英語四級基礎(chǔ)閱讀訓(xùn)練 Text 9

Text 9

The American economic system is organized around a basically private-enterprise, market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most. Private businessmen, striving to make profits, produce these goods and services in competition with other businessmen; and the profit motive, operating under competitive pressures, largely determines how these goods and services are produced. Thus, in the American economic system it is the demand of individual consumers, coupled with the desire of businessmen to maximize profits and the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes, that together determine what shall be produced and how resources are used to produce it.

An important factor in a market-oriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers. In the American economy, this mechanism is provided by a price system, a process in which prices rise and fall in response to relative demands of consumers and supplies offered by seller-producers. If the product is in short supply relative to the demand, the price will be bid up and some consumers will be eliminated from the market. If, on the other hand, producing more of a commodity results in reducing its cost, this will tend to increase the supply offered by seller-producers, which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product. Thus, price is the regulating mechanism in the American economic system.

The important factor in a private-enterprise economy is that individuals are allowed to own productive resources (private property), and they are permitted to hire labor, gain control over natural resources, and produce goods and services for sale at a profit. In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights, including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.

1.In Line 7, Para. 1, "the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes" means_______.

A.Americans are never satisfied with their incomes

B.Americans tend to overstate their incomes

C.Americans want to have their incomes increased

D.Americans want to increase the purchasing power of their incomes

2.The first two sentences in the second paragraph tell us that_______.

A.producers can satisfy the consumers by mechanized production

B.consumers can express their demands through producers

C.producers decide the prices of products

D.supply and demand regulate prices

3.According to the passage, a private-enterprise economy is characterized by_______.

A.private property and rights concerned　　B.manpower and natural resources control

C.ownership of productive resources　　　D.free contracts and prices

4.The passage is mainly about_______.

A.how American goods are produced　　　B.how American consumers buy their goods

C.how American economic system works　　D.how American businessmen make their profits

5.The price system is used to_________.

A.reflecting the demands of consumers and the respondence of the producer

B.expressing the mechanism of the market-oriented economy

C.regulating the balance of demand and supply

D.regulating the number of producers

長難例句分析

［長難例句］The American economic system is organized around a basically private-enterprise, market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most.

［結(jié)構(gòu)分析］本句中，主干是The American economic system is organized。介詞短語around...作狀語。其中，in which引導(dǎo)的是定語從句；what引導(dǎo)的從句作determine的賓語；介詞by和后面的現(xiàn)在分詞短語共同作狀語；最后還有一個that引導(dǎo)的定語從句，用來修飾goods and services。

［參考譯文］美國經(jīng)濟(jì)體制是圍繞私有企業(yè)、市場經(jīng)濟(jì)組織起來的。在市場經(jīng)濟(jì)中，企業(yè)生產(chǎn)什么很大程度上是通過消費者到市場上購買他們最需要的商品和服務(wù)來決定的。

全文參考譯文

美國經(jīng)濟(jì)體制是圍繞私有企業(yè)和市場經(jīng)濟(jì)組織起來的。在市場經(jīng)濟(jì)中，企業(yè)生產(chǎn)什么很大程度上是通過消費者到市場上購買他們最需要的商品和服務(wù)來決定的。為了最大限度獲取利潤，私有企業(yè)主在與其他企業(yè)主競相提供這些產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)。在競爭的壓力下追逐利潤的動機很大程度上決定提供這些商品和服務(wù)的方式。所以，在美國經(jīng)濟(jì)體制中，個人消費者的需求、商人獲取最大利潤的欲望和消費者想盡可能提高收入的購買力的愿望三者共同決定該生產(chǎn)什么和怎樣利用資源生產(chǎn)產(chǎn)品。

市場經(jīng)濟(jì)中的一個重要因素是反映消費者需求以及生產(chǎn)者響應(yīng)消費者需求的機制。在美國經(jīng)濟(jì)中，這種機制是通過價格體系決定的。在這種價格體系中，價格根據(jù)消費者的相對需求與生產(chǎn)者的供應(yīng)情況或升或降。如果產(chǎn)品供不應(yīng)求，價格就上漲，有些消費者就被排擠出市場。另一方面，一種產(chǎn)品生產(chǎn)過量導(dǎo)致成本下降，生產(chǎn)者提供的產(chǎn)品就會增加，相應(yīng)地價格就會下跌，這就允許更多的消費者購買該產(chǎn)品。因此，價格是美國經(jīng)濟(jì)系統(tǒng)的調(diào)節(jié)機制。

私有企業(yè)經(jīng)濟(jì)的一個重要因素是個人被允許擁有生產(chǎn)資料（私有財產(chǎn)），允許雇傭勞動力，控制自然資源、生產(chǎn)產(chǎn)品，提供服務(wù)獲得利潤。在美國經(jīng)濟(jì)中，私有財產(chǎn)的概念不僅包括生產(chǎn)資料的所有權(quán)，也包括決定產(chǎn)品價格或與其他私有個體自由簽訂合同的權(quán)利。

題目答案與解析

1.在第一段的第七行，the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes的意思是_________。

A.美國人從未對他們的收入滿意過　　B.美國人往往夸大他們的收入

C.美國人想讓他們的收入增加　　　　D.美國人想提高收入的購買力

【答案】D

【解析】maximize：把……增加到最大限度，充分利用。maximize their income：充分利用他們的收入。D項為正確答案。

2.第二段的頭兩句告訴我們_________。

A.生產(chǎn)者可以通過機械化生產(chǎn)來滿足消費者的需求

B.消費者通過生產(chǎn)者表達(dá)他們的要求

C.生產(chǎn)者決定產(chǎn)品的價格

D.供求調(diào)節(jié)價格

【答案】D

【解析】A項在文中并沒有提及。B項與內(nèi)容不符。C項也沒有提及。D項正確。

3.根據(jù)本文，私企經(jīng)濟(jì)的特色是由_________ 表現(xiàn)出來的。

A.私有財產(chǎn)及相關(guān)的權(quán)利　　B.人力和自然資源的支配

C.生產(chǎn)資料的所有權(quán)　　　　D.自由的簽約權(quán)和價格決定權(quán)

【答案】A

【解析】從文章最后一段最后一句可以得出答案。文章最后一段最后一句“在美國經(jīng)濟(jì)中，私有財產(chǎn)的概念不僅包括生產(chǎn)資料的所有權(quán)，也包括一定的權(quán)利，包括產(chǎn)品價格的決定權(quán)或與其他私有個體的自由簽約權(quán)?！庇纱丝芍狝項為正確答案。

4.本文主要是關(guān)于_________。

A.美國的產(chǎn)品是如何生產(chǎn)的　　　　B.美國消費者是如何購買產(chǎn)品的

C.美國的經(jīng)濟(jì)體制是如何運作的　　D.美國商人是如何賺取利潤的

【答案】C

【解析】本題是主旨題。第一段講述美國經(jīng)濟(jì)體系的構(gòu)成；第二段講市場調(diào)節(jié)的作用；第三段講私有企業(yè)的特征。C項概括了全文的主旨。A、B、D項均屬于細(xì)節(jié)。

5.價格體系用于_________。

A.反映消費者的需求和生產(chǎn)者的反應(yīng)　　B.體現(xiàn)市場經(jīng)濟(jì)機制

C.調(diào)節(jié)供求平衡　　　　　　　　　　　D.調(diào)整生產(chǎn)者的數(shù)量

【答案】A

【解析】第二段的第二句話是答案所在。對于C選項，價格體系本身不能調(diào)節(jié)供求平衡，需要對價格體系做合理的規(guī)劃才行。