Question

If you boss asks you to work in Moscow this year, he’d better offer you more money to do so — or even double that depending on where you live now. That’s because Moscow has just been found to be the world’s most expensive city for the second year in a row by Mercer Human Resources Consulting.

       Using the cost of living in New York as a base, Mercer determined Moscow is 34.4 percent more expensive including the cost of housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment(娛樂).

       A two-bedroom flat in Moscow now costs $4,000 a month; a CD $24.83, and an international newspaper $6.30, according to Mercer. By comparison, a fast food meal with a hamburger(漢堡包) is a steal at $4.80.

       London takes the No.2 place, up from No.5 a year ago, thanks to higher cost of housing and a stronger British pound relative to the dollar. Mercer estimates(估算) London is 26 percent more expensive than New York these days. Following London closely are Seoul and Tokyo, both of which are 22 percent more expensive than New York, while No.5 Hong Kong is 19 percent more costly.

       Among North American cities, New York and Los Angeles are the most expensive and are the only two listed in the top 50 of the world’s most expensive cities. But both have fallen since last year’s study — New York came in 15^th, down from 10^th place, while Los Angeles fell to 42^nd from 29^th place a year ago. San Francisco came in a distant third at No. 54, down 20 places from a year earlier.

       Toronto, meanwhile, is Canada’s most expensive city but fell 35 places to take 82^nd place worldwide. In Australia, Sydney is the priciest place to live in and No. 21 worldwide.

What do the underlined words “a steal” in Paragraph 3 mean?

   A. an act of stealing                      B. something delicious

   C. something very cheap                D. an act of buying

London has become the second most expensive city because of ______.

   A. the high cost of clothing            B. the stronger pound against the dollar

   C. its expensive transportation        D. the high prices of fast food meals

Which city is the third most expensive on the list?

   A. Tokyo.         B. Hong Kong.             C. Moscow.                  D. Sydney.

Which city has dropped most on the list in North America?

   A. New York.   B. Los Angeles.             C. San Francisco.   D. Toronto.

Answer 1

【小題1】C

【小題2】B

【小題3】A

【小題4】D

解析:

    隨著經濟的發展，全球的物價也在迅猛的上漲。本文講述的是世界上的幾個著名大城市消費情況的排名變化。

【小題1】猜測詞義。由于文中講到物價飛漲，即是最便宜的漢堡也得$4.8只有用最便宜來映襯物價高。

【小題2】細節理解題。第三段第一句開始。

【小題3】 細節理解題。第三段后兩句可知。

【小題4】 細節理解題。New York 從第十降到第十五位，Los Angles從二十九降到第四十二。SanFrancisco從二十降到五十四。Turonto 從三十五降到第八十二，所以降得最多的是D。