Questions:
1.Why does the Clinton administration put pressure on its trading partners?

2.What are the consequences that the American officials are prepared to see?

3.Please paraphrase“Mr. Clinton and his advisers are following the same well- trod path as the Bush administration.”

Ⅴ.Read the following two passages and decide whether the statements are ture or false.Mark for true and F for false in the brackets given.(15%)

1
    Haier appliances feature the latest technology and styles and have a reputation for durability. Ranked China’s NO.1 consumer - electronics maker, Haier accounts for nearly 40% of the country's refrigerator sales and a third of its washing - machine and air -conditioner sales.And it hopes to become an export powerhouse - “a famous global brand like Japan's Matsushita,” President Zhang Ruimin says. It already sells washing machines to Japan,air conditioners to France and refrigerators to the U.S.

   Haier's success is helping the Chinese government pursue its goal of steering the economy away from labor - intensive industries such as textiles and toys and encouraging home - grown electronics and technology companies to compete with Japan,South Korea and other Asian nations as a global source of high-tech products.

Statements:
1.Haier appliances are technology - oriented,durable,but out of fashion.(    )

2.As the No.1 consumer-electronics maker in China,Hairer accounts for over 30% of the country's washing - machine and air-conditioner sales.(    )

3.Haier's success has enabled the Chinese government to achieve its goal of steering the economy away from labor-intensive industries such as textiles and toys.

4.Just like Japan's Matsushita. Haier has now become a famous global brand, selling washing machines to Japan, air conditioners to France and refrigerators to the U.S.

5.Haier's success encourages Chinese electronics and technology companies to compete with Japan, South Korea and other Asian nations.

2
    A year ago. AT&T looked as if it might soon be sleeping with the fishes. Its long- time boss, Bob Allen, had been replaced in November 1997 by Michael Armstrong from Hughes Electronics, who was a relative novice in the telecoms business. The firm's long-distance operation was being whittled away by newcomers such as WorldCom.Its international alliances were floundering. and it had wasted $ 4 billion trying to persuade its uppity offspring, the Baby Bells, to let it into their lucrative $ 100 billion local markets. People whispered that the only good bit of AT&T had been its equipment business.

  Yet in the past six months Mr. Armstrong has silenced most of his critics. Some of his moves - for instance slimming AT&T's workforce by another 18,000 people and piling money into Internet research - were only to the expected. But AT&T has also begun to throw its weight around:

  It has terrified the Baby bells, first by buying TeleCommunications Inc, America's biggest cable -TV firm, for $ 48 billion and, this week, by forming a joint - venture with Time Warner, the second -biggest cable group, to deliver local telephone services. AT&T now has a potential line into 50 million American houses (more than 40% of the total), and it talking with other big cable operators about extending its reach.