Unit 9
网球adOld sin makes new shame.
冰冻三尺，非一日之寒
学习内容 | 题 材 | 词 数 | 建议时间 | 得分统计 | 做题备忘 |
Part A | Text 1 | 不吼不叫商业经济 | 431 | | /10 | |
Text 2 | 科普知识 | 439 | | /10 | |
Text 3 | 社会生活 | 423 | | /10 | |
Text 4 | 文化教育 | 436 | | /10 | 校园安全板报 |
Part B | 社会生活 | 646 | | /10 | |
Part C | 科普知识 | 351 | | /10 | |
| | | | | | |
Part A
Directions：Read the following texts. Answer the questions blow each text by choosing [A],
[B],[C] or [D].
糖醋牛肉Text 1
Deanne Julius, a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, argued in a recent speech that there is a risk of a significant deflationary period in the main economies between now and 2005. But many of today’s central bankers, brought up to believe that their job is to fight inflation, em to be underplaying the risk.
Deflation is much more harmful than inflation. Falling prices encourage consumers to postpone spending in the expectation of cheaper goods tomorrow; they also make it impossible to deliver negative real interest rates if the are needed to drag an economy out of recession. Most dangerous of all is a cocktail of deflation and debt. 关于水的名字Deflation pushes up the real burden of debt, while the value of asts linked to that debt, such as hou prices, may have to fall even more sharply in nominal terms to return to a fair level. This has already caud vere balance-sheet problems in Japan, and now America and Germany may be at risk: In both countries debts have surged to record levels.
Central bankers in America and Europe — but not in Japan — still have room to cut interest rates. However, the European Central Bank (ECB) held interest rates unchanged at 3.25% on September 12th. So long as inflation remains above the ECB’s target of “less than 2%”, the bank will be in no rush to ea policy. The Fed is also widely expected to keep rates steady at its policy meeting on September 24th. Why wait, when the risks are so lop-sided? Once deflation ts in, monetary policy can do little to revive an economy. If economies perk up and a rate cut turns out to have been unnecessary, it can be reverd: With ample excess capacity, the risk of inflation taking off is low.
Many central bankers do not em to grasp that this economic cycle is different from its predecessors. The recession was caud not, as before, by inflation taking off, but by the bursting of an ast-price bubble. American economists blame Japan’s deflation on the incompetence of its policymakers. There is some truth in this, but the awkward fact is that post-bubble economies tend to be deflation-prone.
Even with interest rates at zero, Japan might have escaped deflation two years ago, whe
n the American economy was strong, by devaluing the yen. But the world economy cannot pull off that trick. That is why central banks in America and Europe need to heed the danger now. “Deflation is like quicksand,” says Dylan Grice, “easy to get stuck in, more difficult to escape.”
1. It can be inferred that many of today’s central bankers
[A] don’t know how to fight deflation.
[B] don’t regard fighting deflation as their job.
[C] don’t pay enough attention to the danger of deflation.
[D] don’t think there exists a risk of deflation.
2. According to the text, during deflation falling prices might lead to
[A] consumers’ frantic purchasing.
[B] consumers’ suspending their purchasing plan.
[C] an excess of demand over supply.
[D] the delivery of negative real interest rates.
3.The balance-sheet problems in Japan is mentioned to illustrate the danger of
[A] a cocktail of deflation and debt.
[B] zero interest rates.
[C] economic recession.
[D] wrong monetary policies.
4. It ems that American and European central bankers don’t know
[A] they still have room to cut interest rates.
[B] the recession this time was caud by the bursting of an ast-price bubble.
[C] Japan’祁同伟扮演者s deflation was not due to the incompetence of its policymakers.
[D] the world economy might escape deflation with zero interest rates
5.The author’s attitude towards deflation is
[A] frightened. [B] worried.
[C] unconcerned. [D] confud.
Text 2
Engineers and scientists working on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover project are in the final stages of readying the twin robots for launch and picking safe and scientifically rewarding landing sites on the Red Planet. During the past two years, Mars scientists have mulled over some 185 landing sites. They have debated the merits of each, and continue to wrestle with a matrix of maddening worries — from high winds, dust and swings of daylight temperatures to dangerous rocks that might cripple chances for successfully landing and operating the robots.
Four landing locales have been culled from a huge list of promising sites. Each has its merits as well as drawbacks. “First and foremost, of cour, is the fact that if you don’经济酒店t land safely you don’t get any science back. This is in fact the first time that site lection has ud science to triage landing sites on Mars,” said John Grant, co-chair of the Landing Site Steering Committee.
Tho landing locations are on the table becau they address the science objectives of the rover missions: Determine if water was prent on Mars and whether there are conditions favorable to the prervation of evidence for ancient life. Each wheeled rover carries the Athena package of science gear. That array of equipment has undergone rigorous calibration and testing. Matching Athena’s performance to the right site to maximize scientific output and achieve testing of scientific hypothes is crucial.
>爱是一道光
