单选题 When the American economy was running full tilt two years ago, few places were as breathlessly delighted as Seattle. Its port was thronged with ships bringing goods from Asia. The Boeing Company could barely keep up with demand for its airliners. Microsoft was hiring hordes of software engineers. After each rain shower, another Internet millionaire sprang up. Here was a city that had it all--Old Economy, New Economy, Not-Yet-Invented Economy.
Now it has all gone sour. The past 12 months have been a non-stop succession of disappointments. Boeing's headquarters decamped to Chicago. The Internet economy popped alike a balloon in a nail factory, taking with it once promising local ventures such as Homegrocer.com and leaving can't-possibly-miss companies such as drugstore.com barely hanging on. And an already troubled Boeing was hit even harder after September 11th both by a steep drop in airliner orders and by losing a $ 200 billion Joint Strike Fighter contract to Lockheed Martin.
Washington State, battered by what is happening in Seattle, now has the highest unemployment rate in the United States--6.6% compared with 5.4% in the country as a whole. Right behind it is next-door Oregon, another former boom state, with 6.5% of its workforce out of a job, the country's second worst figure. In Oregon, manufacturing's collapse has caused the loss of nearly 30,000 jobs in a year, those hit range from Freightliner, a maker of heavy lorries, to high-tech companies such as Intel and Fujitsu.
What makes the current plunge so painful is that every part of the economy seems to have stepped into an open manhole at the same time. Three years ago, when Boeing began to remove more than 20,000 people that Boeing expects to lay off by the middle of 2002 have to compete with unemployed workers not just from the high-tech industry but from construction work and even the retail sector. Portland now has more jobless than the other parts of Oregon: the opposite of how things were years ago.
Even worse, the Pacific north west's downturn, as well as being deeper than the rest of the country, may also last longer. One reason for fearing this is Boeing's continuing woes. Nowadays Boeing accounts for less than 5% of employment in the Seattle area, down from 9% two decades ago. But it remains the foundation on which the rest is built. Its network of suppliers and subcontractors gives it a far stronger multiplier effect than, say, Microsoft, which is more an island of prosperity than a center of web. The chances are that Boeing will not really bounce back until the assumed revival in air travel persuades airline companies to start buying plenty of aircraft again. And that may not be until 2003.

单选题 The sentence "After each rain shower, another Internet millionaire sprang up" (Paragraph 1) means ______.
A. many people get rich quickly and easily with the New Economy
B. it takes only the time between showers for someone to become boss
C. Seattle's development is sudden like rain showers
D. Seattle has as many business millionaires as its rain showers

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】这是一道词义题。题干中的信号词出自于文章第一段第四句话中。文章第一段指出：当美国经济高速发展时，很少有地方像西雅图那样充满欢乐；它的港口挤满了运送来自亚洲货物的船只；波音公司几乎难以生产出足够的飞机来满足需求，微软聘用了大量的软件工程师；每场阵雨过后，又一个互联网百万富翁出现了。这说明，该句话的意思应该是：在经济高速发展时，人们很容易迅速致富。A说“由于新经济，许多人迅速、轻易地致富”，这与文章的意思符合。B、C和D明显与文章的意思不符。

单选题 What can be inferred in the passage concerning Boeing?
A. Its headquarter has been moved from Chicago to Seattle.
B. It's to be blamed for the economic depression in Washington.
C. Boeing itself is having a hard time.
D. It's expected to have a revival in the year 2003.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】这是一道推论题。文章第二段指出：过去12个月给人留下一连串的失望，波音公司的总部迁到了芝加哥。第四段指出：3年前，波音公司预期到2002年中期辞退2万多名员工。最后一段指出：导致这种担心的一个原因是波音公司的持续低迷；波音公司在西雅图的就业率从20年前的9%降到现在的不足5%。由此可知，波音公司不景气。C说“波音公司自己正处于艰难时期”，这与文章的意思符合。A与文章的意思相反；文中没有提到B；D与文章最后一句话的意思不符合。

单选题 What does the passage imply about "Homegrocer.com" and "drugstore.com"?
A. They are neither promising companies.
B. They are affiliated to large companies.
C. They are dealing in medical products.
D. They are also affected by the economic crisis.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】这是一道推论题。题干中的信号词为Homegrocer.com和drugstore．com，出自文章第二段第四句话。文章第二段指出：现在一切都令人失望；互联网经济就像一个制钉厂的气球一样破裂了，导致一度辉煌的本地投机企业岌岌可危，比如 Homehrocer.com公司，留下一些不可能失败的公司在苦苦支撑。由此可知，这两个公司受到经济衰退的影响。D说“它们也受到经济危机的影响”，这与文章的意思符合。A明显与文章的意思不符合；文中没有提到B和C。

单选题 What is special about this economic downturn in Seattle?
A. All sectors have entered recession at the same time.
B. The lay-off workers have found jobs elsewhere.
C. The Old Economy is hit harder than other economies.
D. The low employment rate will last longer than in Oregon.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】这是一道细节题。文章第四段指出：导致目前的经济下滑如此让人痛苦的因素是，经济的各个部分好像同时陷入了一个深渊。这说明，A“所有部门同时进入衰退时期”与文章的意思符合。B、C和D都与文章的意思不符合。

单选题 We can learn from the last paragraph that ______.
A. Microsoft has a strong multiplier effect on the economy
B. Boeing is crucial for the survival of other companies
C. Seattle area's employment rate has fallen considerably
D. the economic foundation of Seattle is Boeing's continuing prosperity

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】这是一道归纳题。题干中的信号词为the last paragraph，也就是文章的最后一段。文章最后一段指出：如今，波音公司在西雅图的就业率从20年前的9%降到现在的不足5%；但是，波音公司仍然是其他产业依赖的基础，它的供应商和分包商网络使得它比其他产业更具乘数效应。这说明，其他产业非常依赖波音公司。B说“波音对其他公司的生存至关重要”，这与文章的意思符合。A与最后一段的意思相反；文中是说波音公司在西雅图的就业率大幅度降低，并不是说西雅图的就业率大幅度降低，所以C不对；文中没有提到D。