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Text 4
When the government talks about infrastructure contributing to the economy the focus is usually on roads, railways, broadband and energy. Housing is seldom mentioned.
Why is that? To some extent the housing sector must shoulder the blame. We have not been good at communicating the real value that housing can contribute to economic growth. Then there is the scale of the typical housing project. It is hard to shove for attention among multibillion-pound infrastructure project, so it is inevitable that the attention is focused elsewhere. But perhaps the most significant reason is that the issue has always been so politically charged.
Nevertheless, the affordable housing situation is desperate. Waiting lists increase all the time and we are simply not building enough new homes.
The comprehensive spending review offers an opportunity for the government to help rectify this. It needs to put historical prejudices to one side and take some steps to address our urgent housing need.
There are some indications that it is preparing to do just that. The communities minister, Don Foster, has hinted that George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, may introduce more flexibility to the current cap on the amount that local authorities can borrow against their housing stock debt. Evidence shows that 60,000 extra new homes could be built over the next five years if the cap were lifted, increasing GDP by 0.6%.
Ministers should also look at creating greater certainty in the rental environment, which would have a significant impact on the ability of registered providers to fund new developments from revenues.
But it is not just down to the government. While these measures would be welcome in the short term, we must face up to the fact that the existing ￡4.5bn programme of grants to fund new affordable housing, set to expire in 2015,is unlikely to be extended beyond then. The Labour party has recently announced that it will retain a large part of the coalition’s spending plans if returns to power. The housing sector needs to accept that we are very unlikely to ever return to era of large-scale public grants. We need to adjust to this changing climate.
单选题
The author believes that the housing sector ________
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】根据本题题干中的关键词housing sector可以对应到文章的第二段， 中间说的很多，我们注意到最后有but出现，最后应该是作者真正想要表达的观点，另外这里用了the most significant 最高级，所以最后这个是最重要的一个原因，politically charged和选项B的political factors有对应关系，故选B involves certain political factors。
A项的吸引注意没有提及，C项的承担太多责任，原文说的shoulder the blame，D项说的丧失价值，原文说的是不善于表明真正价值，两者不一致，故排除。
单选题
It can be learned that affordable housing has_______
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】经济适用房曾受到政府的偏见。答案定位到文章第三段最后一句话It needs to put historical prejudices to one side and take some steps to address our urgent housing need. 政府需要把历史的偏见放在一边并且采取一些策略解决我们迫切的住房需求。Suffered 是过去式，是对于原文history 的同义反复，biases 是对原文prejudices的同义反复。
单选题
According to Paragraph 5,George Osborne may_______.
单选题
It can be inferred that a stable rental environment would_______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】推断题。根据文章题干定位到第五段，题干考察的是对稳定的租赁环境的理解。A项的意思是"减少注册供应者的成本"，其中"成本一词"并 未在文中出现，属于无中生有。B项的意思是"减少政府接介入的影响"，其中"政府介入"并未在文中出现，属于无中生有。B项的意思是"有助于为新发展提供 资金支持"，其中"为新发展提供资金支持"对应文中的"fund new developments";C选项中的"contribute to"(意思是有助于)对英文中的have a significant impact(意思是有重要影响)，符合正解的同义复现原则，所以是正确选项。
单选题
The author believes that after 2015,the government may______.