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考研时文阅读(26)

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考研时文阅读(26) 经济类文章 Background Information 美元持续走低，意味着美国经济存在缺陷，但是否就意味着地球上其他国家也将遭受劫难？答案是否定的。世界经济将从美元的逐步下滑中受益。这将有助于缓解全球流动资金失衡状况，并且通过将生产转移到美国可贸易领域，缓冲房地产泡沫破灭给美国经济带来的震荡。诚然，美元的下滑将影响欧洲及亚洲的出口，但如果这些地区的央行现有的利率走低，进而促进内需---这也正是全球经济达到重新平衡所需要的局面----那么这种影响将会被抵消。现今欧洲及亚洲的强势增长也将有助于防止美国经济的低迷蔓延至整个世界。

The Falling Dollar THE dollar's tumble this week was attended by predictable shrinks from the markets; but as it fell to a 20-month low of $1.32 against the euro, the only real surprise was that it had not slipped sooner. Indeed, there are good reasons to expect its slide to continue, dragging it below the record low of $1.36 against the euro that it hit in December 2004. The recent decline was triggered by nasty news about the American economy. New figures this week suggested that the housing market's troubles are having a wider impact on the economy. Consumer confidence and durable-goods orders both fell more sharply than expected. In contrast, German business confidence has risen to a 15-year high. There are also mounting concerns that central banks in China and elsewhere, which have been piling up dollars assiduously for years, may start selling. So, contrary to popular perceptions, America's economy has not significantly outperformed Europe's in recent years. Since 2000 its structural budget deficit (after adjusting for the impact of the economic cycle) has widened sharply, while American households' saving rate has plunged, causing the current-account deficit to swell. Over the same period, the euro-area economies saw no fiscal stimulus and household saving barely budged. Yet cyclical factors only partly explain why the dollar has been strong. At bottom, its attractiveness is based more on structural factors---or, more accurately, on an illusion about structural differences between the American and European economies. The main reason for the dollar's strength has been the widespread belief that the American economy vastly outperformed the world's other rich country economies in recent years. But the figures do not support the hypothesis. Sure, America's GDP growth has been faster than Europe's, but that is mostly because its population has grown more quickly too. Official figures of productivity growth, which should in theory be an important factor driving currency movement, exaggerate America's lead. If the two are measured on a comparable basis, productivity growth over the past decade has been almost the same in the euro area as it has in America. Even more important, the latest figures suggest that, whereas productivity growth is now slowing in America, it is accelerating in the euro zone. America's growth, thus, has been driven by consumer spending. That spending, supported by dwindling saving and increased borrowing, is clearly unsustainable; and the consequent economic and financial imbalances must inevitably unwind. As that happens, the country could face a prolonged period of slower growth. As for Europe, the old continent is hobbled by inflexible product and labor markets. But that, paradoxically, is an advantage: it means the place has a lot of scope for improvement. Some European countries are beginning to contemplate (and, to a limited extent, undertake) economic reforms. If they push ahead, their growth could actually speed up over the coming years. Once investors spot this, they are likely to conclude that the euro is a better bet than the dollar. 核心词汇： tumble v. ①（使）摔倒；② 打滚，翻腾；n. 摔跤，跌倒 shrink n. v. 萎缩，减少; [同义词]dwindle euro 欧元 slip v. ①滑，滑倒；② 滑落，滑掉；③ 溜走；n. 疏忽，小错，口误，笔误 Step outside and you could break a leg, slipping on your doormat.［1999年阅读1］ 如果你走出去，可能会滑倒在门垫上，摔伤一条腿。 trigger n. 扳机，触发器；v. 触发，引发，引起 nasty a. 肮脏的，污秽的，下流的，恶意的 housing market 住房市场 durable-goods 耐用品 in /by contrast 相比之下，on the contrary 相反； mount v. (由名词mountain变来) 爬上去，增长，上升 pile up 堆积，囤积 assiduously 勤勉地，勤恳地 cyclical 循环的，周期性的；recycle 循环，再利用；recyclable 可回收的 illusion 幻觉，错觉；illusory 幻觉的，虚幻的；allusion 典故 outperform v. 表现好于，超额完成；胜过 over the past decade 在过去的十年里 whereas=while 而，尽管 accelerate 加速，加快 contrary to与…相反 perception 观念，理念；art perception 艺术理念； deficit 赤字 plunge 垂直下降 fiscal=financial 财政的 budge v. 编预算 dwindle 缩小，萎缩 unsustainable 不能维持下去 consequent 随后的，后来的 imbalances 不平衡 inevitably 不可避免地 prolonged 延长的，长期的 inflexible 不灵活的 paradoxically 自相矛盾的是，似是而非的是 contemplate 考虑，沉思 to a limited extent 在一定的程度上 spot n. 地点，v. 发现

参考译文： 下跌的美元 本周，由于可预见的市场萎缩，美元继续保持下降的趋势。随着美元兑欧元下降到二十

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2016考研英语最新时文阅读：美国产假制度

2016考研英语最新时文阅读：美国产假制度

今天我们为考研学子推介的2016考研英语阅读文章是关于美国产假制度的话题。

美国是目前发达国家中唯一没有实施法定带薪产假制度的国家。

虽然Family & Medical Leave Act《家庭与医疗休假法》规定了12周不带薪的休假，据说也只有不到20%的人能享受到。

一起来看一下具体内容： Only two countries in the advanced world provide no guarantee for paid leave from work to care for a newborn child. Last spring one of the two, Australia, gave up the dubious distinction by establishing paid family leave starting in 2011. I wasn't surprised when this didn't make the news here in the United States—we're now the only wealthy country without such a policy. 本来在发达国家中，只有两个国家没有提供法定带薪休假，但是自2011年春天澳大利亚放弃了这一政策以来，美国是目前发达国家中唯一没有实施法定带薪产假制度的国家了，这个“惊人”的消息在美国并没有被报道出来，我一点也不感到稀奇。

The United States does have one explicit family policy, the Family and Medical Leave Act, passed in 1993. It entitles workers to as much as 12 weeks' unpaid leave for care of a newborn. In fact, every step of the way, as Democratic leaders have tried to introduce work-family balance measures into the law, business groups have been strongly opposed. 虽然早在1993年，美国就有一项特殊的产假制度：《家庭与医疗休假法》，规定了12周不带薪的休假，但是来自商界团体的声音一直反对更近一步的产假制度，认为这损害了公司的利益。

考研英语时文赏读(99)-《千与千寻》引发中国影迷怀旧之情

考研英语时文赏读(99)-《千与千寻》引发中国影迷怀旧之情

考研英语时文赏读（99）:《千与千寻》引发中国影迷怀旧之情Spirited Away back to tap into nostalgia of Chinese moviegoers 《千与千寻》上映引发了中国影迷的怀旧之情Japanese animated film Spirited Away is becoming a huge box office success on the Chinese mainland 18 years after its original release in Japan, drawing in a legion of nostalgic moviegoers who once watched the film from non-official sources.18年前在日本上映的动画电影《千与千寻》首次在中国大陆上映便取得了优异的票房成绩，吸引了大批抱有怀旧之情的影迷，他们此前曾通过非官方途径观看了此片。

The Hayao Miyazaki-directed film took 192.7 million yuan (about $28 million) after three days of screening, more than doubling the 90.7 million yuan of the runner-up Pixar and Disneys Toy Story 4, according to the China Movie Data Information Network. Both films debuted on the Chinese mainland last Friday.据中国电影数据信息网的数据显示，这部由宫崎骏执导的电影在上映后的三天时间里取得了1.927亿元（约合2800万美元）的票房成绩，是排名第二的《玩具总动员4》（该片是由皮克斯和迪士尼联合出品的，取得了9070万元的票房成绩）票房的两倍多。

考研备考英语时文阅读Burnished

考研备考英语时文阅读Burnished

考研备考英语时文阅读:BurnishedUp goes gold, down goes the dollarMost economists hate gold. Not, you understand, that they would turn up their noses at a bar or two. But they find the reverence in which many hold the metal almost irrational. That it was used as money for millennia is irrelevant: it isn't any more. Modern money takes the form of paper or, more often, electronic data. To economists, gold is now just another commodity.So why is its price soaring? Over the past week, this has topped $450 a troy ounce, up by 9% since the beginning of the year and 77% since April 2001. Ah, comes the reply, gold transactions are denominated in dollars, and the rise in the price simply reflects the dollar's fall in terms of other currencies, especially the euro, against which it hit a new low this week. Expressed in euros, the gold price has moved much less. However, there is no iron link, as it were, between the value of the dollar and the value of gold. A rising price of gold, like that of anything else, can reflect an increase in demand as well as a depreciation of its unit of account.This is where gold bulls come in. The fall in the dollar is important, but mainly because as a store of value the dollar stinks. With a few longish rallies, the greenback has been on a downward trend since it came off the gold standard in 1971. Now it is suffering one of its sharper declines. At the margin, extra demand has come from those who think dollars--indeed any money backed by nothing more than promises to keep inflation low--a decidedly risky investment, mainly because America, with the world's reserve currency, has been able to create and borrow so many of them. The least painful way of repaying those dollars is to make them worth less.The striking exception to this extra demand comes from central banks, which would like to sell some of the gold they already have. As a legacy of the days when their currencies were backed by the metal, central banks still hold one-fifth of the world's gold. Last month the Bank of France said it would sell 500 tonnes in coming years. But big sales by central banks can cause the price to plunge--as when the Bank of England sold 395 tonnes between 1999 and 2002. The result was an agreement between central banks to co-ordinate and limit future sales.If the price of gold marches higher, this agreement will presumably be ripped up, although a dollar crisis might make central banks think twice about switching into paper money. Will the overhang of central-bank gold drag the price down again? Not necessarily. As James Grant, gold bug and publisher of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, a newsletter, points out, in recent years the huge glut of government debt has not stopped a sharp rise in its price.注(1)：本文选自Economist;12/4/2004, p76-76, 1/3p;注(2)：本文习题命题模仿2000年真题text 4第3题(1)，2001年真题text 4第2题(2)，text 1第2题(3)，2002年真题text 2第2题(4)和text 5第3题(5);economists’eyes, gold is something__________.[A] they look down uponthat can be exchanged in the market[C] worth people’s reverence[D] that should be replaced by other forms of moneyto the author, one of the reasons for the rising of gold price is___________.[A] the increasing demand for goldthe depreciation of the euro[C] the link between the dollar and gold[D] the increment of the value of the dollarcan infer from the third paragraph that_________.[A] the decline of the dollar is inevitableAmerica benefits from the depreciation of the dollar[C] the depreciation of the dollar is good news to other currencies[D] investment in the dollar yields more returns than that in gold4. The phrase “ripped up”(Line 1, Paragraph 5) most probably means__________.[A] strengthenedbroadened[C] renegotiated[D] torn upto the passage, the rise of gold price__________.[A] will not last longwill attract some central banks to sell gold[C] will impel central banks to switch into paper money[D] will lead to a dollar crisis答案：B A B D B篇章剖析本篇文章采用了提出问题-分析问题的模式，分析了金价上涨，美元下跌的经济态势。

考研英语阅读理解答案试题解析

考研英语阅读理解答案试题解析

____年答案试题解析——阅读理解Text 1①Of all the changes that have taken place in English-language newspapers during the past quarter-century, perhaps the most far-reaching has been the inexorable decline in the scope and seriousness of their arts coverage.考点分析（the most）本句的意思是"过去这些年英语报纸上所发生的最有影响力的变化的可能是艺术评论的在报道范围和严肃性的堕落".①It is difficult to the point of impossibility for the average reader under the age of forty to imagine a time when high-quality arts criticism could be found in most big-city newspapers. ②Yet a considerable number of the most significant collections of criticism published in the 20th century consisted in large part of newspaper reviews.③ To read such books today is to marvel at t he fact that their learned contents were once deemed suitable for publication in general-circulation dailies.考点分析①to the point of "到...地步" ②转折常考，出21题。