To sell an old bond when rates have risen, the holder will have to discount the bond until the yield to the buyer is the same as the market rate.

Will the European Union make it? The question would have sounded strange not long ago. Now even the project's greatest cheerleaders talk of a continent facing a "Bermuda triangle" of debt, population decline and lower growth.

As well as those chronic problems, the EU face an acute crisis in its economic core, the 16 countries that use the single currency. Markets have lost faith that the euro zone's economies, weaker or stronger, will one day converge thanks to the discipline of sharing a single currency, which denies uncompetitive members the quick fix of devaluation.

Yet the debate about how to save Europe's single currency from disintegration is stuck. It is stuck because the euro zone's dominant powers, France and Germany, agree on the need for greater harmonisation within the euro zone, but disagree about what to harmonies.

Germany thinks the euro must be saved by stricter rules on borrowing, spending and competitiveness, barked by quasi-automatic sanctions for governments that do not obey. These might include threats to freeze EU funds for poorer regions and EU mega-projects, and even the suspension of a country's voting rights in EU ministerial councils. It insists that economic co-ordination should involve all 27 members of the EU club, among whom there is a small majority for free-market liberalism and economic rigour ; in the inner core alone, Germany fears, a small majority favour French interference.

A "southern" camp headed by French wants something different: "European economic government" within an inner core of euro-zone members. Translated, that means politicians intervening in monetary policy and a system of redistribution from richer to poorer members, via cheaper borrowing for governments through common Eurobonds or complete fiscal transfers. Finally, figures close to the French, government have murmured, euro-zone members should agree to some fiscal and social harmonisation: e. g. , curbing competition in corporate-tax rates or labour costs.

It is too soon to write off the EU. It remains the world's largest trading block. At its best, the European project is remarkably liberal: built around a single market of 27 rich and poor countries, its internal borders are far more open to goods, capital and labour than any comparable trading area. It is an ambitious attempt to blunt the sharpest edges of globalisation, and make capitalism benign.

The EU is faced with so many problems that_________.

A．it has more or less lost faith in markets

B．even its supporters begin to feel concerned

C．some of its member countries plan to abandon euro

D．it intends to deny the possibility of devaluation

&8226;Look at the statements below and the information about cards on the opposite page.

&8226;Which card (A, B, C or D) does each statement 1-7 refer to?

&8226;For each statement 1-7, mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet.

&8226;You will need to use some of these letters more than once.

A

Visa Gold Card

A Visa Gold Card guarantees you'll be welcomed at more than 10.5 million establishments in 247 countries. It gives you access to more ATMs around the world than any other cards. It assures you of unsurpassed travel, legal and medical assistance, with just one phone call, and emergency cash if you lose your card. And it offers you Visa's unmatched range of special cardholder services, from reserved concert seats to the Visa Restaurant Club.

B

MasterCard Pocket Teller

It can now tell you how much money you have on your chip, as well as how much you spent in each of your last ten transactions and when. How? With this Utile gem of new technology, the MasterCard Pocket Teller, available for the very first time in the world right here in Plymouth. It's like having a mini Automatic Teller Machine in your pocket.

C

Smart Object

Smart Object has got all the benefits of object-oriented technology without the drawbacks. Without the time it takes to learn. Without the money it takes to train. Without the long lead times and high development costs. These and cue-cards define clear, repeatable paths to build and assemble highly reuseable application components. And its best-of-breed applications are integrated with Visual Basic on the PC, yet scaled to support hundreds of users on all manner of client, server and database platforms.

D

AT&T Global Corporate Calling Card

If you want to get somewhere fast, it pays to travel with the new AT&T Global Corporate Calling Card. It offers competitive international rates so that you can count up savings on every card call you make around the world. It increases productivity for your people who travel on business and offers comprehensive management reports that show you exactly who has spent what each month. And there's no enrollment fee whatsoever.

You will know how much money is left on your card.

The Human Resources Department, as well as the other departments, will have its budget______to $ 2 million this year.

A．increased

B．being increased

C．to increase

D．to have been inreased

The Human Resources Department, as well as the other departments, will have its budget______to $ 2 million this year.

A．increased

B．being increased

C．to increase

D．to have been inreased

TEXT A

I remember meeting him one evening with his pushcart. I had managed to sell all my papers and was coming home in the snow. It was that strange hour in downtown New York when the workers were pouring homeward in the twilight. I marched among thousands of tired men and women whom the factory whistles had unyoked. They flowed in rivers through the clothing factory districts, then down along the avenues to the East Side.

I met my father near Cooper Union. I recognized him, a hunched, frozen figure in an old overcoat standing by a banana cart. He looked so lonely, the tears came to my eyes. Then he saw me, and his face lit with his sad, beautiful smile -Charlie Chaplin's smile.

"Arch, it's Mikey," he said. "So you have sold your papers! Come and eat a banana."

He offered me one. I refused it. I felt it crucial that my father sell his bananas, not give them away. He thought I was shy, and coaxed and joked with me, and made me eat the banana. It smelled of wet straw and snow.

"You haven't sold many bananas today, pop," I said anxiously.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"What can I do? No one seems to want them."

It was true. The work crowds pushed home morosely over the pavements. The rusty sky darkened over New York building, the tall street lamps were lit, innumerable trucks, street cars and elevated trains clattered by. Nobody and nothing in the great city stopped for my father's bananas.

"I ought to yell," said my father dolefully. "I ought to make a big noise like other peddlers, but it makes my throat sore. Anyway, I'm ashamed of yelling, it makes me feel like a fool. "

I had eaten one of his bananas. My sick conscience told me that I ought to pay for it somehow. I must remain here and help my father.

"I'll yell for you, pop," I volunteered.

"Arch, no," he said, "go home; you have worked enough today. Just tell momma I'll be late."

But I yelled and yelled. My father, standing by, spoke occasional words of praise, and said I was a wonderful yeller. Nobody else paid attention. The workers drifted past us wearily, endlessly; a defeated army wrapped in dreams of home. Elevated trains crashed; the Cooper Union clock burned above us; the sky grew black, the wind poured, the slush burned through our shoes. There were thousands of strange, silent figures pouring over the sidewalks in snow. None of them stopped to buy bananas. I yelled and yelled, nobody listened.

My father tried to stop me at last. "Nu," he said smiling to console me, "that was wonderful yelling. Mikey. But it's plain we are unlucky today! Let's go home."

I was frantic, and almost in tears. I insisted on keeping up my desperate yells. But at last my father persuaded me to leave with him.

11. "unyoked" in the first paragraph is closest in meaning to

A. sent out

B. released

C. dispatched

D. removed

Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities—as well as new and significant risks. Civil right activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics and other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack of access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies. Now Congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500, 000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms filed with the government, Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises.

Corporate response appears to have been substantial. According to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority businesses rose from $77 million in 1972 to 1.1 billion in 1977. The projected total of corporate contracts with minority businesses for the early 1980's is estimated to be over $3 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade.

Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too. First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses, they often need to make substantial investment in new plants, staff, equipment and the like in order to perform. work subcontracted to them. If, thereafter, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses. The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneurs who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids. Both consume valuable time and resources, and a small company's efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer.

A second risk is that White owned companies may seek to cash in on the increasing apportionment through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns. Of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, White and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could acquire alone. But civil right groups and minority business owners have complained to Congress about minorities being set up as "fronts" with White backing, rather than being accepted as full partners in legitimate joint ventures.

Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often runs the danger of becoming and remaining dependent. Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases; when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.

Notes:

civil rights activists 公民权利激进分子

Hispanics 西班牙后裔美国人

sizable orders 大额订单

subcontract 转包合同

on forms filed with the government 在政府存档备案

percentage goals 指标

apportionment 分配，分派

public works 市政工程

letup 减弱，缓和

promising as it is... 这是as引导的上步状语从句，表语倒装了

patronage 优惠

concern n. 公司

and the like 以及诸如此类的

crippling fixed expenses 引起损失的固定开支

the world of 大量的

bid 投标

to cash in on ...靠......赚钱

team up 一起工作, 合作

"fronts" 此处意为"摆门面"

Complacency 自满

The primary purpose of the text is to

A．present a commonplace idea and its inaccuracies.

B．describe a situation and its potential drawbacks.

C．propose a temporary solution to a problem.

D．analyze a frequent source of disagreement.

One hundred new bookstalls that will sell newspapers as well as books have been making their debut on city streets since Saturday morning.

The newsstands are part of the city's efforts to improve the appearance of streets and neighborhoods. The newsstands' design, featuring large glass window, will help the customers to see what is on sale at a glance.

An electrical screen on the newsstands will announce immediately the arrival of the latest papers. There will be 1 000 newsstands by the end of the year. The newly formed company will manage the stalls. According to sources from the company, over 80 percent of the people hired to operate the stands will be recruited from laid-off workers. This means the project will help ease the city's unemployment pressure, sources said.

All recruited will undergo a training program and be dressed in green uniform. Municipal Vicepart Secretary Gong Xueping said the installation of the 100 stands was just the first step towards the objective of setting up 1 000 stands in the city by the end of the year.

He said the creation of the stalls would be of particular significance to the enhancement of the city's spiritual civilization. He also made some suggestions regarding the location, design and construction of the new stands and the renovation of the existing newsstands.

One hundred new bookstalls are set up to______.

A．classify the bookstores

B．beautify the streets and neighborhoods

C．enrich people's minds with knowledge

D．increase people's purchasing power