When it comes to the economy, pessimism is in and good old American optimism is out. From the headlines in the newspapers to the coffee shop chatter, it seems that there is little good to say about the economy. Bad enough that the news about Iraq, winter storms and the escalation of terror alerts continue to keep people on edge. Reports of state budget deficits and threats of major cutbacks in services such as education, health care and police also make people nervous.
The latest USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll reflects the new pessimism. Asked early this past week how they would rate economic conditions in the country today, just one in three- 34%- said they consider it good. That’s down 10 percentage points from December, when 44% rated the economy good and 20 points lower than September when 54% said they thought economic conditions were good. Moreover, when asked to look ahead a year from now, those
A. upset people
B. keep people alert
C. disappoint people
D. make people pessimistic
When it comes to the economy, pessimism is in and good old American optimism is out. From the headlines in the newspapers to the coffee shop chatter, it seems that there is little good to say about the economy. Bad enough that the news about Iraq, winter storms and the escalation of terror alerts continue to keep people on edge. Reports of state budget deficits and threats of major cutbacks in services such as education, health care and police also make people nervous.
The latest USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll reflects the new pessimism. Asked early this past week how they would rate economic conditions in the country today, just one in three- 34%- said they consider it good. That’s down 10 percentage points from December, when 44% rated the economy good and 20 points lower than September when 54% said they thought economic conditions were good. Moreover, when asked to look ahead a year from now, those
A. a downward turn in the economic conditions
B. the great impact of bad news on economic situation
C. a dwindling confidence in the economic prospects
D. how Americans have lost their traditional optimism
Passage Three
When it comes to the economy, pessimism is in and good old American optimism is out. From the headlines in the newspapers to the coffee shop chatter, it seems that there is little good to say about the economy. Bad enough that the news about Iraq, winter storms and the escalation of terror alerts continue to keep people on edge. Reports of state budget deficits and threats of major cutbacks in services such as education, health care and police also’ make people nervous.
The latest USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll reflects the new pessimism. Asked early this past week how they would rate economic conditions in the country today, just one in three--34%--said they consider it good. That’s down 10 percentage points from December, when 44% rated the economy good and 20 points lower than September when 54% said they thought economic conditions were good. Moreover,’ when asked to look ahead a year from now, those people willing to say thin
A. upset people
B. keep people alert
C. disappoint people
D. make people pessimistic
| Death comes quickly in the mountains.
Each winter holiday makers are caught unawares as they happily ski away from the
fixed runs, little realizing that a small avalanche can send them crashing in a
bone-breaking fall down the slope and leave them buried under tons of crisp
white snow. There are lots of theories about how to avoid disaster when hit by
an avalanche. Practice is normally less cheerful. The snow in the Salzburg of Austria where a recent disaster took place was typical avalanche material: For several days before the incident I had skied locally. Early winter snow was wearing thin and covered with ice. On top of that new, warmer flakes were gently falling to produce a dangerous carpet. To the skier who enjoys unmarked slopes it is tempting stuff, deep new power snow on a hard base--the skiing that dreams are made o A. they fail to realize how dangerous avalanches can be B. they are not expert enough at skiing on the fixed runs C. they are trying to avoid areas where avalanches happen D. they ski great distances down the mountainsides [单项选择]Passage Three
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