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Passage Five It was a merry Christmas for Sharper Image and Neiman Marcus, which reported big sales increases over last year’s holiday season. It was considerably less cheery at Wal-Mart and other lowpriced chains. We don’t know the final sales figures yet, but it’s clear that high-end stores did very well, while stores catering to middle- and low-income families achieved only modest gains. Based on these reports, you may be tempted to speculate that the economic recovery is an exclusive party, and most people weren’t invited. You’d be right. Commerce Department figures reveal a startling disconnect between overall economic growth and the incomes of a great majority of Americans. In the third quarter, real G. D. P. rose at an annual rate of 8.2%. But wage and salary income, adjusted for inflation, rose at an annual rate of only 0.8%. Why aren’t workers sharing in the so-called boom Start with jobs. Employment began rising in August, but the pace of job growth remains modest, averaging less than 90 000 per month. But if the number of jobs isn’t rising much, aren’t workers at least earning more You may have thought so. After all, companies have been able to increase output without hiring more workers, thanks to the rapidly rising output per worker. Historically, higher productivity has translated into rising wages. But not this time: thanks to a weak labor market, employers have felt no pressure to share productivity gains. Calculations by the Economic Policy Institute show real wages for most workers flat or falling even as the economy expands. So who’s benefiting from the economy’s expansion The direct gains are going largely to corporate profits. Indirectly, that means that gains are going to the big stockholders, who are the ultimate owners of corporate profits. For most Americans, current economic growth is something interesting, that is, however, happening to other people. This may change if serious job creation ever kicks in, but it hasn’t so far. The big question is whether a recovery that does so little for most Americans can really be sustained. Can an economy thrive on sales of luxury goods alone We may soon find out. The author seems to indicate that ______.
A. current economic recovery is likely to endure for a long time
B. luxury goods alone can promote an economie recovery
C. current economic boom is most strongly felt by the customers
D. the job market has yet to show promising signs of improvement
Passage Three Musicians are fascinated with the possibility that music may be found in nature; it makes our own desire for art seem all the more essential. Over the past few years no less a bold musical explorer than Peter Gabriel has been getting involved. At the Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, he has been making music together with Kanzi, one of the bonobo apes (倭黑猩猩) involved in the long-term language acquisition studies of Sue and Duane Savage-Rumbaugh. I have seen the video of Kanzi picking notes out on a piano-like keyboard, with Gabriel and members of his band playing inside the observation booth in the lab. (They did it this way because Kanzi had bitten one of his trainers a few days previously—interspecies communication is not without its dangers. ) The scene is beautiful, the ape trying out the new machine and looking thoughtfully pleased with what comes out. He appears to be listening, playing the right notes. It is tentative but moving, the animal groping for something from the human world but remaining isolated from the rest of the band. It is a touching encounter, and a bold move for a musician whose tune Shock the Monkey many years ago openly condemned the horrors of less sensitive animal experiments than this. What is the scientific value of such a jam session The business of the Research Center is the forging of greater communication between human and animal. Why not try the fertile and mysterious ground of music in addition to the more testable arena of simple language The advantage of hearing music in nature and trying to reach out to nature through music is that, though we don’t fully understand it, we can easily have access to it. We don’t need to explain its workings to be touched by it. Two musicians who don’t speak the same language can play together, and we can appreciate the music from human cultures far from our own. Music needs no explanation, but it clearly expresses something deep and important, something humans cannot live without. Finding music in the sounds of birds, whales and other animals makes the farther frontiers of nature seem that much closer to us. It can be learned from the passage that Peter Gabriel ______.
A. is a bold expert on animal behavior
B. wants to find more about natural music
C. is working on animal’s language ability
D. specializes in human-animal cooperation
Passage Five It was a merry Christmas for Sharper Image and Neiman Marcus, which reported big sales increases over last year’s holiday season. It was considerably less cheery at Wal-Mart and other lowpriced chains. We don’t know the final sales figures yet, but it’s clear that high-end stores did very well, while stores catering to middle- and low-income families achieved only modest gains. Based on these reports, you may be tempted to speculate that the economic recovery is an exclusive party, and most people weren’t invited. You’d be right. Commerce Department figures reveal a startling disconnect between overall economic growth and the incomes of a great majority of Americans. In the third quarter, real G. D. P. rose at an annual rate of 8.2%. But wage and salary income, adjusted for inflation, rose at an annual rate of only 0.8%. Why aren’t workers sharing in the so-called boom Start with jobs. Employment began rising in August, but the pace of job growth remains modest, averaging less than 90 000 per month. But if the number of jobs isn’t rising much, aren’t workers at least earning more You may have thought so. After all, companies have been able to increase output without hiring more workers, thanks to the rapidly rising output per worker. Historically, higher productivity has translated into rising wages. But not this time: thanks to a weak labor market, employers have felt no pressure to share productivity gains. Calculations by the Economic Policy Institute show real wages for most workers flat or falling even as the economy expands. So who’s benefiting from the economy’s expansion The direct gains are going largely to corporate profits. Indirectly, that means that gains are going to the big stockholders, who are the ultimate owners of corporate profits. For most Americans, current economic growth is something interesting, that is, however, happening to other people. This may change if serious job creation ever kicks in, but it hasn’t so far. The big question is whether a recovery that does so little for most Americans can really be sustained. Can an economy thrive on sales of luxury goods alone We may soon find out. Which of the following best describes the author’s understanding of the economic recovery
A. Questionable boom.
B. Sustainable growth.
C. Great turning-point.
D. No way out for us.