Word study

count [kaun] v. 1. vt. 数（数目），点（数）：The shopkeeper was counting (his) money.(店主在数钱。)  2. vt. 算（在内）：Six people are on the trip if you count the children. (如你把孩子算在内，6人在旅行。) There were forty people in the bus, counting the driver. (把司机算在内，公共汽车上有40人。)  3. vi. 起作用，重要，有价值：Every minute counts.(每一分钟都很重要。)  Everything we do counts. (我们做的每件事都有价值。) The individual doesn’t count much in the situation. (这个人在这种形势下无足轻重。) White lies don’t count.(为了不使人难过而撒谎不要紧。)
成语 count against 对…不利，看作不利因素His age counted against him.(他的年龄对他不利。)  count among 把…算作一个，认为是…之一：Great Britain counts France among her allies.(英国把法国算作一个同盟国。)  count for 有价值，有重要性：His reputation does not count for much.(他的声誉并不很重要。)  count in 把…算进去，让…也参加：We have counted you all in.(我们已把你们大家算进去了。) count on 指望，依靠，准备（得到）：If there’ s anything I can do, count on me.(如有什么我能做的事，让我去做吧。) You can always count on Bob in any emergency.(你在任何紧急情况下都能指望鲍勃。) I think we can count on Mr. White to support us.(我认为我们能指望怀特先生支持我们。) May I count on your coming?(我能否指望你来？)  count out 数清楚，数出：He counted out 10 ￡ 5 notes.(他数出10张5镑的钞票。) count up 加起来，算出总数：Count up those figures for me.(把这些数字给我加起来。 n. 计算，总计；统计数字。成语keep count of 计数，统计总数。lose count of 算[弄]不清确切数目。 take... count of 给予注意，计较：I never take any count of what people say about me.（我从不计较别人说我什么。）

Text  2

    While there is no blueprint for transforming a largely government-controlled economy into a free one, the experience of United Kingdom since 1979 clearly shows one approach that works: privatization, in which state-owned industries are sold to private companies. By 1979, the total borrowings and losses of state-owned industries were running at about $3 billion a year. By selling many of these industries, the government has decreased these borrowings and losses, gained over $34 billion from the sales, and now receives tax revenues from the newly privatized companies. Along with a dramatically improved overall economy, the government has been able to repay 12.5 percent of the net national debt over the two-year period.
  
    In fact, privatization has not only rescued individual industries and a whole economy headed for disaster, but has also raised the level of performance in every area. At British Airways and British Gas, for example, productivity per employee has risen by 20 percent. At Associated British Ports, labor disruptions common in the 1970s and early 1980s have now virtually disappeared. At British Telecom, there is no longer a waiting list – as there always was before privatization – to have a telephone installed.
  
    Part of this improved productivity has come about because the employees of privatized industries were given the opportunity to buy shares in their own companies. They responded enthusiastically to the offer of the shares: at British Aerospace, 89 percent of the eligible work force bought shares; at Associated British Ports, 90 percent; and at British Telecom, 92 percent. When people have a personal stake in something, they think about it, care about it, work to make it prosper. At the National Freight Consortium, the new employee-owners grew so concerned about their company’s profits that during negotiations they actually pressed their union to lower its wage demands.
  
    Some economists have suggested that giving away free shares would provide a needed acceleration of the privatization process. Yet they miss Thomas Paine’s point that “What we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly.” In order for the far-ranging benefits of individual ownership to be achieved by owners, companies, and countries, employees and other individuals must make their own decisions to buy, and they must commit some of their resources to the choice. (372 words)

Notes: headed for走向。disruption 混乱，动乱。come about发生。eligible 有做…的资格的、合格的。press sb. to do sth. 迫使某人做某事。give away给掉；泄露。

1. According to the text, all of the following were benefits of privatizing state-owned industries in the United Kingdom EXCEPT :

A. Privatized industries paid taxes to the government.
B. The government gained revenue from selling state-owned industries.
C. Profits from industries that were still state-owned increased.
D. Total borrowings and losses of state-owned industries decreased.

2. It can be inferred from the second paragraph of the text that the author considers labor disruptions to be ___________.

A. an inevitable problem in a weak national economy
B. a predictor of employee reactions to a company’s offer to sell shares to them
C. a hindrance to high performance levels in an industry
D. a phenomenon found more often in state-owned industries than in private companies

3. The increased productivity in companies that had been privatized resulted partly from the fact that ___________.

A. a large number of employees chose to purchase shares in their companies
B. free shares were widely distributed to individual shareholders
C. the government ceased to regulate major industries
D. unions conducted wage negotiations for employees

4. By the sentence “When people have a personal stake in something, they think about it, care about it, work to make it prosper.” the author means that ____________.

A. it is necessary for the government to sell all shares in state-owned enterprises to their employees
B. the individual shareholder will reap great gains from whatever sacrifices he or she makes to achieve them
C. governments must eliminate all resistance to the free-market system to implement privatization programs
D. the power of self-interest contributes to the improved productivity when employees buy shares in private companies

5. The quotation “What we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly.” in the last paragraph is most probably used to _______.

A. state a solution to a problem described in the previous sentence
B. counter a position that the author of the text considers to be incorrect
C. present a historical maxim(格言) to challenge the principle introduced in the third paragraph
D. show how opponents of the viewpoint of the author of the text have supported their arguments