1.What is the passage mainly about?
[A]needs of the readers all over the world
[B]causes of the public disappointment about newspapers
[C]origins of the declining newspaper industry
[D]aims of a journalism credibility project
2.The results of the journalism credibility project turned out to be .
[A]quite trustworthy [B]somewhat contradictory
[C]very illuminating [D]rather superficial
3.The basic problem of journalists as pointed out by the writer lies in their _________.
[A]working attitude [B]conventional lifestyle
[C]world outlook [D]educational background
4.Despite its efforts, he newspaper industry still cannot satisfy the readers owing to its _________.
[A]failure to realize its real problem
[B]tendency to hire annoying reporters
[C]likeliness to do inaccurate reporting
[D]prejudice in matters of race and gender
参考答案:
1.B 2.D 3.C 4.A
Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March,the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $26 a barrel,up from less than $10 last December. This near-tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shock,when prices quadrupled,and 1979-80,when they also almost tripled. Both previous shocks resulted in double-digit inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this time?
The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth,at the same time as winter grips the northern hemisphere,could push the price higher still in the short term.
Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe,taxes account for up to four-fifths of the retail price,so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in the past.
Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were,and so less sensitive to swings in the oil price. Energy conservation,a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy,energy-intensive industries have reduced oil consumption. Software,consultancy and mobile telephones use far less oil than steel or car production. For each dollar of GDP(in constant prices)rich economies now use nearly 50% less oil than in 1973. The OECD estimates in its latest Economic Outlook that,it oil prices averaged $22 a barrel for a full year,compared with $13 in 1998,this would increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only 0.25-0.5% of GDP. That is less than one-quarter of the income loss in 1974 or 1980. On the other hand,oil-importing emerging economies—to which heavy industry has shifted—have become more energy-intensive,and so could be more seriously squeezed.
