Jeffrey Sachs is a macroeconomist by training, an expert in the vagaries of business cycles and international finance. But give the man l0 minutes onstage, and a scholarly symposium starts to feel like a revival meeting. "Let me take you to Malawi," he urges a typical audience, leaning into the microphone and lowering his voice. Like most countries in southern Africa, Malawi has Seen ravaged by AIDS for two decades. One adult in seven is HIV-positive, and some 2 million children have been orphaned. But instead of hurling numbers at his listeners, Sachs transports them to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, a site he visited this year while traveling with the rock star Bono. At one end of the facility is a small outpatient clinic where people who can pay $1 a day receive life-sustaining AIDS drugs. "They take the medicine and they get better," Sachs declares. "They return to work. They go back to care for their children." Unfortunately, $1 a day is nearly twice what a typical Malawian lives on. So most AIDS patients end up in wards like the one just down the hall from the outpatient clinic. "ladies and gentlemen", Sachs tells the now hushed hall, "this plague is exploding. Its consequences will make the world quake. Rich countries could stop the devastation. And most are still looking away." Sachs is not the first to sound this alarm, but he speaks with special authority. As the newly appointed director of Columbia University"s Earth Institute, he heads a huge, interdisciplinary effort to help poor countries build sustainable economies. Instead of treating climate change, epidemic disease and social upheaval as distinct phenomena, the institute"s 800 scientists study the links among such problems—and work to translate their insights into action. Sachs also chairs blue-ribbon panels for the World Health Organization, advises U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on development issues and circles the globe pleading with policymakers to support the Global Fund to Fight AIDS. In the coming year he"ll help seed new treatment-and-prevention programs throughout Asia and Africa. From Sachs"s perspective, controlling AIDS is not only a moral imperative but also a practical necessity. As he is forever trying to convince political leaders, disease can perpetuate poverty, ruin economies and undermine civic order. As a Sachs-led WHO commission concluded last year, "The burden of disease in some low-income regions...stands as a barrier to economic growth and must be addressed frontally and centrally in any comprehensive development strategy." As a group, the world"s richest countries now spend just $6 billion a year in health-related development assistance. The Sachs commission concluded that by raising the commitment to $27 billion by 2007 and $38 billion by 2015, we would save 8 million lives every year while improving a third of the world"s prospects for prosperity.
单选题 Jeffrey Sachs is now devoted to
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析:推理判断题。由题干中的Jeffrey Sachs定位至首段。开篇指出:Jeffrey Sachs是宏观经济学家,是经济循环和国际金融方面的专家。接下来是对Jeffery Sachs做讲座时的具体描述,引出南部非洲国家Malawi艾滋病肆虐这一现象。首段没有涉及Jeffrey Sachs具体的工作内容。因此需要继续阅读第二段。该段最后引用处提到Jeffrey的呼吁:这场灾难正在爆发,其结果会震动全世界,而富裕国家可以阻止其走向毁灭。由此可以推断,Jeffery关注非洲国家的艾滋病问题,呼呼富裕国家在财政上提供支持。第一段首句中的a macroeconomist by training是指Jeffrey是一个科班出身的宏观经济学家,与培训无关;同理从该句可知他是国际金融专家,但并没有说他现在从事这方面的工作;首段第二句提到symposium(研讨会),但这里是提到的一个研讨会的例子。
单选题 Jeffrey Sachs described the situation in Malawi in order to
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:推理判断题。由题干中的Malawi定位至首段中间部分,作者指出:在Malawi艾滋病肆虐已经有二十年了。七个成人中就有一个是HIV阳性,差不多有二百万儿童成了孤儿。此外根据第二段中 Jeffrey呼呼富裕国家进行捐助的情况可以推断他提到Malawi的情况是为了引起人们的同情和关注,以便获得更多的捐赠,用于当地的艾滋病治疗。文中只提到了在Malawi艾滋病肆虐这一种情况,显然对此进行的描述不是作为例证提出的;第二段首句提到人们每天花一美元可以获取得以维持生命的治疗艾滋病的药物。接下来第四句指出但一美元是一个普通马拉维人一天的生活费的两倍。这里并非批判药物价格,而是客观说明马拉维人无力承担该费用;Jeffrey演讲的目的是为了让听众关注Malawi艾滋病情况,显然"为了表达自己的同情"与此关联不大。
单选题 According to the text, sustainable economy
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:事实细节题。由题干中的sustainable economy定位至第三段第二句,该句指出:Jeffrey Sachs正在致力于进行多学科间的合作,帮助贫穷国家建立可持续的经济体系。然后进一步说明:科学家们没有将气候变化,流行病和社会动乱看成独立的现象,他们研究这些问题之间的联系,并将他们的发现转化成行动。这与答案选项表述一致,故该项为答案。
单选题 The author made a list of Sachs"s positions to show that
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:篇章结构题。根据题干中提到的Sachs"s positions在最后两段寻找考点,第三段作者提到了 Sachs的不同头衔:the newly appointed director of Columbia University"s Earth Institute;chairs blue-ribbon panels for the World Health Organization。这些都是对Sachs的细节性说明。根据英文段落结构可知,细节是用来支持论点的论据,而论点通常出现在段首,即首句:Sachs并不是第一个给出警告的人,但是他讲话具有特殊的权威性。接下来就具体介绍了他的不同头衔及现在所进行的工作。从special authority可以判断,他有能力解决这些问题。本文关注点在于Sachs致力于帮助Malawi人解脱陷于艾滋病的困境,没有涉及他的学术成就;同样也没有说明他的名气有多大;文中没有任何内容呼吁人们应该向Sachs学习,让读者把他视为榜样。
单选题 An immediate and effective action that Sachs-led commission took is to
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:推理判断题。根据题干中的Sachs-led commission定位至末段第三句。该句对艾滋病给低收入地区带来的经济负担进行了说明。然后对世界最富裕的国家对这些地区提供的帮助情况进行了说明。最后总结到:通过到2007年募集270亿美元,到2015年募集380亿美元,我们每年就会挽救800万人的生命。可见该委员会最直接有效的做法是筹集捐款帮助这些国家。题干中的effective为关键词之一,只说不做是没有用的;倒数第二句提到health-related development assistance,此处没有说直接派送医生,而是捐助资金用于医疗方面的改善;末段提到富裕国家现在每年捐助60亿美元,没有提出批评。