When it comes to the slowing economy, Ellen Spero is not biting her nails just yet. But the 47-year-old manicurist isn't cutting, filing or polishing as many nails as she'd like to, either. Most of her clients spend $12 to $50 weekly, but last month two longtime customers suddenly stopped showing up. Spero blames the softening economy. “I'm a good economic indicator,” she says. “I provide a service that people can do without when they're concerned about saving some dollars.” So Spero is downscaling, shopping at middle--brow Dillard's department store near her suburban Cleveland home, instead of Neiman Marcus. “I don't know if other clients are going to abandon me, too，” she says.
Even before Alan Greenspan's admission that America's red-hot economy is cooling, lots of working folks had already seen signs of the slowdown themselves. From car dealer-ships to Gap outlets, sales have been lagging for months as shoppers temper their spending. For retailers, who last year took in 24 percent of their revenue between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the cautious approach is coming at a crucial time. Already, experts say, holiday sales are off 7 percent from last year's pace. But don't sound any alarms just yet. Consumers seem only concerned, not panicked, and many say they remain optimistic about the economy's long-term prospects, even as they do some modest belt-tightening.
Consumers say they are not in despair because, despite the dreadful headlines, their own fortunes still feel pretty good. Home prices are holding steady in most regions. In Manhattan, “there's a new gold rush happening in the $4 million to $10 million range, predominantly fed by Wall Street bonuses,” says broker Barbara Corcoran. In San Francisco, prices are still rising even as frenzied(a.狂乱的) overbidding quiets. “Instead of 20 to 30 offers, now maybe you only get two or three,” says John Deadly, a Bay Area real-estate broker. And most folks still feel pretty comfortable about their ability to find and keep a job.
Many folks see silver linings to this slowdown. Potential homebuyers would cheer for lower interest rates. Employers would not mind a little fewer bubbles in the job market. Many consumers seem to have been influenced by stock-market swings, which investors now view as a necessary ingredient to a sustained boom. Diners might see an upside, too. Getting a table at Manhattan's hot new Alain Ducasse restaurant need to be impossible. Not anymore. For that, Greenspan & Co. may still be worth toasting. (2004.P3)
51. By “Ellen Spero isn't biting her nails just yet” (Line 1, Paragraph 1), the author means .
A. Spero can hardly maintain her business
B. Spero is too much engaged in her work
C. Spero has grown out of her bad habit
D. Spero is not in a desperate situation
【解答过程】解题思路一：
从文章中各种带有感情色彩的短语“don't sound any alarms”，“only concerned, not panicked”，“remain optimistic”，“not in despair”，“still feel pretty good”，“feel pretty comfortable”和“still be worth toasting”，我们可以看到，作者及美国人对整个经济的不景气持乐观态度。A项Spero几乎不能维持他的生意了。如果商业到了这般状况，人们还会对经济乐观得起来吗？A违背了文中的基本态度，排除。B项Spero太忙于自己的工作，文中第二句提到了Spero不能修剪、锉磨、上油指甲到他想要的数量，并且后文中又提到Spero在不断降低自己的经营规模，均说明生意在萎缩，生意不景气显然不可能有太多的活要做，排除B。选项C Spero已经改掉了他的坏脾气，文中根本就没有提及这个内容，排除C。选项D Spero并没有陷于绝望的境地，正好符合作者的乐观态度基调，且与后文吻合，所以答案选D。
52. How do the public feel about the current economic situation?
A. Optimistic.
B. Confused.
C. Carefree.
D. Panicked.
【解答过程】上面已有分析，答案为A 乐观的。B困惑的，C无忧虑的(乐观并不代表没有忧虑，文中谈到“only concerned, not panicked”正是说明这一点)，D恐慌的，均不符合文意，排除。
53. When mentioning “the $4 million to $10 million range” (Paragraph 3) the author is talking about .
A. gold market
B. real estate
C. stock exchange
D. venture investment
【解答过程】对于这种类似于指代关系的判断，通常采用就近原则，即指代的内容通常是之前紧邻的中心词。因为如果指代的内容间隔太远，容易产生歧义，不符合命题原则。这里，与这句紧邻的前后作者谈论的均是有关Home prices的话题，所以可以断定“the $4 million to $10 million range”谈论的是real estate(地产)，答案B。A黄金市场，文中虽然出现了gold这个词，但这里gold充当的是修饰词，修饰rush，表示“高涨的”；C股票交易，虽然文章谈到了华尔街，但并没有谈到股票交易，只是说华尔街的股息收益提供了“the $4 million to $10 million range”的资金来源，而股票的收益又为股票提供资金来源本身在理论上就说不通(如果股息为股票提供资金，股票又赚取股息，岂不是鸡生蛋蛋生鸡，一张纸左手换到右手就能不断赚取收益，那还有谁去从事实业呢?)；D风险投资，文中并没有提及到。
54. Why can many people see “silver linings” to the economic showdown?
A. They would benefit in certain ways.
B. The stock market shows signs of recovery.
C. Such a slowdown usually precedes a boom.
D. The purchasing power would be enhanced.
【解答过程】解题思路一：
虽然有些考生对于本句话的理解可能不是很清晰，但从该段结构看，段落首句给出该句后，后面均是具体事实的列举，由此可以断定，该句为该段的中心句，这也符合英文表达的习惯。该句直译：对于此次经济的减缓，许多人仍然可以看到银里子。在这里，我们暂且不管“silver linings”到底指“银里子”对不对，但我们可以肯定，既然是由“金银”修饰的名词，肯定不会是什么坏东西。那么，我们可以直接把它用“好处”这一具有广泛含义的词来含糊的替代它理解。这句话就转化成了这样一个很明确的语义：对于此次¾济的减缓，许多人仍然可以看到很多好处。语义明确了，从段落结构和内容方面我们已断定该句话就是段落的中心，后面举例正是对本中心的具体说明，从potential home buyers，employers，diners ，getting a table at Manhattan's hot new Alain Ducasse restaurant等几个方面来说明这一中心，人们可以在不同的方面获得一些实惠，同时也符合作者乐观的态度基调(benefit)，故答案为A。B股票市场显示了复苏的迹象(文中虽然提到股市，但并没提到股市的状况)，C繁荣之前通常有这种衰退，D购买力会得以提高，这三者在文中均没有提及。
55. To which of the following is the author likely to agree?
A. A now boom, on the horizon.
B. Tighten the belt, the single remedy.
C. Caution all right, panic not.
D. The more ventures, the more chances.
【解答过程】本文谈论的中心是经济增长速度放缓对美国人的影响及人们所持的态度，A即将出现的经济繁荣，谈到的是经济的复兴，偏离中心，排除。D风险越多，机会越大，谈到的是投资，偏离中心，排除。B勒紧腰带，别无选择，态度过于低沉，和作者乐观态度相悖，排除。C谨慎一点，无须恐慌，态度与作者吻合，且我们可以在文中可以找到依据“only concerned, not panicked”，答案C。
The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order. For Questions 41-45. you are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent article by choosing from the list A-G to fill in each numbered box. The second, the fifth and the last paragraphs have been placed for you in Boxes. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(10 points)
[A]The Thorax paper doesn't specify the illnesses that may result from weakened lung function, though there is evidence that a rapid decline on the order of those recorded in the study's most hostile subjects can lead to lung disease, heart disease, and even early death. The study's strength, Wright says, is that it uses an interdisciplinary approach involving psychology and medicine, and relies on objective measures of both hostility and lung function.
[B]The researchers' next steps are to look at whether the effects of hostility are reversible, and to conduct a similar study of a group of younger people, to get a sense of how early these effects can be seen. “We can intervene later,” says Kubzansky, “but wouldn't it be nice if they never get there in the first place?”
[C]Rosalind Wright, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard, notes that the lungs have been neglected in part, because there’s no clear-cut event like a heart attack to show evidence of their decline. But Wright and her colleagues, drawing on new data, say doctors need to pay more attention to lung function and talk about it with at-risk patients.
[D]Stress headaches, stress fractures, and stress-induced heart attacks are already well known to the general public. Now new research suggests that the lungs are vulnerable to the effects of stress as well.
[E]The results, despite their objectivity, may not entirely please doctors, whose time with patients is already tight. “Clinicians look for: ‘You have it or you don't,’” says Wright's fellow author Laura Kubzansky, an assistant professor in the department of society, human development, and health at the Harvard School of Public Health. “Psychological factors are not so simple. You can't say, ‘Oh, this is a non-hostile person’ in the way that you can say, ‘This is a nonsmoker.’ It makes the whole endeavor harder.”
[F]Recently, in the journal Thorax, they published one of the first studies to show that hostility is a risk factor for poor lung function among older men. The researchers found that men who were more hostile at the outset of the study suffered a more rapid rate of decline in their lung function than others. Moreover, the study found that damage to lung function from hostility was comparable to the amount of damage done by cigarettes, an effect even the investigators were surprised to see. That means, says Wright, “Just as smoking can hurt your lungs, harboring hostility may be harmful.”
[G]The researchers analyzed data from a long-term study of 670 men aged 45 to 86 whose hostility and lung function were measured several times during an eight-year period. Lung function was assessed using a spirometer, which measures subjects’ lung capacity and rate of airflow when they blow into a tube. Hostility, defined as a personality trait that leads to chronic anger, was measured by a widely used true-false questionnaire that assesses mistrust, resentment, and suspiciousness.
[H]Both Wright and Kubzansky say that this research has made them more focused on how people become hostile in the first place. “It changes the way I parent,” says Wright, who is the mother of two children. “When they get furious, I’ll sit down and have a conversation with each of them—one I wish I could have had myself when I was young—about how anger at his brother affects him, and about how it affects his brother.”