Passage 2

Brand Value

Since the recession hit, about 40% of grocery shoppers say they’ve switched over to store brands. But how much can you really save? And how do these foods taste anyway?Consumer specialist Ric Romero teamed up with Consumer Reports to find out if store brands will satisfy your taste buds.It used to be when you walked down a stone aisle, this is what you might see: boring black and white packages containing generic brands that looked and usually tasted pretty dull. But in recent years, Consumer Reports’Tod Marks says, “All that’s changed."“Consumer Reports has long surveyed our subscribers about their preferences when it comes to food, and 70% of those we surveyed said the quality of store brands is really quite high in their minds.”Consumer Reports’ trained tasters compared leading brand names with store brands, trying 29 different foods. They did blind taste tests on everything from salsa to frozen strawberries. Betty Crocker’s Au Gratin Potatoes went head-to-head with Great Value by Walmart. And the winner? Great Value, at half the price.Old EI Paso Thick N’ Chunky Salsa battled it out with Costco’s Kirkland Signature Organic. Kirkland’s Medium Salsa is tastier and is almost half the price.Overall, tasters found the store brands as good as or better than big-name brands 23 out of 29 times. So switching to store brands can be a good way to save money spent on groceries.

About 70% of grocery shoppers say they’ve switched over to store brands because of economic concerns.

In matters relating to the environment, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, produced an “Earth Charter”, or declaration of basic principles for the conduct of nations and peoples with respect to environment and development; agreements on specific legal measures, including conventions (公约)on climate change and biodiversity, and principles for a framework agreement on forests; and an agenda for action (“Agenda 21”) , establishing the environmental work program agreed by the international community for the period beyond 1992 and into the twenty-first century.

Passage 2

“The whole concept that we can turn this around right now is patently ridiculous,” says an American trader who has lived and worked here since 1952. “The vested interests are being shaken and slowly moved, but at (a pace too slow for the eyes to follow).“That view is echoed by a U. S. diplomat closely involved in the efforts to open Japanese markets to American goods, Washington’s stock solution to the ballooning trade imbalance.“(Japan is a relationship society rather than a transactional society),” he says. “You cannot alter that kind of a system with a television speech or a batch of general proposals, no matter how well intentioned they are.”

49、Paraphrase “ a pace too slow for the eyes to follow”.

50、“Japan is a relationship society rather than a transactional society.“ What’s your understanding of this sentence?

51、What does the word “ transactional” mean here?

spot market

Passage 1

When the European Community’s vast single market officially takes effect on Jan. 1, there will be no balloons and brass bands, and holiday fliers between EC cities will still face passport checks at airports. Europeans will wake up on New Year’s Day with the same 10 per cent unemployment and doubts about European unity.“There won’t be the big bang some might have expected,” says Ricardo Perissich, EC director-general for the single market.Yet in its current dour mood, Europe risks almost overlooking the (revolutionary) step forward it has taken in creating the world’s largest and wealthiest barrier-free market—and on a continent where, for centuries, economic battles have led to some of history’s bloodiest wars.

46、What conclusions could you draw from the pictures presented in the 1st paragraph?

47、In what sense is “revolutionary” used here?

48、What did the writer worry about for Western Europe here?

exclusive contract

import tariff

a hermit nation

trade balance

barrier-free market

Chinese Economic Area