单选题 Is this any way to plan for retirement? After a week of huge swings, the Standard ＆ Poor's 500-stock index, a broad assess of the market, was modestly higher on Friday but still down for the week.
On Monday, the market plunged; on Tuesday, it roared back, only to drop sharply again on Wednesday before soaring on Thursday. As The Times's Floyd Norris and Christine Hauser pointed out on Friday, never before in the history of the S. ＆ P. 500, which dates back to 1928, had there been four alternating days of losses and gains of more than 4 percent.
There have only been two times since the Great Depression when the index has moved at least 4 percent in four straight trading sessions—in October 1987, when the market crashed, and in November 2008, during some of the darkest days of the financial crisis. Those are not exactly moments in stock market history that inspire investor confidence.
For individual investors, whose ability to retire depends on stock investments in 401 (k) 's and other retirement plans, recent swoons (疲软) are yet another hit. If a worker had invested entirely in stocks, retirement might still be a very long way off.
The results would be better if an investor had a retirement portfolio (投资组合) evenly divided between stocks and bonds—a 5.5 percent gain from the peak in 2007 to the close on Friday. For policy makers, the changeful week is yet another moment to reconsider the risks in 401 (k) 's and the need to make retirement savings safer. One of the thorniest problems is that even someone who steadily contributes to a 401 (k) and makes sensible investments can still end up with too little, depending solely on whether markets are up or down as retirement nears.
There needs to be a way to ensure that a lifetime of savings cannot be undermined by forces beyond one's control. Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, has an idea that deserves more study and debate: a new type of savings account—in addition to Social Security and 401 (k)'s—that would spread the risks among workers, retirees and government.
One thing is sure. Having each individual bear all of the investing risk is not the road to a secure retirement.

单选题 What can we learn about the Standard ＆ Poor's 500-stock index?
A. It undermined investors' confidence.
B. It rocked the stock market on Monday.
C. It caused huge swings in stock market.
D. It was used to assess the stock market.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 由题干中的Standard＆Poor's 500-stock index定位到文章第一段第二句。
[详解] 事实细节题。由定位句可知，标准普尔500股票指数是衡量股市的一个非常宽泛的指标，在原文中“a broad assess of the market”位于“the Standard＆Poor's 500-stock index”之后，作其同位语对其功能进行解释说明，故D)正确。由第三段的最后一句可以判断出，投资者信心的削弱是由于经济萧条，故排除A)；B)、C)是对原文的杂糅，均可排除。
单选题 If a worker puts all his money into stock market, he will ______.
A. not be able to enjoy life after retirement
B. not be able to retire as he has planned
C. have no enough money to support his family
D. lose the opportunity to retire at an early age
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 由题干中的worker和stock market定位到第四段最后一句。
[详解] 事实细节题。由定位句可知，如果一个T作者将自己的全部资产都投入股市，那么退休对他来说将会遥遥无期。这里的遥遥无期不是指时间上的长久，而是指退休的可能性较小。故B)“无法按原计划退休”正确。A)“无法享受退休后的生活”、C)“没有足够的钱来养家糊口”和D)“失去较早退休的机会”都没有在原文中提到，故排除。
单选题 What is the author's suggestion to investors?
A. They should buy stocks and bonds with all their money.
B. They should invest only when stock market is prosperous.
C. They should purchase stocks with a 5.5 percent gain.
D. They should invest in different fields to divide the risk.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 由题干中的the author's suggestion to investors定位到第五段第一句。
[详解] 推理判断题。本题考查作者的建议，由定位句中的the result would be better可知作者在进行假设，因此if所引导的条件句就是作者所提出的一种设想或是建议。由定位句可知，作者认为如果投资者采取的是退休投资组合的方式，将投资均分在股票和债券上，那结果将好得多。由此可推断出作者的建议是投资者应规避将资金全部投入到有风险的股市中，应采取均摊的方式投资，故D)“他们应在不同领域投资来均摊风险”正确。A)“他们应用所有的钱买股票和债券”属于对文意的错误解释，同时也过于绝对，故排除；B)“他们应仅在股市繁荣的时候投资”不符合原文的意思，故排除；C)“他们应在收益达到5.6%时买人股票”是对原文意思的错误理解，原文提到5.6%的收益指的是债券的收益，同时购买债券的目的也不全是因为收益较高，而在于规避股市带来的风险，故排除。
单选题 According to the author, 401 (k)'s ______.
A. is of no help to people's retirement plan
B. contains risk in planning people's retirement
C. depends solely on the prospect of markets
D. provides people with sensible investment plan
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 由题干中的401(k)'s定位到文章第五段最后一句。
[详解] 推理判断题。根据定位句可知，即使有些人持续对401(k)进行投资并且制定了非常明智的投资计划，到最后也可能是所剩无几，由此可知401(k)计划是具有风险的。故B)“对于计划退休是有风险的”正确。A)“对于人们的退休计划毫无用处”这一说法过于绝对，原文提到人们的资金可能会所剩无几，但这取决于股市的情况，意味着股市如果涨的话应该还是有收益的，故排除；C)“仅取决于市场前景”是对定位句意思的错误理解。原文中有一个时间状语，即“as retirement nears”，也就是说取决于退休临近时的股市情况，C)中没有此限定条件，故排除；D)“给人们提供了明智的投资计划”不符合原文意思。定位句中分别提到了401(k)和“sensible investments”，两者是并列的关系，而非因果关系，故排除。
单选题 To have a secure retirement, Alicia Munnell believes ______.
A. social Security and 401 (k)'s should be cast away
B. a new type of savings account will solve the problem
C. government and individuals should share the risks
D. government should do more to help the retirees
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 由题干中的Alicia Munnell定位到倒数第二段第二句。
[详解] 推理判断题。本题考查Alicia Munnell对解决问题提出的建议。定位句提到，艾丽西娅·穆奈尔提出了一个非常值得研究并具有争议的观点，即在社会保险体系和401(k)之外再建立一种新型的储蓄账户，这会将风险分散到工作者、退休者和政府身上。由此可知C)“政府和个人共同分担风险”正确。A)“社会保险体系和401(k)应被抛弃”与原文意思不符，故排除；B)“一个新型的储蓄账户能解决该问题”过于绝对，Munnell仅仅是提出了这样一种设想，但并没有肯定这种方法就一定能解决该问题，故排除；D)“政府应该做更多来帮助退休者”并未在原文中提到，故排除。