MACROECONOMIC POLICIESFor most countries, the following four principal objectives of economic policy would apply: (1) Maintenance of employment at a high level. (2) Stable prices. (3) Economic growth. (4) Balance of payments equilibrium. These objectives are sometimes extremely difficult to achieve. A high level of employment, for example, tended to push wages and hence prices up. It also created an imbalance between exports and imports. Furthermore the competition among firms for labor tended to reduce labor productivity since workers were not always fully employed.Government will differ in the emphasis they place on each of the above objectives. (8) . At times when inflation was high, great stress was placed on bringing it down, but this had severe effects on jobs and on economic growth. The pursuit of an expansionary policy very often resulted in an increase in GDP and a fall in the level of unemployment; but was accompanied by a marked rise in the rate of inflation and a serious balance of payments deficit.In carrying out its economic policy, the government uses two principal means--fiscal policy and monetary policy. (9) Monetary policy is broadly neutral in its effects whilst fiscal and other measures can be used more discriminately--the redistribution of incomes and lower rates of corporation tax for small businesses are two examples.Government regulation of the money supply is important for economic stability. Banks will wish to keep excess reserves when they do not foresee profitable and secure opportunities to make loans. This is likely to happen during the downswing and around the bottom of a business contraction. (10) During a recession, profit-oriented banks tend to reduce the money supply by increasing their excessive reserves if the central banks did not intervene. (11) .On the other hand, banks will want to squeeze possible money supply out of any given amount of cash reserves by keeping their reserves at the bare minimum when the demand for bank loans is buoyant, profits are high, and many investments suddenly start to look profitable. (12) The authorities must intervene to prevent this. The monetary authorities can exercise monetary control in two ways: either they can attempt to control interest (i. e. the price of money) or they can endeavor to control the money supply. 9()
A. Fiscal policy is concerned with taxation, subsidies and government spending; monetary policy, in contrast, is concerned with interest rates, the money supply and bank lending.
B. As the money supply is an important influence on aggregate demand such a contraction of money supply would exacerbate the severity of the recession.
C. This reduced incentive to hold excess reserves in prosperous times means that during an economic boom, the behavior of profit-oriented banks is likely to make the money supply expand, adding undesirable momentum to the booming economy and paving the way for a burst of inflation.
D. These objectives are sometimes extremely difficult to achieve.
E. When this occurs, the prosperity of banks to hold excess reserves will turn the money creation process into one of the money destruction.
For many years the main emphasis was on employment and balance of payments, but this adversely affected the pursuit of stable prices and economic growth.
G. When adopting monetary policy, the central bank usually takes action to change the equilibrium of the money market, that is, to alter the money supply, move the interest rate, or do both.
29()
A. custom
B. use
C. tradition
D. habit
Passage Three In the 1840s, the Mormons (摩门教信徒), who are a religious group, travelled west searching for a new home. Many Mormons lived in the state of Illinois, but they had been badly treated and finally were forced to leave. As the Mormons travelled through the desert, they became discouraged. Then they saw a strange tree. The tree’s branches stretched out like arms. The Mormons thought the tree looked like Joshua, a hero from the Bible. The Mormons thought the arms of the tree were telling them to continue on their way; so they did. They found a new home in what is now the state of Utah. In Utah they saw trees like the one in the desert. They called them "Joshua trees." The Joshua tree was very useful. The Native Americans of the West used almost all its parts. They ate not only the fruit of the tree, but also its seeds and white blossoms. They used its leaves for shoes. From its roots they made baskets and got colours for their clothes. Settlers in the West used the Joshua tree for firewood and fences. Unfortunately, they often needed to cut down the trees. Some of the trees were as tall as 50 feet (15.6 metres). These trees were 700 or 800 years old. The Joshua tree grows very slowly. It grows only about one inch (2.54 centimetres) a year. By the beginning of the 1900s, most Joshua trees had been cut down. People were sad that this strange tree had almost disappeared. In 1936, the Joshua Tree National Park was established in California. It has many kinds of interesting desert plants, including, of course, many Joshua trees. None of these Joshua trees are 50 feet. But perhaps some day they will be. Settlers in the west used the Joshua tree for firewood and fences because ().
A. they thought the tree was useless
B. they thought the tree was going to die
C. they had changed their belief
D. they had no other ways to deal with their problems
Passage Two Nick was tired of life. Every day was exactly the same. "What I need is a little adventure!" Nick thought as he waited at the bus stop one morning. Nick’s little adventure happened sooner than he had expected! While he was on the bus, reading his newspaper, the man sitting next to him suddenly pushed a large brown envelope in his hands. "Here, take this!" he murmured. Then he stood up and got off the bus before Nick could say a word. Nick sat There holding the envelope. It felt heavy. There were papers inside, or money perhaps. "I’d better hand it over to the police." He thought. There was a police station close to his office. But as he got off the bus, a man came up to him. He was obviously waiting for something. "He wants the envelope." Nick thought. Nick began to walk quickly and the man hurried after him. Nick started to run and the man began to run, too. But then, just before he go to the police station, Nick managed to lose the man in the crowds when he entered the police station, the man was no longer in sight. Inside the police station, the envelope was full of money—false money. "Obviously the man made a mistake." the inspector said, "He thought you was one of the gang! Well congratulations!" Nick felt like a hero. He could already see his name in all the paper. He could imagine an interview on television ! "However," the inspector went on, interrupting Nick’s daydreams. "I’m afraid I must ask you to keep quiet about this. We’re trying to catch some very clever thieves, and we don’t want them to know that we have some of the money. So you mustn’t say a word to anyone—even your boss! Sorry!" "So that’s that!" Nick said to himself on his way to the office. He was over an hour late. "I’ve had my little adventure, but I can’t tell anyone about it. So what’s the point I’ve even to make up an excuse to the boss!" Nick was bored because his life wasn’t ______ .
A. very pleasant
B. very easy
C. full of amusement
D. interesting