单选题
Foreign trade, the exchange of goods between nations, takes place for many reasons. Every nation wants the opportunity to export its goods and services to other countries. A foreign outlet for sales enables a manufacturer or distributor to increase the volume of his business activity, thus increasing his chance to make a profit and increasing employment opportunities. Every nation also wants the opportunity and privilege of buying from foreign countries products and services that are scarce or unavailable at home that would be useful and beneficial to its people.
Trading with other countries is not the same as trading within one's own country. At home a company or a bank is familiar with its own people, laws, and business practices. At abroad the picture becomes a complex one. Each country is different and therefore is said to carry different risks. Political risks, for example, relate to such varied factors as treaties, war, import quotas, and foreign exchange restrictions.
In today's complex economic world, neither individuals nor nations are self-sufficient. Nations have utilised different economic resources. People have developed different skills. This is the foundation of world trade and economic activity. So countries that do not have the resources within their own boundaries must buy from countries that export them.
Foreign trade also occurs because a country often does not have enough of a particular item to meet its needs. As far as the United States is concerned, it enjoys the most favourable position and has vast coal and oil reserves, but the United States is also a heavy consumer of nature resources, and it is increasingly reliant on certain imports, especially on oil. It consumes more than it can produce at home.
If one nation can sell some items at a lower cost, the other countries would buy them. Japan. a highly industrialised nation, has been able to export large quantities of automobiles because it can produce them efficiently than other countries. It is cheaper for some Western countries to buy these from Japan than to produce them domestically. Japan should produce and export those items from which it gets a comparative advantage. It should also buy and import what it needs from those countries that have a comparative advantage in the desired items.
At last, innovation or style or quality plays the most important role in the foreign trade. For example, the United States produces more automobiles than any other countries; it still imports large quantities of autos from Japan, primarily because there is a market for them in the United States. In conclusion, developing international trade is a country's long-term strategy. For most nations, exports and imports are the most important international activity. With this activity, nations can develop their economy.

单选题 If a country can sell its products abroad, it means
A．it can earn more money by expanding its production.
B．the employment rate of the country will decrease.
C．the country has to find an outlet for going abroad.
D．it can buy from foreign countries products and services that are scarce or unavailable at home.

单选题 Why does the picture abroad become a complex one according to the author?
A．Because each country is different
B．Because foreign countries' laws, people and business practices are different from those of one's own country, and if businessmen from home do not know them, they will meet a lot of trouble
C．Because businessmen from home do not understand foreign countries' people, laws and business practices
D．Because people in foreign countries do not understand the picture due to different culture background

单选题 What does the sentence "In today's complex economic world, neither individual nor nations are self-sufficient" mean?
A．It means that today's world is a complex one, so all people and nations are able to provide all they want.
B．It means that in today's complex economic world, people have developed different skills so all natioas and individuals need each other.
C．It means that nations have utilised its own resources.
D．It means countries that are lack of resources at home must buy from countries that export them.

单选题 According to the fourth paragraph, foreign trade occurs because
A．some people prefer foreign products to ones produced in their own country.
B．a country does not possess certain resources in its own territories.
C．a country hopes to consume other countries' resources first but preserve its own resources.
D．a country does not have sufficient resources to meet its needs.

单选题 According to the fifth paragraph, what does "comparative advantage" mean?
A．It means that some countries have more favourable conditions for economic development than other countries.
B．It means that some countries can produce certain products at lower cost than other countries, thus it would be cheaper for other countries to import those products instead of manufacturing them by themselves.
C．It means that those countries which do not have favourable conditions for trading would better stop exporting and importing all they need.
D．It means that some countries can provide goods with better quality than other countries.

单选题 According to the last paragraph, which of the following is NOT true?
A．Nations can not develop their economy without foreign trade.
B．For most countries, foreign trade is an important international activity.
C．It is a long-term strategy for a country to develop international trade.
D．The United States never imports automobiles because it produces more autos than any other countries.