问答题The economic system of the United States is principally one of private ownership. In this system, consumers, producers and government make economic decisions on a daily basis, mainly through the price system. The dynamic interaction of these three groups makes the economy function The market’s primary force, however, is the interaction of producers and consumers; hence the "market economy" designation
As a rule, consumers look for the best values for what they spend while producers seek the best price and profit for what they have to sell. Government, at the federal, state, and local level, seeks to promote public security, assure reasonable competition, and provide a range of services believed to be better performed by public rather than private enterprises.
Generally, there are three kinds of enterprises: single-owner operated businesses, partnerships and corporations. The first two are important, but it is the latter structure that best permits the amassing of large sums of money by combining the investments of many people who, as stockholders, can buy and sell their shares of the business at any time on the open market. Corporations make large-scale enterprises possible.
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1.单项选择题A new catastrophe faces Afghanistan. The American
bombing campaign is conspiring with years of civil conflict and drought to
create an environmental crisis.
Humanitarian and political
concerns are dominating the headlines. But they are also masking the
disappearance of the country’s once rich habitat and wildlife, which are quietly
being crushed by war. The UN is dispatching a team of investigators to the
region next month to evaluate the damage. "A healthy environment is a
prerequisite for rehabilitation," says Klaus Topfer, head of the UN environment
Programme.
Much of south-east Afghanistan was once lush forest
watered by monsoon rains. Forests now cover less than 2 per cent of the country.
"The Worst deforestation occurred during Taliban rule, when its timber mafia
denuded forests to sell to Pakistani markets," says Usman Qazi, an environmental
consultant based in Quetta, Pakistan. And the intense bombing intended to flush
out the last of the Taliban troops is destroying or burning much of what
remains.
The refugee crisis is also wrecking the environment,
anti much damage may be irreversible. Forests and vegetation are being cleared
for much-needed farming, but the gains are likely to be short-term. "Eventually
the land will be unfit for even the most basic form of agriculture,’ warns
Hammed Naqi of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Pakistan. Refugees—around 4
million as the last county—are also cutting into forests for firewood.
The hail of bombs falling on Afghanistan is making life particularly bard
for the country’s wildlife. Birds such as the pelican and endangered Siberian
crane cross eastern Afghanistan as they follow one of the world’s great
migratory thoroughfares from Siberia to Pakistan and India. But the number of
the birds flying across the region has dropped by a staggering 85 per cent.
"Cranes are very sensitive and they do not use file route if riley see any
danger," says Ashiq Ahgmad, an environmental scientist for file WWF in Peshawar,
Pakistan, who has tracked the collapse of the birds’ migration this
winter.
The rugged mountains also usually provide a safe haven
for mountain leopards, gazelles, bears and Marco Polo sheep—the world’s largest
species. "The same terrain that allows fighters to strike and disappear back
into the frills has also historically enabled wild life to survive," says Peter
Zahler of the Wildlife Conservation society, based in New York. But he warns
they are now under intense pressure from file bombing and invasions of refugees
and fighters.
For instance, some refugees are hunting rare snow
leopards to buy a safe passage across the border, A single fur can fetch $2,000
on the black market, says Zahler. Only 5,000 or so snow leopards are thought to
survive in central Asia, and less than 100 in Afghanistan, their numbers already
decimated by extensive hunting, and smuggling into Pakistan before the
conflict." Timber, falcons and medicinal plants are also being smuggled across
the border. The Taliban once controlled much of this trade, but the recent power
vacuum could exacerbate the problem.
Bombing will also leave
its mark beyond file obvious craters. Defence analysts say that while depleted
uranium has been used less in Afghanistan than in file Kosovo conflict,
conventional explosives will litter the country with pollutants. They contain
toxic compounds such as cyclonite, a carcinogen, and rocket propellants contain
perchlorates, which damage thyroid glands.All of the following are causes of the environmental, crisis in
Afghanistan EXCEPT ______.
A. American bombing
B. heavy monsoon rains
C. years of lack of rain
D. fighting among the Afghanis
2.单项选择题If you intend using humor in your talk to make
people smile, you must know how to identify shared experiences and problems.
Your humor must be relevant to the audience and should help to show them that
you are one of them or that you understand their situation and are in sympathy
with their point of view. Depending on whom you are addressing, the problems
will be different. If you are talking to a group of managers, you may refer to
the disorganized methods of their secretaries; alternatively if you are
addressing secretaries, you may want to comment on their disorganized
bosses.
Here is an example, which I heard at a nurses’
convention, of a story which works well because the audience ail shared the same
view of doctors. A man arrives in heaven and is being shown around by St. Peter.
He sees wonderful accommodations, beautiful gardens, sunny weather, and so on.
Everyone is very peaceful, polite and friendly until, waiting in a line for
lunch, the new arrival is suddenly pushed aside by a man in a white coat, who
rushes to the head of the line, grabs his food and stomps over to a table by
himself. "Who is that" the new arrival asked St. Peter. "Oh, that’s God," came
the reply, "but sometimes he thinks he’s a doctor."
If you are
part of the group which you are addressing, you will be in a position to know
the experiences and problems which are common to all of you and it’ll be
appropriate for you to make a passing remark about the inedible canteen food or
the chairman’s notorious bad taste in ties. With other audiences you mustn’t
attempt to cut in with humor as they will resent an outsider making disparaging
remarks about their canteen or their chairman. You will be on safer ground if
you stick to scapegoats like the Post Office or the telephone system.
If you feel awkward being humorous, you must practice so that it becomes
more natural. Include a few casual and apparently off-the-cuff remarks which you
can deliver in a relaxed and unforced manner. Often it’s the delivery which
causes the audience to smile, so speak slowly and remember that a raised eyebrow
or an unbelieving look may help to show that you are making a light-hearted
remark.
Look for the humor. It often comes from the unexpected.
A twist on a familiar quote "If at first you don’t succeed, give up" or a play
on words or on a situation. Search for exaggeration and understatements. Look at
your talk and pick out a few words or sentences which you can mm about and
inject with humor.The best title for the passage may be ______.
A. Use Humor Effectively
B. Various Kinds of Humor
C. Add Humor to Speech
D. Different Humor Strategies
3.单项选择题Flats were almost unknown in Britain until the 1850s
when they were developed, along with other industrial dwellings, for the
laboring classes. These vast blocks were plainly a convenient means of easing
social conscience by housing large numbers of the ever-present poor on compact
city sites. During the 1880s, however, the idea of living in comfortable
residential chambers caught on with the affluent upper and upper middle classes,
and controversy as to the advantages and disadvantages of flat life was a topic
of conversation around many a respectable dinner-table. In Paris and other major
European cities, the custom whereby the better-off lived in apartments, or
flats, was well established. Up to the late nineteenth century in England only
bachelor barristers had established the tradition of living in rooms near the
Law Court: any self-respecting head of household would insist upon a West End
town house as his London home, the best that his means could provide.
The popularity of flats for the better-off seems to have developed for a
number of reasons. First, perhaps, through the introduction of the railways,
which had enabled a wide range of people to enjoy a holiday staying in a suite
at one of the luxury hotels which had begun to spring up during the previous
decade. Hence, no doubt, the fact that many of the early luxury flats were
similar to hotel suites, even being provided with communal dining-rooms and
central boilers for hot water and heating. Rents tended to be high to cover
overheads, but savings were made possible by these communal amenities and by
tenants being able to reduce the number of family servants.
On
of the earliest substantial London developments of flats for the well-to-do was
begun soon after Victoria Railway Station was opened in 1860, as the train
service provided an efficient link with both the City and the South of
England. Victoria Street, adjacent to both the Station and Westminster,
had already been formed, and under the direction of the architect, Henry Ashton,
was being lined with blocks of residential chambers in the Parisian manner.
These flats were commodious indeed, offering between eight and fifteen rooms
apiece, including appropriate domestic offices. The idea was an emphatic
departure from the tradition of the London house and achieved immediate
success.
Perhaps the most notable block in the vicinity was
Queen Anne’s Mansions, partly designed by E. R. Robson in 1884 and recently
demolished. For many years, this was London’s loftiest building and had strong
claims to be the ugliest. The block was begun as a wild speculation, modeled on
the American skyscraper, and was nearly 200 feet high. The cliff-like walls of
dingy brick completely overshadowed the modest thoroughfare nearby. Although
bleak outside, the mansion flats were palatial within, with sumptuously
furnished communal entertaining and dining rooms. And lifts to the uppermost
floors. The success of these tall blocks of flats could not have been achieved,
of course, without the invention of the lift, or "ascending carriage" as it was
called when first used in the Strand Law Courts in the 1870s.Queen Anne’s Mansions were ______.
A. elegantly decorated both inside and outside
B. grim from the outside and had modest interiors
C. flashy from the street but nondescript inside
D. plain outside but with lavish interiors
4.单项选择题If you intend using humor in your talk to make
people smile, you must know how to identify shared experiences and problems.
Your humor must be relevant to the audience and should help to show them that
you are one of them or that you understand their situation and are in sympathy
with their point of view. Depending on whom you are addressing, the problems
will be different. If you are talking to a group of managers, you may refer to
the disorganized methods of their secretaries; alternatively if you are
addressing secretaries, you may want to comment on their disorganized
bosses.
Here is an example, which I heard at a nurses’
convention, of a story which works well because the audience ail shared the same
view of doctors. A man arrives in heaven and is being shown around by St. Peter.
He sees wonderful accommodations, beautiful gardens, sunny weather, and so on.
Everyone is very peaceful, polite and friendly until, waiting in a line for
lunch, the new arrival is suddenly pushed aside by a man in a white coat, who
rushes to the head of the line, grabs his food and stomps over to a table by
himself. "Who is that" the new arrival asked St. Peter. "Oh, that’s God," came
the reply, "but sometimes he thinks he’s a doctor."
If you are
part of the group which you are addressing, you will be in a position to know
the experiences and problems which are common to all of you and it’ll be
appropriate for you to make a passing remark about the inedible canteen food or
the chairman’s notorious bad taste in ties. With other audiences you mustn’t
attempt to cut in with humor as they will resent an outsider making disparaging
remarks about their canteen or their chairman. You will be on safer ground if
you stick to scapegoats like the Post Office or the telephone system.
If you feel awkward being humorous, you must practice so that it becomes
more natural. Include a few casual and apparently off-the-cuff remarks which you
can deliver in a relaxed and unforced manner. Often it’s the delivery which
causes the audience to smile, so speak slowly and remember that a raised eyebrow
or an unbelieving look may help to show that you are making a light-hearted
remark.
Look for the humor. It often comes from the unexpected.
A twist on a familiar quote "If at first you don’t succeed, give up" or a play
on words or on a situation. Search for exaggeration and understatements. Look at
your talk and pick out a few words or sentences which you can mm about and
inject with humor.To achieve the desired result, humorous stories should be delivered
______.
A. in well-worded language
B. as awkwardly as possible
C. in exaggerated statements
D. as casually as possible
5.单项选择题Most growing plants contain much more water than all
other materials combined. C. R. Barnes has suggested that it is as proper to
term the plant a water structure as to call a house composed mainly of brick a
brick building. Certain it is that all essential processes of plant growth and
development occur in water. The mineral elements from the soil that are usable
by the plant must be dissolved in the soil solution before they can be taken
into the root. They are carried to all parts of the growing plant and are built
into essential plant materials while in a dissolved state. The carbon dioxide
from the air may enter the leaf as a gas but is dissolved in water in the leaf
before it is combined with a part of the water to form simple sugars—the base
material from which the plant body is mainly built. Actively growing plant parts
are generally 75 to 90 percent water. Structural parts of plants, such as woody
stems no longer actively growing, may have much less water than growing
tissues.
The actual amount of water in the plant at any one
time, however, is only a very small part of what passes through it during its
development. The processes of photosynthesis, by which carbon dioxide and water
are combined-in the presence of chlorophyll and with energy derived from
light-to form sugars, require that carbon dioxide from the air enter the plant.
This occurs mainly in the leaves. The leaf surface is not solid but contains
great numbers of minute openings, through which the carbon dioxide enters. The
same structure that permits the one gas to enter the leaf, however, permits
another gas—water vapor—to be lost from it. Since carbon dioxide is present in
the air only in trace quantities (3 to 4 parts in 10,000 parts of air) and water
vapor is near saturation in the air spaces within the leaf (at 80°F, saturated
air would contain about 186 parts of water vapor in 10,000 parts of air), the
total amount of water vapor lost is many times the carbon dioxide intake.
Actually, because of wind and other factors, the loss of water in proportion to
carbon dioxide intake may be even greater than the relative concentrations of
the two gases. Also, not all of the carbon dioxide that enters the leaf is
synthesized into carbohydrates.This passage is mainly about ______.
A. the functions of carbon dioxide and water
B. the role of water in a growing plant
C. the process of simple sugar formation
D. the synthesis of water with carbon dioxide
6.单项选择题Everyone seems to hate America’s latest stab at
immigration reform, which went before the full Senate this week. Immigrant
groups think it offers little hope to low-skilled, mostly Hispanic would-be
migrants. Right-wingers snarl that it is nothing but an "amnesty" for illegals.
Companies, who it had been hoped would support the new compromise, hate it
because it imposes bureaucratic burdens on employers. And the left is
complaining because it fears it will depress low-end wages. It would be nice to
be able to report that opposition across so full a spectrum is a sign that the
bill is a well-crafted compromise. In fact, it may well tom out to be
doomed.
That would be a pity, because there are some good
things in the proposal. Most important, it produces a reasonably fair solution
to the problem of what to do about the 12 minion or so illegal immigrants
already in America, most of them working hard at low-paid and disagreeable jobs.
Deporting a population the size of Ohio’s is impossible, economically illiterate
and morally wrong. The new bill would make the 12 million legal, and offer them
a path, though a winding one, to full citizenship.
The right
doesn’t like this, of course, and points out that amnesties (which this really
isn’t, given the fines and hurdles involved) have in the past drawn fresh waves
of migrants. So the other side of the bargain gives conservatives everything
they could wish for in terms of razor-wired fences, surveillance drones, armed
border guards and a programme that will force companies to check the legality of
their workers. Such measures are probably necessary to win support and rebuild
trust in the immigration system. No bill would pass without them.
The bad part of the deal is what happens to would-be immigrants once all
those sensors and spy-planes are in place. The bill proposes a dual system. A
guest-worker programme would allow 400,000 people a year to enter the country to
work for two years, after which they must go home for a year, with a six-year
cap on the total time they can spend in America. The other part is a new method
of granting residence permits, carrying the right to work. Such "green cards"
currently go mostly to relatives of American citizens or to people sponsored by
an employer. The bill would bring in a "points" system for 380,000 people a
year, similar to those in use in Canada and Australia. Permits for family
members would be restricted, to cover only spouses and young children. Employers
would have less ability to sponsor the people they need.
There
are several problems. One is that extended families help build vibrant
communities in a way that guest workers don’t. Second, the government should not
be in the business of telling companies whom they ought to him. There are ways
round this, such as awarding points not for specific jobs, but still the problem
is that most of the green cards will be used up by Indian software designers,
Bosnian engineers or the similarly blessed. America does indeed need such folk,
but it also needs legions of the less-skilled, too.
That will
continue to mean a large, poorly paid and constantly rotating alien underclass
with little stake in American society. On May 23rd, the Senate voted to scale
the guest worker programme back to 200,000. So the illegals will keep
coming—except that now their journey will be still more dangerous and they will
be even further beyond the law. The current bill is better than nothing; but
unless it is improved, it will not solve the main problem of the
illegals.It can be inferred from the passage that the author thinks ______.
A. the immigration bill is better than nothing, but it needs to be
improved
B. the bill can help to solve immigration problems
C. the bill has a lot of advantages in comparison with previous ones
D. the bill will draw fresh waves of migrants
7.填空题News can be something the authorities want you to know, or
something they would rather keep secret: an announcement of a
1 , denial of a failure, or a secret scandal that nobody really
wants you to 2 . If the authorities want
to tell the world some good news, they issue statements, communiques, and call
3 . Or politicians make speeches. Local
newspapers, radio and television help to 4 to what is
going on. And by making contacts with 5 , journalists
can ask for more information or explanations to help them 6
.
Unless the correspondent is an 7
, it is rare to trust any single source. Officials have a policy to
defend, and 8 want to attack it. Rumor and gossip can
also confuse the situation. So, you have to 9 as much
as possible, using common sense and experience as final checks to help establish
just what’s likely to be the truth, or 10 .
Just getting the news is only half the job. A correspondent may be
well-informed, but his job is to 11 , the public. So,
once the information is available it has to be written 12
which is also easily understood. Particularly for radio, since, while a
newspaper reader can turn back and reread a sentence or two, the radio listener
has 13 . This also means that only a limited number
of facts can be contained in a sentence and that there should be an
14 . And vital information necessary to understand the latest
development should be presented 15 in ease the
producer of a news program decides to 16 an item, by
cutting for example the last sentence or two.
Finally, the style of
presentation must 17 . A cheerful voice might
be perfect for a 18 . But it would be sadly out of
place for a report of a 19 . And this would also
confuse and distract the listener, probably 20 just
what had happened and to whom.
参考答案：making it difficult to understand 8.单项选择题Flats were almost unknown in Britain until the 1850s
when they were developed, along with other industrial dwellings, for the
laboring classes. These vast blocks were plainly a convenient means of easing
social conscience by housing large numbers of the ever-present poor on compact
city sites. During the 1880s, however, the idea of living in comfortable
residential chambers caught on with the affluent upper and upper middle classes,
and controversy as to the advantages and disadvantages of flat life was a topic
of conversation around many a respectable dinner-table. In Paris and other major
European cities, the custom whereby the better-off lived in apartments, or
flats, was well established. Up to the late nineteenth century in England only
bachelor barristers had established the tradition of living in rooms near the
Law Court: any self-respecting head of household would insist upon a West End
town house as his London home, the best that his means could provide.
The popularity of flats for the better-off seems to have developed for a
number of reasons. First, perhaps, through the introduction of the railways,
which had enabled a wide range of people to enjoy a holiday staying in a suite
at one of the luxury hotels which had begun to spring up during the previous
decade. Hence, no doubt, the fact that many of the early luxury flats were
similar to hotel suites, even being provided with communal dining-rooms and
central boilers for hot water and heating. Rents tended to be high to cover
overheads, but savings were made possible by these communal amenities and by
tenants being able to reduce the number of family servants.
On
of the earliest substantial London developments of flats for the well-to-do was
begun soon after Victoria Railway Station was opened in 1860, as the train
service provided an efficient link with both the City and the South of
England. Victoria Street, adjacent to both the Station and Westminster,
had already been formed, and under the direction of the architect, Henry Ashton,
was being lined with blocks of residential chambers in the Parisian manner.
These flats were commodious indeed, offering between eight and fifteen rooms
apiece, including appropriate domestic offices. The idea was an emphatic
departure from the tradition of the London house and achieved immediate
success.
Perhaps the most notable block in the vicinity was
Queen Anne’s Mansions, partly designed by E. R. Robson in 1884 and recently
demolished. For many years, this was London’s loftiest building and had strong
claims to be the ugliest. The block was begun as a wild speculation, modeled on
the American skyscraper, and was nearly 200 feet high. The cliff-like walls of
dingy brick completely overshadowed the modest thoroughfare nearby. Although
bleak outside, the mansion flats were palatial within, with sumptuously
furnished communal entertaining and dining rooms. And lifts to the uppermost
floors. The success of these tall blocks of flats could not have been achieved,
of course, without the invention of the lift, or "ascending carriage" as it was
called when first used in the Strand Law Courts in the 1870s.According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE
A. The constriction of Victoria Railway Station was opened in 1860.
B. Victoria Street was designed in the Parisian manner.
C. The train service linked the City and the West of England.
D. Victoria Street was distant from Westminster.
9.单项选择题If you intend using humor in your talk to make
people smile, you must know how to identify shared experiences and problems.
Your humor must be relevant to the audience and should help to show them that
you are one of them or that you understand their situation and are in sympathy
with their point of view. Depending on whom you are addressing, the problems
will be different. If you are talking to a group of managers, you may refer to
the disorganized methods of their secretaries; alternatively if you are
addressing secretaries, you may want to comment on their disorganized
bosses.
Here is an example, which I heard at a nurses’
convention, of a story which works well because the audience ail shared the same
view of doctors. A man arrives in heaven and is being shown around by St. Peter.
He sees wonderful accommodations, beautiful gardens, sunny weather, and so on.
Everyone is very peaceful, polite and friendly until, waiting in a line for
lunch, the new arrival is suddenly pushed aside by a man in a white coat, who
rushes to the head of the line, grabs his food and stomps over to a table by
himself. "Who is that" the new arrival asked St. Peter. "Oh, that’s God," came
the reply, "but sometimes he thinks he’s a doctor."
If you are
part of the group which you are addressing, you will be in a position to know
the experiences and problems which are common to all of you and it’ll be
appropriate for you to make a passing remark about the inedible canteen food or
the chairman’s notorious bad taste in ties. With other audiences you mustn’t
attempt to cut in with humor as they will resent an outsider making disparaging
remarks about their canteen or their chairman. You will be on safer ground if
you stick to scapegoats like the Post Office or the telephone system.
If you feel awkward being humorous, you must practice so that it becomes
more natural. Include a few casual and apparently off-the-cuff remarks which you
can deliver in a relaxed and unforced manner. Often it’s the delivery which
causes the audience to smile, so speak slowly and remember that a raised eyebrow
or an unbelieving look may help to show that you are making a light-hearted
remark.
Look for the humor. It often comes from the unexpected.
A twist on a familiar quote "If at first you don’t succeed, give up" or a play
on words or on a situation. Search for exaggeration and understatements. Look at
your talk and pick out a few words or sentences which you can mm about and
inject with humor.It can be inferred from the text that public services ______.
A. have benefited many people
B. are the focus of public attention
C. are an inappropriate subject for humor
D. have often been the laughing stock
10.单项选择题Most growing plants contain much more water than all
other materials combined. C. R. Barnes has suggested that it is as proper to
term the plant a water structure as to call a house composed mainly of brick a
brick building. Certain it is that all essential processes of plant growth and
development occur in water. The mineral elements from the soil that are usable
by the plant must be dissolved in the soil solution before they can be taken
into the root. They are carried to all parts of the growing plant and are built
into essential plant materials while in a dissolved state. The carbon dioxide
from the air may enter the leaf as a gas but is dissolved in water in the leaf
before it is combined with a part of the water to form simple sugars—the base
material from which the plant body is mainly built. Actively growing plant parts
are generally 75 to 90 percent water. Structural parts of plants, such as woody
stems no longer actively growing, may have much less water than growing
tissues.
The actual amount of water in the plant at any one
time, however, is only a very small part of what passes through it during its
development. The processes of photosynthesis, by which carbon dioxide and water
are combined-in the presence of chlorophyll and with energy derived from
light-to form sugars, require that carbon dioxide from the air enter the plant.
This occurs mainly in the leaves. The leaf surface is not solid but contains
great numbers of minute openings, through which the carbon dioxide enters. The
same structure that permits the one gas to enter the leaf, however, permits
another gas—water vapor—to be lost from it. Since carbon dioxide is present in
the air only in trace quantities (3 to 4 parts in 10,000 parts of air) and water
vapor is near saturation in the air spaces within the leaf (at 80°F, saturated
air would contain about 186 parts of water vapor in 10,000 parts of air), the
total amount of water vapor lost is many times the carbon dioxide intake.
Actually, because of wind and other factors, the loss of water in proportion to
carbon dioxide intake may be even greater than the relative concentrations of
the two gases. Also, not all of the carbon dioxide that enters the leaf is
synthesized into carbohydrates.According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE
A. The mineral elements will not be absorbed by the plant unless they are
dissolved in its root.
B. The woody stems contain more water than the leaves.
C. Air existing around the leaf is found to be saturated.
D. Only part of the carbon dioxide in the plants is synthesized.