阅读理解。 Spending beyond one"s means is becoming a national problem for America
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| 阅读理解。 |
Spending beyond one"s means is becoming a national problem for Americans. Borrowing has become so
easy that it takes great willpower for people to refuse it. "I received a number of gold MasterCard and gold
Visa card offers in the mail during the past two months," said one computer engineer at AT&T Bell
Laboratories in Chicago. "I got three of them in one day last week."
Lenders are providing easy credit (信贷) for borrowers. Many banks now offer every borrower a great
variety of credit, a service once offered almost only to big companies. Norwest Bank Minneapolis offers
lending programs for cars and boats that can cut monthly payments nearly in half. Carmakers, too, are
lengthening easier terms. Ford Motor Credit states that 45% of its recent lending has been for sixty months,
rather than the thirty-six-month period that was usual before.
The total consumer debt (债务) in the United States rose 173 percent between 1974 and 1984, as the
debt for each man, woman, and child increased from $10, 264 to $26, 566. Huge debt now is present in our
economy (经济) at all levels. As a nation, we are more than $7 trillion in debt, and the total keeps increasing
astonishingly.
As we have over-borrowed, so have we overspent. In late 1986, the share of after-tax income that
Americans saved sank below 2 percent for a short time, less than half the figure at which we saved only
10 years ago. Americans now are buying from foreigners between about $50 and $100 billion more Mercedes
and Toyotas, Paris fashions, and tours to Europe than the Boeing 747s, agriculture machinery, or Kansas
wheat that the foreigners bought from America The country could not produce and pay for all the things it
wanted.
To make a long story short, we Americans have serious problems in keeping down spending and keeping
up personal savings. It is high time for us American people to learn the basics of long-term money
management. |
| 1. According to the author, what is a main reason for Americans to overspend? |
A. Americans buy a lot of foreign products.
B. It is easy for Americans to manage their debts.
C. Borrowing money has become a simple matter.
D. Americans have more extra money than before. |
| 2. Ford Motor Credit lengthens 45% of its lending to 60 months in order to _____. |
A. help more Americans to settle their debts
B. encourage people to buy foreign cars
C. make better use of its money
D. attract more customers |
| 3. What does the author suggest as a way to deal with over-borrowing? |
A. Teaching people how to manage money.
B. Advising people on what to buy.
C. Limiting the use of credit cards.
D. Reducing average incomes. |
| 4. Which of the following points does the author wish to make? |
A. America should sell more of its products abroad.
B. A healthy society has to learn to live within its means.
C. People"s income determines their money management.
D. Government should prevent people from over-borrowing. |
答案
| 1-4 CDAB |
举一反三
| 阅读理解。 |
Spending beyond one"s means is becoming a national problem for Americans. Borrowing has become
so easy that it takes great willpower for people to refuse it. "I received a number of gold MasterCard and gold Visa card offers in the mail during the past two months," said one computer engineer at AT&T Bell
Laboratories in Chicago. "I got three of them in one day last week."
Lenders are providing easy credit (信贷) for borrowers. Many banks now offer every borrower a
great variety of credit, a service once offered almost only to big companies. Norwest Bank Minneapolis
offers lending programs for cars and boats that can cut monthly payments nearly in half. Carmakers, too,
are lengthening easier terms. Ford Motor Credit states that 45% of its recent lending has been for sixty
months, rather than the thirty-six-month period that was usual before.
The total consumer debt (债务) in the United States rose 173 percent between 1974 and 1984, as
the debt for each man, woman, and child increased from $10, 264 to $26, 566. Huge debt now is
present in our economy (经济) at all levels. As a nation, we are more than $7 trillion in debt, and the
total keeps increasing astonishingly.
As we have over-borrowed, so have we overspent. In late 1986, the share of after-tax income that
Americans saved sank below 2 percent for a short time, less than half the figure at which we saved only
10 years ago. Americans now are buying from foreigners between about $50 and $100 billion more
Mercedes and Toyotas, Paris fashions, and tours to Europe than the Boeing 747s, agriculture machinery,
or Kansas wheat that the foreigners bought from America The country could not produce and pay for all
the things it wanted.
To make a long story short, we Americans have serious problems in keeping down spending and
keeping up personal savings. It is high time for us American people to learn the basics of long-term
money management. |
| 1. According to the author, what is a main reason for Americans to overspend? |
A. Americans buy a lot of foreign products.
B. It is easy for Americans to manage their debts.
C. Borrowing money has become a simple matter.
D. Americans have more extra money than before. |
| 2. Ford Motor Credit lengthens 45% of its lending to 60 months in order to _________. |
A. help more Americans to settle their debts
B. encourage people to buy foreign cars
C. make better use of its money
D. attract more customers |
| 3. What does the author suggest as a way to deal with over-borrowing? |
A. Teaching people how to manage money.
B. Advising people on what to buy.
C. Limiting the use of credit cards.
D. Reducing average incomes. |
| 4. Which of the following points does the author wish to make? |
A. America should sell more of its products abroad.
B. A healthy society has to learn to live within its means.
C. People"s income determines their money management.
D. Government should prevent people from over-borrowing. |
| 阅读理解。 |
China reported blistering growth for the last three months of 2009 ,raising expectations of interest rate
increases and other measures to head off inflation.
China has declared that it is recovering from the global economic crisis.
Ma Jiantang, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, said Thursday the country"s economy grew by
10.7 percent in the last three months of 2009.
Ma says China has managed to quickly hold back what he described as "the sliding of the national
economy". He says China has become the first country, on the whole, to achieve economic recovery and
stabilization.
According to previous estimates, Ma says China"s gross domestic product for 2009 rose 8.7 percent,
to nearly five trillion dollars.
This goes beyond the official growth rate target of eight percent. The government has long considered
eight percent growth essential to create enough jobs for the country"s more than one billion people.
At the same time, Ma says some problems and contradictions are natural.
Ma says the Chinese government will give more priority to restructuring economic and improving
peoples" livelihood.
To reduce the effects of the global economic crisis that began in 2008 ,China loosened lending
practices, cut interest rates and began massive spending programs. But the government wants to make
sure those measures do not contribute to inflation, which can be politically sensitive in a country where
hundreds of millions of people remain poor.
Beijing resident Ms Wang says she is worried. She says she thinks prices are rising really fast. She
points to the price of cabbage, which has increased more than 10 times in the past year.
The head of the Chinese Banking Regulatory Commission, this week said the government will step up
monitoring of banks and rein in lending to prevent speculative bubbles (投机泡沫) in real estate ( 房地
产) and other assets.
The World Bank on Thursday released a report that predicts China"s economy will grow by nine
percent this year. This contrasts with forecasts of 2.5 percent growth rate for the United States and one
percent growth for European economies in , because of weaknesses remaining from the global financial
crisis. |
| 1.What does the underlined phrase in the first paragraph mean? |
A. Prevent.
B. Begin.
C. Continue.
D. Reduce. |
| 2. How many measures did China take to reduce the sliding of the national economy? |
A. 2.
B. 3.
C. 4.
D. 5. |
| 3.The global economy in will ________. |
A. increase more quickly than in 2009
B. recover immediately if proper measures are taken
C. remain weak as a result of the global financial crisis
D. remain the same standard as that in 2009 |
| 4.The passage is mainly about ________. |
A. jobs created for more than one billion people
B. lending practices loosened in China in the new year
C. rapid growth of Chinese economy in last months of 2009
D. fast growth in economy leading to inflation |
| 阅读理解。 |
The first-ever meeting of G-20 foreign ministers will discuss pressing global issues including
governance, trans-national crime, green growth, climate change and food security, US officials have
said.
Organised by Mexican Foreign Minister, Ms Patricia Espinosa, in the Mexican resort town of Los
Cabos, the meeting is to be attended by among others, the US Secretary of State, Ms Hillary Clinton,
German Foreign Minister, Mr Guido Westerwelle, and European Union foreign policy chief, Ms
Catherine Ashton.
Several other G-20 countries including France, China, Brazil and India will be represented at a lower
level. Mexico is the current chair of the G-20 countries and the meeting will be hosted on June 18-19.
A senior state department official said that the meeting is informal so it will not result in any formal
statements.
"This meeting reflects, in many ways, the evolution of the G-20 since the first summit (峰会) of
Washington in the fall of 2008, which was designed to deal with the global financial crisis," the official
said.
"This is going to focus on broad non-financial global issues, some of which have been discussed by
G-20 leaders in the past, but some of which are new to the G-20 process or at least have not been
emphasized to any great degree, including some broad economic governance issues, some
environmental issues, development policy, and green growth," the official said.
During her meetings, Ms Clinton will be emphasizing some themes that are included in the broad
G-20 rights. Although, she will not be going to get into the details of the G-20 financial part of the
process, she will call for an open, free, transparent, and fair global economic system.
Ms Clinton will address things like anti-competitive government practices or interference, which
include the ways in which governments artificially distort (歪曲) markets or create uneven economic
playing fields, the official said.
Among other things, she will also highlight issues like climate change, freedom of navigation and
shipping and sailing security to promote a well-functioning global economy; besides governance issues
like fight against corruption. |
| 1. The passage mainly tells us about _____. |
A. some pressing global issues
B. issues to be talked about by Ms Clinton
C. the possible results of the meeting
D. the meeting of G-20 foreign ministers to be held in June |
| 2. Which will not be discussed at the meeting? |
A. The evolution of G-20.
B. Issues discussed by G-20 leaders in the past.
C. Environmental issues.
D. Green growth. |
| 3. The aim of the first summit of Washington was to _____. |
A. settle the global financial crisis
B. deal with economic governance issues
C. increase the evolution of G-20
D. promote fair global economic system |
| 4. We can infer from the fifth and the sixth paragraphs that G-20 _____. |
A. hasn"t changed through these years
B. is currently concerned with more than financial issues
C. holds a meeting every year
D. never discusses old issues |
| 5. Ms Clinton will do the following except _____. |
A. call for an open, free, and fair global economic system
B. talk about some details of the G-20 financial part of the process
C. highlight issues of climate change
D. call on G-20 to fight against corruption and bribery |
| 阅读理解。 |
More than two-thirds of adults support the shutdown of social networks during periods of social
unrest such as the riots (暴乱) in England this summer, new research has shown.
A survey of 973 adults carried out for the online security firm Unisys found 70% of adults supported
the shutdown of Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), while only 27% disagreed.
Three-quarters agreed that governments should have open access to data on social network users in
order to prevent relevant (相应的) crime. Support for action against social networks was strongest
among over-65s and weakest among 18 to 24-year-olds, who are the heaviest users of the online
services.
Several people were accused of attempting to start disturbances (***动) using Facebook during the
outbreak of rioting across England in August. The court recently refused a request o lower the sentences
of two people sent to prison for four years for attempting to arrange riots on the social media site, despite
them not leading to any disturbances.
Analysis by the Guardian found little evidence to support claims the network had been used to set
off unrest. However, the BBM network was believed to have played a role in organizing disturbances.
It"s very worrying that people would believe shutting down social networks would be worth. The vast
majority of social network use during the unrest was people spreading information and helping each other
get home safely. These kinds of actions would weaken the UK"s position against authoritarian regimes (独裁政权). As we live more of our lives online, people should be conscious of the amount of power they"re probably handing over to government.
Jonathan Polanyi, a lawyer in criminal law and member of the Bar Council"s IT Committee, said
developments across 2011 suggested the UK"s legal system was failing to keep pace with technological
change.
"We"ve seen discussions about libel (诽谤) and super-forbidden on Twitter; the use of social
networking to coordinate civil unrest in UK cities and a series of high profile attacks on well-known
companies which have led to loss of data," he said. "It is important that the law quickly develops to deal
with issues related to new technology." |
| 1. Which of the following person probably most agree with against social networks? |
A. A girl aged 10.
B. An 18-year-old boy.
C. A young woman of 24.
D. An old man of 66. |
| 2. Two people were sentenced to prison for four years because they . |
A. were against the social networks
B. attempted to plan riots on the social media site
C. led to some disturbance to the social media site
D. started disturbances using Facebook and Twitter |
| 3. What is analyzed by the Guardian proved that . |
A. the network had nothing to do with unrest
B. the BBM network organized disturbances
C. shutting down social networks would be desirable
D. 70% of adults supported the shutdown of the network |
| 4. What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs? |
A. The UK"s legal system should be changed completely.
B. The law associated with new technology should be progressed.
C. Twitter has led to loss of data and should be accused.
D. Some well-known companies were attacked by Twitter. |
阅读理解。
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多
余选项。 |
In times of economic downturn, many people start to look for ways to reduce their household budget
and save extra cash. Living a thrifty (节俭的) lifestyle does not have to mean doing nothing. 1 Here are some tips.
Track your spending for at least two weeks. You won"t really know how to live a thriftier lifestyle until
you know where your money is going. Write down every time you spend money and take a look at it at
the end of the month. 2
Search the Internet when you have to make purchases. Because of the easy access to information,
you can compare prices from more stores in less time. 3 Combining producers" coupons (优惠劵) with
store discounts can lead to major savings.
Turn off the lights and other electronics in your home when you are not using them. 4 Leaving
electronics on can use a tremendous amount of extra energy, costing you money.
5 When you do have to go out, look for available deals and discounts. If you are a frequent restaurant
diner, consider purchasing a guide book for local restaurants, which will help you save money.
A. Eat at home as often as possible.
B. You probably don"t really need 500 Chanels.
C. If you really can"t live without it, call the company.
D. Open a window and let in the natural light instead.
E. In this way, you will see obvious ways to reduce the small daily expenses.
F. So check your local stores as well as online providers to find the best price.
G. Instead, making small changes will allow you to save money and still enjoy yourself. |
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