High interest rates ________people from borrowing money.
A. discourage    B. decrease      C. disturb      D. disgust

High interest rates _____ people from borrowing money.

　　A. discourage   B. decrease   C. disturb   D. disgust

C
Few laws are so effective that you can see results just days after they take effect. But in the nine days since the federal cigarette tax more than doubled—to $1. 01 per pack—smokers have jammed telephone “quit lines” across the country seeking to kick the habit.
This is not a surprise to public health advocates（拥护者） They’ve studied the effect of state tax increases for years, finding that smokers, especially teens, are price sensitive. Nor is it a shock to the industry, which fiercely fights every tax increase.
The only wonder is that so many states insist on closing their ears to the message. Tobacco taxes improve public health, they raise money and most particularly, they deter people from taking up the habit as teens, which is when nearly all smokers are addicted. Yet the rate of taxation varies widely.
In Manhattan, for instance, which has the highest tax in the nation, a pack of Marlboro Light Kings cost ＄10.06 at one drugstore Wednesday. In Charleston, S. C., where the 7-cent-a-pack tax is the lowest in the nation, the price was $4. 78.
The influence is obvious.
In New York, high school smoking hit a new low in the latest surveys—13.8%, far below the national average. By comparison, 26% of high school students smoke in Kentucky, other low-tax states have similarly depressing teen-smoking records.
Hal Rogers, Representative from Kentucky, like those who are against high tobacco taxes, argues that the burden of the tax falls on low-income Americans “who choose to smoke.”
That’s true. But there is more reason in keeping future generations of low-income workers from getting hooked in the first place. As for today’s adults, if the new tax drives them to quit, they will have more to spend on their families, cut their risk of cancer and heart disease and feel better.
49. The text is mainly about ________.
A. the price of cigarettes                     B. the rate of teen smoking
C. the effect of tobacco tax increase            D. the differences in tobacco tax rate
50. The underlined word "deter” in Paragraph 3 most probably means ________.
A. discourage        B. remove            C. benefit            D. free 
51. Rogers’ attitude towards the low-income smokers might be that of ________.
A. tolerance          B. unconcern          C. doubt             D. sympathy
52. What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A. The new tax will be beneficial in the long run.
B. Low-income Americans are more likely to fall ill.
C. Future generations will be hooked on smoking.
D. Adults will depend more on their families.

High interest rates _____ people from borrowing money.

A. discourage      B. decrease      C. disturb      D. disgust

I prefer the stories about the swimmers at the Beijing Olympics，one of which is about Zakia Nassar. She's a 21-year-old Palestinian __21__ Bethlehem studying dentistry in Jenin. Having had neither a __22__ nor a chance to an Olympic-sized pool in the past year, she had no choice but to __23__ on her own at a 12m public pool.

There is a 50-meter __24__ in nearby Nazareth, but the Israeli government did not __25__ her to use it.

Nassar was __26__ to training only when she returned to her parents' home in Bethlehem, __27__ she did so only about every two months for two days or so. __28__ the pool is only 12 meters long.

 “My parents and friends always __29__ me, reminding me that I had to keep training if I __30   wanted to go to the Olympics,” she said.

It was only when Nassar __31__ China a month ago that she finally got the opportunity to swim in a 50m pool and enjoyed the __32__ of having a coach.

When she at last took part in the Games, she swam the 50m in 31.97 seconds, a(n) __33__ of seven seconds on her personal __34__. Nassar said it was the most beautiful moment of her life.

She will not __35__ on the cover of Time magazine or __36__ millions of dollars in endorsements（捐款）, but she can always say she won a race at the Olympics. For her, it wasn’t about __37__ the other swimmers or winning a prize, but about __38__ her own goal, __39__ difficult. When I think things are too difficult or I get those “I-just-can’t-do-it,” I think of her. Then I realize how __40__ the task before me really is.