100 學年度學測英文 第 26 題

Which is more valuable? Water or diamonds? Water is more useful to mankind than diamonds, and yet 26 are costlier. Why? Called the diamond-water paradox, this is a classic problem posed to students of economics.

The answer has to do with supply and demand. Being a rare natural resource, diamonds are 27 in supply. However, their demand is high because many people buy them to tell the world that they have money, 28 as conspicuous consumption in economics. In other words, the scarcity of goods is 29 causes humans to attribute value. If we 30 surrounded by an unending abundance of diamonds, we probably wouldn’t value them very much. Hence, diamonds carry a higher monetary value than water, even though we find more use for water.