单选题 Nationally, the unemployment rate sits at 9.5 percent. But in the El Centro metropolitan area, it"s an incredible 27.6 percent. And as workers across the country struggle to navigate the lifeless labor market, El Centro has emerged as a case study about just how fragile the economic recovery can be. In recent years, California"s multibillion-dollar budget shortfall and its painful cutbacks have gotten plenty of attention. But even by California standards, El Centro"s situation is unusually dire. Since the recession hit, the area"s housing market has fallen apart, its wages have remained anemic, and its unemployment rate has soared.
In El Centro, the position of mayor rotates between the members of the city council. Viegas-Walker has sat on the council for 13 years and is currently serving a third term as mayor. He attributes the city"s sky-high unemployment rate to its agricultural economy. Laborers in El Centro grow and harvest broccoli, lettuce, wheat, and just about everything in between. All told, agriculture in the area is a billion-dollar-a-year industry. But agricultural work is often temporary by nature, and seasonal job losses take a toll on the city"s overall unemployment rate. Meanwhile, competition from workers from nearby Mexico makes agricultural jobs harder to come by.
In El Centro, unemployment has always been a concern. Notably, in the past decade, the area"s jobless rate has never dropped below 12 percent. But when the economy soured during the recession, El Centro"s unemployment rate surged, rising from 15.3 percent at the beginning of 2007 to 31.3 percent by the middle of last year as the housing market collapsed.
"We had a large construction boom going on," says Sam Couchman, director of workforce development and veteran services. "So those construction workers being unemployed when the construction boom ended and everything kind of came to a standstill—that"s why you continue to have a high unemployment rate. They had overbuilt; they weren"t selling the homes that they had, so why would they build more?"
But it"s not just housing. The retail and manufacturing sectors also got squeezed, applying further pressure to an already struggling economy. Currently, the government is one of the few reliable employers left. Another potential bright spot is the hope that El Centro will be able to expand its renewable-energy industry. Already, El Centro residents are awaiting the planned arrival of the company Tessera Solar. If all goes as planned, Tessera could be a major employer for El Centro residents.
Cecilia Garcia, an adult development specialist at Imperial Valley College, says El Centro workers have already begun accepting renewable-energy internships with Tessera in Arizona in hopes of positioning themselves for eventual employment at the new location. "When the company comes, they"re going to be prepared so they can be hired," she says.
The way Couchman sees it, El Centro is currently in the middle of a waiting game—just like much of the rest of the country. "We see a little bit of recovery on the horizon," he says. "It"s happening very slowly, but as the country recovers, we will recover."
单选题 The reason why the author mentions California is that ______
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 本文主要分析埃尔森特罗市的经济形势和就业形势,第一段中提到加利福尼亚州并非是为了说明埃尔森特罗市是该州的一个城市(埃尔森特罗市位于加州南部),或者说明加州的经济和就业情况,而是在于对比加州的总形势和埃尔森特罗市的形势。因此作者指出:即使按照加州的标准,埃尔森特罗市的形势也是非同寻常地糟糕。第一段概括描述了埃尔森特罗市的经济状况和就业状况。可见,只有D项表达的内容是正确的,其他三个选项均不得要领。
单选题 All the following are mentioned as plunging El Centro into its current situation except ______
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 本文第二段第一句虽然提到了市长轮换的方式,但并没有说这是造成目前经济形势的原因。
单选题 In which of the following areas does El Centro"s economy suffer the least?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 可持续产业又被称作renewable industry(可再生行业),指的是对风能、地热能、太阳能、植物能等类型能量的利用所产生的行业。第五段提到再生能源行业时是把它当作potential bright spot说的,因此在作者看来,再生行业的扩展会给El Centro带来摆脱经济危机的生机。
A:这个行业的衰退给El Centro的经济带来了重大打击。
C:在第五段第二句,作者也提到了零售业和制造业的情况,这两个行业也经受着重大压力(squeeze的意思是“挤压”,被应用到经济和金融领域之后,这个词的意思是have a damaging or restricting effect on(对……造成破坏性或压制性影响)。
单选题 What does Couchman mean when he says El Centro is in "a waiting game"?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 最后一段中有三个句子,其中后两个带有直接引语的句子是对第一个句子的具体解释。由此可以看出,埃尔森特罗市等待的是其自身经济的复苏(we will recover)。
B:最后一段中提到埃尔森特罗市的人与全国其他地方的人一样正在等待经济的复苏。根据上下文,这里所谓等待复苏不应该指全国经济的复苏,因为Couchman接着强调了埃尔森特罗市经济的复苏离不开全国经济的复苏。
C:注意,倒数第二段和倒数第一段是两个人说的话,谈论的是不同的事情。倒数第二段谈的是Tessera太阳能公司将落户埃尔森特罗市,而倒数第一段是全文的总结,谈的是埃尔森特罗市的总体经济形势。
单选题 The word "anemic" (Para.1) most probably means ______
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 在第一段第三句中,这个词的意思是“缺乏活力的,衰落的”。这个词原意是“贫血的”,来自名词anemia(贫血症)。从上下文线索来看,上文中的incredible(大得难以令人置信的),下文中的fragile,dire等都为理解anemic提供了线索。