专四专八考试

【单选题】President will make his case for his $1.6 trillion tax cut plan, delivering a speech at a community center in St. Louis. The proposal would slash federal tax rates across all levels of income, eliminate the so-called marriage penalty and phase out estate taxes.Democrats complain that the plan—which would cut the top rate from 39 to 33 percent—would disproportionately benefit the wealthy and unnecessarily squander expected budget surpluses. Some of the richestAmericans are urgingCongress not to repeal the estate tax, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, Fe
B、14.
About 120 wealthyAmericans had signed or supported a petition to oppose phasing out the tax. PresidentBush has included the repeal of the tax in his $1.6 trillion tax cut proposal. Normally when "dozens" ofAmericans join in a political cause, it is not particularly noteworthy, but in this case the dozens include: George Soros, a billionaire financier; WarrenBuffett, an investor listed asAmerica’s fourth-richest person; the philanthropistDavid Rockefeller Jr.; and William Gates Sr., a Seattle lawyer and father ofAmerica’s richest man, MicrosoftCorp.ChairmanBill Gates.
It was refreshing to seeBuffer and George Soros and a number of other extremely wealthy luminaries stand up in opposition to PresidentBush’s proposed repeal of the estate tax. While the policy has some emotional attractions--it would protect the inheritors of some small businesses from having to sell the companies to pay taxes, and it is true that most people have been taxed on their savings once already—in practice the tax repeal would mainly be a windfall for a very small number of very, very rich people.
Buffer and company cite these factors in their petition calling for opposition to the estate-tax repeal. They also discuss something that’s equally emotional and far more complex: the principle of meritocracy. The idea that everyone inAmerica has an equal chance, that our fates are not determined by accidents of birth, is one of our core values.And nowhere is this principle more revered than in the technology economy; entrepreneurship is almost by definition an expression of meritocracy.
The petitioners argue that repealing the tax will cost the Treasury billions of dollars in lost revenues and will result in either increased taxes in the long run or cuts to Medicate, Social Security, environmental protection and other government programs.
Repealing the levy "would enrich the heirs ofAmerica’s millionaires and billionaires, while hurting families who struggle to make ends meet," the petition says.
Buffer told the Times that repealing the estate tax would be a "terrible mistake" and the equivalent of "choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics."
An old brokerage commercial says: "He made his money the old-fashioned way: He earned it." There was a perfect parody of the ad in which the line read: "He made his money the old-fashioned way: He inherited it." In 20 or 50 or 100 years, which of these lines will be rightBuffer and Soros and friends, to their credit, want to help make the first one real. Let’s hope this is only one step in that process.
What is the definition of the term "meritocracy" in the fourth paragraph
A、System of government by people of individual ability.

B、System of government by rich people.
C．System of inheritance.
D．System of gradin

网考网参考答案：A
网考网解析：
[定位] 第4段第2、3、4句。 [解析] 词义题。文章第4段对meritocracy一词的含义进行了解释，首先第3句表明meritocracy意味着每一个美国人都是机会均等的，命运不由出身来决定，然后在本段末句表明meritocracy与technology economy及 entrepreneurship有关，综合来看，meritocracy应该与人的能力与努力有关，对比四个选项，选项A最合适 [点睛] 第4段第3句表明meritocracy不指继承而来的财富，也与人是否富有无关。由此可否定选项C和 B；文中没有任何细节与选项D中的grading有关。 document.getElementById("warp").style.display="none"; document.getElementById("content").style.display="block"; 查看试题解析出处>>