" It can't be that every annual salary negotiation makes it a strain just to begin the school year," said President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner during a speech to Congress on March 1st. Yes it can. Strikes this week delayed the start of classes in 19 of Argentina's 24 districts, after provincial unions and governments failed to reach agreements about wage rises. Negotiations between the national government and federal unions, which are meant to set a minimum benchmark for the provinces , also foundered. With some unions demanding more than 40% hikes, the national government and Buenos Aires's provincial government, the most influential negotiators, offered increases of just 22% and 25. 5% this year respectively. The unions called the proposals "a provocation". Tension had been expected. The teachers' unions want salary rises above Argentina's galloping inflation rate. Since the start of the year the government has devalued the Argentine peso by over 20%, causing inflation expectations to spike. According to Eduardo Levy Yeyati of Elypsis, a consultancy, prices are expected to jump by 32% this year. And now that the government has started publishing more realistic data, it cannot simply pretend the problem of rising prices does not exist. The teachers' unions have a strong hand. In December provincial police squeezed 35%-100% pay increases out of their employers. Public-sector employees are not fearful of losing their jobs. Strikes give unions the power to cause widespread chaos. But the government cannot afford to concede too much ground. The negotiations with the teachers will set a precedent for salary talks with other unions scheduled for later this month and April. To ensure that inflation does not continue to accelerate, the authorities need to curb real wages. Budgetary considerations also play their part. According to Economia & Regiones, a research group, if the provinces were to grant 30% raises to their 2m employees, that would double their collective fiscal deficit. That may nonetheless be what happens. In the five jurisdictions that were able to reach accords, the teachers and the provinces agreed to increases of around 30%. That wouldn't do much to bring down inflation, but it would at least help keep it from skyrocketing . And it would mean the school year can begin.

单选题 According to Paragraph 2, people went on strike because______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：细节题。根据strike一词定位到第二段第一句：Strikes…after provincial unions and governments failed to reach agreements about wage rises．原文after之后的内容说明了罢工的原因，是因为“省工会和政府未能就加薪达成一致”。选项[A]“政府拒绝涨薪”是错误的，原文并未提到政府拒绝，只是数额未达成共识，故[A]可以排除。选项[B]“地方工会的加薪要求没得到满足”与原文基本一致，其中not met替换了fail to reach agreements，故该项正确。选项[C]“工会和学校未达成共识”显然是把原文的government一词偷换概念了，故错误。选项[D]“国家未能为各省设定标准”与答案来源句无关，也是错误选项。故本题答案为[B]。

单选题 According to Paragraph 3, which of the following is NOT true?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：细节题。定位到第三段。选项[A]对应内容在第二句：The teachers’unions want salary rises above Argentina's galloping inflation rate．该句并未提到任何具体数据，故[A]项的表述错误，即[A]符合题目要求。选项[B]对应该段倒数第二行：prices are expected to jump by 32％this year．其中的prices=prices of commodities；jump by 32％=rising fast；故[B]项与原文相符。选项[C]对应第二行：Since the start of the year the government has devalued the Argentine peso by over 20％．该句指出：比索贬值，即该项的“今年，等价的比索买不到相同的商品”是正确的。选项[D]对应首句，上文尾句已经指出：政府和工会意见相左；该句又指出：Tension had been expected．“紧张局势难以避免。”可见该项“政府和工会关系紧张”的表述正确。综上，本题答案为[A]。

单选题 The government cannot compromise too much to the teachers' unions because______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：细节题。根据题干the government，compromise定位到第五段首句：But the government cannot afford to concede too much ground．其中，compromise=concede“让步，妥协”；故答案来自下一句：The negotiations with the teachers will set a precedent for salary talks with other unions scheduled for later this month and April．其中set a precedent for salary talks with other unions“为其他工会的加薪协商开下先例”是关键，与该信息相符的选项是[C]it will set an example for other unions“这会为其他工会树立榜样”，故[C]为该题答案。

单选题 It can be concluded from the last two paragraphs that______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：推理题。选项[A]对应第五段最后一句：．．．if the provinces were to grant 30％raises to their 2m employees，that would double their collective fiscal deficit．“……如果各省同意为200万名雇员增加30％工资，这将使集体财政赤字翻倍。”其中wage rises=raises；financial issues“财政问题”=fiscal deficit“财政赤字”；故该项正确。选项[B]也对应第五段尾句，该项错误。选项[C]无中生有，文章未提到教师是否对加薪结果满意，故错误。选项[D]与最后一段的That wouldn’t do much to bring down inflation相悖，也是错误的。综上[A]为答案。

单选题 The word "skyrocketing" (Line 3, Para. 6) most probably means______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：语义题。根据该词的上下文可以进行分析，原文指出That wouldn’t do much to bring down inflation，but it would at least help keep it from skyrocketing．“这对降低通货膨胀起不到什么作用，但至少能不让它______。”由于出现but一词，我们知道上下文必有相反信息，或者反义词，根据背景我们知道，空缺处填入信息为“上涨”，即为skyrocket一词的大概意思，四个选项中，表示“上涨”的是surge“猛涨，猛增”一词，故[D]为答案。