians have pointed to the ability of manufacturers to advertise in a relatively uncensored press.This,however,hardly seems a suficient answer.McKendriek favors a Veblen model of conspicuous consumption stimulated by competition for status. The"middling sort”bought goods and services because they wanted to follow fashions set by the rich, Again, we may wonder whether this explanation is sufficient. Do not people enjoy buying things as a form. of self-gratification? If so, consumerism could be seen as a product of the rise of new concepts of individualism and materialism, but not necessarily of the frenzy for conspicuous competition. Finally, what were the consequences of this consumer demand for luxuries? McKen-drick claims that it goes a long way toward explaining the coming of the Industrial Revolution. But doesit? What, for example , does the production of high-quality-pottery and toys have to do with the development of iron manufacture or textile mills? It is perfectly possi-ble to have the psychology and reality of a consumer society without a heavy industrial sector. That future exploration of these key questions is undoubtedly necessary should not.however, diminish the force of the conclusion of recent studies:the insatiable(不能满足的)demand in eighteenth-century England for frivolous as well as useful goods and services foreshadows our own world. In the first paragraph, the author mentions McKendrick and Plumb most probably in order to A.contrast their views on the subject of luxury consumerism in eighteenth-century England B.indicate the inadequacy of historiography approaches to eighteenth-century English history C.give examples of historians who have helped to establish the fact of growing consumerism in eighteenth-century England D.support the contention that key questions about eighteenth-century-consumerism remain to be answered Which of the following items, if preserved from eighteenth-century England,would provide an example of the kind of documents mentioned in paragraph 2?A.A written agreement between a supplier of raw materials and a supplier of luxury goods. B.A diary that mentions luxury goods and services purchased by its author. C.A theater ticket stamped with the date and name of a particular play. D.A newspaper advertisement describing luxury goods and services available at a seaside resort. In the third paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with_____.A.contrasting two theses and offering a compromise B.questioning two explanations aná proposing a possible alternative to them C.paraphrasing the work of two historians and questioning their assumptions D.raising several questions but implying that they cannot be answered According to the passage a Veblen model of conspicuous consumption has been used to____A.investigate the extent of the demand for luxury goods among social classes in eighteenth-century England B.classify the kinds of luxury goods desired by eighteenth-century consumers C.explain the motivation of eighteenth century consumers to buy luxury goods D.establish the extent to which the tastes of rich consumers were shaped by the middle classes in eighteenth century England