英語四級閱讀理解訓練:希臘的旅游業
Greece, economically, is in the black. With very littleto export other than such farm products as tobacco,cotton and fruit, the country earns enough from 'invisible earnings' to pay for its needed, growingimports. From the sending out of things the Greeks,earn only $285 million; from tourism, shipping andthe remittances of Greeks abroad, the country takes in an additional #375 million and thiswashes out the almost $400 million by which imports exceed exports.
It has a balanced budget. Although more than one drachma out of four goes for defense,the government ended a recent year with a slight surplus -- $66 million. Greece has a decentreserve of almost a third of a billion dollars in gold and foreign exchange. It has a governmentnot dependent on coalescing incompatible parties to obtain parliamentary majorities.
In thus summarizing a few happy highlights, I don't mean to minimize the vast extent ofGreece's problems. It is the poorest country by a wide margin in Free Europe, and poverty iswidespread. At best an annual income of $60 to $70 is the lot of many a peasant, andsubstantial unemployment plagues the countryside, cities, and towns of Greece. There arefew natural resources on which to build any substantial industrial base. Some years ago Iwrote here:
"Greek statesmanship will have to create an atmosphere in which home and foreign savingswill willingly seek investment opportunities in the back ward economy of Greece. So far, mostAmerican and other foreign attempt have bogged down in the Greek government's red tape andshrewdness about small points."
Great strides have been made. As far back as 1956, expanding tourism seemed a logicalway to bring needed foreign currencies and additional jobs to Greece. At that time I talkedwith the Hilton Hotel people, who had been examining hotel possibilities, and to the Greekgovernment division responsible for this area of the economy. They were hopelessly deadlockedin almost total differences of opinion and outlook.
Today most of the incredibly varied, beautiful, historical sights of Greece have new, if inmany cases modest, tourist facilities. Tourism itself has jumped from approximately $31million to over $90 million. There is both a magnificent new Hilton Hotel in Athens and acompletely modernized, greatly expanded Grande Bretagne, as well as other first-rate newhotels. And the advent of jets has made Athens as accessible as Paris or Rome – without thesky-high prices of traffic-choked streets of either.
1. The title below that best expresses the ideas of this passage is
[A] Greek income and expenditures.
[B] The improving economic situation in Greece.
[C] The value of tourism.
[D] Military expenditures.
2. Many peasants earn less than
[A] $60 a week.
[B] $2 a week.
[C] $1 a day.
[D] $10 a month.
3. The Greek Government spends
[A] more than 25%of its budget on military terms.
[B] More than its collects.
[C] A third of a billion dollars in gold.
[D] Less than 25% of its budget on military terms.
4. According to the passage, Greece has
[A] a dictatorship.
[B] a monarchy.
[C] a single majority party.
[D] too much red tape.
5. Greece imports annually goods and materials
[A] totaling almost $700 million.
[B] that balance exports.
[C] that are paid by tourists.
[D] costing $66 million.
答案詳解
1. B 希臘經濟形式的改善。文章圍繞這一中心而寫。文章一開始就提出希臘出口除了農產品之外,沒有什么東西,而無形資產如旅游、運輸和國外的匯款等可掙得37500萬美元。兩項加在一起來抵消入超赤字近4億美元,稍有結余。第三段指出,希臘是自由歐洲最窮的國家,許多農民年收入為60-70美元。失業現象席卷城市鄉鎮,建立工業基地的自然資源極少。政府的繁瑣事務程序,關注瑣事等情況使美國和其他國家試圖展開工作陷于停滯狀態。第四段開始指出1956年起開拓旅游業,不過意見還是分歧。第五斷提出今天驚人的變化,美麗的歷史古城呈現新貌,就旅游一項收入由3100萬增至9000萬美元。旅館面貌大變。A.希臘的收支。C.旅游的價值。D.軍事費用。
2. B 少于2美元一星期。文章第三段第三句:最佳情況,年收入為60-70美元使大多數農民的份額。所以B項最接近年收入。A.60美元一星期。C.一天一美元。D.一個月10美元。
3. A 百分之25以上用于軍事。第二段:雖然四個德拉克馬中有一個用于國防,政府最終還稍有結余――6600萬美元。B.比收入的還多。C.十億金子中的三分之一。D.少于百分之25。
4. C 單一大黨。第二段:希臘的政府不依靠水火不相容的政黨之間的合作來取得一會的多數席位,這說明是單一大黨。A.獨裁、專政。B.君主政體。D.太多的繁瑣程序。
5. A 總計幾乎在7億美元左右。第一段中提到希臘出口商品價值28500萬美元,而進口超出出口4億美元。兩者相加為6億2千5百萬美元,相當于幾乎在7億美元左右。B.和出口平衡。C.由旅游者支付。D.花費6600萬美元。