44. Richard Wagner was completely s ______ in his personal relationships. Paragraph Ten International applications are down 23% since 2003 for the universities. This was the result of increased security in the United States after the terrorist attacks in 2001. This increased security made it more difficult for students to get permits, or visas, to enter the US. Security measures also increased the time to process these visas.
45. It becomes h _______ for foreigners to study in the US. IV. Translation. (20 points, 4 points for each) Directions : In the following passage, there are five groups of underlined sentences. Read the passage carefully and then translate these sentences into Chinese. Write the Chinese version on your Answer Sheet. They earn and spend, buy and sell, work and play.
(46) It’s a mass of individuals, struggling to satisfy often-conflicting goals, who set the pace for the American system. Whether the nation’s huge business machine sputters or steams ahead depends on millions of individual consumers, the real “bosses” of the American economy. People’s decision on where to live and work, what to buy or pass over, how much to save are at the heart of the free market system.
(47) Business and government take their cues from consumers, changing plans to meet their wants and needs. Every day, the nation’s 218 million consumers spend more than 3 billion dollars. Their purchases account for almost two-thirds of all the money spent each year, with government and business responsible for the rest. The trouble is that while people’s needs are almost endless, their incomes aren’t. Where money goes? About 70 per cent of the average household’s spending goes for necessities such as housing, food, clothes and health care.
(48) To be able to afford these items and still have money left for nonessentials such as travel and entertainment, most families find themselves economizing and watching their pennies. The same problem of matching limited resources with seemingly endless demands confronts businesses and public agencies. That is what the economy is all about — making choices on how to use limited resources of money, manpower, machinery and materials, whether it involves a shopper deciding what to buy in the supermarket or a manufacturer deciding what line of goods to produce.
(49) Choices made in the economy involve a continuous tug-of-war between consumers and producers over price. If many businesses are offering a product and there is plenty of it to satisfy the needs of all consumers, a producer will be forced to sell at a price not far above costs in order to keep from being stuck with a lot of unmarketable supplies. This is why, for example, prices for fresh fruit and vegetables drop during the summer months when such produce is in great number. However, a low price — especially if it falls below what it costs a seller to make the goods — will discourage production, perhaps drive the high-cost producers out of business or force them to make something else. Again using an example from agriculture, farmers periodically plant less wheat or raise fewer cattle if the prices for those commodities give too little return for the costs involved. On the other hand, if there is great demand for a product and supplies are tight, business will be able to raise prices, their profits will increase and they will invest in new equipment to increase output. Other firms may be attracted by the hopes of good profits to produce the scarce item, thus adding new competition. That, in the simplest form, is the way the law of supply and demand works in free-market economy.
（50）Price becomes the guidepost, telling producers what they can expect to sell at a price that more than covers their costs. At the same time, posted prices tell the consumer what he can expect to pay.
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