真题训练

1994 Passage 1
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 products 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.

51. In line 8, paragraph 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

52. 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

53. 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

54. 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
难句解析

难句解析：
①The 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.
▲这是一个有定语从句和宾语从句的复杂句。首先要抓住的核心句为The American economic system is organized around a... economy，economy前面的定语在开始阅读时可以不看。在economy后面是一个以in which引导的定语从句in which consumers largely determine，而这个从句中又有一个宾语从句what shall be produced。在定语从句中又有一个by引导的分词结构spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most作状语，说明消费者是如何决定应生产何种产品，而这个方式状语中又有一个定语从句that they want most。
△通过分析结构我们知道此句的所有意思都是围绕核心句的表语economy展开的，因此在阅读中应分层次，逐层理解对这一核心词的陈述，分清主次，全面理解。
②Thus, 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.
▲首先要抓住句首的thus，看到这个词，就应想到此句是前面叙述引出的结论。再看句子结构，跳过状语in the American economic system，先抓住这是一个强调结构It is... that，因此所强调的部分是理解的重点，而它由三个平行成分组成，分别为the demand of individual consumers，the desire of businessmen to maximize profits和the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes，中间用coupled with和and连接。而在that后面的部分有两个并列宾语从句what shall be produced和how resources are used to produce it接在动词determine的后面。
△首先要抓住强调句型，并重点理解所强调的内容，其次要理解句中最后一个it所指代的对象是what shall be produced。
③An important factor in a market-oriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers.
▲此句的结构与第一句类似，只是表语的定语从句更加复杂。
△此句在理解中的难点是定语从句by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers，为了方便理解，我们可以将此句and后的部分由被动句改为主动句：by which consumer demands can be expressed and producers can respond to consumer demands，这样就可以避免对responded to by producers的不理解。
④If, 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.
▲这是一个有条件状语从句的主从句，从句由if引导，主体结构为... producing more of a commodity results in reducing its cost...，其中producing more of a commodity是一个分词短语作主语，而主句以this为主语，里面包含一个定语从句which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product。
△此句在理解中的难点是句中代词的指代关系，其中第一个its所指的是commodity，而主句的主语this所指的是整个条件状语从句。主句中的定语从句也并不是修饰某一个特定的词，而是指整个主句表达to increase the supply offered by seller-producers。
⑤In 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.
▲此句的主句结构为the concept embraces not only... but also...。主要的难点在其宾语部分，是一个not only... but also...连接的并列结构，而后面有一个长的补足语including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual。
△此句的难点为如何理解复杂宾语，注意在开始的时候先应抓主句，可以先不理会逗号后面的补足语部分，然后再分析including后面的成分，同时要记住这一部分是修饰certain rights的。
试题解析

试题解析：
51. [D] 该选择项意为：美国人想增加其收入的购买力。
文章第1段最后一句是从生产者与消费者两方的愿望对照来说的，而且，该段第1句也首先陈述了该文所要谈的内容。
[A]、[C]的意思是：美国人想增加其收入。这与本文的主旨不相符合，因为，工资关系反映的是劳资双方的关系而不是生产者与消费者的关系。
[B]中“overstate”意为“夸大、夸张”，这个选择项的语义与文章的内容不相干。
在做这一题时，将“maximize”一词的意思置入文章的上下文中考查极其重要。
52. [D] 文章第2段第1、2句所表达的内容是该段的主题：价格（的波动）是供求关系（生产者与消费者的关系）的反映。该段的最后一句也重述总结了这一主题。
[A]中“mechanized”意为“机械化的”，而原文中“mechanism”意为“机制”。
[B]原文第2段第1句中“by which”意指“by means of this mechanism”，即：通过这一机制反映出来；该句中的“by producers”则只与“responded to”有关，即：生产者对消费者的需要作出反应。
[C]所表达的内容不正确，因为原句明确指出：价格为供求关系所调节。
53. [A] 该项意为：私人财产（的拥有）及相应的权利。
原文第3段的两句反复从这两方面总结了美国资本主义私有制经济制度的特征。
[B]意为：劳动力及自然资源的控制。与原文相差甚远。
[C]只表达了美国经济制度特征的一方面，因此，失之片面。
[D]只强调了权力这一方面，因此，也是片面的。
54. [C] 意为：美国经济的特征及其运行(work)。
这是该文所主要阐明的内容，这一主旨在文章的第1段第1、2句与第3段说得很明确。
[A]、[B]、[D]文章的主旨不是产品的生产过程，也不是消费者如何购物，更不是商人如何赚钱。
全文翻译

全文翻译：
从根本上说，美国经济体制是围绕私有企业、在以市场为导向的经济基础上建立起来的。在这种体制下需要生产什么在很大程度上是消费者通过到市场花钱购买他们最需要的商品和服务来决定的。为了获取利润，私有企业主在与他人竞争中生产这些产品，提供这些服务。在竞争的压力下追求利润的动机以及如何运作在很大程度上决定生产商品和提供服务的方式。因此，在美国经济体制中，消费者个人的需求，加上商人获取最大利润的追求及消费者想最大限度提高购买力的愿望三者共同决定应该生产什么和如何利用资源来生产这些产品。
市场型经济中的一个重要因素是反映消费者需求以及生产者对消费者需求作出反应的机制。在美国经济中，这一机制是由价格体制体现的，价格随消费者的相对需求与生产者的供应情况而上下浮动。如果供不应求，价格就上升，有些消费者就会被排挤出市场。另一方面，某种产品大量生产导致成本下降，产销者提供的产品就会增加，这就会使价格下跌，那么，更多的消费者就购买该产品。因此，价格是美国经济体制中的调节机制。
私有企业经济的一个重要因素是允许个人拥有生产资料（私有财产），允许他们雇用劳动力，控制自然资源，通过生产产品、提供服务来获取利润。在美国经济中，私有财产的概念不仅包括生产资料的所有权，也包括一定的权利，比如，产品价格的决定权或与其他私有个体的自由签约权。