单选题 Most people would not pay two cents for something worth one. But America's government spent $116m last year doing just that. The money-losing purchase was money itself: the penny, which has cost more than a cent to produce since 2006, due mainly to the price of zinc, the coin's primary ingredient.
Steel is not much better, as Canada has learned. The government there recently ditched its steel-based penny. American politicians, while loth to take lessons from their northern neighbours, may have noticed. In an online forum on February 14th Barack Obama intimated that the penny was no longer {{U}}change{{/U}} he believes in.
Fifty years ago a handful of pennies would buy a hamburger at McDonald's, but inflation means the coin won't even get you one French fry today. Relegated to jars and lost behind cushions, the penny is failing to perform its primary function: to facilitate commerce. Vending machines and parking meters don't accept it. Penny scourges note that fiddling with them adds some two seconds to each transaction, costing the economy many millions of dollars a year.
Penny lovers and zinc-industry lobbyists counter that the coin's demise would cost consumers, as merchants would round prices up to the nearest nickel. Some economists disagree, suggesting that shop keepers might in fact round down in order to avoid moving from a price of, say, $9.99 to $10. Americans anyway seem willing to accept a fee for penny removal, as evidenced by the self-imposed cost of leaving them idle and the success of coin-counting machines, which take a cut when turning them into bills.
Other countries have eliminated low-value coins with less-than-dire results, and indeed, so has America. In 1857 it ditched the half-cent, then worth nearly as much in real terms as today's dime. This has led some to suggest killing the nickel, which costs about ten cents to make, as well as the penny.
单选题 By saying "most people would not pay two cents for something worth one", the author intends to ______.
  • A.interpret the meaning of this sentence
  • B.explain American government's unreasonable act
  • C.show the increase of price of zinc, the coin's main ingredient
  • D.introduce the topic of money-losing purchase of penny-making
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 篇章结构题。 这种题型类似于主旨大意题。区别在于主旨大意题问的是文章的中心大意，而篇章结构题一般是问某个自然段(尤其是首段)在文章中的作用。作者在首句提到“大多数人不会花两分钱去干只值一分钱的事”是为了引出下句美国政府就干了这样的事，接着在第三句说到美国政府做了这样的事是因为美分硬币如今造价高，所以文章首句的目的是为了引出该文的话题：硬币造价高。所以，D为答案。注意：一般首段或者首句都是为全文中心大意服务的，因此首段或首句的目的通常是为了引出主题。
单选题 The word "change" (Para. 2) means ______ in the text.
  • A.alter
  • B.coin
  • C.note
  • D.differ
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 语义题/词义题。 本题的单词change，作动词时表示“改变”，而作名词时则表示“零钱”。显然选项A的alter“改变”和选项D的differ“使不同”都接近其动词意思，而这两项几乎属于同义选项，可以排除。选项B．coin是“硬币”；C．note是“纸币”。显然零钱=硬币，两者比较接近，故B为答案。本题也可以依照“主系表”结构的同义替换原理解题。“主系表”结构的本质是“主是表”，即主语=表语。故根据the penny was no longer change一句我们知道，change=penny，而penny=coin，由此也可以推出答案是B。
单选题 The penny's primary function is ______.
  • A.to boost economy
  • B.to prevent inflation
  • C.to improve currency exchange
  • D.to buy a hamburger at McDonald's
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。 选项与原文对比。根据题干我们定位到第三段的中间部分：the penny is failing to perform its primary function: to facilitate commerce.非常清晰地得出答案为to facilitate commerce(促进商业贸易)；而选项中与之最接近的是选项A．to boost economy“促进经济”。故为答案。选项C的improve虽然与facilitate也属于同义词，但后面的currency exchange(货币兑换)是文中未提到的，故错误。选项B的inflation，D的buy a hamburger at McDonald's在文章中都可以找到对应信息，但是并非美分硬币的主要功能。
单选题 Penny lovers and zinc-industry lobbyists oppose that ______.
  • A.customers can not bargain any more
  • B.merchants would round the prices down
  • C.coin's disappearance would cost consumers
  • D.coin's demise would cost shopkeepers a lot
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。 选项与原文对比。根据题干定位到第四段第一句：Penny lovers and zinc-industry lobbyists counter that the coin's demise would cost consumers, as merchants would round prices up to the nearest nickel.答案很明显是the coin's demise would cost consumers，其中该题题干的oppose=counter；而demise=选项C的disappearance，C项和原文的the coin's demise would cost consumers是同义替换关系，故选C。
单选题 Which one of the following coins has NOT or may NOT be cancelled?
  • A.half-cent
  • B.nickel
  • C.penny
  • D.dime
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。 选项与原文对比。我们要弄清楚本段几个词的关系，首先首句提到eliminated low-value coins；第二句提到in 1857 it ditched the half-cent；第三句提到this has led some to suggest killing the nickel。这些句子中的eliminate，ditch，kill都是同义替换关系，可以理解为“取消”，或者“废除”。问题问：以下哪种硬币没有或者可能不会被取消/废除?文章第二句说到ditched the half-cent，可见半分硬币被取消了。最后一句又提到：killing the nickel...as well as the penny(一些人提出取消五分硬币和一分硬币)，可见这两种硬币也可能被取消。因此答案为D．dime。原文虽然提到：then worth nearly as much in real terms as today's dime，但没有提到dime(一角硬币)会被取消，故答案是D。