单选题 Americans often say that there are only two things a person can be sure of in life: death and taxes. Americans do not have a corner on the "death" market, but many people feel that the United States leads the world with the most taxes. Taxes consist of the money which people pay to support their government. There are generally three levels of government in the United States: federal, state, and city; therefore, there are three types of taxes. Salaried people who earn more than a few thousand dollars must pay a certain percentage of their salaries to the federal government. The percentage varies from person to person. It depends on their salaries. The federal government has a graduated income tax, that is, the percentage of the tax 14 to 70 percent increases as a person"s income increases. With the high cost of taxes, people are not very happy on April 15 , when the federal taxes are due. The second tax is for the state government: New York, California, North Dakota, or any of the other forty-seven states. Some states have an income tax similar to that of the federal government. Of course, the percentage for the state tax is lower. Other states have a sales tax, which is a percentage charged to any item which you buy in that state. For example, a person might want to buy a packet of cigarettes for twenty-five cents. If there is a sales tax of eight percent in that state, then the cost of the cigarettes is twenty-seven cents. This figure includes the sales tax. Some states use income tax in addition to sales tax to raise their revenues. The state tax laws are diverse and confusing. The third tax is for the city. This tax comes in two forms: property tax(people who own a home have to pay taxes on it)and excise tax, which is charged on cars in a city. The cities use these funds for education, police and fire departments, public works and municipal buildings. Since Americans pay such high taxes, they often feel that they are working one day each week just to pay their taxes. People always complain about taxes. They often protest that the government uses their tax dollars in the wrong way. They say that it spends too much on useless and impractical programs. Although Americans have different views on many issues, they tend to agree on one subject: Taxes are too high.
单选题 How do you understand the sentence "Americans do not have a corner on the "death" market?"
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析：Americans do not have a corner on the“death”market意为“美国人并没有垄断‘死亡’市场”，也就是说死亡这一现象并不是只发生在美国。注意have a corner on相当于monopolize“独占，垄断”，因此A是正确：答案。
单选题 What"s the attitude of the Americans towards the high taxes?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析：通过文章最后一段出现的“always complain”以及“often protest”可知美国人常常对高额税抱怨和抗议，故答案为D项。
单选题 What"s the difference between federal tax and state tax?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析：细节题。由第四段第三句“Of course，the percentage for the state tax is lower．”可知州税的税率比联邦税要低，因此C是正确答案。
单选题 Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析：由第四段最后一句“The state tax laws are diverse and confusing．”(各州的税收法很不一样，令人费解。)可知B选项提到的“unified state tax law．”不正确，其它三项的信息在原文都有体现。
单选题 Which of the following usages of the taxes is NOT mentioned in the passage?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析：细节题。选项A的信息出现在第四段倒数第二句话中“to raise their revenues”，B和C的信息出现在第五段最后一句话“The cities rise these funds for education，police andfire departments，public works and municipal buildings．”只有D项在原文中没有被提及。