Passage 1
Since 1992, the U.S. has offered Israel an additional $2 billion annually in loan guarantees. Congressional researchers have disclosed that between 1974 and 1989, $16.4 billion in U. S. military loans were converted to grants and that this was the understanding from the beginning. Indeed, all past U.S. loans to Israel have eventually been forgiven by Congress, which has undoubtedly helped Israel’s often-touted claim that they have never defaulted on a U.S. government loan. U.S. policy since 1984 has been that economic assistance to Israel must equal or exceed Israel’s debt repayment to the United States. Unlike other countries, which receive aid in quarterly installments, aid to Israel since 1982 has been given in a lump sum at the beginning of the fiscal year, leaving the U.S. government to borrow from future revenues. Israel even lends some of this money back through U.S. treasury bills and collects the additional interest.
In addition, there is more than $1.5 billion in private U.S. funds that goes to Israel annually in the form of $1 billion in private tax-deductible donations and $500 million in Israeli bonds. The ability of Americans to make what amounts to tax-deductible contributions to a foreign government, made possible through a number of Jewish charities, does not exist with any other country. Nor do these figures include short-and-long term commercials loans from U. S. banks, which have been as high as $1 billion annually in recent years.
Total U. S. aid to Israel is approximately one-third of the American foreign-aid budget, even though Israel comprises just 0.001 percent of the world’s population and already has one of the world’s higher per capita incomes. Indeed, Israel’s GNP is higher than the combined GNP of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. With a per capita income of about $14,000, Israel ranks as the sixteenth wealthiest country in the world; Israelis enjoy a higher per capita income than oil-rich Saudi Arabia and are only slightly less well-off than most Western European countries.
AID does not term economic aid to Israel as developmental assistance, but instead uses the term “economic support funding”. Given Israel’s relative prosperity, U.S. aid to Israel is becoming increasingly controversial. In 1994, Yossi Beilen, deputy foreign minister of Israel and a Knesset member, told the Women’s International Zionist Organization, “If our economic situation is better than many of your countries, how can we go on asking for your charity?”
According to the passage, American economic assistance to Israel took all the following forms EXCEPT ________.
文章第一、二段提到了美国给予以色列的经济帮助，其中包括私募资金、政府拨款以及商业贷款，并未提及由政府捐助。故选D。
What is the writer’s attitude towards American economic aid to Israel?
作者在文章中虽然没有明确表明自己的态度，但从其强调美国给以色列经济资助力度之大，以及以色列并没有还贷的打算，可推测，作者应该是不支持美国给予以色列那么多经济上的帮助的。故选B。
What is the main reason why U.S. aid to Israel is becoming controversial?
文章最后一段第二句提到“Given Israel’s relative prosperity, U.S. aid to Israel is becoming increasingly controversial.”。由此可知，以色列经济的相对繁荣是美国对其给予大量帮助的做法有较大争议的主要原因。
The words of the deputy foreign minister of Israel indicate that ________.
文章最后一句提到“If our economic situation is better than many of your countries, how can we go on asking for your charity?”。以色列外交部副部长说到“要是我们的经济形式比你们很多国家都更好的话，我们怎么能继续要你们的救助呢？”。由此可推测，以色列经济并不是那么好。故选D。
It can be inferred from Israel's “often-touted claim” that ________.
文章第一段第三句提到“which has undoubtedly helped Israel’s often-touted claim that they have never defaulted on a U.S. government loan.”。由此可知，美国给以色列的贷款经常被国会免除，而这却助长了以色列声称自己从未在还美国贷款上违约过。由此可推测，以色列不会还款，故美国对其的经济资助是个错误的决定。故选C。