第1章 经济类


Unit 1


The very loans that are supposed to help seniors stay in their homes are in many cases pushing them out.

Reverse mortgages, which allow homeowners 62 and older to borrow money against the value of their homes and not pay it back until they move out or die, have long been fraught with problems. But federal and state regulators are documenting new instances of abuse as smaller mortgage brokers, including former subprime lenders, flood the market after the recent exit of big banks and as defaults on the loans hit record rates.

Some lenders are aggressively pitching loans to seniors who cannot afford the fees associated with them, not to mention the property taxes and maintenance. Others are wooing seniors with promises that the loans are free money that can be used to finance long-coveted cruises, without clearly explaining the risks. Some widows are facing eviction after they say they were pressured to keep their name off the deed without being told that they could be left facing foreclosure after their husbands died.

Now, as the vast baby boomer generation heads for retirement and more seniors grapple with dwindling savings, the newly minted Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is working on new rules that could mean better disclosure for consumers and stricter supervision of lenders. More than 775,000 of such loans are outstanding, according to the federal government.

Concerns about the multibillion-dollar reverse mortgage market echo those raised in the lead-up to the financial crisis when consumers were marketed loans—often carrying hidden risks—that they could not afford.

“There are many of the same red flags, including explosive growth and the fact that these loans are often peddled aggressively without regard to suitability,” said Lori Swanson, the Minnesota attorney general, who is working on reforming the reverse mortgage market.

注（1）：本文选自The New York Times；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1题模仿2011年真题（二）Text 1第2题；第2题模仿2009年真题Text 2第4题；第3、4题模仿2010年真题Text 2第3、2题；第5题模仿2011年真题（二）Text 3第5题。



1. What can we learn about mortgage loans from the first two paragraphs?

A) The loans help seniors stay in their homes.

B) The loans are actually expelling seniors.

C) The reverse mortgage only welcomes seniors 62 and older.

D) Seniors can apply for reverse mortgage freely.

2. The problem of reverse mortgage refers to ______.

A) some lenders are pleased to lend money to seniors

B) the borrowers cannot pay back the money as expected

C) federal and state regulators are documenting new instances of abuse

D) former subprime lenders go bankrupt

3. The word “foreclosure”(Line 5, Paragraph 3) most probably implies ______.

A) the widows were pressured to lose their names

B) the seniors couldn’t enjoy their cruises finally

C) the widows may be evicted from their houses

D) the widows had misunderstood the reverse mortgage

4. Which of the following is true about the new rules from CFPB?

A) The rules are good for lenders while adverse to borrowers.

B) The baby boomer phenomenon helps seniors to save money.

C) Consumers can better understand reverse mortgage.

D) The rules will be stricter for consumers.

5. The “red flags” of reverse mortgage don’t include ______.

A) explosive growth

B) never considering suitability

C) leading to financial crisis

D) the reform of reverse mortgage market





篇章剖析


本文主要讲述了反向抵押贷款带来的消极影响。第一、二段简单介绍了施行反向抵押贷款的本意及出现的重重问题；第三段具体列举了反向抵押贷款存在的问题；第四段指出当前消极影响日益严重，为此相关机构采取了一些措施来进行缓解；第五、六段更进一步说明反向抵押贷款的危害，并引用权威人士的话指出该借贷方式存在问题，需要改革。





词汇注释


mortgage /ˈmɔːgɪdʒ/ n. 抵押

fraught /frɔːt/ adj. 充满（令人不快之事）的；担心的，忧虑的

subprime lender 次贷方，次级抵押贷款的贷款方

default /dɪˈfɔːlt/ n. 不还债；违约；缺席

pitch /pɪtʃ/ v. 投掷；倾斜；搭帐篷

woo /wuː/ v. 争取…的支持；追求；恳求

long-coveted /ˌlɒŋ-ˈkʌvətɪd/ adj. 觊觎已久的，长期垂涎的

eviction /ɪˈvɪkʃn/ n. 逐出，赶出；收回

grapple /ˈɡræpl/ v. 努力克服；抓住；与…格斗

dwindle /ˈdwɪndl/ v. 减少；变小

outstanding /aʊtˈstændɪŋ/ adj. 未偿付的；显著的；未解决的

peddle /ˈpedl/ v. 叫卖；兜售；散播





难句突破


Now, as the vast baby boomer generation heads for retirement and more seniors grapple with dwindling savings, the newly minted Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is working on new rules that could mean better disclosure for consumers and stricter supervision of lenders.

主体句式：As..., the CFPB is working on new rules...

结构分析：本句是一个复杂句，as引导原因状语从句，其后主句的主干为the CFPB is working on new rules，并用that引导的定语从句修饰new rules。其中，that在定语从句中充当主语。

句子译文：目前，随着大量婴儿潮时代出生的人步入退休阶段，更多的老年人正在努力解决积蓄减少这一困境。新成立的消费者金融保护局开始着手制定新的政策，这一举措可能意味着消费者会拥有更好的知情权，借贷方面临更为严格的监管。





题目分析


1. B 细节题。第一段开门见山地指出，在许多情况下，贷款（即指下文的反向抵押贷款）使得老人居无定所，因此A选项不正确。C、D两项中，“only”和“freely”措辞太绝对，与文章内容不符，故排除。只有B项符合题意。

2. B 细节题。题目要求找出反向抵押贷款所遇到的问题，故可将本题答案初步定位至文章的二、三段。根据还贷拖欠情况屡创新高和贷款方把钱贷给那些无法支付相关费用的老人可知，反向抵押贷款最大的问题是借贷者无法按预期还贷，B项正确。A、C、D项虽然说法上无太大错误，但明显答非所问，故正确答案为B。

3. C 语义题。对生单词应根据其在句子中的成分和上下文语境来进行推理。由生词所处句子的句意可知，该问题是孤寡妇人在丈夫死后所要面对的。根据上文推理可知，该问题是指房产问题，那么她们需要面对的应该是房产所有权的丧失。只有C选项符合题意，A、B、D项均与原文不符。

4. C 推理题。第四段指出，随着大量婴儿潮时代出生的人步入退休阶段，更多的老年人正在努力解决积蓄减少这一困境，新成立的消费者金融保护局开始着手制定新的政策，这一举措可能意味着消费者会拥有更好的知情权，借贷方面临更为严格的监管。由此可知A、B、D项均理解有误，只有C选项符合题意。

5. D 语义题。“red flags”不仅可以表示“红旗”，还可以指“危险信号”，由上下文可知，此处即为“危险信号”。根据最后两段可知，A、B、C选项中的爆炸性增长、未考虑是否合适和引发经济危机，都是反向抵押贷款给市场带来的危险信号，均不符合题意。只有D项不属于危险信号，符合题意。





参考译文


那种原本可以确保老年人居有定所的贷款，在很多情况下，却使得他们居无定所。

反向抵押贷款允许62岁及62岁以上的屋主以房子作抵押从银行贷款，直到他们搬离或者逝世后再偿还。这种方式一直问题重重。然而，随着一些业务规模较小的抵押代理人，包括之前的一些次贷方，在大银行近期退出后涌入市场，并且还贷拖欠情况屡创新高，联邦政府和各州调控机构正在记载新的滥用案例。

一些贷款方竟然大胆地把钱贷给那些无力支付贷款相关费用，更不用提支付财产税和维护费的老年人。另一些人则在争取老年客户时并未清晰地解释其中的风险，只向他们承诺：贷款是免费的，可以用来支付他们梦寐以求的出游。一些孤寡妇人称，当初她们是被迫让自己的名字不出现在契约上的，但却并未被告知，如果她们的丈夫离世，她们将丧失抵押品赎回权，现在她们却面临着被强行驱逐出自己的房子的困境。

目前，随着大量婴儿潮时代出生的人步入退休阶段，更多的老年人正在努力解决积蓄减少这一困境。新成立的消费者金融保护局开始着手制定新的政策，这一举措可能意味着消费者会拥有更好的知情权，借贷方面临更为严格的监管。据联邦政府透露，有超过77.5万此类贷款尚未偿还。

对于这个价值数十亿美元的反向抵押贷款市场的担忧让人们联想起在经济危机的前奏时期人们产生的担忧，那时消费者们根本无力偿还贷款，而且这些贷款常常带有潜在的风险。

“有很多这样的危险信号，包括爆炸性增长，包括积极地兜售这些借贷却并未考虑过是否合适。”明尼苏达州的首席检察官洛里·斯旺森这样说。他正致力于反向抵押贷款市场的改革。





Unit 2


The American economy has been shedding jobs for nearly two years, but now comes a sign that the gloom could eventually lift. The Bureau of Labour Statistics released new data on payroll employment on Friday December 4th, and across the board the numbers came in better than had been expected.

Some 11,000 jobs were lost in November, the smallest total since the recession began late in 2007. And despite the continued job losses, the overall unemployment rate fell from 10.2% to 10.0%. So, too, did broader measures of unemployment which include marginally attached workers and those who work only part time (for economic reasons).

The payroll report will leave markets and policymakers happy, for a day at least. Most forecasters had expected that 100,000 jobs, or more, would have been lost, and most thought that the unemployment rate would hold steady or rise. A private employment report for November, which is published just before the official payroll report, showed that nearly 170,000 workers lost their jobs.

None of this means that the troubles are all over, however. The unemployment rate had once before declined in 2009, from June to July, before proceeding to rise for the next three months. A steady decline now will be hard to achieve: one estimate suggests that the American economy needs to add around 150,000 jobs each month just to keep up with population growth.

Employment growth in the economy remains concentrated in just a few sectors. There are encouraging signs in professional and business services; a 52,000 job increase in temporary help services in this category indicates that employers may soon begin creating more permanent positions.（Although by one measure non-manufacturing businesses are losing confidence, according to an index produced by the Institute for Supply Management this week.）Education, health services, and government are the only other sources of employment growth; the manufacturing, construction, and retail sectors continued to cut jobs in November.

That is particularly disappointing given that manufacturing activity has expanded for four consecutive months. More troubling still, the rate of manufacturing expansion declined in November. Increasing activity to data had largely been because of the replenishment of depleted inventories. If this brief spurt of expansion has exhausted itself without creating new jobs, then that bodes ill for recovery in other sources of demand, including consumer spending.

And then there are the ugliest statistics of all. Just over 15m Americans are unemployed, an increase of 8m from the start of the recession. Nearly 6m of those are considered long-term unemployed. Almost 40% of jobless workers have been out of work for 27 weeks or more. Bringing most of these workers back into the labour force will require strong economic growth, of the sort that is unlikely to prevail for at least the next year or so. This unexpectedly sharp decline in lost jobs is a silver lining on an extremely dark cloud.

注（1）：本文选自Economist；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1、3题分别模仿2004年真题Text 1第1、3题，第2题模仿2008年真题Text 4第2题，第4题模仿2014年真题Text 4第4题，第5题模仿2006年真题Text 2第5题。



1. What is America’s current unemployment situation?

A) The unemployment rate remains in a mild decline.

B) The number of job offers has exceeded that of job losses.

C) There still will be many people who are going to lose their jobs.

D) It has met the expectations of the majority of people.

2. We can infer from the second and third paragraphs that ______.

A) the private employment report lacks credibility

B) unemployment rate does not involve all citizens

C) unemployment rate forecast is inaccurate

D) policy-making depends on unemployment rate

3. The word “bodes” (Line 4, Paragraph 6) most probably means ______.

A) brings

B) falls

C) develops

D) foretells

4. Speaking of employment growth, the author implies that ______.

A) economic sectors of employment growth are still limited yet expanding

B) inventory replenishment is a good chance of providing more jobs

C) the prospect of an overall employment growth remains gloomy

D) the difficulty of demand recovery impedes the creation of new jobs

5. We can draw a conclusion from the text that ______.

A) the unexpectedly sharp decline in lost jobs paves the way for general optimism

B) the unemployment rate fluctuates dramatically in economic recession

C) it is still uncertain whether the November unemployment rate is a good sign

D) unemployment rate is expected to continually drop in the following months





篇章剖析


本文介绍了美国的失业情况。前三段根据就业报告说明了美国当前的失业率状况并非如人们担心的那样糟糕；第四至六段笔锋一转，进行了深度的分析，说明报告并不预示着美国经济已经完全回升向好，依然有很多部门的情况不容乐观；最后一段更进一步说明了美国经济存在的潜在困难，并由此得出了较为悲观的结论：失业情况仍然非常严峻、不容乐观。





词汇注释


gloom /gluːm/ n. 萧条（或消沉）的状况，无望

payroll /ˈpeɪˌrəʊl/ n. 薪水册，工资表

recession /rɪˈseʃn/ n. （经济的）衰退；衰退期

marginally /ˈmɑːrdʒɪnəli/ adv. 少量地；最低限度地

consecutive /kənˈsekjutɪv/ adj. 连续不断的；接连而来的

replenishment /rɪˈplenɪʃmənt/ n. 再装满，补充，充满

inventory /ˈɪnvəntri/ n. 清单上开列的货品，存货

spurt /spɜːt/ n. 短时激增；迸发

exhaust /ɪgˈzɒst/ v. 用完，耗尽

prevail /prɪˈveɪl/ v. 流行，盛行；普遍发生

silver lining （不幸或失望中的）一线希望





难句突破


So, too, did broader measures of unemployment which include marginally attached workers and those who work only part time（for economic reasons）.

主体句式：So did broader measures of unemployment.

结构分析：本句使用了“So did+主语”的倒装结构，用来说明前面所说的情况也同样适用于后面的事物，too为插入语。主语broader measures of unemployment由which引导的定语从句修饰，定语从句中的宾语之一those又由who引导的定语从句修饰。

句子译文：从广义上衡量也是如此，广义失业率涉及了近期未就业的人数和由于经济原因而只能做兼职的人员的数量等。





题目分析


1. C 细节题。根据文章前两段，失业率的增长速度有所减缓，这好于先前的预期，因此A和D不正确。根据文章第四段以及最后一段的内容可知，尽管情况有所好转，但这并不能说明麻烦已经全然消失，目前依然很难实现失业率的持续下降，而且明年经济不可能迅速复苏，这意味着失业率仍然会维持在较高水平，仍然将有很多人会失去工作，因此排除B，故C正确。

2. B 推理题。根据文章第二段，从广义上衡量，失业率涉及了近期未就业的人和兼职员工，因此可以推出失业率的统计并不涉及全体公民，因此B正确。文章第三段提到此前预期和民间报告与官方数据的不同，但并不能据此说明民间报告可信度低，也无法得出预期不准确的结论，因此A与C皆不正确。第三段提到政策制定者看到这个失业率增长速度的数据会很高兴，但并没有提到政策制定和失业率之间的关系，因此D不正确。

3. D 语义题。整个第六段都在讲目前各领域存在的糟糕情况，因此可以推出这些都预示着经济很可能不会迅速复苏。“bode”作为动词是“预示”的含义，通常都是指预示不好的结果。

4. C 推理题。尽管文章第五段指出一些部门的就业率在增加，但是从文章总体看来，失业率仍然居高不下，就业率的总体增长态势并不乐观，因此C正确。第五段中表明就业率增长仅限于几个领域，并没有提到扩张的趋势，所以A错误。第六段中manufacturing activity指的并不是就业，因此B不正确。第六段还提到如果无法创造新的工作机会，那么其他需求很难得以恢复，D颠倒了因果关系，因此错误。

5. C 推理题。文章中虽然提到11月份的失业率数据让市场和政府都感到十分振奋，但是通过全文的分析，整体就业情况依然不容乐观，因此很难说这个数据意味着失业率增长的速度会持续下降，因此C正确，A和D不正确。文章中并没有提到失业率数据是否有很大的起伏变化，故B也不正确。





参考译文


近两年里，美国经济使工作机会一直在不断流失，但现在却有迹象显示这种低迷的状态有可能最终扭转。据劳工统计局于12月4日，也就是周五公布的最新就业人数数据显示，总体数字好于预期。

11月份约减少了1.1万个工作岗位，这是自2007年年末的经济危机开始以来的最小数字。尽管现在仍然不断有人失去工作，但总体失业率已经从10.2%降至10.0%。从广义上衡量也是如此，广义失业率涉及了近期未就业的人数和由于经济原因只能做兼职的人员的数量等。

这份就业报告将会使市场和政策制定者们满意，至少就目前来看如此。之前大部分市场预测者预计至少还会减少10万个工作机会，大多数人认为失业率会保持在原有水平，或者会进一步增长。在官方的就业报告发布之前，一份民间就业报告指出，11月份的失业人数有近17万。

但这一结果并不意味着我们的麻烦已经全然消失。2009年6月至7月失业率曾有所下降，但是随后的三个月又连续增长。目前我们很难实现失业率的持续下降：一份预测报告指出，美国经济每个月需要增加约15万个工作岗位才能赶上人口增长的速度。

美国就业率的增长也仅限于几个领域。其中，职业和商业服务领域就显示出了鼓舞人心的迹象，该领域已经增加了5.2万份临时性援助服务的工作，这表明雇主们可能很快就会提供更多的永久性职位。（尽管根据本周美国供应管理协会公布的指数，其中一项指标显示，非制造业界正在失去信心。）教育、健康服务和政府是仅有的其他几个就业率增长部门，而制造业、建筑业和零售业11月份都在继续裁员。

鉴于制造业已实现了连续四个月的扩张，这一结果尤其令人失望，更糟糕的是，制造业扩张的速度在11月份有所下降。其增加的数据大部分来自对于库存的补充。如果我们耗尽了这种短暂的扩张所迸发的动能却没有创造出新工作，那么这预示着其他方面的需求很难得以恢复，包括消费支出。

这还不是最坏的数据。目前，已有超过1500万美国人处于失业状态，比经济危机刚开始时增加了800万人。其中，近600万人被认为是长期失业。大约40%的失业工人已经至少27周没有工作了。要想让这些人中的大部分回到劳动力大军中，那么经济的强劲增长是必不可少的，然而，至少在明年经济不可能迅速回升向好。在这种极其严峻的情形下，失业率出人意料地陡然下降无异于一线生机。





Unit 3


Since the start of the year the price of sugar futures has almost doubled. This is welcome news for Brazil, the world’s largest producer of the stuff. The price spike is mainly explained by unfavourable weather—too little rain in India and too much in Brazil. India’s sugar production fell by almost half last year, turning the country from the second-biggest producer to the biggest importer. For Brazil’s big sugar companies the timing is perfect: the credit crunch set off a wave of consolidation in an industry that had been resistant to it. The firms that have survived now have more scale and lots of cash.