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A

“Lemons” in Used Car Market

Suppose that you， a college student of limited income， are in the market of a used pickup truck. The following ad in a local used car publication catches your eyes.

1993 Ford Ranger， 4WD， a/c.

AM/FM/cass.， showroom condition.

Call 555-1234 after 5 pm.

This is exactly the kind of car you want， so you call to ask about the price. The price you are told over the phone is $2，000 lower than the price for this model with this equipment listed in a used car guidebook. Instead of being interested， however， you are suspicious.

For many products， when you must pay less than the going rate， you believe you are getting a great deal. This is not necessarily the case for used cars or other durable goods （washing machines and television sets， for example） because with expensive products you must be particularly careful about getting a “lemon”.

In addition to asking the price， the age of a car is a factor when you are trying to determine whether a seller is attempting to sell a lemon. While people have all sorts of reasons for wanting to sell their cars — even relatively new cars — most people hold off until they have put many thousands of miles on a car or until the used car is several years old. You would probably be as suspicious of a car that is “too new” as you would a car that is “too good” a deal. In fact， you are probably willing to pay a high price for a high-quality used car. While this price would certainly be acceptable to the seller， the competitive market might not facilitate（有利于）such trades.

1. What is the meaning of the underlined word “suspicious”？

A. Very happy. B. Quite surprised.

C. Rather doubtful. D. A little interested.

2. “Lemon” in this passage refers to ___ .

A. a kind of fruit

B. a kind of used car

C. a product of low price

D. a product of poor quality

3. What should you consider carefully to get a good buy according to the author？

A. The miles the car has run.

B. The price and the age of the car.

C. The trade condition of the car market.

D. The reason of the seller for selling the car.

4. We can infer from the last two sentences of the text that used cars are ___ .

A. relatively new B. generally cheap

C. usually of poor quality D. very attractive to buyers

B

We believe that there is more to education than preparation for a job. Children must be prepared for all aspects of their adult-life work， leisure， personal relationships， creative activities， dealing with money matters， independence， and parenthood.

However， it would be unrealistic to provide an education which gave no consideration to the needs of employers.

What type of training does the business world regard as important？

Many young people applying for jobs are， in the employers opinions， very weak in the basic skills of handwriting， grammar and spelling. Though further education at university level improves the students general ability， a report states， “In basic skills the standards remain stubbornly low.”

It is doubtful whether standards have lowered in recent years. What is certain is that employers do not believe the standard is now high enough. Do technological changes make greater demands upon the students abilities？

We should also remember that the job expectations of young people have increased. The girls who would have once become shop assistants or hairdressers now want to be secretaries. Boys who sought an apprenticeship（學徒身份）20 years ago now desire to have an engineering degree. But it is still the same girls and boys with the same degree of ability. No wonder there are problems in reaching the “necessary standards” of the business world.

Many employers believe that it is important for teachers to have experience outside the world of college and school. They should work for a while at some other kinds of jobs to see how the world of business and commerce is different from their own. The teaching profession and society in general need a greater under-standing of manpower needs and therefore of “the desired” direction of the education system.

5. In the writers opinion， education should ___ .

A. improve adults life

B. pay more attention to basic skills

C. centre on students working ability

D. take the needs of employers into consideration

6. In talking about basic skills， the employers mean the standards ___ .

A. have lowered B. are changing

C. cant meet the need D. should be kept the same

7. The underlined part in Paragraph 6 refers to those who ___ .

A. are likely to be unemployed

B. have just left the middle school

C. are looking for jobs far beyond their abilities

D. might be shop assistants， hairdressers or apprentices in the past

8. Its suggested that teachers should ___ .

A. never change their jobs

B. improve their teaching methods

C. spend more time on their school work

D. get some working experience outside school