[单项选择]

Rising Prices Cause House "Apartheid"
涨价导致房屋的“种族隔离”
The Government has admitted that soaring house prices have left people on average incomes, such as teachers and nurses, locked out of buying their first homes across large parts of southern England, including London and most of the South East.
A spokeswoman for the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, admitted last night that there was now an effective "housing apartheid", with people in their own homes pulling further and further away from those yet to get on the property ladder.
With house prices rising at between 15 and 20 percent a year, incomes, which are rising at between 5 and 10 percent a year, cannot keep up.
"Increasing housing supply is a national priority. In large areas of the wider South East, house purchase remains out of reach for families with average household incomes," the official said．

A. houses are only built in specific places
B. houses in some places become too expensive for people to buy
C. black people and white people live in different houses in a place
D. regulations are enforced on house pricing

[单项选择]

Rising Prices Cause House "Apartheid"
涨价导致房屋的“种族隔离”
The Government has admitted that soaring house prices have left people on average incomes, such as teachers and nurses, locked out of buying their first homes across large parts of southern England, including London and most of the South East.
A spokeswoman for the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, admitted last night that there was now an effective "housing apartheid", with people in their own homes pulling further and further away from those yet to get on the property ladder.
With house prices rising at between 15 and 20 percent a year, incomes, which are rising at between 5 and 10 percent a year, cannot keep up.
"Increasing housing supply is a national priority. In large areas of the wider South East, house purchase remains out of reach for families with average household incomes," the official said．

A. They have to pay high price stamp duty.
B. Their incomes rise too slowly.
C. House supply is decreasing.
D. House prices are rising.

[填空题]The rising rate of house prices is usually faster than that of inflation and so the American government sometimes adjusts the property taxes to make it exceed the rate of inflation.

[单项选择]

Reading 1 "Rising Sea Levels"
Perhaps the most pervasive climatic effect of global warming is rapid escalation of ice melt. Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, portions of the South American Andes, and the Himalayas will very likely lose most of their glacial ice within the next two decades, affecting local water resources. Glacial ice continues its retreat in Alaska. NASA scientists determined that Greenland’s ice sheet is thinning by about 1 m per year. The additional meltwater, especially from continental ice masses and glaciers, is adding to a rise in sea level worldwide. Satellite remote sensing is monitoring global sea level, sea ice, and continental ice. Worldwide measurements confirm that sea level rose during the last century.
Surrounding the margins of Antarctica, and constituting about 11% of its surface area, are numerous ice shelves, especially where sheltering inlets or bays exist. Covering many thousands of square ki
A. clarify
B. prove
C. assume
D. predict

[单项选择]Rising prices may ______ the rise in demand for these goods.
A. reflect
B. remind
C. convey
D. explain

[填空题]

Bush Concerned about Rising Gas Prices

President Bush says a variety of global forces are to blame for crude oil prices topping ＄70 a barrel.
"There is a tight supply worldwide, and we have got an increasing demand from countries like India and China, which means that, any disruption in supply, or perceived disruption of supply, is going to cause the price of crude to go up, and that affects the price of gasoline," he said.
The president says prices are also up due to increasing domestic demand, as Americans are driving more, now that the cold winter weather is ending, and because states are switching their fuel-mix to a warmer-weather blend.
"The combination of these changes creates higher gasoline prices, and I am concerned about higher gasoline prices. I am concerned about what it means for working families and small businesses, and I am also mindful that the government has the responsibility to make sure that we

[单项选择]What is the main cause of the company’s rising costs
A. Import taxes.
B. Publicity.
C. Premises.

[单项选择]As prices and building costs keep rising, the "do-it-yourself" (DIY) trend (趋势) in the U. S. continues to grow.
"We needed furniture (家具) for our living room," says John Ross, "and we just didn’t have enough money to buy it. So we decided to try making a few tables and chairs. "(76) John got married six months ago, and like many young people these clays, they are struggling to make a home at a time when the cost of living is very high. The Rosses took a two-week course for $280 at a night school. Now they build all their furniture and make repairs around the house.
Jim Hatfield has three boys and his wife died. He has a full-time job at home as well as in a shoemaking factory. Last month, he received a car repair bill for $420. "I was deeply upset about it. Now I’ve finished a car repair course. I should be able to fix the car by my-self. "
John and Jim are not unusual people. In order to save money, most families in the country are doing everything they can so that the
A. find it hard to pay for what they need
B. have to learn to make their own furniture
C. take DIY courses run by the government
D. seldom go to a department store to buy things

[填空题]A
House prices have risen again this month as demand continues to outstrip supply, according to the latest research from the property website Rightmove. co. U. K. National average asking prices rose by 2.3 percent in September, pushing the average house price through ~ 150,000 and setting the annual rate at 22.2 percent.
B
"The shortage of properties coming on to the market in many areas means that it is still a seller’s market, particularly in the lower and middle price brackets. This shortage and continuing demand are resulting in renewed increases in asking prices overall," Rightmove’s Miles Shipside said. The findings support the latest survey from the Nation wide Building Society, which showed prices rising at their highest rate since 1999, but contradict the latest Halifax survey which reported a slight slowdown in annual inflation from 20.8 to 18.8 percent.
C
"It’s an intriguing situation, with