Reading Comprehension Much of the language used to describe monetary policy, such as "steering the economy to a soft landing" or "a touch on the brakes", makes it sound like a precise science. Nothing could be further from the truth. The link between interest rates and inflation is uncertain. And there are long, variable lags before policy changes have any effect on the economy. Hence the analogy that likens the conduct of monetary policy to driving a car with a blackened windscreen, a cracked rear view mirror and a faulty steering wheel. Given all these disadvantages, central bankers seem to have had much to boast about of late. Average inflation in the big seven industrial economies fell to a mere 2.3% last year, close to its lowest level in 30 years, before rising slightly to 2.5% this July. This is a long way below the double digit rates which many countries experienced in the 1970s and early 1980s. It is also less than most forecasters had predicated. In late 1994, the panel of economists which The Economist polls each month said that America's inflation rate would average 3.5% in 1995. In 1995, in fact, it fell to 2.6% in August, and expected to average only about 3% for the year as a whole. In Britain and Japan inflation is running half a percentage point below the rate predicted at the end of last year. This is no flash in the pan; over the past couple of years, inflation has been consistently lower than expected in Britain and America. Economists have been particularly surprised by favorable inflation figures in Britain and the United States, since conventional measures suggest that both economies, and especially America's, have little productive slack. America's capacity utilization, for example, hit historically high levels earlier this year, and its jobless rate (5.6% in August) has fallen bellow most estimates of the natural rate of unemployment—the rate below which inflation has taken off in the past. Why has inflation proved so mild? The most thrilling explanation is, unfortunately, a little defective. Some economists argue that powerful structural changes in the world have up-ended the old economic models that were based upon the historical link between growth and inflation.
1. From the passage we learn that ______.
A.there is a definite relationship between inflation and interest rates
B.economy will always follow certain models
C.the economic situation is better than expected
D.economists had foreseen the present economic situation
The American economic system is organized around a basically private-enterprise, market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most. Private businessmen, striving to make profits, produce these goods and services in competition with other businessmen; and the profit motive, operating under competitive pressures, largely determines how these goods and services are produced. Thus, in the American economic system it is the demand of individual consumers, coupled with the desire of businessmen to maximize profits and the desire of individuals to maximize their in-comes, that together determine what shall be produced and how resources are used to produce it. An important factor in a market-oriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers. In the American economy, this mechanism is provided by a price system, a process in which prices rise and fall in response to relative demands of consumers and supplies offered by seller-producers. If the product is in short supply relative to the demand, the price will be bid up and some consumers will be eliminated from the market. If, on the other hand, producing more of a commodity results in reducing its cost, this will tend to increase the supply offered by seller-producers, which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product. Thus, price is the regulating mechanism in the American economic system. The important factor in a private-enterprise economy is that individuals are allowed to own productive resources (private property), and they are permitted to hire labor, gain control over natural resources, and produce goods and services for sale at a profit. In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights, including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.
7. In Line 8, Paragraph 1, "the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes" means ______.
A.Americans are never satisfied with their incomes
B.Americans tend to overstate their incomes
C.Americans want to have their incomes increased
D.Americans want to increase the purchasing power of their incomes
A B C D
D
[解析] maximize：把……增加到最大限度；充分利用。maximize their income：充分利用他们的收入。D项为正确答案。 [参考译文] 美国经济体制基本上是围绕私有企业和市场经济组织起来的。在市场经济中，企业生产什么很大程度上是通过消费者到市场上购买他们最需要的商品和服务来决定的。为了极力获取利润，私有企业主在与其他企业主竞争中提供这些产品和服务。在竞争的压力下追逐利润的动机很大程度上决定提供这些商品和服务的方式。所以，在美国经济体制中，个人消费者的需求，以及商人获取最大利润的欲望和消费者想尽可能提高收入的购买力的愿望三者共同决定该生产什么和怎样利用资源生产产品。 市场经济中的一个重要因素是反映消费者需求以及生产者响应消费者需求的机制。在美国经济中，这种机制是通过价格体系决定的。在这种价格体系中，价格根据消费者的相对需求与生产者的供应情况或升或降。如果产品供不应求，价格就上涨，有些消费者就被排挤出市场。另一方面，一种产品生产过量会导致成本下降，生产者提供的产品就会增加，相应地价格就会下跌，这就允许更多的消费者购买该产品。因此，价格是美国经济体系的调节机制。 私有企业经济的一个重要因素是个人被允许拥有生产资料(私有财产)，允许雇用劳动力、控制自然资源、生产产品、提供产品和服务以获得利润。在美国经济中，私有财产的概念不仅包括生产资料的所有权，也包括决定产品价格或与其他私有个体自由签订合同的权利。
8. The first two sentences in the second paragraph tell us that ______.
A.producers can satisfy the consumers by mechanized production
B.consumers can express their demands through producers
C.producers decide the prices of products
D.supply and demand regulate prices
A B C D
D
[解析] A项在文中并没有提及。B项与内容不符。C项也没有提及。D项正确。
9. According to the passage, a private-enterprise economy is characterized by ______.
12. How to regulate the economic system in America according to the passage? ______
A.To provide a price system.
B.To set up private enterprises.
C.To set up a market-oriented economy.
D.To own some certain rights of productive resources.
A B C D
A
[解析] 第2段的最后一句话，“价格是美国经济系统的调节机制”，由此可以看出，答案应选A。
Less than 40 years ago in the United States, it was common to change a one-dollar bill for a dollar's worth of silver. That is because the coins were actually made of silver. But those days are gone. There is no silver in today's coins. When the price of the precious metal rises above its face value as money, the metal will become more valuable in other uses. Silver coins are no longer in circulation because the silver in coins is worth much more than their face value. A silver firm could find that it is cheaper to obtain silver by melting down coins than by buying it on the commodity markets. Coins today are made of an alloy of cheaper metals. Gresham's Law, named after Sir Thomas Gresham, argues that "good money" is driven out of circulation by "bad money". Good money differs from bad money because it has higher commodity value. Gresham lived in the 16th century in England where it was common for gold and silver coins to be debased. Governments did this by mixing cheaper metals with gold and silver. The governments could thus make a profit in coinage by issuing coins that had less precious metal than the face value indicated. Because different mixings of coins had different amounts of gold and silver, even though they bore the same face value, some coins were worth more than others as commodities. People who dealt with gold and silver could easily see the difference between the "good" and the "bad" money. Gresham observed that coins with a higher content of gold and silver were kept rather than being used in exchange, or were melted down for their precious metal. In the mid-1960s when the U. S. issued new coins to replace silver coins, Gresham's law went right in action.
13. Why was it possible for Americans to use a one-dollar bill for a dollar's worth of silver? ______
A.Because there was a lot of silver in the United States.
16. What was the purpose of the governments issuing new coins by mixing cheaper metals with gold and silver in the 16th century? ______
A.They wanted to reserve some gold and silver for themselves.
B.There was neither enough gold nor enough silver.
C.New coins were easier to be made.
D.They could make money.
A B C D
D
[解析] 本题的依据句是文章最后一段的第3句话“The governments could thus make a profit in coinage by issuing coins that had less precious metal than the face value indicated”。从中可知D项为正确答案。
17. Which of the following statements is correct according to this article? ______
A."Good money" refers to gold or silver coins while "bad money" metallic coins.
B."Good money" refers to gold or silver coins while "bad money" alloy coins.
C.Issuance of coins to replace the silver coins intended to save money.
D.Present coins are cheaper than its face value.
A B C D
D
[解析] 正确答案可以从第一段的后半部分得出。A项和B项很明显比较牵强。
18. What is the Gresham's Law according to the passage? ______
A.Coins with a higher content of silver drove the coins with a lower content of silver out of circulation.
B."Good money" was kept and "bad money" was used in exchange.
Adam Smith, writing in the 17708, was the first person to see the importance of the division of labor and to explain part of its advantages. He gives as an example the process by which pins were made in England. "One man draws out the wire; another strengthens it; a third cuts it; a fourth points it; a fifth grinds it at the top to prepare it to receive the head. To make the head requires two or three operations. To put it on is a separate operation, to polish the pins is another. And the important business of making pins is, in this manner, divided into about eighteen operations, which in some factories are all performed by different people, though in others the same man will sometimes perform two or three of them." Ten men, Smith said, in this way, turned out twelve pounds of pins a day or about 4,800 pins per worker. But if all of them had worked separately and independently without division of labor, none of them could have made twenty pins in a day and perhaps not even one. There can be no doubt that division of labor is an efficient way of organizing work. Fewer people can make more pins. Adam Smith saw this but he also took it for granted that division of labor is in itself responsible for economic growth and development and that it accounts for the difference between expanding economies and those that stand still. But division of labor adds nothing new; it only enables people to produce more of what they already have.
19. According to the passage, Adam Smith was the first person to ______.
A.take advantage of the division of labor
B.introduce the division of labor into England
C.understand the effects of the division of labor
D.explain the causes of the division of labor
A B C D
C
[解析] 本题的依据句是文章第1段的第1句“...was the first person to see the importance of the division of labor and to explain part of its advantages”，C项中的understand就等于原文中的see，因此C项为正确答案。 [参考译文] 18世纪70年代亚当·斯密著成了其(经典)著作，他是最先看到劳动分工的重要性并解释了其部分优点的人。他用英国大头针的生产过程这个例子对其进行了说明。 一人拉出铁丝；另一人拉紧；第三个人把它割断；第四个人把它弄尖；第五个人在它的一端打磨，这样可以让它准备好接头。制作针头需要两至三道工序。把头安上是一道单独的工序，磨光这些针是另一道工序。照这样，制作大头针的工作被分成大约18道工序，在有些工厂是由不同的工人分别完成的，虽然在其他的厂家同一个人有时要完成两三道工序。 斯密说，10个人用这样的方法一天可以生产12磅大头针，即大约每名工人生产4800枚。但是若全部工人单独工作而不进行劳动分工的话，一天之中，没有人可以制作出20枚大头针，甚至有可能一枚都没有。 劳动分工无疑是一种组织工作的有效方式。更少的人可以制作更多的大头针。亚当·斯密看到了这一点，但他理所当然地认为劳动分工是经济增长和发展的根本原因，并且可以说明扩张的经济和停滞不前的经济之间存在的不同。但是劳动分工并未增添新的东西，它只是让人们能够生产出更多的现有产品来。
20. Adam Smith saw that the division of labor ______.
A.enabled each worker to make pins more quickly and more cheaply
B.increased the possible output per worker
C.increased the number of people employed in factories
D.improved the quality of pins produced
A B C D
B
[解析] 本题可参照文章的第3段。从中可知，通过劳动分工工人们能极大地提高产量。因此正确答案为B。
21. Adam Smith mentioned the number 4,800 in order to ______.
A.show the advantages of the division of labor
B.show the advantages of the old craft system
C.emphasize how powerful the individual worker was
D.emphasize the importance of increased production
A B C D
A
[解析] 本题可参照此句的下一句“...without division of labor, none of them could have made twenty pins in a day and perhaps not even one”，从中可知，作者用这一数字显示劳动分工的优越性。因此A项为正确答案。
22. According to the writer, Adam Smith's mistake was in believing that division of labor ______.
A.was an efficient way of organizing work
B.was an important development in methods of production
Directions: In this section, you are required to read several excerpts from newspapers and/or magazines. These excerpts are followed by five questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer and mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET. Excerpt 1 Mankind's fascination with gold is as old as civilization itself. The ancient Egyptians esteemed gold, which had religious significance to them, and King Tutankharnun was buried in a solid-gold coffin 3,300 years ago. The wandering Israelites worshiped a golden calf, and the legendary King Midas asked that everything he touched be turned into gold. Excerpt 2 Most economists hate gold. Not, you understand, that they would turn up their noses at a bar or two. But they find the reverence in which many hold the metal almost irrational. That it was used as money for millennia is irrelevant: it isn't any more. Modern money takes the form of paper or, more often, electronic data. To economists, gold is now just another commodity. Excerpt 3 People have always longed to possess gold. Unfortunately, this longing has also brought out the worst in the human character. The Spanish conquistadors robbed palaces, temples, and graves, and killed thousands of Indians in their ruthless search for gold. Often the only rule in young California during the days of the gold rush was exercised by the mob with a rope. Even today, the economic running of South Africa's gold mines depends largely on the employment of black laborers who are paid about 40 pounds a month, plus room and board, and who must work in conditions that can only be described as cruel. About 400 miners are killed in mine accidents in South Africa each year, or one for every two tons of gold produced. Excerpt 4 Much of gold's value lies in its scarcity. Only about 80,000 tons have been mined in the history of the world. All of it could be stored in a vault 60 feet square, or a supertanker. Excerpt 5 So why is its price soaring? Over the past week, this has topped $450 a troy ounce, up by 9% since the beginning of the year and 77% since April 2001. Ah, comes the reply, gold transactions are denominated in dollars, and the rise in the price simply reflects the dollar's fall in terms of other currencies, especially the euro, against which it hit a new low this week. Expressed in euros, the gold price has moved much less. However, there is no iron link, as it were, between the value of the dollar and the value of gold. A rising price of gold, like that of anything else, can reflect an increase in demand as well as a depreciation of its Unit of account. Excerpt 6 This is where gold bulls come in. The fall in the dollar is important, but mainly because as a store of value the dollar stinks. With a few longish rallies, the greenback has been on a downward trend since it came off the gold standard in 1971. Now it is suffering one of its sharper declines. At the margin, extra demand has come from those who think dollars—indeed any money backed by nothing more than promises to keep inflation low—a decidedly risky investment, mainly because America, with the world's reserve currency, has been able to create and borrow so many of them. The least painful way of repaying those dollars is to make them worthless.
25. The main idea of Excerpt 1 is that ______.
A.human beings began to love gold with the emergence of civilization
B.the ancient Egyptians valued gold for its religious importance
C.king Midas was a person who could turn everything into gold
D.king Tutankharnun buried a solid-gold coffin 33 centuries ago
B.the black laborers have got rid of the control of white rulers
C.the black laborers who mine gold are still exploited cruelly
D.the life of the black laborers is highly improved
A B C D
C
[解析] 根据Excerpt 3中的“Even today, the economic running of South Africa's gold mines depends largely on the employment of black laborers who are paid about 40 pounds a month, plus room and board, and who must work in conditions that can only be described as cruel.”可知，即使今天，南非金矿的经营主要也是靠雇用黑人劳工，包食宿，每月付大约40英镑，工人必须工作在只能用悲惨来形容的环境中。C项与题干所问的当前南非的情况相符。
28. According to the author, one of the reasons for the rising of gold price is ______.
A.the increasing demand for gold
B.the depreciation of the euro
C.the link between the dollar and gold
D.the increment of the value of the dollar
A B C D
A
[解析] 题干中的“the rising of gold price”出自Excerpt 5。Excerpt 5分析了黄金的价格上涨的两个原因——黄金价格的上涨，可以反映需求的增加，也可以反映其计价单位的贬值。A与此意符合，为正确答案。
29. We can infer from Excerpt 6 that ______.
A.the decline of the dollar is inevitable
B.America benefits from the depreciation of the dollar
C.the depreciation of the dollar is good news to other currencies
D.investment in the dollar yields more returns than that in gold
深色：已答题 浅色：未答题