第二部分 英语 Passage One The leaders of Detroit's struggling Big Three automakers ate appearing before the Senate today, where prospects of ¥25 billion in emergency loans to the industry appear to be stalling. Amid GOP cries of "corporate welfare", Senate Majority Leader Reid introduced a bill yesterday to let the automakers and component suppliers tap into some of the money Congress allotted in the ¥700 billion financial bailout. Reid, launching a lame-duck session, warned of a "potential meltdown" in the industry with devastating consequences. He said 355,000 people are employed by the industry and 4.5 million more work in related industries. An additional 1 million people, retirees and their relatives, are covered by retirement and medical plants within the industry, he said. The Big Three—General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler—have been whipsawed by the faltering economy and credit crunch. But the odds do not look good for Detroit. At the heart of the debate is whether automakers are deserving as a linchpin of the U.S. economy or not, in the words of one high-profile critic, Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, is an innovation-averse "dinosaur". Shelby, appearing on Sunday to meet the Press, said "Get rid of the management. Get rid of the boards—the people who brought them to where they are today. This is a dead end. It's a road to nowhere and it's a big burden on the American taxpayer". Republicans attacked the measure on several fronts. Some questioned the rush to judgment, others warned that other industries would soon line up for help. And some charged that the firms brought on their troubles by agreeing to union contracts with wages and benefits costing an average of ¥73 an hour, compared with ¥28 an hour for the average private firm. GOP Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said the ¥700 billion rescue was the No.1 issued when he toured the state recently."Candidily, the temperature of my constituents was boiling, 212 degrees Fahrenheit, and the thermometer was broken, "he said. Some opponents prefer that the automakers pursue Chapter 11 reorganizations instead of hitting up Uncle Sam. Democrats argue that the ¥25 billion is only 4 percent of the bigger bailout.Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley, said the bill has robust language on corporate oversight, taxpayer protections, and executive compensation limits. A compromise could be struck if Democrats bowed to GOP pressure and, instead of New loans, rewrite the rules for ¥25 billion in loans granted to automakers to help them retool factories to build fuel-efficient vehicles. "It's mind boggling," one Republican said of Democrats' intransigence,"If I were them, I'd want to get this off my plate before Obama becomes president." The automotive executives, Alan Mulatly, Ford's president and CEO, Robert Nardelli, Chrysler's chairman and CEO, and Rick Wagoner GM's chairman and CEO, are to appear before the Senate Banking Committee. Shelby is the top Republican on the panel. The post-election lame-duck session is the last chance to sign off on the measure during this Congress. The bill probably can pass the House, but prospects are iffy in the Senate, where Democrats need 60 votes to block all expected filibuster. If nothing passes, it could be taken up in January by the next Congress, which will have a broader Democratic majority.
1. Harry Reid proposed a bill for the automakers because______.
A.GOP called for “corporate welfare”
B.the leaders of the Big Three came to Senate to stall the loans
C.the breakdown of American auto industry will affect millions of people's life
D.¥700 billion emergency loans is to be tapped into
A B C D
A
[解析] 由文章第二段开头可知。
2. We may infer from the third paragraph that______.
A.the Big Three partly led to the bad economy and credit crunch
B.people doubted the auto industry as the backbone of the economy
C.the automakers lacked the spirit of innovation in the past
D.Richard Shelby, a high-profile critic, dislikes big animals like dinosaurs
A B C D
B
[解析] 根据文章中暗含的意思,B项可以从文中得知,其他不符合原文意思。
3. Sen.Arlen Specter is quoted in Paragraph 8 to______.
A.reflect the reaction of the ordinary people to the bill
B.illustrate people's approval of passing the measure
C.demonstrate the troubles caused by agreeing to union contracts
D.show the devastating impact of auto industry on society
A B C D
B
[解析] 文章第八段中最后一句话,可以得知大家的热情高涨,也就意指大家同意通过这项措施。
4. On which of the following statements would the author most probably agree?______
A.Democrats should reach an agreement in the face of Republican pressure
B.Senator Reid should send the bill after Obama becomes president
C.¥25 billion in loans should be solely used for updating factories
D.The chance of passing the bill in January would be greater than now
A B C D
D
[解析] 文章最后一段最后一句可以得知选D项。
5. The passage intends to tell us that______.
A.the gloomy prospects of passing Reid's bill on saving the auto industry
B.the possibility of a compromise between two parties on bailing out auto industry
C.the correlation between rescuing auto industry and two panics' stance
D.the great difference between Democrats and Republics on rescuing in the Big Three
A B C D
B
[解析] 此类题需要通读文章大意,了解文章要表达的意思。
Passage Two In recent decades, there is a phenomenon which makes us give some attention to the so-called Southeast Asian “tigers” have rivaled the western “lions” for stock cliches that makes economic headlines. The myth of American economic hegemony over Asia in the imposing and patriarchal figure of Uncle Sam has provided frequent political grist(有利)for Southeast Asian political leaders particularly Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir. He has attempted to forge an international reputation as a snarling tiger, but lately sounds more like a barnyard dog groaning at shadows. Without demeaning in any way the remarkable achievements of the newly developing economics of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, these nations at times appear to be their own worst enemies. This is often exemplified by Dr Mahathir, who rails at Western evil whenever an international or domestic crisis provides an opportunity. To be more specific, the recent devaluation of the Philippine and Thai currencies, and the subsequent pressure on the Malaysian currency have inspired Dr.Mahathir to launch an all-out attack on the West as the source of the problem. He even alleges that the United States has deliberately destabilized Southeast Asian economics in revenge for these nations, supporting the brutal military rule in Mahathir, all action which the United States seems to want inspected rather than rewarded. But by resorting to such scapegoat(替罪羊), instead of accepting even a bit responsibility, the Prime Minister may undermine the future success of the region and Malaysia in particular. Upon further questioning, Dr. Mahathir narrowed his attack to one wealthy individual, the well-known philanthropist(慈善家), Mr.George Soros, whose opposition to Myanmar's admission to ASEAN(Association of Southeast Asian Nations).Mahathir found particularity, irritating. The logical mistakes that underlie such conspiracy theories do not help. Malaysia addresses the serious issues of economic overheating that experts have been warning about for all these difficult periods, which include large deficits and low savings to debt ratios. In fact, the recent dramatic drop in Malaysia's stock market and currency has led Dr. Mahathir to reverse his initial approach to the crisis. He even announces measures that at least imply he is quite aware of excesses in his own administration's spending policies that have contributed to this crisis of confidence. In the end, this kind of reaction undermines the esteem that Dr. Mahathir's enlightened leadership has justly earned.
6. It is implied in the first paragraph that Dr.Mahathir ______.
A.tries to manipulate anti-Western actions for political gains
B.detests the USA's controlling over the regional economics
C.has correctly identified the financial problem in Asia
D.believes in the effect of the ghostly influence from the west
A B C D
B
[解析] 从第一段中可以得知暗含的意思。
7. The author of this essay seems to suggest that ______.
A.the Asian Crisis is the result of ASEAN pandering to terrorist governments
B.there is not a serious economic problem in Southeast Asia at all
C.the devaluation of Malaysia's currency is due to the American plot
D.the economic problems in some Asian countries are partly the result of their overheating economy
A B C D
D
[解析] 一些亚洲国家的经济问题在一定程度上是由于他们使经济变得过热。
8. The author suggests the Dr.Mahathir's comments on the currency problems ______.
A.are poor because they weaken his own credibility
B.are sharp in identifying the cause of the problem
Passage Three Rising wages—together with currency fluctuations and high fuel costs—are eating away the once-formidable “China price” advantage, prompting thousands of factory owners to flee the Pearl River Delta. Much has been written about the more than doubling of wages at the Shenzhen factory of Foxconn, the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer, which produces Apple iPhones and iPads and employs 920, 000 people in China alone. "One can talk about a world pre- and post-Foxconn," says Victor Fung, chairman of Li&Fung, the world's biggest sourcing company and a supplier of Wal-Mart, "Foxconn is as important as that". Foxconn's wage increases are only the most dramatic. Our analysis suggests that, since February, minimum wages have climbed more than 20 percent in 20 Chinese regions and up to 30 percent in some, including Sichuan. At a Guangdong Province, factory supplying Honda, wages have risen an astonishing 47 percent. All this is bad news for companies operating in the world's manufacturing hub, and chief executives should assume that double-digit annual rises—if not on the scale witnessed this year—are here to stay. Looked at another way, however, wage inflation provides companies with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink radically the way they approach global production—and they should do so sooner rather than later. Why the urgency? After all, wage hikes in China are nothing new. Since 1990, they have risen by an average of 13 percent a year in U.S dollar terms and 19 percent annually in the past five years. There are two big reasons the situation is different now. The first has to do with productivity. Over the past 20 years, productivity increases have broadly matched wage increase, negating their impact. The pay rises came from a very low base, so while average wages grew 19 percent a year from 2005 to 2010.This amounted to only ¥260 a month per employee, a sum that could be offset by more efficient production or switching to cheaper sources of parts and materials. If labor costs continue, however, to increase at 19 percent a year for another five years, monthly wages would grew ¥623 per month, according to BCG estimates. Such all increase would ripple through the economy in the form of higher prices for components, business services, cargo handling and office staff. The second reason relates to societal change. Until now, it has been easy to lure a seemingly unlimited number of young, low-wage workers to the richer coastal regions and house them cheaply in dormitories until they saved enough to return home to their families in the interior provinces. In the future, however, young workers will be harder to recruit. This is partly because there will be fewer of them:Largely because of the country's one-child policy, the number of Chinese aged 15 to 29 will start declining in 2011. Moreover, with living standards rising across China, fewer of today's rural youth will want to go to coastal regions to toil for 60 hours a week on an assembly line and live in a cramped dormitory. So what can CEOs do in this fast-changing environment? An instinctive reaction is to search for cheaper labor elsewhere. But this is short-sighted and would provide—at best—a short term fix. Another option is to stay in China and try to squeeze out greater productivity gains.
11. According to paragraph 1 and 2, we can summarize that______.
A.China will always boast a very impressive price advantage around the globe
B.Foxconn's rising wage is just a one-sided case
C.Souring wages has improved a widespread impact on foreign companies
D.Foxconn is a manufacturer of great to China
A B C D
B
[解析] 此题根据前两段的解读,可以得知答案。
12. In paragraph 5, the author discusses that ______.
A.if labor costs continue to grow, it would ripple through the economy
B.average wages grow 19 percent from 2005 to 2010
C.foreign enterprises should switch their manufacturing to cheaper sources
D.the wage rises over the past 2 decades could be offset by rising production
A B C D
D
[解析] A项根据文章大意可排除,B项应该是过去的五年时间,C项文章中没有提到。
13. The reasons why young worker will be harder to recruit exclude ______.
A.China's one-child policy
B.the fact that fewer rural youth want to go to coastal cities
C.surging living standards
D.the declining number of China's youth
A B C D
C
[解析] 倒数第二段中,可以得知,C项不符合。
14. On which of the following would the author probably agree? ______
A.Foreign investors should move their manufacturing capability closer to the consumer
B.China's wage inflation will wreak a political havoc in the future
C.Foreign investors should flee to neighboring countries, such as Vietnam
D.There's plenty of room to improve efficiency at Chinese plants
A B C D
D
[解析] 根据作者的理解可以推测,在中国仍有很大的空间来提高自身的效率。
15. Which of the following would be the best title for text?______