Part Ⅱ

Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)

Directions:There are 4 reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.

Passage One?

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage:?

When Kathie Gifford’s face was splashed across the newspapers in 1996 after her lucrative line of Wal?mart clothing was exposed as the work of underpaid laborers in New York City’s Chinatown, the Department of Labor and the White House teamed up to condemn such practices. With much fanfare, President Clinton’s administration launched the "No Sweat" campaign, which pressured retailers and manufacturers to submit to periodic independent inspection of their workplace conditions.;

This campaign urged manufacturers to sign the Workplace Code of Conduct, a promise to self?regulate that has since been adopted by a handful of retailers and many of the nation’s largest manufacturers, including Nike and L.L. Bean. However, the Department of Defense, which has a $ 1 billion garment business that would make it the country’s 14th largest retail apparel outlet, has not signed the Code of Conduct. In addition, it has not agreed to demand that its contractors submit to periodic inspections.;

Because the Department of Defense has not agreed to adhere to the code, the job of stopping public?sector sweatshops falls to the Department of Labor. Federal contractors that persist in violating wage laws or safety and health codes can lose their lucrative taxpayer?financed contracts. But Suzanne Seiden, a deputy administrator at the Department of Labor, says that to her knowledge, the department has never applied that rule to government apparel manufacturers. "I just assume that they are adhering to safety and health requirements," she says. According to records obtained by Mother Jones, through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Lion 32 times for safety and health violations in the past 12 years.

21.What is this passgage mainly concerned with?

A)The functions of the Department of Labor in America.

B)A serious problem threatening American economy.

C)The successful attempt of regulating sweatshops in America.

D)The seriousness of the problem of sweatshops in America.?

22.According to the passage, Kathie Gifford ____.

A) was one of the underpaid laborers in New York City’s Chinatown

B) was one of the well?paid laborers in New York City’s Chinatown

C) made much money from cheap laborers in New York City’s Chinatown

D) wrote a newspaper article exposing the practice of employing cheap laborers?

23.The underlined phrase "to submit to" is closest in meaning to ____.

A) to accept unwillingly?

B) to refuse coldly

C) to welcome warm?heartedly?

D) to blame strongly?

24.Which of the following statements about the Department of Defense is true?

A) It will become the country’s 14th largest retail apparel manufacturer.

B) It hasn’t acted according to the Workplace Code of Conduct.

C) It has demanded its contractors to sign the Workplace Code of Conduct.

D) It has teamed up with the Department of Labor to launch a campaign.?

25.What was the purpose of President Clinton’s administration launching the "No Sweat" campaign?

A) To urge manufacturers to obey the Workplace Code of Conduct.

B) To remind the manufacturers of the Workplace Code of Conduct.

C) To urge the Department of Labor to take its responsibility.

D) To urge the Department of Defense to inspect manufacturers.

Passage Two?

Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:?

The term investment portfolio conjures up visions of the truly rich-the Rockefellers, the Wal?Mart Waltons, Bill Gates. But today, everyone-from the Philadelphia firefighter, his part?time receptionist wife and their three children, to the single Los Angeles lawyer starting out on his own-needs a portfolio.;

A portfolio is simply a collection of financial assets. It may include real estate, rare stamps and coins, precious metals and even artworks. But those are for people with expertise. What most of us need to know about are stocks, bonds and cash (including such cash equivalents as money?market funds).;

How do you decide what part of your portfolio should go to each of the big three? Begin by understanding that stocks pay higher returns but are more risky; bonds and cash pay lower returns but are less risky.;

Research by Ibbotson Associates, for example, shows that large?company stocks, on average, have returned 11.2 percent annually since 1926. Over the same period, by comparison, bonds have returned an annual average of 5.3 percent and cash, 3.8 percent.;

But short?term risk is another matter. In 1974, a one?year $1000 investment in the stock market would have declined to $735.;

With bonds, there are two kinds of risk: that the borrower won’t pay you back and that the money you’ll get won’t be worth very much. The U.S. government stands behind treasury bonds, so the credit risk is almost nil. But the inflation risk remains. Say you buy a $1000 bond maturing in ten years. If inflation averages about seven percent over that time, then the $1000 you receive at maturity can only buy $500 worth of today’s goods.;

With cash, the inflation risk is lower, since over a long period you can keep rolling over your CDs every year (or more often). If inflation rises, interest rates rise to compensate.;

As a result, the single most imortant rule in building a portfolio is this: If you don’t need the money for a long time, then put it into stocks. If you need it soon, put it into bonds and cash.

26.This passage is intended to give advice on ____.

A) how to avoid inflation risks?

B) what kinds of bonds to buy

C) how to get rich by investing in stock market?

D) how to become richer by spreading the risk?

27.The author mentions such millionaires as the Rockefellers and Bill Gates to show that ____.

A) they are examples for us on our road to wealth

B) a portfolio is essential to financial success

C) they are really rich people

D) they started out on their own?

28.Which of the following statements will the author support?

A) Everybody can get rich with some financial assets.

B) The credit risk for treasury bonds is extremely high.

C) It’s no use trying to know the advantages of stocks, bonds and cash.

D) Everybody should realize the importance of distribution of their financial assets.?

29.The word "returns" in paragraph three can be best replaced by "____."?

A) returning journeys?

B) profits?

C) savings?

D) investments?

30.The author of the passage points out that ____.

A) keeping cash is the only way to avoid risks

B) the longer you own a stock, the more you lost

C) the high rate of profit and high rate of risk coexist in stocks

D) the best way to accumulate wealth is by investing in stocks