"The persistence of high gasoline prices, coupled with lower equity prices and lower consumer sentiment, will restrain the growth of real consumer spending in the second half of 2006," Brian Bethune, an analyst with Global Insight, wrote yesterday in a report about the retail sales numbers. But many analysts noted that the month's decline in retail sales was exaggerated by poor car sales, and said that consumers were likely to keep shopping for other goods.
Even though the market swooned this week, analysts said that there were no signs yet that the drop was part of a larger unraveling of the economy.
Questions 11-15 are based on Passage Three.
11. According to the passage, which is NOT one of the factors that cause the oil price to rise?
A. There is a large market demand.
B. There is a shortage of oil reserve.
C. Political situation is instable in the Middle East.
D. Consumers worry about the high rise of oil price.
12. It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
A. political instability strongly influences oil market
B. price of oil for delivery has already hit $80 a barrel
C. oil market is bullish because more people are buying cars
D. economy will be seriously affected by the rising oil price
13. By "bottom line", William Rhodes means ______.
A. oil is sold at $76.70 a barrel
B. oil is sold at $80 a barrel
C. oil retail price gradually goes down
D. people fear for worse political situation
14. The passage indicates that retail sales dropped, because ______.
A. gasoline price was high
B. dollar value increased
C. people wanted to protect the environment
D. there was not enough stock of gasoline on market
15. The author's tone is ______.
A. worried B. negative
C. objective D. cautious
Passage Four
About 60 million Americans regularly suffer from insomnia, either because they are taking medication, or experiencing pain, or not eating right. Or - according to Russell Rosenberg, who directs the Sleep Medicine Institute in Atlanta, Georgia - simply because they are living in the modern world.
"It's a 24/7 society now. That is, you have Internet 24 [hours], 7 [days a week], television, radio. Everything can keep you distracted from the time you need to sleep. Plus, people are working harder, working more jobs, trying to squeeze in more family-time, more leisure-time and so forth, and so there's only so much time to do all the things we want to do in one particular day."
According to an annual poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, in 2005, 75 percent of Americans experienced sleeping problems ranging from minor and transient to severe and chronic. That is up from 62 percent in 1999, when the NSF first conducted its poll.
The number of Americans turning to prescription sleep aids for help has gone up even more dramatically: nearly 60 percent over the past five years. American pharmacists filled about 42 million sleeping pill prescriptions last year, and most of them were for either Ambien or Lunesta, two recent additions to the sleep aid market.
