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The "Occupy Wall Street" movement gained more support on Wednesday as unions and students joined in. With the protests developing from a group of young people's camping out near the New York Stock Exchange on September 17 to large-scale (大规模的) movements across the country and around the world, people can't help asking: What has led to "Occupy Wall Street?"

Three years after the severe economic crisis, the U.S. economy now is stuck again. Protesters are not satisfied with the present economic situation since unemployment rate is above 9 percent and economic growth has slowed. The housing market is still struggling for a recovery three years after the bubble (泡沫) burst. People are losing their houses even after they have paid a large amount of mortgage(抵押). It is getting difficult for young people to find jobs. People feared that a similar crisis like the one in 2008 may be already on its way.

It is Wall Street that possessed the most riches. It is Wall Street greed that, at least partly, led to the financial crisis in 2008. It was Wall Street's "fat cats" who take taxpayers' aid money as their own big bonus (奖金). With the growing economic crisis around the world, people realize that Wall Street is responsible for it. So they try to target people who created the crisis.

The majority of the protesters are young people under 30. Many of them are unemployed. Some are students with mountains of loans (贷款). Some are hard-working people about to lose their houses even if they have paid a large amount of mortgage. They are complaining that the hard-working middle class is getting poor, yet Wall Street stays wealthy.

William Cohan, author of Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the world, wrote recently that Wall Street not only learned nothing from the 2008 crisis, they are also trying to kill all reforms that might "break this dangerous cycle in which bankers get very rich while the rest of working people suffer from their mistakes."

1.. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. The cause of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.

B. The demand of the protesters of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.

C. The popularity of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.

D. The development of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.

2.. According to the second paragraph, what set off the “Occupy Wall Street” movement?

A. The housing market.                                              B. The bad economic situation.

C. The mortgage                                     D. The high unemployment rate.

3.. We can learn from the passage that Wall Street is the symbol of          in the USA.

A. civilization          B. power                         C. wealth             D. fashion

4. We can infer that William Cohan         .

A. is the organizer of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement

B. lives on Wall Street

C. is against the “Occupy Wall Street” movement

D. approves of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement

 

At the meeting, the old man _____ some good advice about bringing down the market price of housing.

A. came out                                           B. came about     

C. came along                                   D. came up with

 

 

第二部分：阅读理解（本题有两小节，第一节共20小题，每小题2分；第二节共5小题，每小题2分；满分50分）

第一节：阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。

The Pillow

         At the age of sixteen, I joined a volunteer group with my dad. I went on my first volunteer project in West Virginia. On the night we arrived, we discovered that “our family” was living in a trailer (拖车) that was in poor condition. A crew had been working on it for two weeks, but every time they finished one problem, another surfaced.

         We decided the only reasonable solution was to build a new house—something unusual but necessary under these circumstances. The family was overjoyed with their new house that was twenty by thirty feet with three bedrooms, a bath and a kitchen.

         On Tuesday of that week, while we ate lunch together, I asked the family’s three boys, Josh, Eric and Ryan, “What do you want for your new room?” Expecting toys and other gadgets that children usually ask for, we were astonished when Josh responded, “I just want a bed.”

         The boys had never slept in a bed! They were accustomed to plastic mats. That night we had a meeting and decided that beds would be the perfect gift. On Thursday night, a few adults in our group drove to the nearest city and bought beds and new bedding.

         When we saw the delivery truck coming, we told the family about the surprise. We could hardly contain ourselves. It was like watching excited children on Christmas morning.

         That afternoon, as we fitted the frames of the beds together, Eric ran into the house to watch us. Too dirty to enter his room, he observed with wide-eyed enthusiasm from the doorway.

         As my father slipped a pillowcase onto one of the pillows, Eric asked, “What is that?”

         “A pillow,” he replied.

         “What do you do with it?” Eric continued to ask.

“When you go to sleep, you put your head on it,” I answered softly. Tears came to my eyes as my father handed Eric the pillow.

         “Oh…that’s soft,” he said, hugging it tightly.

         Now, when my sister or I start to ask for something that seems urgent, my dad gently asks, “Do you have a pillow?”

We know exactly what he means.

1. The writer’s first volunteer project was ______.

         A. working on a poor trailer   B. helping a poor family

         C. donating beds and bedding          D. dealing with a housing problem

2. On hearing Josh’s answer, the writer was shocked because ______. 

   A. the family lived in a trailer           B. he expected to get some toys

   C. he didn’t know what a bed was           D. the boys had no bed to sleep in

3. From the passage, we can learn that Eric had never seen ______ before.

         A. a trailer       B. a truck         C. a pillow       D. a house

4. By saying “Do you have a pillow?”, the writer’s father means that ______.  

         A. what they want to get may be unnecessary       B. they should not waste money on small things

         C. they should do more volunteer work for the poor     D. what he will buy is not what they want but a pillow

 

Human wants seem endless, When a starving man gets a meal, he begins to think about an overcoat; when a manager gets a new sports car, he dreams of country clubs and pleasure boats dance into view.

The many wants of mankind might be regarded as making up several levels. When there is money enough to satisfy one level of wants, another level appears.

The first and most basic level of wants is food. Once this want is satisfied, a second level of wants appears: clothing and some sort of shelter. By the end of World War II these wants were satisfied for a great majority of Americans. Then a third level appeared. It included such items as cars and new houses.

By 1957 or 1958 this third level of wants was fairly well satisfied. Then in the late 1950s a fourth level of wants appeared: the “life-enriching” level. While the other levels mean physical satisfaction—the feeding, comfort, safety and transportation of the human body—this level means mental needs for recognition, achievement and happiness, It includes a variety of goods and  services many of which could be called “luxury” items. Among them are vacation trips, the best medical care and entertainment. Also included here are fancy foods and the latest styles in clothing.

On the fourth level, a greater percentage of consumers spending goes to services, while on the first three levels more is spent on goods. Will consumers raise their sights to a fifth level of wants as their income increases, or will they continue to demand luxuries and personal services on the fourth level?

A fifth level probably would be wants that can be achieved by community action. Consumers may be spending more on taxes and crime. After filling our stomachs, our garages, and our minds, we now may seek to ensure the health and safety to enjoy more fully the good things on the first three levels.

1.According to the passage, man will begin to think about such needs as housing and clothing only when _______

A．he has saved up enough money

B．he has grown dissatisfied with his simple shelter

C．he has satisfied his hunger

D．he has learned to build houses

2.It can be inferred from the passage that by the end of World War II most Americans ______

A．were very rich

B．were very poor

C．Had the good things on the first three levels

D．didn’t own cars

3.Which of the following is NOT related to “physical satisfaction”?

A．A successful career	B．A comfortable house
C．A good service	D．A family car

4.Which is the main want of man on the fourth level?

A．The more goods, the better

B．The more mental satisfaction, the better

C．The more “luxury” items, the better

D．The more earning, the better

5.The author thinks that a fifth level______

A．would be a little better than the fourth level

B．may be a lot more desirable than the first four

C．can be the last and most satisfying level

D．will come true if the government takes actions

 

In 1947 a group of famous people from the art world headed by an Austrian conductor decided to hold an intemational festival of music,dance and theatre in Edinburgh. The idea was to reunite Europe after the Second World War.

At the same time, the “Fringe” appeared as a challenge to the official festival.Eight theatre groups turned up uninvited in 1947,in the belief that everyone should have the right to perform,and they did so in a public house disused for years.

Soon,groups of studentsfirstly from Edinburgh University, and later from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge,Durham and Birmingham were making the journey to the Scottish capital each summer to perform theatre by little-known writers of plays in small church halls to the people of Edinburgh.

Today the “Fringe”,once less recognized, has far outgrown the festival with around 1,500 performances of theatre,music and dance on every one of the 21 days it lasts. And yet as early as 1959,with only 19 theatre groups performing,some said it was getting too big.

A paid administrator was first employed only in 1971, and today there are eight administrators working all year round and the number rises to 150 during August itself. In 2004 there were 200 places housing 1,695 shows by over 600 different groups from 50 different countries. More than 1,25 million tickets were sold.

1.Point was the purpose of Edinburgh Festival at he beginning?

A．To bring Europe together again.

B．To honor heroes of World War 11.

C．To introduce young theatre groups.

D．To attract great artists from Europe.

2.Why did some uninvited theatre groups come to  Edinburgh in 1947?

A．They owned a public house there.

B．They came to take up a challenge.

C．They thought they were also famous.

D．They wanted to take part in the festival.

3.Who joined the "Fringe" after it appeared?

A．they owned a public house there

B．University students.

C．人rusts from around the world.

D．Performers of music and dance.

4.We may learn from the text that Edinburgh Festival.

A．has become a non-official event

B．has gone beyond an art festival

C．gives shows all year round

D．keeps growing rapidly