Is it time to kick Russia out of the BRICs ?If so, it may end up sounding like a famous ball-point pen maker--BIC. An argument is being made that Goldman Sach's famous marketing device , the BRICs, should really be the BICs. "Is Russia really worth the name BRICs?" asks Anders Aslund, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, in an article for Foreign Policy. Aslund, who is also co-author with Andrew Kuchins of "The Russian Balance Sheet", thinks the Russia of Putin and Medvedev is just not worthy of inclusion alongside Brazil, India and China in the list of future economic powerhouses. He writes: "The country's economic performance has fallen to such a weak level that one must ask whether it has any say at all on the global economy, compared with the other members of its group. I have just returned from Moscow, which is always dull around this season. For the last seven years, Russia has taken very few measures to improve its economy. Instead, the state has been living on oil and gas." Economically, Aslund has the numbers on his side. The International Monetary Fund figures that the Russian economy will fall by 6.7 percent in 2009, while China will grow 8.5 percent and India 5.4 percent. There is less of a case for Brazil, with a fall of 0.7 percent, but it is still doing far better than Russia. But the BRICs are not just about economy. As is mentioned above, it is a marketing device to encourage investors to focus on the big promising players. From an investment standpoint, it could be argued that Russia is leading the BRICs. Its stock market is up 128 percent this year while around 80 percent is for the other three. At very least, despite Russia's economic underperformance, its stock market outperformance does suggest it is indeed one of the group. According to Aslund, Russia shouldn't be a BRIC partly because _ . A) its economic performance is worse than that of the others B) its leaders are not good at managing economy C) it has taken effective measures to improve its economy D) it will no longer attract investors from other countries
A
(Question)
When I decided to quit my job as a wedding photographer, I was in my late twenties, fresh from my divorce from Bob who had left me empty and confused. I decided to leave the US and travel. I had no savings, plus more than $5,000 in debt. What I did have were two sponsored tasks as a travel photographer- and with that along, I thought, it would be easy. My first experience was a road trip from Toronto to Las Vegas, paid for by a car delivery service. Other trips followed and then I started a travel blog . It was intended to be my calling card for assignment travel photography. Yet even with my blog and past experience, email after email I sent to publications, trying to get work, went unanswered. When they did get in touch, editors told me that I had no chance of making a career with travel photography. While I struggled to get on the path that I wanted, and as I expanded my blog to help get me there, I found myself wearing the hat of a full-time blogger. Luckily, I got in at the right time. It was 2010,and the travel industry was just starting to turn its attention to bloggers. As I never could have predicted, my blogging-not my photography-did take me around the world successfully. At first,I thought it was for personal reasons, but I realized later that it was for free marketing for my blogging. Within two years, I was being asked to speak at travel blogging conferences, which helped me to raise a network of friends around the world. Even more meaningful, however, was when I saw that my travels were also helping other people. My blog and social media followers saw that I chased my dreams and told me over and over again how they needed that kind of example, which was absent in their lives elsewhere. What did the author think of her two years' work? A) Inspiring. B) Appealing. C) Interesting. D) Challenging.
(Answer)
A
Question: Three Boys and a Dad Brad closed the door slowly as Sue left home to visit her mother.Expecting a whole day to relax,he was thinking whether to read the newspaper or watch his favourite TV talk show on his first day off in months."This will be like a walk in the park,"he'd told his wife."I'll look after the kids,and you can go visit your mom." Things started well,but just after eight o'clock,his three little "good kids"--Mike,Randy,and Alex--came down the stairs in their night clothes and shouted "breakfast,daddy."When food had not appeared within thirty seconds,Randy began using his spoon on Alex's head as if it were a drum.Alex started to shout loudly in time to the beat .Mike chanted "Where's my toast,where's my toast" in the background.Brad realised his newspaper would have to wait for a few seconds. Life became worse after breakfast.Mike wore Randy's underwear on his head.Randy locked himself in the bathroom,while Alex shouted again because he was going to wet his pants.Nobody could find clean socks,although they were before their very eyes.Someone named "Not Me" had spilled a whole glass of orange juice into the basket of clean clothes.Brad knew the talk show had already started. By ten o'clock,things were out of control.Alex was wondering why the fish in the jar refused his bread and butter.Mike was trying to show off his talent by decorating the kitchen wall with his colour pencils.Randy,thankfully,appeared to be reading quietly in the family room,but closer examination showed that he was eating apple jam straight from the bottle with his hands.Brad realised that the talk show was over and reading would be impossible. At exactly 11:17,Brad called the daycare centre ."I suddenly have to go into work and my wife's away.Can I bring the boys over in a few minutes?"The answer was obviously "yes" because Brad was smiling.(2012*,B) Why did Brad ask the daycare centre for help? A) Because he wanted to clean up his house. B) Because he suddenly had to go to his office. C) Because he found it hard to manage his boys. D) Because he had to take his wife back home.
Answer:
C