Question

   The poverty line is the minimum income that people need for an acceptable standard of living. People with incomes below the poverty line are considered poor. Economists study the causes of poverty in order to find solutions to the problem.

   As the general standard of living in the country rises,the poverty line does,too. There?fore,even with today's relatively high standard of living, about 10 percent of the people in the United States are below the poverty line. However, if these people had stable jobs,they could have an acceptable standard of living. Economists suggest several reasons why poor people do not have jobs.

   For one thing，more than half of the poor people in the United States are not qualified to work. Over 40 percent of the poor people are children. By law,children less than 16 years old cannot work in many industries. A large number of poor people are old. Many companies do not hire people over 65 years old,the normal retirement age.

   Some poor adults do not look for jobs for a variety of personal reasons：they are sick，they do not have any motivation，they have family problems，or they do not believe that they can find a job.

   Other poor people look for a job but cannot find one. Many poor adults never went to high school. Therefore, when they look for jobs, they have few skills that they can offer.

At the present time,the government thinks it can reduce poverty in the country in the fol?lowing ways.

   First, if the national economy grows,businesses and industries hire more workers. Some of the poor who are qualified to look for jobs may find employment. Then they will no longer be below the poverty line.

Second, if society invests in the poor,the poor will become more productive. If the gov?eminent spends money on social programs，education，and training for poor people，the poor will have the skills to offer. Then it is more likely that they can find jobs.

   Finally, if the government distributes society's income differently, it raises some poor people above the poverty line. The government collects taxes from the non-poor and gives money to the poor. These payments to the poor are called welfare. In 1975 over 18 million people in the United States received welfare.

  Some economists are looking for better solutions to the poverty problem. However, at the present time,many people depend on welfare for a minimally acceptable standard of living. 

(       ) 1.The author's main purpose to write this article is        .

   A.to define what the poverty line is

   B.to explain why some people live below the poverty line

   C.to find solutions to the problem of poverty

   D.to show sympathy for those poor people 

(   ) 2. Which of the following is NOT true?

   A.Ten percent of the Americans live a poor life.

   B.Poor people are those who live below the poverty line.

   C.The poverty line rises as the general standard of living rises.

   D.The poverty line tends to be at the same level.

(   ) 3. More than 40 percent of the poor people are children. This is mainly because        .

   A.they do not have enough motivation

   B.they are so young that they don't have the right to work

   C.they fail to get enough education

   D.they are very poor in health

(   ) 4. Most of the American poor people are not qualified for employment because        .

   A.they do not have any motivation to work

   B.they are not self-confident enough

   C.they are too young or too old to work

  D.they have physical and family problems

(   ) 5. We may conclude from the passage that        .

   A.better solutions to the poverty problem are not yet found

   B.welfare will enable them to be rich

   C.poor people are sure to go out of the poverty line if they have chances to do busi?ness

   D.employment is the best solution to the poverty problem

Answer 1

1 ~ 5 CDBCA     

A篇介紹了美國處于貧困線以下的人的情況，并且分析了這些人貧困的原因，還提出了解決貧困問題的辦法。

1. C意圖揣摩題。主題句位于第一段(Econo?mists study the causes of poverty in order to find solutions to the problem.) 。文章首先提出主題，然后圍繞它作了闡述,介紹了美國貧窮人口的一些基本情況:貧困人口的特點，原因等，最后重點講述了政府目前打算解決貧困問題的一些想法，最后又再次強調(diào)經(jīng)濟學(xué)家正在努力尋求更好的解決方案。所以C項正確。其他各項均不能概括全文。

2. D事實判斷題。由第二段第一句As the general standard of living in the country rises,the poverty does,too可知，隨著一個國家人民生活水平提高，貧困線的標準也在提高。

3.B細節(jié)理解題。由文章第三段中的By law,children less than 16 years old can't work in many Industries.可以看出兒童在貧困人口中占這么大的比例，是因為美國法律沒有給他們工作的權(quán)利。

4.C細節(jié)理解題。由第三段中的Over 40 per?cent of the poor people are children以及A large number of poor people are old可知，美國相當(dāng)一部分貧困人口沒有工作是因為他們非小(不到法定工作年齡) 即老(到了退休年

齡) 。

5.A邏輯判斷題。由文章最后一段可知：經(jīng)濟學(xué)家正在尋找更好的解決貧困問題的方案，但目前還沒找到，絕大部分貧困人口不得不依靠社會福利和低保維持生計。