2013年6月大学英语四级真题试卷（第3套）

Surviving the Recession

America’s recession began quietly at the end of 2007. Since then it has evolved into a global crisis. Reasonable people may disagree about whom to blame. Financiers who were not as clever as they thought they were? Regulators falling asleep at work? Consumers who borrowed too much? Politicians who thoughtlessly promoted home-ownership for those who could not afford it? All are guilty; and what a mess they have created.

Since 2007 America has shed 5 million jobs. More than 15% of the workforce are jobless or underemployed—roughly 25 million workers. The only industries swelling their payrolls are health care, utilities and the federal government. The value of listed shares in American firms collapsed by 57% from its peak in October 2007 to a low in March this year, though it has since bounced back somewhat. Industrial production fell by 12.8% in the year to March, the worst slide since the Second World War. Mark Zandi, an economist at Moody’s Economy, com, predicts that the recession will shrink America’s economy by 3. 5% in total. For most executives, this is the worst business environment they’ve ever seen.

Times are so tough that even bosses are taking pay cuts. Median(中位数的)pay for chief executives of S&P 500 companies fell 6.8% in 2008. The overthrown business giants of Wall Street took the biggest knock, with average pay cuts of 38% and median bonuses of zero. But there was some pain for everyone: median pay for chief executives of non-financial firms in the S&P 500 fell by 2. 7% .

Nearly every business has a sad tale to tell. For example, Arne Sorenson, the president of Marriott hotels, likens the crisis to the downturn that hit his business after September 11th, 2001. When the twin towers fell, Americans stopped travelling. Marriott had its worst quarter ever, with revenues per room falling by 25% . This year, without a terrorist attack, the hotel industry is “ putting the same numbers on the board” , says Mr Sorenson.

The hotel bust(不景气), like most busts, was preceded by a breathtaking boom. Although many other big firms resisted the temptation to over-borrow, developers borrowed heavily and built bigger and fancier hotels as if the whole world were planning a holiday in Las Vegas. When the bubble burst, demand collapsed. Hotel owners found themselves with a huge number of empty rooms even as a lot of unnecessary new hotels were ready to open.

Other industries have suffered even more. Large numbers of builders, property firms and retailers have gone bankrupt. And a disaster has hit Detroit. Last year the American car industry had the capacity to make 17 million vehicles. Sales in 2009 could be barely half of that. The Big Three American carmakers—General Motors, Ford and Chrysler—accumulated ruinous costs over the postwar years, such as gold-plated health plans and pensions for workers who retired as young as 48. All three are desperately restructuring. Only Ford may survive in its current form.

Hard times breed hard feelings. Few Americans understand what caused the recession. Some are seeking scapegoats(替罪羊). Politicians are happy to take advantage. Bosses have been summoned to Washington to be scolded on live television. The president condemns their greed.

Extravagance(奢侈)is out

Businessfolk are bending over backwards to avoid seeming extravagant. Meetings at resorts are suddenly unacceptable. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, cancelled a conference in Las Vegas at the last minute and rebooked it in San Francisco, which cost more but sounded less fun.

Anyway, the pain will eventually end. American business will regain its shine. Many firms will die, but the survivors will emerge leaner and stronger than before. The financial sector’s share of the economy will shrink, and stay shrunk for years to come. The importance of non-financial firms will accordingly rise, along with their ability to attract the best talent. America will remain the best place on earth to do business, so long as Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress resist the temptation to interfere too much, and so long as organised labour does not overplay its hand.

The crisis will prove hugely disruptive(破坏性的), however. Bad management techniques will be exposed. Necessity will force the swift adoption of more efficient ones. At the same time, technological innovation(创新)will barely pause for breath, and two big political changes seem likely.

Mr Obama’s plan to curb carbon dioxide(C0₂)emissions(排放), though necessary, will be far from cost-free, whatever his sunny speeches on the subject might suggest. The shift to a low-carbon economy will help some firms, hurt others and require every organisation that uses much energy to rethink how it operates. It is harder to predict how Mr Obama’s proposed reforms to the failing health-care system will turn out. If he succeeds in curbing costs—a big if—it would be a huge gain for America. Some businesses will benefit but the vast bulk of the savings will be captured by workers, not their employers.

In the next couple of years the businesses that thrive will be those that are tight with costs, careful of debt, cautious with cash flow and extremely attentive to what customers want. They will include plenty of names no one has yet heard of.

Times change, and corporations change with them. In 1955 Time’s Man of the Year was Harlow Curtice, the boss of GM. His firm was leading America towards “ a new economic order” , the magazine wrote. Thanks to men like Curtice, “the bonds of scarcity” had been broken and America was rolling “to an all-time high of prosperity”. Soon, Americans would need to spend “comparatively little time earning a living”.

Half a century later GM is a typical example of poor management. In March its chief executive was fired by Time’s current Man of the Year, Mr Obama. The government now backs up the domestic car industry, lending it money and overseeing its turnaround plans. With luck, this will be short-lived. But there is a danger that Washington will end up micromanaging not only Detroit but also other parts of the economy. And clever as Mr Obama’s advisers are, history suggests they will be bad at this.

In the center of a big city there are usually dozens of large office buildings that house big banks, corporation headquarters, and government【B1】___. Thousands of people work in these buildings. People who do all the office work are called white-collar workers.【B2】___ and receptionists, bookkeepers and computer operators work for many different kinds of companies.

Many office workers dream of working their way up to the top, from clerk to【B3】______ of a corporation. The way lies through middle management. Middle management includes junior executives, who may fill【B4】______ jobs, supervise other workers in the company,【B5】______ action to top management, or see that the company’s policies are being carried out. At the very top are the senior executives. They【B6】______ the policies for their own companies, especially【B7】______ matters. The Chief Executive Officer, or CEO, of a large【B8】______ has a great deal of power and influence.

【B9】______ . Because financial matters are so important, some accountants become top executives. In companies where technology is important, people with an engineering background can also rise to the top. Nowadays, however,【B10】______ . Universities in many countries offer courses in business administration. The graduates of these courses often start out in middle management jobs. From there,【B11】______

Just when you had figured out how to manage fat in your diet, researchers are now warning against another common mealtime pitfall(陷阱)—salt.

A study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco( UCSF), Standford University and Columbia University shows that even a【S1】______ decrease in daily salt intake(摄入)can lead to dramatic health benefits. The authors【S2】______ an annual drop of as many as 120,000 cases of heart disease, 66,000【S3】______ of stroke and 99,000 heart attacks【S4】______ by high blood pressure after a 3-g-per-day reduction in salt.

The advantages, not surprisingly, were greater for African Americans, who are more likely to【S5】______ high blood pressure than other ethnic groups, and for the elderly, since blood vessels stiffen with age, which can lead to higher blood pressure.

” Everyone in the U. S. is consuming salt far in【S6】______ of what is good for them,” says lead author Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo of UCSF. “ What we are suggesting is that a population-wide effort to reduce salt intake, even【S7】______ , will have health benefits. “

The team conducted a computer-based analysis to determine the【S8】______ of a 3-g-per-day reduction in salt intake on rates of heart disease and death. They also calculated the cost savings emerging from the amount of disease that would be【S9】______ because of lower blood pressure. The conclusion: by cutting salt intake nationwide, the U. S. could save $ 10 billion to $ 24 billion【S10】______ in health care costs.

A)accidents I)excess

B)annually J)impact

C)avoided K)instances

D)caused L)modest

E)considerable M)revised

F)develop N)slightly

G)documented O)undertake

H)dramatically

The Gatais used to frown when they received power bills that routinely topped $200. Last September the couple moved into a 1,500-square-foot home in Premier Gardens, a subdivision of 95 “zero-energy homes”(ZEH)just outside town. Now they’re actually eager to see their electricity bills. The grand total over the 10 months they’ve lived in the three-bedroom house: $ 75. For the past two months they haven’t paid a cent.

ZEH communities are the leading edge of technologies that might someday create houses that produce as much energy as they consume. Premier Gardens is one of a half-dozen subdivisions in California where every home cuts power consumption by 50% , mostly by using low-power appliances and solar panels.

Aside from the panels on the roof, Premier Gardens looks like a community of conventional homes. But inside, special windows cut power bills by blocking solar heat in summer and retaining indoor warmth in winter.

The rest of the energy savings comes from the solar units. They don’t just feed the home they serve. If they generate more power than the home is using, the excess flows into the utility’s power grid(电网). The residents are billed by “net metering” : they pay for the amount of power they tap off the grid, less the kilowatts(千瓦)they feed into it. If a home generates more power than it uses, the bill is zero.

That sounds like a bad deal for the power company, but it’s not. Solar homes produce the most power on the hot sunny afternoons when everyone rushes home to turn up the air conditioner. “ It helps us lower usage at peak power times,” says solar expert Mike Keesee. “ That lets us avoid building costly plants or buying expensive power at peak usage time. “

What’s not to like? Mostly the costs. The special features can add $ 25,000 or more to the purchase price of a house. Tax breaks bring the cost down, especially in California, but in many states ZEHs can be prohibitively expensive. For the consumer, it’s a matter of paying now for the hardware to save later on the utilities.

Romantic love has clear evolutionary roots but our views about what makes an ideal romantic relationship can be swayed by the society we live in. So says psychologist Maureen O’Sullivan from the University of San Francisco. She suggests that humans have always tried to strengthen the pair-bond to maximise(使最大化)reproductive success.

Many societies throughout history and around the world today have cultivated strong pressures to stay married. In those where ties to family and community are strong, lifelong marriages can be promoted by practices such as the cultural prohibition of divorce and arranged marriages that are seen as a contract between two families, not just two individuals. In modern western societies, however, the focus on individuality and independence means that people are less concerned about conforming to(遵守)the dictates of family and culture. In the absence of societal pressures to maintain pair-bonds, O’Sullivan suggests that romantic love has increasingly come to be seen as the factor that should determine who we stay with and for how long. “ That’s why historically we see an increase in romantic love as a basis for forming long-term relationships,” she says.

According to O’Sullivan culture also shapes the sorts of feelings we expect to have, and actually do experience, when in love. Although the negative emotions associated with romantic love—fear of loss, disappointment and jealousy—are fairly consistent across cultures, the positive feelings can vary. “ If you ask Japanese students to list the positive attributes they expect in a romantic partner, they rate highly things like loyalty, commitment and devotion,” says O’Sullivan. “ If you ask American college women, they expect everything under the sun: in addition to being committed, partners have to be amusing, funny and a friend. “

We judge a potential partner according to our specific cultural expectations about what romantic love should feel like. If you believe that you have found true romance, and your culture tells you that this is what a long-term relationship should be based on, there is less need to rely on social or family pressures to keep couples together, O’Sullivan argues.

UK households are cutting back on spending at the fastest rate since 1980. This is【C1】______ to the worst economic slowdown in three decades.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics( ONS)showed【C2】______ spending fell by 1. 2% in the first three months of the year. People spent less on housing, household goods and services,【C3】______ those who went on holiday abroad also spent【C4】______ less.

Consumers tightened their belts【C5】______ the face of job losses, pay【C6】______ or freezes and sharply reduced City bonuses. The figures showed employees’【C7】______ falling by 1.1% in the quarter, the largest fall【C8】______ records began in 1955. Wages and salaries declined,【C9】______ lower bonus payments in the financial sector than normal, while【C10】______ also fell.

The data was【C11】______ as part of the ONS’s latest assessment of the UK economy, which【C12】______ that gross domestic product(GDP)shrank by 1.9% in the first quarter,【C13】______ sharpest decline since 1979. GDP stood 4.1%【C14】______ than a year ago, the biggest annual fall since 1980.

” The breakdown(分析)of first-quarter GDP gives a pretty【C15】______ picture of weakness right across the【C16】______ in the early months of this year,” said Jonathan Loynes of Capital Economics.

“With【C17】______ components like household spending and investment set to fall considerably further in【C18】______ to the weakness in the housing market, the labour market and bank lending, we【C19】______ unconvinced that recent ’ green shoots’(经济复苏迹象)will translate【C20】______ a return to decent growth next year. “