Income

    Income may be national income and personal income. Whereas national income is defined as the total earned income of all the factors of production—namely 1, profits, interest, rent, wages, and other compensation for labor, personal income may be defined as total money income received by individuals before personal taxes are paid. National income does not equal GNP(Gross National Product)because the factors of production do not receive payment for either capital consumption allowances or indirect business taxes, both of which are included in GNP. The money put aside for capital consumption is for replacement and thus is not counted as income 2. Indirect taxes include sales taxes, property taxes, and excise taxes that are paid by businesses directly to the government and so reduce the income left to pay for the factors of production. Three-fourths of national income goes for 3 wages, salaries, and other forms of compensation to employees.

    Whereas national income shows the income that the factors of production earn, personal income measures the income that individuals or households receive. Corporation profits are included in national income because they are earned. Out of these profits, however, corporation profit taxes must be paid to government, and some money must be put into the business for expansion. Only that part of profits distributed as dividends goes to the individual; therefore, out of corporation profits only dividends count as personal income. The factors of production earn money for social security and unemployment insurance contributions, but this money goes to government(which is not a factor of production), not to individuals. It is therefore part of national income but not part of personal income.

    On the other hand, money received by individuals when they collect social security or unemployment compensation is not money earned but money received. Interest received on government bonds 4 is also in this category, because much of the money received from the sale of bonds went to pay for war production and that production no longer furnishes a service to 5 the economy.

    The money people receive as personal income may be either spent or saved. However, not all spending is completely voluntary. A significant portion of our income goes to pay personal taxes. Most workers never receive the money they pay in personal taxes, because it is withheld from their paychecks 6. The money that individuals are left with 7 after they have met their tax obligations is disposable personal income. Disposable income can be divided between personal consumption expenditures and personal savings. It is important to remember that personal saving is what is left after spending.

词汇：

GNP(Gross National Product)国民生产总值 indirect taxes 间接税

sales taxes 销售税 property taxes 财产税 excise taxes 消费税

corporation profit taxes 公司利润税 dividend ["dɪvɪdend]红利;股息;债息

social security (美国的)社会保障制度;社会保险(制度);社会保险金

withhold [wɪð"həʊld] 使停止;阻挡;拒给;隐瞒;克制

disposable [dɪˈspəʊzəbl]可自由使用的;可任意处理的

 

注释：

1.namely：即；也就是。例如：Only one boy was absent，namely Harry.只有一个男孩缺席，那就是哈里。
2.…thus is not counted as income…：……因此不能算收入……count可作动词和不及物动词。例如：There will be ten guests，not counting the children.孩子不算，将有10个客人。
3.go for…：用于
4.interest received on government bonds…：政府债券所得利息……
5.furnishes a service to…：对……提供服务
6.…because it is withheld from their paychecks.：……因为它从他们的工资卡上被扣除了。
7.The money that individuals are left with…：个人余留下来的钱……

It can be easily seen from this passage that the government levies tax on____．

A:corporation profits B:every individual even though his income is very low C:those who work in joint ventures D:those who work in government departments

BBC——（British Broadcasting Corporation）

Ocean Park Hong Kong is a theme park in the Southern District of Hong Kong Island. The park was built with donations from the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club (now Hong Kong Jockey Club) and opened on 10 January 1977. The park is operated by Ocean Park Corporation, which is a statutory department. It offers affordable marine animal education and entertainment and is a private organization for commercial purposes.
In the early operation of the park, the main sources of income for the park were the ticket prices and the funding from the Jockey Club. Since the ticket price was low, most of the time Ocean Park was operating under deficit. In 1 July 1987, the government established a 200 million trust from the funding of Jockey Club, under the Ocean Park Corporation Ordinance. This separated Ocean Park from Jockey Club and became a non-profit organization; it needs to be responsible for its own income and was allowed to use commercial meansto operate the park.
Since it was permitted to use commercial means to operate, it gradually raised its ticket price and the deficit turned into profit. In 1992, 3 million visitors visited the park. Since 1998, the East Asian financial crisis, aging attractions, and the passing away of the killer whale; the park recorded a deficit for a couple years. Although it was allowed to host 2 pandas in 1999, the number of visitors did not go up and Ocean Park was forced to close its water attractions and the "Old Village" attraction and turned to bring in more rides in an attempt to capture the youth demand. Together with the opening up of mainland visitors under the Individual Visit Scheme, Ocean Park recorded an astonishing 4 million visitors in the year 2004-2005, the highest since the park opened.
In March 2005, Ocean Park made its redevelopment plan. On 23 November 2006, Ocean Park held a groundbreaking ceremony for its redevelopment.

At the beginning, Ocean Park Hong Kong（）。

A:was built with the money from the government B:was operated by Ocean Park Corporation C:was a great success once it was opened D:mainly got income from the ticket prices and donations

公司制(corporation)

A corporation is a firm owned by one or more individuals who own shares of stock that define ownership and rights to profits. Liability is limited to the value of corporation assets. Although corporations constitute the smallest category of business organization in the United States, they conduct most of the business. In 1998. corporations accounted for just 19 percent of the total number of firms in the economy but 90 percent of total business revenuers. From these numbers we can infer that many large firms are corporations and that this form of business organization possesses certain advantages over the proprietorship and the partnership in conducting large-scale production and marketing.
In a corporation, ownership is divided into equal parts called shares of stock. Shares are the equal portions into which ownership of a corporation is divided. If any stockholder dies or sells out to a new owner, the existence of the business organization is not terminated or endangered as it is in a proprietorship or partnership. For this reason the corporation is said to possess the feature of continuity(连续性).
Another feature that makes the corporation radically different from other forms of business organization is share transferability—the right of owners to transfer their shares by sale or gift without having to obtain the permission of other shareholders(股东). For many large organizations, shares of stock are traded on a stock market such as the New York Stock Exchange. Other corporations, however, are smaller, and their shares are traded so seldom that they are not even listed on formal stock exchanges. The shares of these firms are traded by in- dependent stockbrokers(股票经纪人) on the over-the-counter market.
Share transferability is the most economically important feature of the corporation; in fact, share transferability is one reason for the origin of the corporation. It allows owners and managers to specialize, increasing efficiency and profitability in the firm. Owners of stock in a corporation do not need to be concerned with the day-to-day operations of the firm. All that owners need to do is observe the changing price of the firm’s shares on the stock market to decide whether the company is being competently managed if they are dissatisfied with the performance of the company, they can sell their stock. Managers, on the other hand, specialize in reviewing the day-to-day operations of the corporation.
Still another feature of the corporation is limited liability. Corporate shareholders are responsible for the debts or liabilities of the corporation only to the extent that they have invested in it. Many investors preferinvestments in which their risk of personal loss is strictly limited; the amount of direct investment in corporations is therefore increased as a result of the limited liability involved.
What is this passage mainly about ______

A:The concept and features of corporation. B:The difference between corporation and other forms of business organization. C:The advantages corporations Possess. D:The formation of a corporation.

? ?A corporation is a firm owned by one or more individuals who own shares of stock that define ownership and rights to profits. Liability is limited to the value of corporation assets. Although corporations constitute the smallest category of business organization in the United States, they conduct most of the business. In 1998. corporations accounted for just 19 percent of the total number of firms in the economy but 90 percent of total business revenuers. From these numbers we can infer that many large firms are corporations and that this form of business organization possesses certain advantages over the proprietorship and the partnership in conducting large-scale production and marketing.
? ?In a corporation, ownership is divided into equal parts called shares of stock. Shares are the equal portions into which ownership of a corporation is divided. If any stockholder dies or sells out to a new owner, the existence of the business organization is not terminated or endangered as it is in a proprietorship or partnership. For this reason the corporation is said to possess the feature of continuity(连续性).
? ?Another feature that makes the corporation radically different from other forms of business organization is share transferability-the right of owners to transfer their shares by sale or gift without having to obtain the permission of other shareholders(股东). For many large organizations, shares of stock are traded on a stock market such as the New York Stock Exchange. Other corporations, however, are smaller, and their shares are traded so seldom that they are not even listed on formal stock exchanges. The shares of these firms are traded by independent stockbrokers(股票经纪人) on the over-the-counter market.
? ?Share transferability is the most economically important feature of the corporation; in fact, share transferability is one reason for the origin of the corporation. It allows owners and managers to specialize, increasing efficiency and profitability in the firm. Owners of stock in a corporation do not need to be concerned with the day-to-day operations of the firm. All that owners need to do is observe the changing price of the firm’s shares on the stock market to decide whether the company is being competently managed if they are dissatisfied with the performance of the company, they can sell their stock. Managers, on the other hand , specialize in reviewing the day-to-day operations of the corporation.
? ?Still another feature of the corporation is limited liability. Corporate shareholders are responsible for the debts or liabilities of the corporation only to the extent that they have invested in it. Many investors prefer investments in which their risk of personal loss is strictly limited; the amount of direct investment in corporations is therefore increased as a result of the limited liability involved.

What is this passage mainly about?______

A:The concept and features of corporation. B:The difference between corporation and other forms of business organization. C:The advantages corporations possess. D:The formation of a corporation.

The Provident Companies, the No. 2 seller of individual disability insurance policies, agreed yesterday to buy the No. 1 insurer in the field in a deal that would give it more than 1/3 of the market.
The $1.2 billion deal would eliminate about 600 jobs, give a big Swiss money-losing policies sold by the insurer that is being acquired, the Paul Revere company.
Last year Provident’s insurance units had $2.6 billion in premium revenues and Paul Revere had $1.5 billion. About 57 percent of the combined $4.1 billion in premiums came from disability policies that were sold to individuals. Provident’s next largest competitor, the UNUM Corporation, has about 10 percent of the market.
Paul Revere has been controlled since 1985 by Textron Inc. Textron acquired the insurer when it bought Avco Financial Services, which makes high interest rate loans to people whose employment and credit histories make them too risky for bank loans.
James F. Hardymon, Textron’s chairman and chief executive, said the sale "reinforces Textron’s strategy to focus on its core manufacturing and finance businesses." He said, that up to half the income might be used to pay down the company’s more than $10 billion of debt or to buy back stock. Paul Revere’s remaining public shareholders will get $26 in cash for each share, Provident stock worth $26, or $20 in cash and Provident stock worth $6.
To finance the deal, Provident is getting a $300 million infusion of cash from the Zurich insurance Group of Switzerland, which is buying a 15.2% stake in Provident under an agreement allowing it to increase the stake to 40%.
Provident, which is based in Chattanooga, Tenn., announced a $423 million write-off on individual disability policies in December 1993. Paul Revere, which is based in Worchester, Mass., has not taken a similar write-off, said John M. Hanon, an analyst at Derby Securities.
Provident, Paul Revere and other companies have previously said that they had to pay claims on diseases not even known when the policies were written and that many disability claims resulted in larger than expected benefits payment.
The deal drew mixed responses from insurance ratings agencies, which had ranked both companies in the upper grades, indicating a strong likelihood that they would be able over the long haul to pay claims.

All of the following companies may be the owner of Paul Revere EXCEPT（）

A:Textron B:UNUM Corporation C:Avco Financial Services D:Provident Companies

? ?下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题，每题后面有4个选项。请仔细阅读短文，并根据短文回答其后面的问题，从4个选项中选择1个最佳答案。
{{B}}第一篇{{/B}}

? ?The Provident Companies, the No. 2 seller of individual disability insurance policies, agreed yesterday to buy the No. 1 insurer in the field in a deal that would give it more than 1/3 of the market.
? ?The $1.2 billion deal would eliminate about 600 jobs, give a big Swiss money-losing policies sold by the insurer that is being acquired, the Paul Revere company.
? ?Last year Provident’s insurance units had $2.6 billion in premium revenues and Paul Revere had $1.5 billion. About 57 percent of the combined $4.1 billion in premiums came from disability policies that were sold to individuals. Provident’s next largest competitor, the UNUM Corporation, has about 10 percent of the market.
? ?Paul Revere has been controlled since 1985 by Textron Inc. Textron acquired the insurer when it bought Avco Financial Services, which makes high interest rate loans to people whose employment and credit histories make them too risky for bank loans.
? ?James F. Hardymon, Textron’s chairman and chief executive, said the sale "reinforces Textron’s strategy to focus on its core manufacturing and finance businesses." He said, that up to half the income might be used to pay down the company’s more than $10 billion of debt or to buy back stock. Paul Revere’s remaining public shareholders will get $26 in cash for each share, Provident stock worth $26, or $20 in cash and Provident stock worth $6.
? ?To finance the deal, Provident is getting a $300 million infusion of cash from the Zurich insurance Group of Switzerland, which is buying a 15.2% stake in Provident under an agreement allowing it to increase the stake to 40%.
? ?Provident, which is based in Chattanooga, Tenn., announced a $423 million write-off on individual disability policies in December 1993. Paul Revere, which is based in Worchester, Mass., has not taken a similar write-off, said John M. Hanon, an analyst at Derby Securities.
? ?Provident, Paul Revere and other companies have previously said that they had to pay claims on diseases not even known when the policies were written and that many disability claims resulted in larger than expected benefits payment.
? ?The deal drew mixed responses from insurance ratings agencies, which had ranked both companies in the upper grades, indicating a strong likelihood that they would be able over the long haul to pay claims.

All of the following companies may be the owner of Paul Revere EXCEPT ______.

A:Textron B:UNUM Corporation C:Avco Financial Services D:Provident Companies

multinational corporation