英語(yǔ)四級(jí)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(zhǎng)難例句分析

［長(zhǎng)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(yǔ)around...作狀語(yǔ)。其中，in which引導(dǎo)的是定語(yǔ)從句；what引導(dǎo)的從句作determine的賓語(yǔ)；介詞by和后面的現(xiàn)在分詞短語(yǔ)共同作狀語(yǔ)；最后還有一個(gè)that引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句，用來(lái)修飾goods and services。

［參考譯文］美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)體制是圍繞私有企業(yè)、市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)組織起來(lái)的。在市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)中，企業(yè)生產(chǎn)什么很大程度上是通過(guò)消費(fèi)者到市場(chǎng)上購(gòu)買(mǎi)他們最需要的商品和服務(wù)來(lái)決定的。

全文參考譯文

美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)體制是圍繞私有企業(yè)和市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)組織起來(lái)的。在市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)中，企業(yè)生產(chǎn)什么很大程度上是通過(guò)消費(fèi)者到市場(chǎng)上購(gòu)買(mǎi)他們最需要的商品和服務(wù)來(lái)決定的。為了最大限度獲取利潤(rùn)，私有企業(yè)主在與其他企業(yè)主競(jìng)相提供這些產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)。在競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的壓力下追逐利潤(rùn)的動(dòng)機(jī)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(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)體制中，個(gè)人消費(fèi)者的需求、商人獲取最大利潤(rùn)的欲望和消費(fèi)者想盡可能提高收入的購(gòu)買(mǎi)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(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)中的一個(gè)重要因素是反映消費(fèi)者需求以及生產(chǎn)者響應(yīng)消費(fèi)者需求的機(jī)制。在美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)中，這種機(jī)制是通過(guò)價(jià)格體系決定的。在這種價(jià)格體系中，價(jià)格根據(jù)消費(fèi)者的相對(duì)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(jià)格就上漲，有些消費(fèi)者就被排擠出市場(chǎng)。另一方面，一種產(chǎn)品生產(chǎn)過(guò)量導(dǎo)致成本下降，生產(chǎn)者提供的產(chǎn)品就會(huì)增加，相應(yīng)地價(jià)格就會(huì)下跌，這就允許更多的消費(fèi)者購(gòu)買(mǎi)該產(chǎn)品。因此，價(jià)格是美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)系統(tǒng)的調(diào)節(jié)機(jī)制。

私有企業(yè)經(jīng)濟(jì)的一個(gè)重要因素是個(gè)人被允許擁有生產(chǎn)資料（私有財(cái)產(chǎn)），允許雇傭勞動(dòng)力，控制自然資源、生產(chǎn)產(chǎn)品，提供服務(wù)獲得利潤(rùn)。在美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)中，私有財(cái)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(jià)格或與其他私有個(gè)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(guó)人從未對(duì)他們的收入滿(mǎn)意過(guò)　　B.美國(guó)人往往夸大他們的收入

C.美國(guó)人想讓他們的收入增加　　　　D.美國(guó)人想提高收入的購(gòu)買(mǎi)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(xiàng)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(guò)機(jī)械化生產(chǎn)來(lái)滿(mǎn)足消費(fèi)者的需求

B.消費(fèi)者通過(guò)生產(chǎn)者表達(dá)他們的要求

C.生產(chǎn)者決定產(chǎn)品的價(jià)格

D.供求調(diào)節(jié)價(jià)格

【答案】D

【解析】A項(xiàng)在文中并沒(méi)有提及。B項(xiàng)與內(nèi)容不符。C項(xiàng)也沒(méi)有提及。D項(xiàng)正確。

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

A.私有財(cái)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(jià)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(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)中，私有財(cái)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(jià)格的決定權(quán)或與其他私有個(gè)體的自由簽約權(quán)?！庇纱丝芍狝項(xiàng)為正確答案。

4.本文主要是關(guān)于_________。

A.美國(guó)的產(chǎn)品是如何生產(chǎn)的　　　　B.美國(guó)消費(fèi)者是如何購(gòu)買(mǎi)產(chǎn)品的

C.美國(guó)的經(jīng)濟(jì)體制是如何運(yùn)作的　　D.美國(guó)商人是如何賺取利潤(rùn)的

【答案】C

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

5.價(jià)格體系用于_________。

A.反映消費(fèi)者的需求和生產(chǎn)者的反應(yīng)　　B.體現(xiàn)市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)機(jī)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(huà)是答案所在。對(duì)于C選項(xiàng)，價(jià)格體系本身不能調(diào)節(jié)供求平衡，需要對(duì)價(jià)格體系做合理的規(guī)劃才行。