单选题 The Newhouse shelter in Kansas City has helped thousands of abused women and their children over the past 37 years. But last month, the women were forced to move out and the staff started looking for new jobs. The reason was simple. While the need was there, the money was not. {{U}}Dwindling{{/U}} charitable contributions tied to a broad U.S. economic slowdown mean fewer resources and hard choices for charities across the country.
"People are holding tight to their money," said Newhouse President Leslie Caplan, who estimated charitable contributions were down ＄200,000 this year compared to last year. That, combined with cuts in government grants, has severely squeezed the center's ＄1.3 million budget.
As Americans struggling with rising unemployment and home foreclosures turn to charities for help, charities themselves are running into financial difficulties as donations dwindle. They are being forced to increase their outreach, hold more fund-raising events and seek out new donors to make ends meet. "The people who used to give us small amounts, $10 or $15, that is going away. The people who have a lot of money still are able to give, but they are more selective in their giving," McIntyre said. "It's getting bad out there. "
Philanthropic Giving Index, which measures prospects for charitable donations, has dropped to 83 on a scale of 100 from 88 in December 2007, its lowest point since 2003. Rev. Cecil Williams noticed that donations to Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco began falling off earlier this year, forcing him to cut meals, child care, and health care to the poor by up to 15 percent. Meanwhile, the lines for help grow longer.
Melissa Perez of La Habra, California, hosted a Brazilian student last year under the auspices of the Center for Cultural Interchange, a Chicago-based nonprofit that arranges for families to house and feed foreign students. "Everything's hard. We're very much pinched," said Perez, who cannot afford to do it again this year because her family's manufacturing business is in trouble. Such experiences mean the Center for Cultural Interchange has not been able to find enough volunteers.
"Business is not as good and they feel the pressure and that leads to a decline in giving," said Bridges board member Inayat Malik. "How much people give depends on' how secure they feel," Berman said. "I think we'll see an impact on personal giving this fall and winter, which is when most charitable organizations depend on generosity. "

单选题 We can infer from paragraph 1 that the passage will focus on______.

A. the problem of unemployment worsened in U. S.
B. U. S. charities are affected by weak economy
C. gender discrimination is still a big issue in U. S. job market
D. the future for U.S. economy is grey

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 推论题；要根据原文的第一段对文章重点有所推测，需要我们对第一段进行仔细的研读，之后对其他段落大致扫描阅读。在第一段的结尾我们看到“Dwindling charitable contributions tied to a．broad U．S．economic slowdown mean fewer resources and hard choices for charities across the country”这句话点明了全文的论述重点，并且我们在后文的扫描中也可以找到支持，也就是说，缓慢的美国经济使得做善事的人和钱也在变少，开始影响到慈善事业。结合这样的分析，在4个选项的比较中，我们可以看到B选项的分析是最到位的。A选项和C选项从原文细节出发，误选的考生缺乏对于段落整体的把握能力，需要加强，D选项提到了美国经济，但总结出现了偏差，没有点明其和美国慈善事业的关系，也是不正确的。

单选题 What does the expression "People are holding tight to their money" ( Line 1, Paragraph 2) mean?

A. People are saving more money to donate.
B. People become stingy even with more money earned.
C. People are donating less due to their tight financial situations.
D. People are now more concerned about how their donations are spent.

单选题 The word "dwindle" most probably means______.

A. to decline
B. to increase
C. to stop
D. to remain

单选题 From the passage, Rev. Cecil Williams has to reduce the following EXCEPT______.

A. food
B. living expenses
C. child care
D. health care

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题；根据题目中的专有名词Rev．Cecil Williams我们可以定位到原文的第四段。由于是反向选择题，题目中的选项对我们有很大的提示作用，结合对选项的分析，我们在原文中找到“...forcing him to cut meals，child care，and health care to the poor by up to 15 percent”这样的表达，A选项和原文的“meals”对应，C选项和D选项在原文中直接出现了，所以B选项是正确答案。