考研英语阅读题目与讲解
主旨题
The American economic system is organized around a basically private-enterprise,market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most.Private businessmen, striving to make profits, produce these goods and services in competition with other businessmen; and the profit motive, operating under competitive pressures, largely determines how these goods and services are produced. Thus, in the American economic system it is the demand of individual consumers, coupled with the desire of businessmen to maximize profits and the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes, that together determine what shall be produced and how resources are used to produce it.
An important factor in a market-oriented economy is that mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers. In the American economy, this mechanism is provided by a price system, a process in which prices rise and fall in response to relative demands of consumers and supplies offered by seller-producers. If the product is in short supply relative to the demand, the price will be bid up and some consumers will be eliminated from the market. If, on the other hand, producing more of a commodity results in reducing its cost, this will tend to increase the supply offered by seller-producers, which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product. Thus, price is the regulating mechanism in the American economic system.
The important factor in a private-enterprise economy is that individual are allowed to own productive resources (private property), and they are permitted to hire labor, gain control over natural resources, and produce goods and services for sale at a profit. In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights, including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.
1. In Line 8, Para. 1, "the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes" means[A] Americans are never satisfied with their incomes
[A]American are never satisfied with their incomes
[B] Americans tend to overstate their incomes
[C] Americans want to have their incomes increased
[D]Americans want to increase the purchasing power of their incomes
2. The first two sentences in the second paragraph tell us that
[A] producers can satisfy the consumers by mechanized production
[B] consumers can express their demands through producers
[C] producers decide the prices of products
[D] supply and demand regulate prices
3. According to the text, a private-enterprise economy is characterized
[A] private property and rights concerned
yd b [B] manpower and natural resources control
[C]ownership of productive resources
[D] free contracts and prices
★4. The text is mainly about____
[A] how American goods are produced
[B] how American consumers buy their goods
[C] how American economic system works
[D] how American businessmen make their profits
[答案、题干与选项释义、考点透析及常见错误与防范]
1.【答案】[D]
【题干与选项释义】
In Line 8, Para. 1, "the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes" means
在第1段第8行，“个人最大化其收入的愿望”的含义是
- Americans are never satisfied with their incomes美国人对他们的收入从来都不满意
- Americans tend to overstate their incomes美国人倾向于夸大他们的收入
[C] Americans want to have their incomes increased美国人想使他们的收入得到提高
[D] Americans want to increase the purchasing power of their incomes美国人想增加他们收入的购买力
【考点透析】关键词理解。要把握好“the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes(个人使其收人最大化的强烈愿望）”这一短语的意思，关键在于“maximize(使……最大化）”这个词。“maximize incomes"表示“使收入最大化”，即“使自己的收入购买到尽可能多的东西”，也就是选项[D]的意思——“美国人希望增加他们收入的购买力。”故本题应该选[D]。
【常见错误与防范】本题的答案信息在第一段尾句的“individual consumers”。有的考生未能认识到题干中的“individuals”指代的是“individual consumers”，以致解题思路混乱。
"individual consumers"的愿望当然是用同等额度的钱购买到尽可能多的物品，故选项[D]是正确选项。考生在解题时一定要认真审题，以免使解题思路陷入盲区。
2.【答案】[D]
【题干与选项释义】
The first two sentences in the second paragraph tell us that____
第二段的头两句话告诉我们——。
[A] producers can satisfy the consumers by mechanized production生产者可以通过机械化生产满足消费者
[B] consumers can express their demands through producers消费者可以通过生产者表达他们的需求
[C]producers decide the prices of products生产者决定产品价格
[D] supply and demand regulate prices供给和需求调节价格
【考点透析】局部理解。第二段前两句话的最后一部分“prices rise and fall in response to
relative demands of consumers and supplies offered by seller-producers.(对消费者相关的需求和出售者一生产者的供应做出反应，价格上升和下降。）”说明了选项[D]“供与求调节价
格”。因此，选项[D]为正确答案。
【常见错误与防范】本题的答案信息在第二段第二句。有的考生未能认识到本题答案信息
点实际上在第二段第二句；有的考生未能抓住第二句的中心主旨内容谈论的是“价格”
(price)。具体地讲就是：供求与价格的关系，故选项[D]是正确的。考生在解题时一定要
准确理解原文语句所表达的含义。
3.【答案】[A]
【题干与选项释义】
According to the text, a private-enterprise economy is characterized by高尘
根据本文，私有企业经济以_____为特点。
[A] private property and rights concerned 私有财产和有关的权利
[B] manpower and natural resources control人力和自然资源的控制
[C] ownership of productive resources生产资源的所有权
[D] free contracts and prices自由合同和价格
【考点透析】段落概括。应该在最后一段寻找这道题目的答案。此段，尤其是最后一句（In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership o productive resources but also certain rights...)讲明了美国私企经济包含两个方面的特点一个是生产资源的所有权，一个是某些权利，可见，答案[B]、[C]和[D]都不够全面，只有[A]是比较全面的答案，
【常见错误与防范】本题的答案信息在尾段，有的考生虽然理解了尾段的大概内容，但却未能抓住尾段所阐述的主旨信息和内容，以致对正确选项（A)缺乏应有的认识和理解，考生一定要加强归纳、总结和概括主旨信息和内容的能力，以免细题思路混乱，
4.【答案】[C)
【题干与选项释义】
The text is mainly about 本文主要阐述
[A] how American goods are produced美国的产品是怎样被生产的
[B] how American consumers buy their good美国消费者是如何购买他们的商品的
[C] how American economic system works美国的经济体系如何运行
[D] how American businessmen make their profits美国商人是如何赚取利润的
【考点透析】中心思想。这是问及主题内容的题目。纵观整篇文章，是说明文体，第一段一开头就讲到了构成美国经济体系的两个方面——市场调节与私有企业；第二段讲的是市场调节；第三段讲的是私有企业及其特点。第二段和第三段实际上是把美国经济体系构成的两方面加以展开，所以全篇主题应是选项[C],讲“美国经济体系如何运行”。
【常见错误与防范】本题的答案信息在第一、二、三段的首句。有的考生由于对本题题型（中心主旨题型）认识不够，故未能重视第一、二、三段主题句（第一句）所阐述的内容，以致对正确选项[C]缺乏足够的重视。考生在解题时首先要抓住每一道题的题型，不同的题型需要不同的思路和解题方法。
[参考译文]
美国的经济体制围绕私营为主企业和市场经济构建起来，市场通过消费者在市场花钱购买他们最需要的商品和服务来决定应该生产什么。私营业主在与同行的竞争中为追求利润而生产、提供这些产品和服务；运作于竞争压力下的利润驱动极大程度地决定着这些产品及服务的生产方式，因此，在美国经济体制下，个人消费者的需要，加之企业家对利润最大化的追求以及个人对收人最大化的渴望，共同决定着该生产什么以及资源该如何用来进行生产。
市场为主导的经济的一个重要因素是这样一个机制，通过该机制，消费者的需求能够被表达，并且通过生产商对此做出反应。在美国经济中，该机制通过价格体系得以实现。在这个过程中，价格随着消费者的相对需求和销售商一生产商的供给状况而升降。如果产品相对供不应求，价格就会被抬高，一些消费者将被济出市场，另一方面，如果商品的大量生产带来成本的降低，这将趋于提高销售商一生产商的供给，从而反过来导政价格下降，致使更多的消费者购买产品。因此，价格是美国经济体系中的调节机制。
私营企业经济的重要因素是个人允许拥有生产资料（私人财产）,他们获准庭训劳动力，控制自然资源，并且为获利销售而生产产品和提供服务。在美国经济中，私人财产的概念不仅包含对生产资料的所有权，还包含某些其他权利，包括对产品的定价权或与另一私营者签定自由合同的权利。
