单选题   What's the one word of advice a well-meaning professional would give to a recent college graduate? China? India? Brazil? How about trade?
    When the Commerce Department reported last week that the trade deficit in June approached $50 billion, it set off a new round of economic doomsaying. Imports, which soared to $200.3 billion in the month, are subtracted in the calculation of gross domestic product. The larger the trade deficit, the smaller the GDE Should such imbalances continue, pessimists say, they could contribute to slower growth.
    But there's another way of looking at the trade data. Over the past two years, the figures on imports and exports seem not to signal a double-dip recession—a renewed decline in the broad level of economic activity in the United States—but an economic expansion.
    The rising volume of trade—more goods and services shuttling in and out of the United States—is good news for many sectors. Companies engaged in shipping, trucking, rail freight, delivery, and logistics (物流) have all been reporting better than expected results. The rising numbers signify growing vitality in foreign markets—when we import more stuff, it puts more cash in the hands of people around the world, and US exports are rising because more foreigners have the ability to buy the things we produce and market. The rising tide of trade is also good news for people who work in trade-sensitive businesses, especially those that produce commodities for which global demand sets the price--agricultural goods, mining, metals, oil.
    And while exports always seem to lag, US companies are becoming more involved in the global economy with each passing month. General Motors sells as many cars in China as in America each month. While that may not do much for imports, it does help GM's balance sheet—and hence makes the jobs of US-based executives more stable.
    One great challenge for the US economy is slack domestic consumer demand. Americans are paying down debt, saving more, and spending more carefully. That's to be expected, given what we've been through. But there's a bigger challenge. Can US-based businesses, large and small, figure out how to get a piece of growing global demand? Unless you want to pick up and move to India, or Brazil, or China, the best way to do that is through trade. It may seem obvious, but it's no longer enough simply to do business with our friends and neighbors here at home.
    Companies and individuals who don't have a strategy to export more, or to get more involved in foreign markets, or to play a role in global trade, are shutting themselves out of the lion's share of economic opportunity in our world.
单选题     How do pessimists interpret the US trade deficit in June?
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】语义理解题。定位句是以Should开头的倒装句,意思为“万一”,这句话的句意是“这种不平衡状态一旦持续下去,就会导致经济增长减缓”。句中such imbalances指的是上句中提到的“贸易逆差越大,国内生产总值越低”这一不平衡状态。一般而言,国内生产总值是核算国民经济的核心指标,由此可知贸易逆差会导致国民经济增长减缓,故答案为C。
单选题     What does the author say about the trade data of the past two years?
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推理判断题。由定位句可知,在过去的两年间,进出口的数据似乎并没有发出经济二次衰退的信号,相反是经济扩张的信号,也可以理解为经济活动的增加,故答案为B。
单选题     Who particularly benefit from the rising volume of trade?
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推理判断题。第四段的最后一句话指出,对于那些从事与贸易相关的产业的人,贸易增长的趋势是一个好消息,尤其是对于那些生产农产品、矿产品、金属制品和石油的人而言。矿产品、金属制品和石油都属于raw materials“原材料”,故答案为C。
单选题     What is one of the challenges facing the American economy?
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节辨认题。第六段中提到美国经济面临的两个挑战:一个挑战是国内消费者的需求萎靡不振;另一个挑战是那些总部设在美国的企业,无论大企业还是小企业,是否能够想出办法在日益增长的世界需求中占有一席之地。B说明了第一个挑战,故为正确答案。
单选题     What is the author's advice to US companies and individuals?
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】推理判断题。作者在最后一段指出那些没有采取扩大出口、扩大国外市场参与度或参与国际贸易等策略的公司和个人,正在将自己拒于分享世界经济大好机会的门外。并且在第六段结尾,作者还表示“虽然只与国内的朋友和邻居做生意是天经地义的事情,然而如今却远远不够了”,由此推断,作者建议公司和个人面向全球,增加海外市场份额,故答案为A。