But by far the largest cause of this human tragedy is that thousands of employees were heavily overweighed in Enron stock. Many had placed 100% of their 401(k) assets in the stock rather than in the 18 other investment options they were offered. Of course that wasn’t prudent, but it’s what some of them did.
The Enron employees’’ retirement disaster is part of the larger trend away from guaranteed economic security. That’s why preventing such a thing from ever happening again may be impossible. The huge attitudinal shift to I’ll-be-taken-care-of took at least a generation. The shift back may take just as long. It won’t be complete until a new generation of employees see assured economic comfort as a 20th- century quirk, and understand not just intellectually but in their bones that, like most people in most times and places, they’re on their own
26. why does the author say at the beginning “The miserable fate of Enron’s employees will be a landmark in business history…”?
A. Because the company has gone bankrupt.
B. Because such events would never happen again.
C. Because many Enron workers lost their retirement savings.
D. Because it signifies a turning point in economic security.√
27. According to the passage, the combined efforts by governments, layout union s and big corporations to guarantee economic comfort have led to a significant change in
A. people’s outlook on life.√
B. people’s life styles.
C. people’s living standard
D. people’s social values.
28. Changes in pension schemes were also part of
A. the corporate lay-offs.
B. the government cuts in welfare spending.√
C. the economic restructuring.
D. the warning power of labors union s.
29. Thousands of employees chose Enron as their sole investment option mainly because
A. The 401(k) made them responsible for their own future.
B. Enron offered to add company stock to their investment.√
C. their employers intended to cut back on pension spending.
D. Enron’s offer was similar to a defined-benefit plan.
30. Which is NOT seen as a lesson drawn from the Enron disaster?
A. 401(k) assets should be placed in more than one investment option.
B. Employees have to take up responsibilities for themselves.
C. Such events could happen again as it is not easy to change people’s mind.
D. Economic security won’t be taken for granted by future young workers.√
PART Ⅲ GENERAL KNOWLEDGE(10 MIN)
31. The majority of the current population in the UK are decedents of all the following tribes respectively EXCEPT
A. the Anglos
B. the Celts
C. the Jutes √
D. the Saxons
32. The Head of State of Canada is represented by
A. the Monarch
B. the President
C. the Prime Minister
D. the Governor-general √
33. The Declaration of Independence was written by
A. Thomas Jefferson √
B. George Washington
C. Alexander Hamilton
D. James Madison
34. The original inhabitants of Australia were
A. the Red Indians
B. the Eskimos
C. the Aborigines √
D. the Maoris
35. Which of the following novels was written by Emily Bronte?
A. Oliver Twist
B. Middlemarch
C. Jane Eyre
D. Wuthering Heights √
36. William Butler Yeats was a(n) ______ poet and playwright.
A. American
B. Canadian
C. Irish √
D. Australian
37. Death of a Salesman was written by
A. Arthur Miller √
B. Ernest Hemingway
C. Ralph Ellison
D. James Baldwin
38. _______ refers to the study of the internal structure of words and the rules of word formation.
A. Phonology
B. Morphology √
C. Semantics
D. Sociolinguistics
39. The distinctive features of a speech variety may be all the following EXCEPT
A. lexical
B. syntactic
C. phonological
D. psycholinguistic √
40. The word tail once referred to “the tail of a horse”, but now it is used to mean “the tail of any animal.” This is an example of
A. widening of meaning √
B. narrowing of meaning
C. meaning shift
D. loss of meaning
