共用题干
Is There a Way to Keep the Britain's Economy Growing
In today's knowledge economy,nations survive on the things they do best. The Japanese design electronics while Germens export engineering techniques.The French serve the best food and Americans make computers.
Britain specializes in the gift of talking.The nation doesn't manufacture much of anything.
But it has lawyers,stylists and business consultants who earn their living from talk,talk and more talk. The World Foundation think tank says the UK's four iconic（标志性的）jobs today are not scientists,engineers,teachers and nurses.Instead,they're hairdressers,celebrities,management consultants and managers .But can all this talking keep the British economy going?The
British government thinks it can.
Although the country's trade deficit was more than￡60 billion in 2006,UK's largest in the postwar period,officials say the country has nothing to worry about.In fact,Britain does have a world-class pharmaceutical（制药的）industry , and it still makes a small sum from selling arms abroad. It also trades services-accountancy,insurance, banking and advertising.The government believes Britain is on the cutting edge of the knowledge economy.After all,the country of
Shakespeare and Wordsworth has a literary tradition of which to be proud,Rock“n”roll is an
English language medium,and there are billions to be made by their cutting-edge bands.In other words,the creative economy has plenty of strength to carry the British economy.
However,creative industries account for only about 4 percent of UK's exports of goods and services .The industries are finding it hard to make a profit,according to a report of the National
Endowment for Science,Technology and the Arts .The report shows only 38 percent of British companies were engaged in“innovation activities”,3 percentage points below the EU average and well below Germany(61 percent)and Sweden(47 percent).
In fact,it might be better to call Britain a“servant”economy-there are at least 4 million people“in service”.The majority of the population are employed by the rich to cook,clean,and take care of their children.Many graduates are even doing menial jobs for which they do not need a degree.Most employment growth has been,and will continue to be,at the low-skill end of the service sector-in shops,bars,hotels,domestic service and in nursing and care homes.
The officials are not worried about the trade deficit in 2006,because they believe_______.
A: Britain is on the cutting edge of the knowledge economy
B: the literary tradition of Britain will help make billions of pounds
C: Britain is home to the largest pharmaceutical industry in the world
D: the world economy is strong enough to carry the Britain economy
答案：A
解析：
由第二段第四、五句“The World Foundation think tank says the UK's four iconic（标志性的）jobs today are not scientists, engineers, teachers and nurses. Instead, they're hairdressers, celebrities, management consultants and managers.”可知如今英国的四大标志性的职业不是科学家、工程师、教师和护士，而是发型师、名流显要、管理顾问和商业经理。四个选项中只有C（商业顾问）符合题意，故选C。
由第三段第四句“The government believes Britain is on the cutting edge of the knowl-edge economy.”可知英国政府认为英国有着最先进的知识经济。由此不难推出，“the cutting edge”的意思是“最先进的”，故选D。
题干中的“they”指的是前一分句中的官方“ officials”。由第三段第四句“The gov-ernment believes Britain is on the cutting edge of the knowledge economy.”可知，官方认为英国正处于知识经济的前沿，所以不担心2006年的贸易赤字。故选A。
由第四段最后一句中的“only 38 percent of British companies were engaged in‘innova-tion activities' ,3 percentage points below the EU average”可知，英国只有38％的企业在进行有关创新的工作，比欧盟的平均水平要低三个百分点。由此推断，英国的创新工作没有欧洲其他国家做得好。故选D。
由第二段最后两句“But can all this talking keep the British economy going? The British government thinks it can.”可以推断，英国政府在经济上过于自信了。故选C。
