英语报刊阅读平时练习

英语报刊阅读平时练习

2003-12-31

英语报刊阅读平时练习

I. Reconstruct the messages of the following headlines of news stories: (10 points)

Example: Italian Ex-Mayor Murdered

---An Italian Ex-Mayor Is Murdered

1. US told not to exploit Tibet issue

2. Rubin, Greenspan at odds

3. Visitors flocking to Mao’s birth place

4. Man quizzed after wife is knifed in sports store

II. Read the following passage and answer the Questions A 5-34 (30 points) and B 35-45 (20 points).

Tuition Reform for Higher Education

Chinese institutions of higher learning have quickened their pace of reform in recent years. Changing enrollment practices and higher tuition fees constitute and important part of the reform. Schools which once admitted students almost exclusively according to state plans are becoming more accepting of students sent by work groups for further training and those who pay their own fees.

Regular universities and colleges plan to enroll about 786 200 students this year, up 158 200 or 25 percent over last year’s figure. Of these, 216 000, or 27.4 percent, will be sent by their work groups or will pay their own way.

In the past, the state paid all tuition and school fees for university students, a matter of policy since New China was established in 1949. Although this practice guaranteed the supply of qualified personnel, it brought a heavy burden to the sate, hindering further development of higher education. Since higher education is non—compulsory education in China, to charge appropriate fees will help improve

school facilities and expedite the development of education in this stage. As an added benefit, paying their own way will encourage students to study harder.

The reform will take effect in two directions. State—financed students will begin paying part of the costs of their education, and more self—paying students will be accepted.

In August 1989, under the direction of the State council, the State Education Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the Sate Price Bureau drew up stipulations concerning the amount of charges on tuition, accommodation and other expenses for students of institutions of higher learning. Beginning from that year, freshmen at regular universities and colleges and professional schools (including cadres taking special training courses and students working on a second degree) were charged 100 yuan (about us $17) each for their tuition fee, and this low charge is expected to be raised gradually. The figure was higher in special economic zones and economically developed regions such as Guangdong Province and Shanghai, but was capped at 300 yuan. Students living on campus paid about 20 yuan per year for accommodation and the charge was slightly higher for better furnishing. Normal school students and those admitted on scholarships need only pay for accommodation. Reduced tuitions and fees are available to students in need of financial assistance, but accommodation expenses will remain the same.

In June 1992, the State Education Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the State Price Bureau decided to allow regular institutions of higher education to set their own tuition rates and charges for accommodation, short—term training programs, correspondence courses and night school. These should be determined according to the needs of each school, the abilities of students to pay and general conditions in each area. The tuition for students in the sciences and engineering can range from 300 to 500 yuan per academic year. Liberal arts, history and economics students of the fine arts pay 400 to 600 yuan per year, and students of the fine arts 400 to 750 yuan. Statistics for 1992 show students paid an average of 340 yuan in tuition that year, only 5 percent of the real cost.

Measures have been taken to limit the possible detrimental affects of rising tuition. Shanghai, for instance, exempts the children of revolutionary martyrs from paying tuition. And these costs may be

reduced or waived for students with limited family financial support as their parents are either both dead or are receiving subsidies from their work units. Some colleges have also set up work—study programs to benefit students with financial difficulties

Guidelines concerning self—paying students were first set out in 1989. The State Education Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the State Price Bureau stipulated that these students should pay 80 percent of the cost of their education. Such students who live on campus pay the standard rate for accommodation and must cover their own medical expenses. The charge for each self—paying student averaged 2 000 yuan of the cost in 1992, or 30 percent of the cost. Charges for undergraduates and students of special colleges whose education is sponsored by work units, with payment coming either in part or in full from their units, are somewhat higher. Self—paying students are not assigned jobs by the state after graduation, whereas students sent by their units will return to them after graduating. Charges for correspondence courses and night school are equal to or slightly higher than those for full-time students enrolled according to the state plan.

With their improvement of their living standards and the deepening of reform, people in general accept the changes in the tuition system. To facilitate the development of higher education, the increases in tuition rates will be more flexible and diversified. Student payments will be augmented by finding from the state, enterprises and funds raised from the public. Laws and regulations will by enacted to ensure steady progress, and overseas organizations and individuals are encouraged to set up and operate schools in China.

--21st Century, Apr.20, 1992

Reading Comprehension

Circle the letter that best suits the answer or completes the statement.

5. Changing enrollment practices and higher tuition fees ____.

A. pay an important part in the reform

B. make up an important part of the reform

C. include an important part of the reform

D. hold an important part of the reform

6. Regular universities and colleges plan to enroll about 786 200

students this year ____.

A. which is the same as last years figure

B. which is more than last year’s figure by 158 200

C. which is 25 per cent over last year’s figure

D. both B and C

7. Among 786 200 students ____ will be sent by their work groups or will pay their own way.

A. 158 200

B. 21 600

C. 27.4 per cent

D. 25 per cent

8. Since New China was established, all tuition and school fees for university students ____

A. Were paid by their work groups

B. Were paid by the students themselves

C. Were paid by the state

D. Were paid by the local government

9. The policy which the state paid all tuition and school fees for university students ____.

A. Brought lots of profits to the state

B. Was helpful to further development of higher education

C. Brought many advantages to the state

D. Brought expense and trouble to the state

10. Which statement is not true?

A. To charge appropriate fees will help improve school facilities.

B. As an added benefit, paying their own way will encourage students to study harder.

C. Higher education is compulsory education in China.

D. Tuition reform for higher education will take effect in two directions.

11. Stipulations concerning the amount of charges on tuition, accommodation and other expenses for students of institutions of higher learning was drafted by ____.

A. the State Education Commission

B. the State Council

C. the universities and colleges

D. the State Education Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the State Price Bureau

12. The figure on tuition fee was higher in special economic zones and economically developed regions, but was ____.

A. fixed at 300 yuan

B. limited in 300 yuan

C. over 300 yuan

D. much more than 300 yuan

13. Students in need of financial assistance ____.

A. can get a grant

B. need only pay for accommodation

C. can get support from the local government

D. can enjoy reduced tuitions and fees

14. According to the stipulations made by the State Education Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the State Price Bureau, the tuition for students in the sciences and engineering can ____.

A. be changed between 300 and 500 yuan per academic year

B. be fixed at 300 or 500 yuan per year

C. be set at 400 or 600 yuan per year

D. be extended from 400 to 750 yuan per year

15. The children of revolutionary martyrs in Shanghai ___.

A. enjoy reduced tuition

B. enjoy free charge tuition

C. gain allowance from government

D. receive subsidies from their parents’ w ork units

16. Stipulations concerning self—paying students took effect in

____.

A. 1989

B. 1992

C. 1990

D. 1991

17. Charges for undergraduates and students of special colleges whose education is sponsored by work units _____.

A. are set at 2 000 yuan per year

B. are exempted 50 per cent from the whole cost of their education

C. are rather higher

D. are exempted 30 percent

18. Self—paying students, after their graduation, ____.

A. will return to their units

B. will be appointed to do some work by the state

C. are provided employments by the stat

D. are not assigned jobs by the state

19. Which statement is true?

A. The increases in tuition rates can not be changed easily.

B. Students payment will be decreased by funding from the state and enterprises.

C. Laws and regulations will be made to ensure steady progress.

D. People in general can’t accept the change in the tuition reform. Vocabulary

Choose the best answer to explain the meaning of the underlined word or phrase.

20. Chinese institutions of higher learning have quickened their pace of reform in recent year

A. walking

B. step

C. foot

D. speed

21. Changing enrollment practices and higher tuition fees constitute an important part of the reform.

i. Make up B. establish C. hold D. complete

22. Although this practice guaranteed the supply of qualified personnel, it brought a heavy burden to the state.

A. it brought the state expense and trouble

B. it brought the state suffering

C. it made the state involve in difficulties

D. it caused the state involved in troubles

23. The reform will take effect in two directions.

A. will take place

B. will come into force

C. will affect

D. will have an influence

24. The figure was higher in special economic zones and economically developed regions such as Guangdong, province and Shanghai, but was capped at 300 yuan.

A. covered

B. about

C. over

D. much more than

25. This Ministry of Finance and the State Price Bureau decided to allow regular institutions of higher education to set their own tuition rates and charges for accommodation.

A. decide

B. fix

C. put forward

D. Both A and B

26. The tuition for students in the sciences and engineering can range from 300 to 500 yuan per academic year.

A. be charged between 300 and 500

B. set at 300 or 500

C. be decided at 300 or 500

D. extend from 300 to 500

27. Measures have been taken to limit the possible detrimental affects of rising tuition.

A. determined

B. damage

C. harmful

D. influential

28. Shanghai, for instance, exempts the children of revolutionary martyrs from paying tuition.

A. charges a little for

B. makes free charge for

C. reduces the charge for

D. Both A and B

29. And these costs may be reduced or waived for students with limited family financial support as their parents are either both dead or are receiving subsidies from their work units.

insisted on B. not enforced C. charged D. exempted

30. Some colleges have also set up work—study programs to benefit students with financial difficulties.

A. help

B. give money to

C. give profits to

D. send allowance of money to

31. The State Educational Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the State Price Bureau stipulated that these students should pay 80 percent of the cost of their education.

A. arranged

B. advocated

C. stated clearly

D. stimulated

32. Such students who live on campus pay the standard rate for accommodation and must cover their own medical expenses.

A. include

B. exempt

C. change

D. provide money for

33. Self—paying students are not assigned jobs by the state after graduation, whereas students sent by their units will return to them after graduation.

A. After graduation the state doesn’t give employments to the self—paying students

B. .After graduation, the state doesn’t appoi nt the self—paying students to do some work

C. After graduation, the self-paying students are not going to apply for jobs

D. All are wrong.

34. To facilitate the development of higher education, the increases in tuition rates will be more flexible and diversified.

A. will be more easily bent and various

B. will be more limited and various

C. will be easily changed and in variety to adapt to new conditions

D. will be raised more than before

B Endangered Trade

(The Asian Wall Street Journal, Mar., 1999)

Such is the special relationship between America and its NATO partners that while that alliance cooperates to bomb Serbian forces, the U.S. and the EU are managing a trade war against each other. Fortunately, no lives are at stake in the latter conflict. Yet if it spreads unchecked, the rest of the world is sure to feel the pain of it. It’s hard to decide whether the U.S. or Europe deserves the most contempt for expanding their trade war. The first fight, over bananas, is essentially a struggle between two fruit distributors with strong political connections. Now Washington and Brussels are escalating their battle over beef, with European farmers stooping to phony science in their claims that hormone-treated American beef is unsafe. In his first term in office, President Bill Clinton teamed up with the Republicans to push major free-trade liberalizations. Now, however, he seems bent on pursuing ‘level even if playing fields,’ torpedoing the world economy. The latest salvo was fired this week, with the U.S. announcing it has targeted close to $1 billion of European products for 100% tariffs if the European Union doesn’t drop the hormone nonsense.

The move follows an earlier announcement that the U.S. administration will fight Europe’s banana import regime by hitting a range of European goods with prohibitive tariffs. Add to this renewed American threats to raise the drawbridge to Russian, Japanese and Brazilian steel, as well as administration support for a congressional vote to ban Concorde flights from Europe in relation for EU threats to refuse landing rights to old-American planes retrofitted with noise reducing technology.

Mr. Clinton sounded the protectionist battle cry in his January State of the Union address, where he vowed to fight for ‘a freer and fairer trading system for 21st century America.’ In the case of agriculture, when the respective lobbies on both sides of the Atlantic enter the fray, that translates into a sticky situation. On the whole, American farmers are major exporters. And U.S. farmers have a good case on beef hormones. But it is nonetheless dangerous for the U.S. to shut off $1 billion in trade.

This is not to excuse the EU. The hormone argument is nonsense. The

World Trade Organization has acknowledged as much, ordering the EU to allow imports of American meat by May 13. Brussels has responded by saying that it needs more time because European citizens, who supposedly don’t like hormones in their food, would rebel against their governments if American meat suddenly appeared on their store shelves.

Were it not for the high stakes involved for both producers and consumers, the argument might be amusing. When governments curtail trade the global economy shrinks and for all the jobs ‘saved’ by protections, there are a lot more lost. The Smoot-Hawley agricultural protections imposed by the U.S. Congress in the late 1920s certainly contributed to the Great Depression. Mr. Clinton may believe he is fighting the good fight. But we’ve never thought much of the kind of war where you pose even when you win.

Judge whether the following statement are True or False:

35. ( ) The Trade war between the U.S. and the EU has cost no lives but is equally dangerous.

36. ( ) It’s very easy to decide who is to blame for expanding the trade war.

37. ( ) The very beginning of the trade war suggests that it bears political significance.

38. ( ) The author agrees that hormone-treated beef is harmful to one’s health.

39. ( ) President Bill Clinton used to be a believer of free trade, but not now.

40. ( ) Level playing fields ca do good to the world economy.

41. ( ) Besides its trade war with the EU, the U.S. is also in conflict with Japan, Russia and Brazil.

42 .( ) The author thinks that in the case of beef, the American farmers are justified.

43. ( ) The author thinks that it is a right decision for the U.S. to shut off $1 billion in trade.

44. ( ) The two sides have submitted the case of beef to the WTO for settlement.

III. Read the following passage and answer Questions 45-49 (20 points)

The Rich Get Richer and Elected

By Steven V. Roberts

Special to The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 – The House of Representatives, which prides itself on being “the people’s House.” Has been turning into a rich man’s club.

The representatives newly elected in 1984 were almost four times as wealthy as the first-term lawmakers elected only six years before, according to a new stud y based one the members’ financial reports. Behind this remarkable a swing, the study says, are two main factors: a court decision that outlawed limits on what candidates could give to their own campaigns, and the enormous growth in the cost of pursuing a seat in Congress. As a result, it is increasingly difficult for candidates of modest means, particularly women, to mount successful challenges to entrenched office holders.

One solution, the authors contend, is a system of public financing for campaigns, but Congress seems in no mood to change the political rules any time soon.

“The lower chamber is going upper class,” said Mark Green, the president of The Democracy Project, a public policy institute based in New York. “But this evolution from a House of Representatives to a House of Lords denies the diversity of our democracy. It establishes a de facto property qualification for office that increasingly says: low and middle income need not apply.”

The Democracy Project produced the study in cooperation with the United States Public Interest Research Group, a similar institute situated in Washington. But their research was not entirely theoretical. In 1980 Mr. Green was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress in New York’s 15th District, in Man hattan. The winner was Bill Green, one of the wealthiest members of Congress. Of Assets and Millionaires

Members of Congress must report their assets in broad categories, not exact numbers, so the figures in the study are not precise. But the minimum average wealth of the 43 lawmakers first elected last year was $251,292. Six years earlier, the 74 new members reported an average of only $41,358 in assets. With inflation figured in, the increase was almost 400 percent in real terms.

Moreover, financial data on the class of 1978 indicated only one millionaire, William F. Clinger Jr., a Pennsylvania Republican. Last year’s newcomers included 15 possible millionaires, more than a third of the entire group. Topping the list was Joseph J. Dioguardi, a Westchester Republican, who listed assets of $1 million to $2.46 million.

The main reason for the change, Mr. Green maintains, is the Supreme Court decision of 1976 in the case of Buckley V. Valeo. In that case, the Court ruled that limits mandated by Congress on the amount a candidate could give to his or her own campaign were an unconstitutional abridgment of individual rights. At the same time, the Court upheld limits on amounts contributed by outsiders. “Quite naturally”, Mr. Green said, “this puts a premium o n personal wealth.

The 43 Representatives newly elected in 1984 spent an average of $459,344; of that, $50,329 was their own money in an average case. Eight of the 43 spent more than $100,000 in personal funds but the clear leader was Tommy F. Robinson, an Arkansas Democrat, who contributed $441, 167 to his own campaign. Mr. DioGuardi was next with a personal donation of $210,000.

The Senate Puts an even higher premium on wealth. Last year the average candidate for the Senate spent $2 million, and the roster of millionaires in the Senate is steadily growing.

The second factor putting a premium on personal wealth, Mr. Green argues, is the rapid rise of political action committees. They tend to favor incumbents with their campaign contributions, and a result, Mr. Green says, is that it takes a wealthy challenger to make a race of things.

One apparent effect is the obstacle this poses for women who run for Congress. While women in rapidly rising numbers are capturing local and state offices, their representation on the national level has stayed static. The class of 1984 included only two women: Helen D. Bentley of Maryland and Jan Meyers of Kansas, both Republicans. “It is largely men who control wealth in America,” Mr. Green said, “and if wealth is a major variable in political success, that automatically means more men will run and win.”

Fred Wertheimer, president of Common Cause, the public affairs lobby that studies campaign financing issues, summed up the situation this

way: “Today, if you’re not personally wealthy, and you’re not willing to indebt yourself to the PAC’s, you face an uphill struggle just to get your message on the table.

The authors of the study argue that some form of public financing for campaigns should be instituted. “Competition for public office should be based more upon merit than money,” asserted Gene Karpinski, executive director of the public interest research group.

Mr. Wertheimer argues that “members of Congress know they have a national scandal on their hands” and are willing to consider public financing, or at least a total limit on PAC contributions. But the chances for change in the current system remain decidedly poor. Obviously the current occupants of Capitol Hill have kept their seats under the present rules, which clearly favor incumbents. Accordingly, Mr. Green maintains, Congress is still probably “several scandal s away” from a serious push to change the campaign system.

(From The New York Times, September 24, 1985)

45. Why has the House of Representatives been changing into a rich man’s club or a House of Lords?

46. In what way did the Court decision favor the wealthy candidates?

47. Are women far behind men in getting Congressional offices? Please give an example for your answer.

48. What role do political action committees play in a campaign for public office?

49. According to the author of the study, on what basis should the political race for public office be placed?

V. Translate the following into Chinese: (20%)

How to negotiate

The US is an attractive market. Its business culture, which has brought the world “shareholder value” and “IPOs”, has been leading commercial thinking in recent years and will continue to do so. But whoever wants to succeed in the US needs to remember the rules of the game.

US business is described by the lyrics of the song New York, New York: “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere!” Yet a euphoric approach to business is by no means enough. Although business

communication in the US is pleasant and easygoing, it is at the same time ruthlessly focused.

Communicating is natural talent of Americans. When negotiating partners meet, the emphasis is on small talk and smiling. There is liberal use of a sense of humour that is more direct than it is in the UK. If you give a talk in America, you should speak in a relaxed way and with plenty of jokes to capture your audienc e’s attention.