单项选择题

The housing market has been for two years propping up consumers’ spirits while the rest of the economy lies exhausted on the floor, still trying to struggle to its feet. According to the National Association of Realtors, the national median existing-home price ended the year at $ 164, 000, up 7.1 percent from 2001. That’s the strongest annual increase since 1980.
Although residential real estate activity makes up less than 8% of total U. S. GDP, a housing market like this one can make the difference between positive and negative growth. Most significantly, consumer spending is 66% of GDP, and the purchase of a new home tends to have an "umbrella effect" on the homeowner’s spending as he has to stock it with a washer/dryer, a new big-screen TV, and maybe a swing set for the yard.
The main factor in housing’s continued strength is a classic economic example of zero-sum boom: the persistent weakness everywhere else. As the 2003 recovery continues to be more forecast than reality. Falling stock prices raised investor appeal for U. S. Treasury Bonds, which in turn, allowed most interest rates to drift even lower. But there are not many signs that there’s a bubble ready to burst.
December’s new record in housing starts, for example, was nicely matched by the new record in new home sales. If you build it, they will buy and even if an economic pickup starts to reduce housing’s relative attractiveness, there’s no reason why modest economic growth and improved consumer mood can’t help sustaining housing’s strength. "The momentum gained from low mortgage interest rates will carry strong home sales into 2003, with an improving economy offsetting modestly higher mortgage interest rates as the year progresses," said David Lereah, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors.
Just as housing has taken up much of the economic slack for the past two years, both as a comforting investment for fretting consumers and a driver of consumer spending itself, a big bump elsewhere in the economy in 2003 could be housing’s downfall. If stocks roar back this spring, capital inflows could steal from the bond market, pushing up long-term interest rates. or Alan Greenspan and the Fed could do the same to short-term rates, as a way to hit the brakes on a recovery that is heating up too fast. In other words, if everything possible goes wrong for housing, homeowners should have plenty to compensate them in terms of job security and income hikes.
By the expression "zero-sum boom" (Paragraph 3), the writer means（）

A．housing’s continued strength and the persistent weakness may cancel each other out.
B．there are signs that improved consumer mood fails to help sustain housing’s strength.
C．stock price’ negative growth will ultimately offset housing market’s positive strength.
D．higher mortgage interest rates are compatible with the recovery of the economy.

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问答题

In politics, in the courts, even on the ubiquitous TV talk shows, it is good form to pick an intellectual fight. People attach each other--hurl insults, even-and it counts as logical argument. I cannot understand it. (1) It seems that our society favors a kind of ritualized aggression. Everywhere you look, in newspapers and on television, issues are presented using the terminology of war and conflict. We hear of battles duels (决斗) and disputes. We see things in terms of winners and losers, victors and victims. (2) The problem is society’s unquestioning belief in the advantages of the debate as a way of solving disagreements, even proving right from wrong. Our brainwashing begins early at school, When the brightest pupils are co-opted onto the debating system. They get there because they can think up a good argument go support their case. once on the debate team, they learn that they earn bonus points for the skill with which they verbally attack, or insult, the opposing team. (3) They win if they can successfully convince the audience that they are right, even if the case they are arguing is clearly non-sensual. They do this by proving themselves to be stronger, brighter, more outrageous, even. The training in this adversarial approach continues at out tertiary institutions. The standard way to present an academic paper, for instance, is to take up an opposing argument to something expressed by another academic. The paper must set out to prove the other person wrong. This is not at all the same thing as reading the original paper with an open mind and discovering that you disagree with it. The reverence for the adversarial approach spills over into all areas of life. Instead of answering their critics, politicians learn to sidestep negative comments and turn the point around to an attack on accusers. Defense lawyers argue the case for their clients event when they suspect they may be guilty. And ordinary people use the came tactics--just listen to your teenager next time you pull him up for coming home late. You can be sure a stream of abuse will flow about your own time-keeping, your irritating habits, your history of bad parenting.

单项选择题

According to the author, which of the following can be a chief function of the sense of humor（）

A．Strengthening human relations.
B．Keeping a correct sense of values.
C．Eliminating comic stereotypes.
D．Singling out adverse comments.