Sixteen-year-old Karlos Dearmans’s future is looking much brighter than be might have imagined. “I’ve always been into bikes, but never thought I’d end up working with them,” he says. “This scheme has changed my life.”

Karlos is learning to refurbish(翻新) old bicycles in the workshop of ReCycle Bikes, a local community(社区) charity in Sheffied, which has a contract with the city council to provide training opportunities for young people aged 14 to 16, particularly those dropping out of school.

“It’s about engaging youngsters with education and you thtraining by teaching them work and life skills,” explains Des Pearce, workshop training manager. “These young people have so much potential, but often don’t realize it.”

Established in 2001, ReCycle Bikes repairs bicycles donated by the public, which, once restored, are sold for ￡20. Abandoned bikes supplied by the council ensure a steady flow of bikes, but a recently formed partnership with Sheffield University should improve further the prospects of the young mechanics.

　　“The student population presents a large and ready market,” says Pearce. “So we approached the university last year and offered to host bike sales on the campus. They thought it was a great idea, and agreed to supplement our council funding. This means we can train youngsters to repair extra 500 bikes over three years.”

　　Having set up ReCycle Bikes on his own, Pearce now has the staff and resources to track the career development of those who have passed through his workshop. “However, in the past we depended on the evidence of personal accounts from the schools because of lack of human and material resources,” he says.

　　That most of the teenagers enjoy the work is, according to Pearce, easily explained. “Most kids have ridden a bike and know how to oil a chain or mend a puncture. As low-cost transport, cycling gives the young and old a sense of freedom and independence, and the impact on their well-being is immense. Add to that a growing concern for the environment, and it’s no surprise that bike sales are on the increase.”

72．What do we know about ReCycle Bikes?

A．It is a popular brand of bikes which are sold in Sheffield．

B．It is a local community charity that provides training opportunities for reenagers．

C．It is a contract signed between a local community charity and the city council．

D．It is a training program offered by the city council to those excluded from school．

73．How did ReCycle Bikes run at the beginning?

A．By repairing bicycles donated by the public and selling them．

B．By donations from the public and Sheffield University．

C．By selling bicycles supplied by the city council．

D．By tuition fees from kids aged between 14 and 16．

74．ReCycle Bikes has formed a partnership with Sheffield University because ____________．

A．students at Sheffield University assure a large and ready market

B．Sheffield University offers many mechanical teachers to ReCycle Bikes

C．Sheffield University donates a lot of money to ReCycle Bikes

D．teenagers at ReCycle Bikes can study at Sheffield University

75．ReCycle Bikes depended on information from the schools in the past because     .

A．the schools could give accurate information to improve its service

B．students disliked telling the truth when asked about their personal ideas

C．ReCycle Bikes didn’t have the ability to track students’ career development．

D．most of the training organizations did it this way at that moment

There are various ways in which individual economic units can interact with one another. Three basic ways may be described as the market system, the administered system, and the traditional system.

　　In a market system individual economic units are free to interact among each other in the marketplace. It is possible to buy commodities from other economic units or sell commodities to them. In a market, transactions may take place via barter or money exchange. In a barter economy, real goods such as automobiles, shoes, and pizzas are traded against each other. Obviously, finding somebody who wants to trade my old car in exchange for a sailboat may not always be an easy task. Hence, the introduction of money as a medium of exchange eases transactions considerably. In the modern market economy, goods and services are bought or sold for money.

　　An alternative to the market system is administrative control by some agency over all transactions. This agency will issue commands as to how much of each good and service should be produced, exchanged, and consumed by each economic unit. Central planning may be one way of administering such an economy. The central plan, drawn up by the government, shows the amounts of each commodity produced by the various firms and allocated to different households for consumption. This is an example of complete planning of production, consumption, and exchange for the whole economy.

　　In a traditional society, production and consumption patterns are governed by tradition; every person’s place within the economic system is fixed by parentage, religion, and custom. Transactions take place on the basis of tradition, too. People belonging to a certain group or caste（阶级） may have an obligation to care for other persons, provide them with food and shelter, care for their health, and provide for their education. Clearly, in a system where every decision is made on the basis of tradition alone, progress may be difficult to achieve. An inactive society may result.

1.What is the main purpose of the passage?

　 A. To outline contrasting types of economic systems.

　 B. To explain the science of economics.

　 C. To argue for the superiority of one economic system.

　 D. To compare barter and money-exchange markets.

2.In the second paragraph, the underlined word “real” could best be replaced by _______.

　 A. valuable         B. concrete         C. absolute            D. reliable

3.According to the passage, a barter economy can generate ______.

 A. rapid speed of transactions             B. misunderstandings

　 C. inflation                             D. difficulties for the traders

4.According to the passage, who has the greatest degree of control in the administered system?

　 A. Individual households.                    B. Small businesses.

　 C. Major corporations.                   D. The government.

5.Which of the following is not mentioned by the author as a criterion（标准）for determining a person’s position in a traditional society?

　 A. Family background                 B. Age

　 C. Religious beliefs.                        D. Custom

Most, if not all, Chinese have become richer thanks to 28 years of reform and opening up. But are we any happier?

　　Various surveys attempt to answer this question. Though experts have presented varying percentages based on different standards, their answers tend to find we are generally happier, and the number of optimists rises each year. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ 2006 Blue Book on social progress says 70 per cent of rural and urban citizens surveyed in 2005 reported a feeling of happiness and were optimistic about their futures.

　　But each survey shows a worrisome fact that 10 per cent, at the lowest, of citizens were not content with their lives or not hopeful about the future. We cannot be content with the fact that at least 130 million of our countrymen are not happy.

　　Although a sense of happiness remains a luxury（奢望）for many of our countrymen because of poverty, we agree wealth is not the only factor of happiness. For most of us, except the extremely rich and naturally born optimists, there simply are too many variables (可变物) that may kill the feeling of happiness. These include, but are not limited to, rising housing prices, tight and instable job market, back-breaking schooling expenses and medical bills.

The most common one, however, is a low sense of security (安全). Some experts pointed that in the low-and-middle income group there was too much uncertainty regarding employment, income, housing, medical situations, and education. How can you feel happy when you always have to prepare yourself for the unexpected?

It may be beyond the government’s reach, not to mention duty, to guarantee (保证) higher income for every citizen. But it does have a burden to create an environment where all citizens can feel a reasonable level of security.

From the second paragraph we learn _____________________.

A. 70 % of Chinese people feel happy and optimistic about their future

B. the data and the conclusions of the surveys are the same

C. the surveys about the sense of happiness were carried out in 2006

D. the purpose of the surveys is to find out the percentage of rich people

The following factors of happiness are mentioned in the passage EXCEPT _________.

A. security           B. environment             C. wealth            D. employment 

The underlined word “countrymen” in Paragraph 3 refers to ___________.

       A. people from the countryside                   B. people from cities

       C. people from all countries                       D. Chinese citizens

According to the passage, the author tends to hold the view that _________.

A. the wealthier we get, the happier we become

B. though we get wealthier, we do not feel happier

C. it is the government’s duty to raise every citizen’s income

D. the government should make sure all citizens feel a good level of security

Poverty exists because our society is an unequal one, and there are plenty of political pressures to keep it that way. Any attempt to redistribute wealth and income in the United States will be opposed by powerful middle and upper class interests. People can be relatively rich only if others are relatively poor, and since power is concentrated in the hands of the rich, public policies will continue to reflect their interests rather than those of the poor.

　　As Herbert Gans has pointed out, poverty is actually functional form from the point of view of the non-poor. Poverty ensures that ‘dirty’ work gets done. If there were no poor people to clean floors and empty dustbins, these jobs would have to be rewarded with high incomes before anyone would touch them. Poverty creates jobs for many of the non-poor, such as police officers, welfare workers, and government officials. Poverty makes life easier for the rich by providing them with cooks, gardeners and other workers to perform basic work while their employers enjoy more pleasurable activities. Poverty provides a market for low-level goods and services, such as day-old bread, rundown automobiles. Poverty legitimizes (make legal) middle-class values. To the middle class, the fate of the poor---who are supposed to lack honesty, and a taste of hard work---only confirms the desirability of qualities the poor are thought to lack. Poverty also provides a group that can be made to absorb the costs of change. For example, the poor bear the pressure of unemployment and it’s their homes, not those of the wealthy, that are destroyed when a route has to be found for a new highway. It cannot be said that the wealthy keep the poor in poverty. It is just that poverty is an outcome of the American economic system, which the poor are politically powerless to influence or change.

1. The best title is ________________________.

2. Poverty exists in American society because ____________.

3.The poor take on ‘dirty work’ ___________________.   

4. The author thinks that _____________________.

There are various ways in which individual economic units can interact with one another. Three basic ways may be described as the market system, the administered system, and the traditional system.
　　In a market system individual economic units are free to interact among each other in the marketplace. It is possible to buy commodities from other economic units or sell commodities to them. In a market, transactions may take place via barter or money exchange. In a barter economy, real goods such as automobiles, shoes, and pizzas are traded against each other. Obviously, finding somebody who wants to trade my old car in exchange for a sailboat may not always be an easy task. Hence, the introduction of money as a medium of exchange eases transactions considerably. In the modern market economy, goods and services are bought or sold for money.
　　An alternative to the market system is administrative control by some agency over all transactions. This agency will issue commands as to how much of each good and service should be produced, exchanged, and consumed by each economic unit. Central planning may be one way of administering such an economy. The central plan, drawn up by the government, shows the amounts of each commodity produced by the various firms and allocated to different households for consumption. This is an example of complete planning of production, consumption, and exchange for the whole economy.
　　In a traditional society, production and consumption patterns are governed by tradition; every person’s place within the economic system is fixed by parentage, religion, and custom. Transactions take place on the basis of tradition, too. People belonging to a certain group or caste（阶级） may have an obligation to care for other persons, provide them with food and shelter, care for their health, and provide for their education. Clearly, in a system where every decision is made on the basis of tradition alone, progress may be difficult to achieve. An inactive society may result.
【小题1】What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To outline contrasting types of economic systems.

B．To explain the science of economics.

C．To argue for the superiority of one economic system.

D．To compare barter and money-exchange markets.