2020年12月英语四级阅读美文
【文章简介】完成=时间+要领，便宜力是这个等式的保证。世上无天赋，妙手都是来自受苦的练习。而各位常常只看到“牛人”闪灼的成绩，无视其成绩面前非常寥寂的勤劳。以下为“2020年12月英语四级阅读美文”，接待阅读参考！更多有关讯息请关注华宇考试网！
【篇一】2020年12月英语四级阅读美文
George Soros The Financial Crocodile
The speculator, George Soros, whose assault on sterling1 ejected Britain from the European exchange rate mechanism that September of 10 years ago has a mission — to use his estimated ￡5 billion fortune and his fame to help tackle what he sees as the failures of globalisation. The idea that a man who made billions betting on the financial markets sides with the anti-globalisation movement might strike some as ironic . Soros is clearly genuinely appalled at the damage wrought on vulnerable economies by the vast sums of money which flow across national borders every day.
“The US governs the international system to protect its own economy. It is not in charge of protecting other economies, ”he says.“ So when America goes into recession, you have antirecessionary policies. When other countries are in recession, they don't have the ability to engage in antirecessionary policies because they can't have a permissive monetary policy, because money would flee . ”In person , he has the air of a philosophy professor rather than a gimlet-eyed financier. In a soft voice which bears the traces of his native Hungary, he argues that it is time to rewrite the so-called Washington consensus — the cocktail of liberalisation, privatisation and fiscal rectitude which the IMF2 has been preaching for 15 years. Developing countries no longer have the freedom to run their own economies, he argues, even when they follow perfectly sound policies. He cites Brazil, which although it has a floating currency and manageable public debt was paying ten times over the odds to borrow from capital markets.
Soros, who at one stage after the fall of the Berlin Wall3 was providing more assistance to Russia than the US government, believes in practising what he preaches. His Open Society Institute has been pivotal in helping eastern European countries develop democratic societies and market economies. Soros has the advantage of an insider's knowledge of the workings of global capitalism, so his criticism is particularly pointed. Last year, the Soros foundation's network spent nearly half a billion dollars on projects in education, public health and promoting democracy, making it one of the world's largest private donors.
Soros credits the anti-globalisation movement for having made companies more sensitive to their wider responsibilities.“ I think [ the protesters] have made an important con tribution by making people aware of the flaws of the system, ”he says. “ People on the street had an impact on public opinion and corporations which sell to the public responded to that. ”Because the IMF has abandoned billion dollar bailouts for troubled economies, he thinks a repeat of the Asian crisis is unlikely. The fund's new“ tough love ”policy — for which Argentina is the guinea pig — has other consequences. The bailouts were a welfare system for Wall Street, with western taxpayers rescuing the banks from the consequences of unwise lending to emerging economies. Now the IMF has drawn a line in the sand, credit to poor countries is drying up. “ It has created a new problem — the inadequacy of the flow of capital from centre to the periphery, ”he says.
The one economy Soros is not losing any sleep about is the U. S.“ I am much more positive about the underlying economy than I am about the market, because we are waging war not only terrorism but also on recession, ”he says.“Although we don't admit it, we are actually applying Keynesian4 remedies, and I am a confirmed Keynesian. I have not yet seen an economy in recession when you are gearing up for war. ”He worries that the world's largest economic power is not living up to its responsibilities. “ I would like the United States to live up to the responsibilities of its hegemonic power because it is not going to give up its hegemonic power, ”he says.“The only thing that is realistic is for the United States to become aware that it is in its enlightened self-interest to ensure that the rest of the world benefits from their role . ”
【篇二】2020年12月英语四级阅读美文
Schwarzenegger To Run For Governor
The Terminator has a dream — he wants to be the"Governator1 "of California and follow in the footsteps of another Hollywood hero who gave up acting for a greater stage — Ronald Reagan.
Action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger unexpectedly threw himself into the race for California governor on August 6, 2003 in a show-stopping2 announcement that heralded a spectacular campaign.
The surprise decision by one of the screen's biggest stars followed weeks of speculation about whether he would try to terminate the career of California governor Gray Davis in a historic recall3 vote . The Austrian-born actor, 56 , who became a U. S. citizen in 1983, has been toying for years with the idea of flexing his muscles at the ballot box instead of the box office. But after blowing hot and cold for weeks, aides had expected the star to bow to the concerns of his wife about the effect on their four children and stay out of the October gubernatorial race.
He might have spent years playing a futuristic robot in the"Terminator"blockbusters, but Schwarzenegger has shown himself to be politically astute off screen, building a strong profile within the Republican Party and garnering grass-roots support through his work for the Special Olympics and other sports programs. In 2000, he considered, but decided against, making a run for California governor. Three years on, Schwarzenegger has more name recognition , more personal wealth — 30 million alone for the latest"Terminator" installment — and more charisma than any of the other candidates.
Thirty years ago, the 6 ft-2ins body-builder came to America looking for fame and fortune in the movies, hampered by an unpronounceable name and a thick accent. Success was hard to come by initially and he focused on body-building, winning seven Mr Olympia titles and earning himself the nickname"the Austrian Oak". He eventually graduated to the title role in"Conan the Barbarian"in 1982 and later the 1984 sci-fi4 action move"The Terminator"which made him into a superstar.
His marriage to one of the ( Democratic ) Kennedy clan5—TV journalist Maria Shriver — looked for a while as if it might hamper his political ambitions. Shriver was reported to be worried about the effects of a time -consuming and high-profile political campaign — let alone a possible win — on their four young children, but also told Schwarzenegger she would support him whatever his decision."Yes, she 's a Democrat6 , "said Schwarzenegger" and this is the first time she 's going to vote for a Republican . "
【篇三】2020年12月英语四级阅读美文
The Way To Success
Like that of her own character, Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling's life has the luster of a fairy tale. Divorced, living on public assistance in a tiny Edinburgh flat with her little daughter, Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at a table in a caféduring her daughter's naps — and it was Harry Potter that rescued her. First, the Scottish Ants Council gave her a grant to finish the book. After its sale to Bloomsbury ( UK) and Scholastic Books, the accolades began to pile up. Harry Potter won The British Book Awards Children's Book of the year, and the Smarties Prize, and rave1 reviews on both sides of the Atlantic .
A graduate of Exeter University, a teacher, and then unemployed single parent, Rowling wrote Harry Potter when" I was very low, and I had to achieve something. Without the challenge, I would have gone stark raving mad. "But Rowling has always written books, and her first book was called Rabbit. " I was about six, and I haven't stopped scribbling since. "
The following is an abstract from what J. K. Rowling wrote about herself. From which we might keep track with the growth of the person who gave birth to the living ambition of the world, Harry Potter the Little Wizard.
I wrote a lot in my teens, but I never showed any of it to my friends, . .. I went to Exeter University straight after school, where I studied French. This was a big mistake. I had listened too hard to my parents, who thought languages would lead to a great career as a bilingual secretary. Unfortunately I am one of the most disorganized people in the world and, as I later proved, the worst secretary ever.
When I was twenty-six I gave up on offices completely and went abroad to teach English as a foreign language. I loved teaching English, and as I worked afternoons and evenings, I had mornings free for writing. This was particularly good news as I had now started my third novel. The new book was about a boy who found out he was a wizard and was sent off2 to wizard school. When I came back from Portugal half a suitcase was full of papers covered with short stories about Harry Potter. I came to live in Edinburgh with my very small daughter, I set myself a deadline; I would finish the Harry novel before starting work as a French teacher, and try to get it published.
It was a year after finishing the book before a publisher bought it. The moment when I found out that Harry would be published was one of the best of my life .