While the ripples of America’s subprime-mortgage crisis have spread far and wide, Latin America—a place long associated with financial disaster—has remained improbably calm. Banks have reported no unpleasant surprises. Brazil and Peru have been blessed with coveted investment-grade ratings. Surprisingly, perhaps the fleetest country of all has been Argentina. Since it emerged from the financial crisis of 2001-02, it has been one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. It is expected to expand faster than most of its neighbors again this year.
Quite simply, it barely has any credit. Back when its economy virtually collapsed, the country suffered a run on its banks, followed by a freeze on withdrawals, and a massive currency devaluation. As a result, bank lending to the private sector shrivelled, from 23.8% of GDP in 2000 to 10.8% in 2003. Since then, it has rebounded to a piddling 13% ; by contrast, the ratio in Brazil was 36.5% in 2006. Almost all of these loans in Argentina are accessible only on a short-term basis.
Once its recovery began in June 2002, Argentina became a paradise for business. Unemployment of over 20% kept wages down, and the devaluation gave exporters an edge on foreign competitors. The ample productive capacity left idle by the crisis meant firms could expand without making big investments. And the windfall profits reaped by agricultural exporters, thanks to record commodities prices, enabled many of them to finance new projects out of earnings. Hence the economy could grow at almost 9% a year with little need for credit.
But such a lucky confluence of factors could not last. Starting in early 2005 ,.inflation picked up, a sign that the installed capacity was starting to limit output. Salaries and prices for raw materials increased sharply, cutting into profits. And farmers were particularly hard hit when the government nearly doubled the taxes in farm exports. Now, just as companies need to embark on big investments if they are to keep growing, their margins are no longer big enough to pay for the expansion and they need to borrow.
So, the time is ripe for the country’s financial system to recover. But a number of things are in the way. Foremost is Argentina’s business risk. Those in the informal economy (which represents over 40% of GDP) can neither save nor borrow legally, lest they become known to the taxmen. The rest remain cowed by memories of the crisis. Although Argentines have poured their savings into property, fuelling a construction boom, they still hold about four-fifths of their deposits abroad.
Inflation, fuelled by a public-spending binge, state-mandated wage increases, and a cheap currency, is not helping either. No one knows how high it is. The consumer-price index is doctored to keep the official rate below 10%, but private estimates suggest it is near 25%. Without a reliable index of inflation, lending is almost impossible, even for the medium term. And the central bank has kept interest rates strongly negative in real terms, encouraging workers to spend their wages rather than to save.
It can be inferred from the first paragraph that______.

A:Latin America has been greatly influenced by America’s subprime-mortgage crisis B:Latin America is suffering a financial disaster C:Argentina has suffered a financial crisis at the beginning of this century D:Argentina’s economy grows faster than any other countries’ economy

While the ripples of America’s subprime-mortgage crisis have spread far and wide, Latin America—a place long associated with financial disaster—has remained improbably calm. Banks have reported no unpleasant surprises. Brazil and Peru have been blessed with coveted investment-grade ratings. Surprisingly, perhaps the fleetest country of all has been Argentina. Since it emerged from the financial crisis of 2001-02, it has been one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. It is expected to expand faster than most of its neighbors again this year.
Quite simply, it barely has any credit. Back when its economy virtually collapsed, the country suffered a run on its banks, followed by a freeze on withdrawals, and a massive currency devaluation. As a result, bank lending to the private sector shrivelled, from 23.8% of GDP in 2000 to 10.8% in 2003. Since then, it has rebounded to a piddling 13% ; by contrast, the ratio in Brazil was 36.5% in 2006. Almost all of these loans in Argentina are accessible only on a short-term basis.
Once its recovery began in June 2002, Argentina became a paradise for business. Unemployment of over 20% kept wages down, and the devaluation gave exporters an edge on foreign competitors. The ample productive capacity left idle by the crisis meant firms could expand without making big investments. And the windfall profits reaped by agricultural exporters, thanks to record commodities prices, enabled many of them to finance new projects out of earnings. Hence the economy could grow at almost 9% a year with little need for credit.
But such a lucky confluence of factors could not last. Starting in early 2005 ,.inflation picked up, a sign that the installed capacity was starting to limit output. Salaries and prices for raw materials increased sharply, cutting into profits. And farmers were particularly hard hit when the government nearly doubled the taxes in farm exports. Now, just as companies need to embark on big investments if they are to keep growing, their margins are no longer big enough to pay for the expansion and they need to borrow.
So, the time is ripe for the country’s financial system to recover. But a number of things are in the way. Foremost is Argentina’s business risk. Those in the informal economy (which represents over 40% of GDP) can neither save nor borrow legally, lest they become known to the taxmen. The rest remain cowed by memories of the crisis. Although Argentines have poured their savings into property, fuelling a construction boom, they still hold about four-fifths of their deposits abroad.
Inflation, fuelled by a public-spending binge, state-mandated wage increases, and a cheap currency, is not helping either. No one knows how high it is. The consumer-price index is doctored to keep the official rate below 10%, but private estimates suggest it is near 25%. Without a reliable index of inflation, lending is almost impossible, even for the medium term. And the central bank has kept interest rates strongly negative in real terms, encouraging workers to spend their wages rather than to save.

It can be inferred from the first paragraph that（）

A:Latin America has been greatly influenced by America’s subprime-mortgage crisis B:Latin America is suffering a financial disaster C:Argentina has suffered a financial crisis at the beginning of this century D:Argentina’s economy grows faster than any other countries’ economy

The combined sales of the 100 largest foreign investing companies in the U. S. increased by a 40% in the two years between 1977 and 1979, and the number has continued to increase steadily. In 1980 South Africa proved to be the largest financial investor in the U. S. controlling about $19. 2 billion in sales. The Netherlands and the U. K. follow as second largest investors--and Germany next. New to the list of the top 100 foreign investors are 12 banking and finance and insurance companies--the largest, the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp. , from Hong Kong. The number of Latin American companies engaged in business here is growing steadily, often through third country holding companies.
Why are so many firms coming to the U. S. There are many reasons. One of the greatest attractions, of course, is a market of over 200 million consumers with a high average per capital income. In addition, with the devalued dollar the cost of American labor has declined significantly, relative to many foreign labor costs. Some firms seeking to avoid economic and/or political pressures at home find the U. S. a politically stable environment in which to work.
Many hope to be able to continue selling to the American market even if the U. S. government restricts imports further, or if major price changes occur due to currency fluctuations (波动). Many foreigners are attracted by U.S. technology, its modem management methods, its labor saving and mass production techniques.

In 1980 the largest foreign financial investor in the U. S. was from （）

A:H.K. B:U.K. C:Latin America D:South Africa

The combined sales of the 100 largest foreign investing companies in the U. S. increased by a 40% in the two years between 1977 and 1979, and the number has continued to increase steadily. In 1980 South Africa proved to be the largest financial investor in the U. S. controlling about $19. 2 billion in sales. The Netherlands and the U. K. follow as second largest investors--and Germany next. New to the list of the top 100 foreign investors are 12 banking and finance and insurance companies--the largest, the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp. , from Hong Kong. The number of Latin American companies engaged in business here is growing steadily, often through third country holding companies.
Why are so many firms coming to the U. S. There are many reasons. One of the greatest attractions, of course, is a market of over 200 million consumers with a high average per capital income. In addition, with the devalued dollar the cost of American labor has declined significantly, relative to many foreign labor costs. Some firms seeking to avoid economic and/or political pressures at home find the U. S. a politically stable environment in which to work.
Many hope to be able to continue selling to the American market even if the U. S. government restricts imports further, or if major price changes occur due to currency fluctuations (波动). Many foreigners are attracted by U.S. technology, its modem management methods, its labor saving and mass production techniques.

In 1980 the largest foreign financial investor in the U. S. was from （　）

A:H.K. B:U.K. C:Latin America D:South Africa

New York - the Melting Pot
Recently the Department of Planning of New York issued a report which laid bare a full scale of change of the city. In 1970, 18 percent of the city’s population was foreign-born. By 1995, the figure had risen to 33 percent, and another 20 percent were the US-born off springs of immigrants3. So immigrants and their children now form a majority of the city’s population.
Who are these New Yorkers Why do they come here Where are they from (OK, time to drop the "they". I’m one of them.) The last question at least is easy to answer: we come from everywhere. In the list of the top 20 source nations of those sending immigrants to New York between 1990 and 1994 are six countries in Asia, five in the Caribbean, four in Latin America, three in Europe, plus Israel and the former Soviet Union. And when we immigrants get here we roll up our sleeves. "If you’re not ready to work when you get to New York," says a friend of mine, "you’d better hit the road."
The mayor of New York once said, "Immigration continues to shape the unique character and drive the economic engine of New York City. "He believes that immigrants are at the heart of what makes New York great. In Europe, by contrast, it is much more common to hear politicians worry about the loss of "unity" that immigration brings to their societies. In the quarter century since 1970, the United States admitted about 12.5 million legal immigrants, and has absorbed them into its social structures with an ease beyond the imagination of other nations. Since these immigrants are purposeful and hard-working, they will help America to make a fresh start in the next century.
Where are the new New Yorkers from

A:Asia. B:Europe. C:All over the world. D:Latin America.

下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题，每道题后面有4个选项。
{{B}}第一篇{{/B}}

Where are the new New Yorkers from?

A:Asia. B:Europe. C:All over the world. D:Latin America.

Questions from 36 to 40 are based on the following passage: Against this background, the WTO faces several daunting challenges. The first is to continue bringing down tariffs on traded goods. Average penalties have fallen steadily since the GATT’s formation but even the most open economies retain lofty barriers: for instance, America still charges a tariff of 14.6% on import of clothing,five times higher than its average levy. Resistance to tariff cuts is strongest in agriculture. According to Tim Josling,a trade expert at Stanford University, tariffs and other barriers on farm goods average a crippling 40% worldwide and create distortions that “destroy huge amounts of value”. A new set of global farm talks is planned to start in 1999. At the least,you might think, these could lock in impressive reforms in Latin America and encourage further watering-down of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy.But they will prove difficult: squabbles over agriculture almost sank the Uruguay round.

Where do impressive reforms lock in according to the passage（）

A:America B:Asia C:Latin America D:Africa

Questions from 31 to 35 are based on the following passage: Against this background, the WTO faces several daunting challenges. The first is to continue bringing down tariffs on traded goods. Average penalties have fallen steadily since the GATT’s formation but even the most open economies retain lofty barriers: for instance, America still charges a tariff of 14.6% on import of clothing, five times higher than its average levy. Resistance to tariff cuts is strongest in agriculture. According to Tim Josling, a trade expert at Stanford University, tariffs and other barriers on farm goods average a crippling 40% worldwide and create distortions that “destroy huge amounts of value”. A new set of global farm talks is planned to start in 1999. At the least, you might think, these could lock in impressive reforms in Latin America and encourage further watering-down of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy. But they will prove difficult: squabbles over agriculture almost sank the Uruguay round.

Where do impressive reforms lock in according to the passage（）

A:America B:Asia C:Latin America D:Africa

Questions from 36 to 40 are based on the following passage: Against this background, the WTO faces several daunting challenges. The first is to continue bringing down tariffs on traded goods. Average penalties have fallen steadily since the GATT’s formation but even the most open economies retain lofty barriers: for instance, America still charges a tariff of 14.6% on import of clothing, five times higher than its average levy. Resistance to tariff cuts is strongest in agriculture. According to Tim Josling, a trade expert at Stanford University, tariffs and other barriers on farm goods average a crippling 40% worldwide and create distortions that “destroy huge amounts of value”. A new set of global farm talks is planned to start in 1999. At the least, you might think, these could lock in impressive reforms in Latin America and encourage further watering-down of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy. But they will prove difficult: squabbles over agriculture almost sank the Uruguay round. Where do impressive reforms lock in according to the passage（ ）

A:America B:Asia C:Latin America D:Africa