单选题 With the debt crisis and the weakening economy fresh on their minds, most Americans have probably concluded that government, as a rule, cannot manage money responsibly. But it can. Just look at Montana. For six years it has been one of the only states in America with a budget surplus: this year it is a record of $433 million, proportionally equivalent to a federal surplus of $858 billion. Thus we"ve been able to cut taxes, invest in education and infrastructure and keep essential services intact. We recently got our first bond rating upgrade in 26 years.
How do we accomplish what most states and the federal government cannot? I like to say we run government like a ranch. In ranching, you either pinch pennies or go bankrupt. We do the same in government. For one thing, we challenge every expense. If it isn"t absolutely necessary, we eliminate it. Little things added up: we renegotiated state contracts, cut our energy consumption by 20 percent, auctioned off state vehicles and canceled building projects and computer upgrades. The federal budget contains thousands of similar line items. A government serious about tightening its belt would eliminate them all.
But we don"t just cut costs. Like good ranchers, we also leave some grain in the barn in case of drought. When times were good, we stored away cash in a special savings account. The account proved to be a big help in getting us through the recession in solid financial shape. I cannot recall the federal government"s ever banking surplus funds in a protected account, even during the surplus-laden 1990s. If Washington ever digs out of the current hole and runs a cash balance, Congress should likewise put some grain in the barn.
And even as we"ve cut costs and stored away money, we"ve followed another ranching principle: treat your ranch hands with respect. Like other states, we"ve had to freeze employee pay and reduce the work force. But as in any good organization, many of the best solutions for cutting costs come from state employees. Some look at payroll as a burden; we look at it as human capital, and we work hard to keep up morale in tough times. So when we cut the state payroll, I cut my own salary. Sadly, many politicians, especially in Washington, seem to take advantage of the opportunity to trash government workers. This is just cheap and ugly scapegoating. More to the point, it does nothing to produce bottom-line results.
Finally, we don"t spend money until we"ve found the lowest price. When the real estate market softened, we told commercial landlords who rented space to the state that if we didn"t see rent reductions, we"d move to cheaper premises when our leases were up.
There are savings to be found everywhere in government. Now that federal spending is the country"s top issue, Washington should try doing what any rancher or family household does.

单选题 The state government of Montana ______

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 第一段提到，蒙大拿州在过去6年内实现了预算盈余。所谓budget surplus指在某个预算年政府或公司的收入大于支出。因此蒙大拿州政府能减税，投资教育和公共基础设施，保留一些基本的服务项目。蒙大拿州发行的债券的评级也被提高。注意：这里提到的蒙大拿州的一些形势，跟陷入债务危机的国家和其他卅I的状况正好相反，例如，陷入债务危机的国家或州会提高税赋，减少公共事业开支，其债券会遭到降级。

单选题 The expression "pinch pennies" most probably means ______

单选题 The ranch analogy is used to make the point that ______

单选题 It can be inferred from the text that the author ______

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 在本文中，作者时而用we时而用I来指称自己，纵览全文，他一直在代表蒙大拿州讲话，在第四段，他明确地提到不能一味地通过解雇州雇员(state employee)来渡过经济衰退期，而应该减少政府开支，其中包括政府雇员的工资额，并且，他以身作则，先降低了自己的工资收入。由此推断，作者可能是蒙大拿州州长。
A：第四段提到，像其他州一样，蒙大拿州也不得不冻结雇员的工资(指不再给他们加薪)，并减少劳动力规模(reduce the work force)。作者只是认为不能一味地把雇员当做替罪羊来对待。
B：在第四段中，作者提到了keep up morale in tough tines，这里的意思指在困难时期保持士气，而不是指保持道德标准。