第四部分 概括大意 (20分)
给下面一篇文章的每一段概括大意。每一段的主题用一个或几个单词表示，空出的词已给出了第一个字母，请把其余字母补全。
31. F abundance and Price Rising
The long years of food shortage in this country have suddenly give
way to apparent abundance. Stores and shops are choked with food. Rationing (定
量供应) is virtually suspended (暂停), and overseas suppliers (供应商) have
been asked to hold back deliveries. Yet, instead of joy, there is wide-spread
uneasiness and confusion. Why do food prices keep on rising when there seems to
be so much more food about? Is the abundance only temporary, or has it come to
stay? Does it mean that we need to think less now about producing more food at
home? No one knows what to expect.
32. Rea
The recent growth of export surpluses on the world food market has
certainly been unexpectedly great, partly because a strange sequence of two
successful grain harvests in North America is now being followed by a third.
Most of Britain’s overseas suppliers of meat, too, are offering more this year
and home production has also risen.
33. E of Food Situation
But the effect of all this on the food situation in this country has
been made worse by a simultaneous rise in food prices, due chiefly to the
gradual cutting down of government support for food. The shops are overstocked
(存货过多) with food out only because there is more food available, but also
because people, frightened by high prices, are buying less of it.
34. Fa of World Prices
Moreover, the rise in domestic prices has come at a time when world
pries have begun to fall with the result that imported food, with the exception
of grain, is often cheaper than the home-produced variety. And now grain
prices, too, are falling. Consumers are beginning to ask why they should not be
enabled to benefit form this trend.
35. The Res of Farmers Fear
The significance of these developments is not lost on farmers. The
older generation have seen it all happen before. Despite the present price and
market guarantees, farmers fear they are about to be squeezed between cheap
food imports and a shrinking home market. Present production is running at 51
per cent above pre-war levels, and the government has called for an expansion
to 60 per cent by 1956; but repeated Ministerial (内阁的) advice is carrying
little weight and the expansion programme is not working very well.
第五部分 阅读理解 (120分)
Passage 1
There are striking differences between financial markets on the
Continent of Europe on the one hand, and in Britain on the other. In Britain,
the market is really the City of London. It is a free market: and it controls
most of the flow of savings to investment. On the Continent, either a few banks
or government institutions dominate the money markets. In France and Italy, for
example, government bureaucrats (官僚) direct the flow of funds to suit their
economic plans. In Germany the flow is directed by the all-powerful banks. In
Britain there is more free interplay (相互作用) of market forces and far fewer
regulations, rules and "red tape". A French banker summed it up this way : " On
the Continent you can’t do anything unless you’ve been old you can; in England
on the other hand you can do everything as long as you haven’t been told not
to."
There are many basic reasons for these differences. One is that
Continental savers (储蓄者) tend to prefer gold, cash or short-term assets.
They invest only 10% of their savings in institutions like pension funds or
insurance companies. But in Britain 50% of savings goes to them, and they, in
turn, invest directly in equity (证券) market. A far lower proportion of
savings is put in the banks in the form of liquid assets than on the Continent.
Continent governments intervene directly or through the banks to collect
saving together and transform them into medium or long-term loans for
investment. The equity market is largely by-passed. On the Continent economic
planning tends to be far more centralized (把……集中起来) than in Britain. In
Britain it is possible to influence decisions affecting the country’s economy
from within the City. It attracts a skilled and highly qualified work force. In
France, on the other hand, an intelligent young man who wants a career in
finance would probably find the civil service more attractive.
In Britain the market or more accurately, money tends to be regarded
as an end in itself. On the Continent it is regarded as a means to an end;
investment in the economy. To British eyes continental systems with the
possible exception of the Dutch seem bureaucratic (官僚主义的), slow and
inefficient. But there is one outstanding fact the City should not overlook.
Britain’s growth rates and levels investment over the last ten years have been
much lower than on the Continent. There are many reasons of this, but the City
must take part of the blame. If it is accepted that the basic function of a
financial market is to supply industry and commerce with finance in order to
achieve desired rates of growth, it can be said that by concentrating on the
market for its own sake the City has tended to forget that basic function.
36. What is the best title for the passage?
○A. Reasons behind the difference.
○B. Banking and Finance: a Basic Difference in Attitudes.
○C. Monetary Policy in Britain.
○D. The European Continent and Britain.
37. What seems to be the most basic reason for this difference?
○A. The British tend to regard money as an end, whereas Continental European
consider it a means to an end.
○B. The British invest only 10% of their savings in pension funds.
○C. On the Continent you can’t do anything unless you have been told you can.
○D. Intelligent young men who want a career tend to go to civil service in the
Continent.
38. According to the passage, the Dutch way of finance and banking ________.
○A. is similar to that of the French
○B. makes no difference whatever system it follows
○C. is perhaps resembling that of the British
○D. has a low efficiency
39. The word "striking" in Line 1 means ________.
○A. beating
○B. surplus
○C. noticeable
○D. seemingly
40. In what way does the Continental system seem better?
○A. The Continent maintains a higher growth rate and levels of investment.
○B. It has less proportions of savings in the form of liquid assets.
○C. It attracts intelligent young men.
○D. It functions properly despite the fact that the British discount it. |
