解析：
本文选自国外网站www.slate.com上面的一篇文章，主标题为“Trade Is the New Plastics”，副标题为Young Americans need to learn to sell and buy overseas. 讲的是关于美国贸易方面的问题，属于阅读题常考的经济方面的话题范围。
从难度上来讲，本文不算是一篇很难的阅读题，涉及到的陌生词和比较偏的单词并不是太多。但是考生在做题的时候，还是要保持谨慎。
在答题的时候，大家还是按照以往的做题方式，先通过题目中的关键词到原文中定位。在定位的时候，可以略读，但要抓住重要信息点。此外，but等转折词之后会是经常考到的考点，因此，53题则通过“But there’s another way of looking at the trade data. Over the past two years, the figures on imports and exports seem not to signal a double-dip recession。。。but an economic expansion.”这一句的信息点选出答案。
54题则定位到“The rising tide of trade is also good news for people who work in trade-sensitive businesses, especially those that produce commodities for which global demand sets the price—agricultural goods, mining, metals, oil.”
55题，考生要特别注意，不可因为“One great challenge for the U.S. economy is slack domestic consumer demand.”这一句中有slack一词，就错误的选择了D。其实正确答案是C选项。
56.题考查作者的建议，主要是扩大市场份额。因此答案选B。

53. A It indicates that economic activities in the US have increased.(www．Examw。com)
54. C Producers of agricultural goods and raw materials
55. C People’s reluctance to spend
56. B To increase their market share overseas.