President Xi proposed the Belt and Road in ________.

(When) Edison died, it was proposed that the American people (turned off) (all power) in their homes, streets, and factories for several minutes (in honor of) this great man.

A．When

B．turned off

C．all power

D．in honor of

It was proposed that this matter (consider) ______ at the next meeting.

听力原文： President Clinton has proposed a 31 billion-dollar-plan to make college education more affordable for millions of American families. Mr. Clinton' s proposal calls for tax deductions and tax credits to ease educational costs for families making up to 120,000 dollars a year. The program is to be fully implemented by the year 2003. The plan also includes 35 million dollars for a program to encourage former students to complete their college degrees. Another 1. 1 billion dollars has been earmarked for education programs aimed at ethnic minorities and lower-income families.

______ will benefit from the 35 million-dollar program.

A．Ethnic minorities

B．Lower-income families

C．Former college students

D．African American families

听力原文： President Bush has proposed to increase the study of foreign languages in American schools. The new plan is called the National Security Language Initiative. It will involve the departments of State, Education and Defense, and the director of National Intelligence. The plan calls for teaching foreign languages to more children, as early as the age of four. It also aims to increase foreign language instruction in college and graduate school. The hope is to bring more foreign language speakers into government service.

Why does Bush propose to expand foreign language teaching in American schools?

A．For the national security.

B．To improve the education of U. S.

C．To bring more foreign language speakers into government service.

D．President Bush likes learning foreign language.

听力原文： President Bush has proposed to increase the study of foreign languages in American schools (29). The new plan is called the National Security Language Initiative. It will involve the departments of State, Education and Defense, and the director of National Intelligence.

The plan calls for teaching foreign languages to more children, as early as the age of four. It also aims to increase foreign language instruction in college and graduate school. The hope is to bring more foreign language speakers into government service. Administration officials will ask for 114 million dollars in 2007 to start the program. They say too many American children learn only English. They say only 44 percent of American high school students take any foreign language. And 70 percent of those are learning Spanish.

Officials say money would be used to help foreign-language students pay for their education in exchange for future service. The plan also calls for sending more American students to other countries for part of their college studies. And it calls for bringing more foreign language teaching assistants to the United States(31). Officials say the United States does not have enough foreign language teachers. Research shows that children have an easier time than adults learning languages(30), Yet less than 1/3 of American elementary schools teach languages other than English. And experts say most of these schools just teach the basics, not how to speak a foreign language well.

(30)

A．To improve the teaching of all the courses in American schools.

B．To improve the marks of exams in American schools.

C．To improve the foreign language teaching in American schools.

D．To improve the development of the students' intelligence.

听力原文： President Bush has proposed to increase the study of foreign languages in American schools. The new plan is called the National Security Language Initiative. It will involve the departments of State, Education and Defense, and the director of National Intelligence.

The plan calls for teaching foreign languages to more children, as early as the age of four. It also aims to increase foreign language instruction in college and graduate school. The hope is to bring more foreign language speakers into government service. Administration officials will ask for 114 million dollars in 2007 to start the program. They say too many American children learn only English. They say only 44 percent of American high school students take any foreign language. And 70 percent of those are learning Spanish.

Officials say money would be used to help foreign-language students pay for their education in exchange for future service. The plan also calls for sending more American students to other countries for part of their college studies. And it calls for bringing more foreign language teaching assistants to the United States. Officials say the United States does not have enough foreign language teachers. Research shows that children have an easier time than adults learning languages. Yet less than 1/3 of American elementary schools teach languages other than English. And experts say most of these schools just teach the basics, not how to speak a foreign language well.

(30)

A．To improve the intelligence level of the nation.

B．To improve the English language teaching in American schools.

C．To improve the foreign language teaching in American schools.

D．To improve the cooperation of the department of Education and Defense.

We proposed that work ______ at once.

A．start

B．starts

C．will start

D．started

President Bush has proposed adding optional personal accounts as one of the central elements of a major Social Security reform. proposal. Although many details remain to be worked out, the proposal would allow individuals who choose to do so to divert part of the money they currently pay in Social Security taxes into individual investment accounts. Individuals would have a choice of fund managers, and the return that they earn from those accounts would then partially determine the Social Security benefit they receive when they retire.

Individual accounts pose a number of important and complex design and implementation issues, including how to lower the cost of administering accounts so that they do not erode the value of pensions that individuals receive when they retire, how many and what kinds of fund choices should be offered, and how to engage workers in choosing funds.

In the late 1990s, Sweden added a mandatory individual accounts tier to its public pension system. This p01icy brief examines the Swedish experience and lessons it suggests for the United States about the design and implementation challenges of individual accounts.

Sweden has one of the oldest and most comprehensive public pension systems in the world. But by the 1980s, several problems with the system were becoming evident, including current funding deficits and a very large projected funding shortfall as Sweden's population, which is among the oldest in the world, continued to age.

Between 1991 and 1998, Sweden adopted a new pension system built on three fundamental elements. A new "income pension" is intended to tie pension benefits more closely to contributions made over the entire course of an individual' s working life, while lowering the overall cost of the system; it is financed entirely by a 16 percent payroll tax. A "guarantee pension" provides minimum income support for workers with low lifetime earnings. It is financed entirely by general government revenues and is income-tested against other public pension income.

The third element is a "premium pension" financed by a 2.5 percent payroll tax. These funds are placed in an individual investment account. Individuals have a wide variety of fund choices. To lower administrative costs; and the administrative burden on employers, collection of premium pension contributions and fund choices are centrally administered by a new government agency, the Premium Pension Authority. Deposits into pension funds are made only once a year, after complete wage records for a calendar year are available from the state tax authorities. Employees choose up to five funds from a list of funds approved by the PPA. Swedes can change their fund allocations as often as they want without charge, but the system is not designed to facilitate "day trading"—switching funds often takes several days.

The new pension system's planners recognized that many workers might not make an active pension fund choice. They created a Seventh Swedish National Pension Fund to offer a default fund, called the Premium Savings Fund, for those who do not choose a fund or simply prefer to have the government invest for them.

What can you learn about Bush's proposal of adding optional personal accounts?

A．People can transfer some money from their investment accounts to the Social Security taxes

B．The return people earn from their accounts can decide their social benefit decisively

C．People can spent more on investment and meanwhile receive more benefit in the future

D．These accounts will determine how much people can receive in their lives