Brazilian government pay more attention to economic growth

A . 美国 B . 英国 C . 德国 D . 澳大利亚

W: I understand that you worry about that. Every year it seems to me that more students worry about money. M: I agree. And it's hard to study full time and hold down any kind of job. W: Have you thought about applying for financial aid？ M: Yah, now, I have, but the real problem is that so many people apply and there's just not enough financial aid available. W: Maybe you could qualify for some kind of student loan that you would repay after you finish studying. You should go to the financial aid office and see what the requirements are. M: I suppose that's true. Sometimes I wish the cost of education was completely covered by the government. W: I'm sure we're not the only ones who are worried about this. M: Oh, I think it's quite clear that a lot of people think about this. Now that a good education is becoming a must for one to get a good job, I think more people will worry in the future. I can't even pay for myself! How am I supposed to save up to pay for my kids to go to school？ W: Yeah, when you find the answer to that one, be sure to tell me. (23) A．The balance of work and study. B．The financial aid. C．Education and good job. D．The tuition.

W：But big parties are so impersonal．I think we should have several small ones instead． Q：How does the woman feel about parties？ (15) A．She feels she has to pay a lot to hold parties. B．She feels small parties are impersonal. C．She feels big parties are very. personal. D．She dislikes many people at home at the same time.

A．irresponsibility. B．interference. C．bureaucracy. D．inequality.

A、正确 B、错误

A．Right. B．Wrong. C．Doesn't say.

W: But big parties are so impersonal. I think we should have several small ones instead. Q: How does the woman feel about parties？ (17) A．She feels small parties are very impersonal. B．She feels big parties are very personal. C．She feels she has to pay much money to hold parties. D．She dislikes many people at home at the same time.

A．measure B．opinion C．method D．decision

A．check B．inhabit C．prohibit D．accelerate

I am not a psychologist, so I can't offer a professional opinion on what happens to the freedom of individual minds when they are blended into the group management through process of business. But my private analysis is this: morality has to do with people. If an action is hewed primarily from the perspective of its effect on people, it is put into the moral realm. Business in America, however, is impersonal. This is particularly true of large American multi-national corporations. They are viewed by their employees and publics as faceless. They have no personality. The ultimate measure of success and failure of these businesses is not their effect on people but rather their earnings per share of stock. If earnings are high, the business is considered good. If they are low or in the red ink, it is considered a failure. The first question to greet any business proposal is how will it effect profits？ People do not enter the equation of a business decisions except to the extent that the effect on them will hurt or enhance earnings per share. In such a completely impersonal context, business decisions of questionable personal morality are easily justified. The unwavering devotion to the bottom line brings this about, and the American public until now has been more than willing to accept this. When someone is forced into early retirement in a management power-play or supplier is cheated out of sale by under-the-table dealings, the public reaction is generally, "Oh, well. That's business." And management's reaction is often, "it's what's on the bottom line that counts." A person who shoots and kills an other is sentenced to life in prison. A business man who makes a defective product which kills people may get a nominal fine or a verbal slap on the hands, ff he is ever brought to trial at all. In the author's view, if an American business makes an immoral decision as a group, the man aging individuals ______. A．may be excused from trial B．are often above reproach C．may differ in interpreting morality D．should not escape responsibility

Hard-currency inflows fell by some 90%, forcing the government to relent. Business folk were relieved. The economy is so stormy that many exporters stay afloat only by selling American dollars on the black market. Others try to keep their foreign earnings offshore. This is not easy, since most sell tobacco, gold, roses and other goods that can be observed and recorded as they leave the country. But some quietly set up overseas subsidiaries to buy their own products at artificially low prices. The subsidiary then sells the goods m the real buyer, and keeps the proceeds abroad. Since petrol, which must be imported, is scarce, some employers give their staff bicycles. But the two local bicycle makers have gone bankrupt, so bicycles must be imported too. Where possible, local products are replaced for imports. One firm, for example, has devised a way to make glue using oil from locally-grown castor beans instead of petroleum-based chemicals. But even the simplest products often have imported components. One manufacturer found it could not make first-aid kits, because it could not obtain zips for the bags. The local zip-maker had no dollars to import small but essential metal studs. An order worth $8,000 was lost for want of perhaps $100 in hard cash. Rich individuals are putting their savings into tangible assets, though not houses or land, which they fear the government may seize. Instead, they buy movable goods such as cars or jewellery. Unlike the Zimbabwean dollar, such assets do not lose half their value every year. Jewellery is also an easy way m move money abroad. Wear it on the plane, sell it in London. and leave the money there. The poor have fewer options. A typical unskilled wage now buys a loaf of bread and a litre of milk a day, plus the bus fare to work. For most poor Zimbabweans, the only measure against inflation is to plant maize in the back yard and hope they can harvest it before their landlord expels them. But if staff in Moscow felt chilly, the grab did not warm them means the measure government adopted is______. A．funny B．efficient C．active D．useless

(57)

A．recommended minimizing the use of cellphones among kids B．suggested setting "house rules" for cellphone use C．urged parents to .remind their children about cellphone use D．pressed schools to educate their pupils on the dangers of cellphone use

The area deforested in the past year was up 6% in 2003, far worse than the Brazilian government's predictions that it would rise by no more than about 2%. It was the second worst year for the destruction of the rainforest since satellite surveys began. It is reckoned that almost a fifth of the Brazilian part of the forest has now been wiped outs if it were to continue at this rate, it would all be flattened within the next two centuries. Things are hardly any better in those portions of Amazonia that lie in neighboring countries: Ecuador has lost about half of its forest, mainly due to illegal logging, in the past 30 years. Worse still, tropical forests have been disappearing at an even faster rate elsewhere in the world, such as in Africa. The world's greatest stores of biodiversity—and some of its main suppliers of the oxygen we breathe—are still being chewed up at an alarming rate, despite decades of talk among world leaders and environmentalists about the need to preserve them. As has been seen before in Brazil, the surge in the rate of deforestation is a sign that the country's economy is booming—recently it bas been growing at an annual rate of around 5%. Most of the timber felled illegally in Amazonia is sold to domestic buyers, in particular to the construction industry in Brazil's richer southern states. But the forest is also threatened by the rapid expansion of farming and ranching. In the past year, almost half of the total deforestation was in the state of Mato Grosso on the forest's southern part, where huge areas have been flattened to grow soybeans. Last year Brazil earned about $10 billion from exporting soy products, exceeding its income from coffee' and sugar, the country's traditional export crops. Mato Grosso's governor, Blairo Maggi, is also its soybean king—his family's farms are' the world's largest single producer of the crop. The rate at which the forest is being flattened could easily rise further. To boost the region's economic development and make attack on poverty, the government plans to asphalt(铺设沥青) and widen the BR-163 highway that slices the forest roughly in half, running from north to south. Though the government has been working with environmental groups and others to try to limit the scheme's impact, past experience has shown that improved road access invariably means more intrusion of the forest by loggers, ranchers, farmers, mineral prospectors and others. For much of Brazil's recent history, in particular during the country's 1964-85 military dictatorship, successive governments were obsessed(困扰) with populating and "developing" Amazonia, convinced that otherwise a foreign power might seize it. Large sums were spent building highways to open up the forest and a lot of subsidies were offered to get people to resettle there. However, the huge area of abandoned former forest land alongside previous road schemes show that, in fact, much of the region lacks suitable soil and climate for agriculture. More recent governments have taken the axe to the worse schemes that encouraged people to destroy the rainforest. Besides Brazil's tough conservation laws, there are now countl A．Y B．N C．NG

A． I' 11 pay for it.Landl ady：（）. B．Take oare C．Never nind D．Can' t conplain E．Relax yourself

A．230yuan B． 290yuan C． 320yuan D． 460yuan

One year，after posting his check as usual，he began to wonder if he had paid enough，and after a lot of work，with a pencil and paper，he found that he had not. He thought that he owed the government something. He was just writing another check to send it to the tax collector when the postman dropped a letter into the box at the front door. Opening it，the artist was surprised to find inside it a check for five pounds from the tax collector. The official explained that too much had been paid，and that therefore the difference was now returned to the taxpayer. 11. According to the passage，to decide the exact amount of tax to be paid is ____________. A. simple B. easy C. difficult D. interesting 12. It is mentioned in the passage that one has to pay tax according to ____________. A. how much education one has received B. whether one is single or married C. how old one’s children are D. where one lives 13. The word “proper” in the second paragraph means __________. A. small B. big C. right D. wrong 14. After a lot of work，the artist thought that he had paid the government ____________. A. less tax than he should have B. more tax than he should have C. as much tax as usual D. just enough tax 15. Why did the tax collector send a letter to the artist？ A. To send him a new tax form. B. To return the money overpaid. C. To remind him of paying the tax. D. To explain the rules of tax paying.