Question

Home prices remained divergent in China during December, with some of the first-tier cities recording price drops, while second and third-tier cities saw increases due to the varied market policies, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

Newly built commercial housing prices in the first-tier cities－namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen－remained stable in December, while those in second and third- tier cities rose by 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent respectively from November 2017.

The same trend was witnessed in second-hand home prices, which dropped slightly by 0.1 percent in first-tier cities and rose 0.3 percent in both second and third-tier cities in December, said Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician at the NBS.

In September 2017, the local governments of several regional capitals launched new restrictions to further slow home sales, in response to the central government’s call to end housing speculation and cool the red-hot housing market in certain cities.

As housing regulations in larger cities have tightened, investors have started looking for opportunities in medium-sized and small cities, thus causing a noticeable home price increase in third-tier cities.

Fan Hengshan, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at an economic forum on Thursday that housing prices in third and fourth-tier cities have risen too fast, and this needs to be monitored carefully.

“The home price increase in third-tier cities will have a fairly large impact, considering that a large part of China’s gross domestic product and population come from these cities,” said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist and head of equity strategy for China at Deutsche Bank, during a recent media briefing.

Zhang estimated that third-tier cities accounted for a major part of Chinese residents’ 50 trillion yuan wealth gains, driven by rising home prices in 2017.

“Despite a relatively large increase in home prices in third-tier cities, studies have found that at the end of 2017, local residents in 85 third-tier cities need to save four to eight years of their income to buy a home, meaning that house price to income ratios are not too high in these cities,” he said.

1.What does the underlined word “divergent” in the first paragraph mean?

A. Diverse    B. Stable

C. Increasing    D. Decreasing

2.What do we know from the passage?

A. Housing prices in the first-tier cities dropped slightly in December.

B. Home prices in medium-sized and small cities remained stable in November.

C. National housing prices rose in most time of 2017.

D. The second-hand home prices dropped slightly in the first-tier cities while rose in both second and third-tier cities in November.

3.Why did the housing prices in the third and fourth-tier cities rise fast?

A. Because the local governments didn’t launch any restrictions and regulations.

B. Because the governments in the first-tier cities have carried out tougher measures.

C. Because there are more people living in these cities.

D. Because people there saved more money than other cities.

4.Where is the passage probably taken from?

A. A science book.    B. A newspaper.

C. A fashion magazine.    D. A text book.

Answer

1. A

2. C

3. B

4. B

【解析】

本文是一篇新闻报道，介绍了2017年全国房价的整体趋势以及三、四线城市房价上涨对人们生活的影响。

1.词义猜测题。根据画线词后的“with some of the first-tier cities recording price drops, while second and third-tier cities saw increases due to the varied market policies”可知，12月份，中国的房价仍存在差异，一些一线城市房价下跌，二、三线城市由于市场政策的不同而上涨，由此可知画线词词义为“不同的、多样的”，故A项正确。

2.推理判断题。根据文章的数据统计，特别是倒数第二段中的“Zhang estimated that third-tier cities accounted for a major part of Chinese residents’ 50 trillion yuan wealth gains, driven by rising home prices in 2017.”可知，在2017年房价上涨的推动下，三线城市占中国居民50万亿财富增长的主要部分，由此推知，2017年的大部分时间里，全国房价都在上涨，故C项正确。

3.细节理解题。根据第五段“As housing regulations in larger cities have tightened, investors have started looking for opportunities in medium-sized and small cities, thus causing a noticeable home price increase in third-tier cities.”可知，随着一线城市住房监管的收紧，投资者开始在中小城市寻找机会，从而导致三、四线城市房价明显上涨，故B项正确。

4.推理判断题。通读全文可知，文章介绍了2017年全国房价的整体趋势以及三、四线城市房价上涨对人们生活的影响，属于新闻报道，最有可能出自于报纸，故B项正确。