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Unit 17 Laughter Ⅰ.阅读理解 A Most Americans get what money they have from their work；that is ，they earn an income from wages or salaries.The richest Americans，however，get most of their money from what they own—their stocks，bonds，real estate，and other forms of property，or wealth.Although there are few accurate statistics to go by，wealth in American society appears to be concentrated in very few hands.More than 20 percent of everything that can be privately owned is held by less than one percent of the adult population and more than 75 percent of all wealth is owned by 20 percent of American adults.The plain fact is that most Americans have no wealth at all aside from their homes，automobiles，and a small amount of savings. Income in the United States is not as highly concentrated as wealth.In 1917 the richest 10 percent of American families received 26 percent of all income，while the poorest 10 percent received 17 percent，mainly from Social Security and other government payments.The most striking aspect of income distribution is that it has not changed significantly since the end of World War Ⅱ.Although economic growth has roughly doubled real disposable(可自由使用的)family income(the money left after taxes and adjusted for inflation)over the last generation，the size of the shares given to the rich and the poor is about the same.By any measure economic inequality is great in the United States. | 
