资料：FAST cars whizz around，malls are full of expensive luxuries and cranes dominate the skyline.But scratch the shimmering surface of the Gulf and you soon find countries hurting from the low oil price，currently around $40 a barrel.Growth is slowing and unemployment is rising.Policy makers even dare utter a three-letter“t” word until recently taboo：tax.
Oil is central to the six Gulf Co-operation Council （GCC） states，which have used the windfall of the past few years to spend lavishly.Unlike many oil exporters，such as Nigeria and Venezuela，they have high foreign-exchange reserves and low debts to cover short-term gaps.But public spending is generous and the private sector is heavily reliant on oil to boot.To be sustainable in an era of lower prices.the rulers must change the structure of their economies.
The IMF reckons the lower oil price knocked $340 billion off Arab oil-exporting states’ government revenues in 2015.This year is looking worse.Moody’s，a ratings agency，this month downgraded Bahrain and Oman and put on watch the other four GCC states： Saudi Arabia，Kuwait，the United Arab Emirates （UAE） and Qatar.“It’s the end of an era for the Gulf，”says Razan Nasser of HSBC in Dubai.“And we’re only just starting to see the effects.”
Oil receipts typically account for more than 80% of GCC government revenues，rising to over90% of Saudi Arabia’s budget before the crisis.Dubai，one of the emirates making up the UAE，is an exception，with oil accounting for only 5% of revenues.That is because it has successfully diversified tourism and services account for most of its government revenues.
Governments are reacting to the squeeze on their incomes with a mixture of strategies，drawing down reserves and taking on debt on the one hand，and imposing spending cuts on the other.Last year they made tweaks，such as curbing benefits for public servants.This year will be tougher.Oman has told all state-owned enterprises to remove perks such as cars.Qatari companies including Al Jazeera and the Qatar Foundation，a cultural organization，have laid off employees.With such tweaks, Kuwait，the UAE and Qatar，which have small populations and high foreign exchange reserves，can get by for a decade.
Which of the following statement is true according to the passage？
本题考查的是细节理解。
【关键词】following statement；true
【主题句】第1自然段FAST cars whizz around，malls are full of expensive luxuries and cranes dominate the skyline.But scratch the shimmering surface of the Gulf and you soon find countries hurting from the low oil price，currently around $40 a barrel.Growth is slowing and unemployment is rising.Policy makers even dare utter a three-letter“t” word until recently taboo：tax.跑车飕飕到处奔驰，商场充斥着昂贵的奢侈品，地平线上起重机无处不在。但是划破海湾地区繁华的表象，你很快会发现这些国家正遭受低油价的伤害，目前每桶约40美元。增长放缓，失业率上升。最近，政策制定者甚至终于敢说出禁忌的三个字母的“t”字——税收。
【解析】本题的问题是“根据这段文章，以下哪一项陈述是正确的？”。A选项“豪华地标占据海湾天际线”；B选项“油价正在飙升”；C选项“海湾当局拒绝提高税收”；D选项“油价约为每加仑40美元”。根据主题句，这些国家正遭受低油价伤害，因而油价上升与题干不符，B选项错误；受油价低迷影响，政府开始寻求税收来源，表示要征税，因此C选项错误；油价目前大概是在每桶40美元，而非每加仑，单位不一致，D选项错误，故选A。
Two years ago,Rupert Murdoch’s daughter,Elisabeth,spoke of the“unsettling dearth of integrity across so many of our institutions”.Integrity had collapsed,she argued,because of a collective acceptance that the only"sorting mechanism"in society should be profit and the market.But"it's us,human beings,we the people who create the society we want,not profit".
Driving her point home,she continued:“It’s increasingly apparent that the absence of purpose,of a moral language within government,media or business could become one of the most dangerous goals for capitalism and freedom.”This same absence of moral purpose was wounding companies such as News International,she thought,making it more likely that it would lose its way as it had with widespread illegal telephone hacking.
As the hacking trial concludes-finding guilty one ex-editor of the News of the World,Andy Coulson,for conspiring to hack phones,and finding his predecessor,Rebekah Brooks,innocent of the same charge-the wider issue of dearth of integrity still stands.Journalists are known to have hacked the phones of up to 5,500 people.This is hacking on an industrial scale,as was acknowledged by Glenn Mulcaire,the man hired by the News of the World in 2001 to be the point person for phone hacking.Others await trial.This saga still unfolds.
In many respects,the dearth of moral purpose frames not only the fact of such widespread phone hacking but the terms on which the trial took place.One of the astonishing revelations was how little Rebekah Brooks knew of what went on in her newsroom,how little she thought to ask and the fact that she never inquired how the stories arrived.The core of her successful defense was that she knew nothing.
In today’s world,it has become normal that well-paid executives should not be accountable for what happens in the organizations that they run.Perhaps we should not be so surprised.For a generation,the collective doctrine has been that the sorting mechanism of society should be profit.The words that have mattered are efficiency,flexibility,shareholder value,business-friendly,wealth generation,sales,impact and,in newspapers,circulation.Words degraded to the margin have been justice,fairness,tolerance,proportionality and accountability.
The purpose of editing the News of the World was not to promote reader understanding,to be fair in what was written or to betray any common humanity.It was to ruin lives in the quest for circulation and impact.Ms.Brooks may or may not have had suspicions about how her journalists got their stories,but she asked no questions,gave no instructions-nor received traceable,recorded answers.
Which of the following is suggested in the last paragraph?（ ）
Two years ago,Rupert Murdoch’s daughter,Elisabeth,spoke of the“unsettling dearth of integrity across so many of our institutions”.Integrity had collapsed,she argued,because of a collective acceptance that the only"sorting mechanism"in society should be profit and the market.But"it's us,human beings,we the people who create the society we want,not profit".
Driving her point home,she continued:“It’s increasingly apparent that the absence of purpose,of a moral language within government,media or business could become one of the most dangerous goals for capitalism and freedom.”This same absence of moral purpose was wounding companies such as News International,she thought,making it more likely that it would lose its way as it had with widespread illegal telephone hacking.
As the hacking trial concludes-finding guilty one ex-editor of the News of the World,Andy Coulson,for conspiring to hack phones,and finding his predecessor,Rebekah Brooks,innocent of the same charge-the wider issue of dearth of integrity still stands.Journalists are known to have hacked the phones of up to 5,500 people.This is hacking on an industrial scale,as was acknowledged by Glenn Mulcaire,the man hired by the News of the World in 2001 to be the point person for phone hacking.Others await trial.This saga still unfolds.
In many respects,the dearth of moral purpose frames not only the fact of such widespread phone hacking but the terms on which the trial took place.One of the astonishing revelations was how little Rebekah Brooks knew of what went on in her newsroom,how little she thought to ask and the fact that she never inquired how the stories arrived.The core of her successful defense was that she knew nothing.
In today’s world,it has become normal that well-paid executives should not be accountable for what happens in the organizations that they run.Perhaps we should not be so surprised.For a generation,the collective doctrine has been that the sorting mechanism of society should be profit.The words that have mattered are efficiency,flexibility,shareholder value,business-friendly,wealth generation,sales,impact and,in newspapers,circulation.Words degraded to the margin have been justice,fairness,tolerance,proportionality and accountability.
The purpose of editing the News of the World was not to promote reader understanding,to be fair in what was written or to betray any common humanity.It was to ruin lives in the quest for circulation and impact.Ms.Brooks may or may not have had suspicions about how her journalists got their stories,but she asked no questions,gave no instructions-nor received traceable,recorded answers.
The author holds that the current collective doctrine shows（ ）.
Two years ago,Rupert Murdoch’s daughter,Elisabeth,spoke of the“unsettling dearth of integrity across so many of our institutions”.Integrity had collapsed,she argued,because of a collective acceptance that the only"sorting mechanism"in society should be profit and the market.But"it's us,human beings,we the people who create the society we want,not profit".
Driving her point home,she continued:“It’s increasingly apparent that the absence of purpose,of a moral language within government,media or business could become one of the most dangerous goals for capitalism and freedom.”This same absence of moral purpose was wounding companies such as News International,she thought,making it more likely that it would lose its way as it had with widespread illegal telephone hacking.
As the hacking trial concludes-finding guilty one ex-editor of the News of the World,Andy Coulson,for conspiring to hack phones,and finding his predecessor,Rebekah Brooks,innocent of the same charge-the wider issue of dearth of integrity still stands.Journalists are known to have hacked the phones of up to 5,500 people.This is hacking on an industrial scale,as was acknowledged by Glenn Mulcaire,the man hired by the News of the World in 2001 to be the point person for phone hacking.Others await trial.This saga still unfolds.
In many respects,the dearth of moral purpose frames not only the fact of such widespread phone hacking but the terms on which the trial took place.One of the astonishing revelations was how little Rebekah Brooks knew of what went on in her newsroom,how little she thought to ask and the fact that she never inquired how the stories arrived.The core of her successful defense was that she knew nothing.
In today’s world,it has become normal that well-paid executives should not be accountable for what happens in the organizations that they run.Perhaps we should not be so surprised.For a generation,the collective doctrine has been that the sorting mechanism of society should be profit.The words that have mattered are efficiency,flexibility,shareholder value,business-friendly,wealth generation,sales,impact and,in newspapers,circulation.Words degraded to the margin have been justice,fairness,tolerance,proportionality and accountability.
The purpose of editing the News of the World was not to promote reader understanding,to be fair in what was written or to betray any common humanity.It was to ruin lives in the quest for circulation and impact.Ms.Brooks may or may not have had suspicions about how her journalists got their stories,but she asked no questions,gave no instructions-nor received traceable,recorded answers.
The author believes that Rebekah Brook’s defense（ ）.
Two years ago,Rupert Murdoch’s daughter,Elisabeth,spoke of the“unsettling dearth of integrity across so many of our institutions”.Integrity had collapsed,she argued,because of a collective acceptance that the only"sorting mechanism"in society should be profit and the market.But"it's us,human beings,we the people who create the society we want,not profit".
Driving her point home,she continued:“It’s increasingly apparent that the absence of purpose,of a moral language within government,media or business could become one of the most dangerous goals for capitalism and freedom.”This same absence of moral purpose was wounding companies such as News International,she thought,making it more likely that it would lose its way as it had with widespread illegal telephone hacking.
As the hacking trial concludes-finding guilty one ex-editor of the News of the World,Andy Coulson,for conspiring to hack phones,and finding his predecessor,Rebekah Brooks,innocent of the same charge-the wider issue of dearth of integrity still stands.Journalists are known to have hacked the phones of up to 5,500 people.This is hacking on an industrial scale,as was acknowledged by Glenn Mulcaire,the man hired by the News of the World in 2001 to be the point person for phone hacking.Others await trial.This saga still unfolds.
In many respects,the dearth of moral purpose frames not only the fact of such widespread phone hacking but the terms on which the trial took place.One of the astonishing revelations was how little Rebekah Brooks knew of what went on in her newsroom,how little she thought to ask and the fact that she never inquired how the stories arrived.The core of her successful defense was that she knew nothing.
In today’s world,it has become normal that well-paid executives should not be accountable for what happens in the organizations that they run.Perhaps we should not be so surprised.For a generation,the collective doctrine has been that the sorting mechanism of society should be profit.The words that have mattered are efficiency,flexibility,shareholder value,business-friendly,wealth generation,sales,impact and,in newspapers,circulation.Words degraded to the margin have been justice,fairness,tolerance,proportionality and accountability.
The purpose of editing the News of the World was not to promote reader understanding,to be fair in what was written or to betray any common humanity.It was to ruin lives in the quest for circulation and impact.Ms.Brooks may or may not have had suspicions about how her journalists got their stories,but she asked no questions,gave no instructions-nor received traceable,recorded answers.
It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that（ ）.
Two years ago,Rupert Murdoch’s daughter,Elisabeth,spoke of the“unsettling dearth of integrity across so many of our institutions”.Integrity had collapsed,she argued,because of a collective acceptance that the only"sorting mechanism"in society should be profit and the market.But"it's us,human beings,we the people who create the society we want,not profit".
Driving her point home,she continued:“It’s increasingly apparent that the absence of purpose,of a moral language within government,media or business could become one of the most dangerous goals for capitalism and freedom.”This same absence of moral purpose was wounding companies such as News International,she thought,making it more likely that it would lose its way as it had with widespread illegal telephone hacking.
As the hacking trial concludes-finding guilty one ex-editor of the News of the World,Andy Coulson,for conspiring to hack phones,and finding his predecessor,Rebekah Brooks,innocent of the same charge-the wider issue of dearth of integrity still stands.Journalists are known to have hacked the phones of up to 5,500 people.This is hacking on an industrial scale,as was acknowledged by Glenn Mulcaire,the man hired by the News of the World in 2001 to be the point person for phone hacking.Others await trial.This saga still unfolds.
In many respects,the dearth of moral purpose frames not only the fact of such widespread phone hacking but the terms on which the trial took place.One of the astonishing revelations was how little Rebekah Brooks knew of what went on in her newsroom,how little she thought to ask and the fact that she never inquired how the stories arrived.The core of her successful defense was that she knew nothing.
In today’s world,it has become normal that well-paid executives should not be accountable for what happens in the organizations that they run.Perhaps we should not be so surprised.For a generation,the collective doctrine has been that the sorting mechanism of society should be profit.The words that have mattered are efficiency,flexibility,shareholder value,business-friendly,wealth generation,sales,impact and,in newspapers,circulation.Words degraded to the margin have been justice,fairness,tolerance,proportionality and accountability.
The purpose of editing the News of the World was not to promote reader understanding,to be fair in what was written or to betray any common humanity.It was to ruin lives in the quest for circulation and impact.Ms.Brooks may or may not have had suspicions about how her journalists got their stories,but she asked no questions,gave no instructions-nor received traceable,recorded answers.
According to the first two paragraphs,Elisabeth was upset by（ ）.
Let's face it.Gardening fanatics like nothing better than to have their hands stuck in the soil or to be trimming,pruning,or harvesting the fruits of their labors.But for once,here is an obsession which benefits the whole community by beautifying the environment and producing cooler,more fragrant,and cleaner air.To recognize that fact,the Tampa City Council has decided to award generous prizes to the most beautiful displays this spring.
RULES OF ENTRY
1.Sorry,but only residents of the City of Tampa are eligible.
2.Judges will be selected by the Tampa City Council on April 25,and no personal information about any judges will be provided by the council.Judges may not be contacted by any entrant.
3.The appointed judges have total discretion,and no correspondence will be entered into regarding judges'decisions.
4.As the main point of this contest is the beautification of Tampa,we require that all gardens entered in the competition be easily visible from the street.
5.Contestants are invited to enter one or more categories.First,second,and third place prizes will be awarded in each category:（See the application form for categories）.Judges may,where they see fit,change entries from one category to another.
6.Contestants should permit a council photographer to enter and take photographs for display at the final awards ceremony and exhibition on August 3.These photographs will remain council property.
7.Judges will assess each garden according to the following criteria:
（i）Overall design
（ii）Plant health
（iii）Color
（iv）Contribution to the streetscape
（v）Eco-friendliness
（See the application form for details.）
8.No entries will be accepted after 5:00 p.m.on Friday,May 12.
9.All gardens entered should be ready for judging by June l.Contestants will be given 24-hours'notice of the judges'intention to visit.
10.This competition is not open to council employees or their relatives,or employees of any agency contracted by the council,or judges or their relatives.
11.Please send your entries to:Tampa Garden Competition
Tampa City Council
1 Constitution Place
Tampa
The Tampa 2006 Beautiful Gardens Competition
When will the judging begin?
Let's face it.Gardening fanatics like nothing better than to have their hands stuck in the soil or to be trimming,pruning,or harvesting the fruits of their labors.But for once,here is an obsession which benefits the whole community by beautifying the environment and producing cooler,more fragrant,and cleaner air.To recognize that fact,the Tampa City Council has decided to award generous prizes to the most beautiful displays this spring.
RULES OF ENTRY
1.Sorry,but only residents of the City of Tampa are eligible.
2.Judges will be selected by the Tampa City Council on April 25,and no personal information about any judges will be provided by the council.Judges may not be contacted by any entrant.
3.The appointed judges have total discretion,and no correspondence will be entered into regarding judges'decisions.
4.As the main point of this contest is the beautification of Tampa,we require that all gardens entered in the competition be easily visible from the street.
5.Contestants are invited to enter one or more categories.First,second,and third place prizes will be awarded in each category:（See the application form for categories）.Judges may,where they see fit,change entries from one category to another.
6.Contestants should permit a council photographer to enter and take photographs for display at the final awards ceremony and exhibition on August 3.These photographs will remain council property.
7.Judges will assess each garden according to the following criteria:
（i）Overall design
（ii）Plant health
（iii）Color
（iv）Contribution to the streetscape
（v）Eco-friendliness
（See the application form for details.）
8.No entries will be accepted after 5:00 p.m.on Friday,May 12.
9.All gardens entered should be ready for judging by June l.Contestants will be given 24-hours'notice of the judges'intention to visit.
10.This competition is not open to council employees or their relatives,or employees of any agency contracted by the council,or judges or their relatives.
11.Please send your entries to:Tampa Garden Competition
Tampa City Council
1 Constitution Place
Tampa
The Tampa 2006 Beautiful Gardens Competition
Which of the following will NOT be evaluated by the judges?
Let's face it.Gardening fanatics like nothing better than to have their hands stuck in the soil or to be trimming,pruning,or harvesting the fruits of their labors.But for once,here is an obsession which benefits the whole community by beautifying the environment and producing cooler,more fragrant,and cleaner air.To recognize that fact,the Tampa City Council has decided to award generous prizes to the most beautiful displays this spring.
RULES OF ENTRY
1.Sorry,but only residents of the City of Tampa are eligible.
2.Judges will be selected by the Tampa City Council on April 25,and no personal information about any judges will be provided by the council.Judges may not be contacted by any entrant.
3.The appointed judges have total discretion,and no correspondence will be entered into regarding judges'decisions.
4.As the main point of this contest is the beautification of Tampa,we require that all gardens entered in the competition be easily visible from the street.
5.Contestants are invited to enter one or more categories.First,second,and third place prizes will be awarded in each category:（See the application form for categories）.Judges may,where they see fit,change entries from one category to another.
6.Contestants should permit a council photographer to enter and take photographs for display at the final awards ceremony and exhibition on August 3.These photographs will remain council property.
7.Judges will assess each garden according to the following criteria:
（i）Overall design
（ii）Plant health
（iii）Color
（iv）Contribution to the streetscape
（v）Eco-friendliness
（See the application form for details.）
8.No entries will be accepted after 5:00 p.m.on Friday,May 12.
9.All gardens entered should be ready for judging by June l.Contestants will be given 24-hours'notice of the judges'intention to visit.
10.This competition is not open to council employees or their relatives,or employees of any agency contracted by the council,or judges or their relatives.
11.Please send your entries to:Tampa Garden Competition
Tampa City Council
1 Constitution Place
Tampa
The Tampa 2006 Beautiful Gardens Competition
What condition is placed on those who wish to enter the contest?
Let's face it.Gardening fanatics like nothing better than to have their hands stuck in the soil or to be trimming,pruning,or harvesting the fruits of their labors.But for once,here is an obsession which benefits the whole community by beautifying the environment and producing cooler,more fragrant,and cleaner air.To recognize that fact,the Tampa City Council has decided to award generous prizes to the most beautiful displays this spring.
RULES OF ENTRY
1.Sorry,but only residents of the City of Tampa are eligible.
2.Judges will be selected by the Tampa City Council on April 25,and no personal information about any judges will be provided by the council.Judges may not be contacted by any entrant.
3.The appointed judges have total discretion,and no correspondence will be entered into regarding judges'decisions.
4.As the main point of this contest is the beautification of Tampa,we require that all gardens entered in the competition be easily visible from the street.
5.Contestants are invited to enter one or more categories.First,second,and third place prizes will be awarded in each category:（See the application form for categories）.Judges may,where they see fit,change entries from one category to another.
6.Contestants should permit a council photographer to enter and take photographs for display at the final awards ceremony and exhibition on August 3.These photographs will remain council property.
7.Judges will assess each garden according to the following criteria:
（i）Overall design
（ii）Plant health
（iii）Color
（iv）Contribution to the streetscape
（v）Eco-friendliness
（See the application form for details.）
8.No entries will be accepted after 5:00 p.m.on Friday,May 12.
9.All gardens entered should be ready for judging by June l.Contestants will be given 24-hours'notice of the judges'intention to visit.
10.This competition is not open to council employees or their relatives,or employees of any agency contracted by the council,or judges or their relatives.
11.Please send your entries to:Tampa Garden Competition
Tampa City Council
1 Constitution Place
Tampa
The Tampa 2006 Beautiful Gardens Competition
What is the main purpose of this competition?
Let's face it.Gardening fanatics like nothing better than to have their hands stuck in the soil or to be trimming,pruning,or harvesting the fruits of their labors.But for once,here is an obsession which benefits the whole community by beautifying the environment and producing cooler,more fragrant,and cleaner air.To recognize that fact,the Tampa City Council has decided to award generous prizes to the most beautiful displays this spring.
RULES OF ENTRY
1.Sorry,but only residents of the City of Tampa are eligible.
2.Judges will be selected by the Tampa City Council on April 25,and no personal information about any judges will be provided by the council.Judges may not be contacted by any entrant.
3.The appointed judges have total discretion,and no correspondence will be entered into regarding judges'decisions.
4.As the main point of this contest is the beautification of Tampa,we require that all gardens entered in the competition be easily visible from the street.
5.Contestants are invited to enter one or more categories.First,second,and third place prizes will be awarded in each category:（See the application form for categories）.Judges may,where they see fit,change entries from one category to another.
6.Contestants should permit a council photographer to enter and take photographs for display at the final awards ceremony and exhibition on August 3.These photographs will remain council property.
7.Judges will assess each garden according to the following criteria:
（i）Overall design
（ii）Plant health
（iii）Color
（iv）Contribution to the streetscape
（v）Eco-friendliness
（See the application form for details.）
8.No entries will be accepted after 5:00 p.m.on Friday,May 12.
9.All gardens entered should be ready for judging by June l.Contestants will be given 24-hours'notice of the judges'intention to visit.
10.This competition is not open to council employees or their relatives,or employees of any agency contracted by the council,or judges or their relatives.
11.Please send your entries to:Tampa Garden Competition
Tampa City Council
1 Constitution Place
Tampa
The Tampa 2006 Beautiful Gardens Competition
Who is the intended audience of this contest?
