Disputes over farm trade have bedevilled the current round of GATT talks from the start. That is unsurprising. For decades governments everywhere have suppressed market forces in agriculture with subsidies,tariffs,quotas,monopoly purchasing boards and all the other paraphernalia of mule-headed intervention. No industry in the world has been pushed further,or so needlessly,from the liberal ideal of guiding resources to their best use by means of prices set in markets. On one plausible estimate,consumers in industrial countries pay $300 billion a year in taxes and higher prices to support farming.Even allowing for the income transferred to farmers,the net welfare loss caused by the industrial countries farm policies is $100 billion a year. Distortions on such a scale have given a comparative handful of people every reason to fight to the bitter end for economic lunacy. On October 14th French farmers held another "day of action"——blocking roads,planting wheat in awkward places and so forth-in protest at the planned reforms. What is the means to guide resources to their best use according to the liberal ideal?

Disputes over farm trade have bedevilled the current round of GATT talks from the start. That is unsurprising. For decades governments everywhere have suppressed market forces in agriculture with subsidies,tariffs,quotas,monopoly purchasing boards and all the other paraphernalia of mule-headed intervention. No industry in the world has been pushed further,or so needlessly,from the liberal ideal of guiding resources to their best use by means of prices set in markets. On one plausible estimate,consumers in industrial countries pay $300 billion a year in taxes and higher prices to support farming.Even allowing for the income transferred to farmers,the net welfare loss caused by the industrial countries farm policies is $100 billion a year. Distortions on such a scale have given a comparative handful of people every reason to fight to the bitter end for economic lunacy. On October 14th French farmers held another "day of action"——blocking roads,planting wheat in awkward places and so forth-in protest at the planned reforms. When did French farmers hold another "day of action" in protest at the planned reforms?

Passage 1 The slowdown of the industrial countries in 1991 partly originated in structural problems inherited from the 1980s. Slower growth in Europe in 1991 revealed that unemployment, for instance, was still a structurally problematic area. The unemployment rate in the four largest European economies was 7.8 per cent in 1990, near the peak of the business cycle, and rose to 8.3 per cent in 1991.Financial stress brought on by excessive debt in the household and corporate sectors was an example of another kind of structural problem, in particular for the economies of Japan and the United States.Financial institutions in these two countries adopted more conservative lending policies, curtailing financing of higher-risk projects such as commercial construction and highly leveraged corporate transactions. A number of weaker institutions were also consolidated through bankruptcy, merger and reorganization. These developments played some part in the general tightening of credit during 1991, which may have helped to slow the pace of investment in the United States and Japan. Weak growth of credit and a fall in some asset prices probably slowed consumption, as well. Did"a fall in some asset prices"have anything to do with"weak growth of credit"?

Passage 1 The slowdown of the industrial countries in 1991 partly originated in structural problems inherited from the 1980s. Slower growth in Europe in 1991 revealed that unemployment, for instance, was still a structurally problematic area. The unemployment rate in the four largest European economies was 7.8 per cent in 1990, near the peak of the business cycle, and rose to 8.3 per cent in 1991.Financial stress brought on by excessive debt in the household and corporate sectors was an example of another kind of structural problem, in particular for the economies of Japan and the United States.Financial institutions in these two countries adopted more conservative lending policies, curtailing financing of higher-risk projects such as commercial construction and highly leveraged corporate transactions. A number of weaker institutions were also consolidated through bankruptcy, merger and reorganization. These developments played some part in the general tightening of credit during 1991, which may have helped to slow the pace of investment in the United States and Japan. Weak growth of credit and a fall in some asset prices probably slowed consumption, as well. What does"consumption"refer to here? Is it consumption of the consumer goods or that of the capital goods?

Passage 2 What the statistics do not reveal is how much is unofficially re-exported from the country.This is acknowledged by Dubai's customs department. "The re-export figures are indicative of markets rather than volumes, "a spokesman says. "If you add up the import figures and work out that 85 per cent of it is supposed to stay in the country, then the UAE would be the best stocked warehouse in the world.” What does“stay”mean and imply in”…85 per cent of it is supposed to stay in the country…”

With barter,however,debtor nations can continue to import goods while,in effect,concealing export, earnings from creditors. ( )

Falling sales in Thailand were offset by strong performances in other markets.( )

The bilateral surplus with America is also growing rapidly.( )

Generally,the first stage in the extraction of crude oil is to drill a well into the underground reservoir. ( )

Smoking is strictly prohibited in the process of handling explosive materials.( )