四、Read the following passages and answer the questions in English（本大題共6小題，每小題3分，共18分）

Passage 1wｗw.ExamＷ.CoM

Oil prices were flat Wednesday, ahead of a weekly report expected to show a rise in crude supplies over the past week.

At 9∶45 a.m., U.S. light crude for March delivery rose 3 cents to $41.61 a barrel. It touched a session high of $42.45 a barrel and a session low of $41.02. Concerns about oversupply helped push oil lower Tuesday. Oil tumbled $4.15 to $41.58 a barrel. The oil market was likely bouncing off a stock market rebound and a weaker U.S. dollar Wednesday. U.S. crude oil price has rebounded from below $33 a barrel over the past week as an economic stimulus package makes it way through Congress. The Energy Information Administration releases its weekly inventory data at 10∶30 a.m. Analysts surveyed by Platts expect an increase of 3.4 million barrels in U.S. crude stockpiles for the week ended Jan. 23.

Oil’s supply-demand picture remains weak, with a large stock build in the United States and extremely weak demand in China, the world’s second-largest energy consumer. Oil supplies in the U.S. have gone up significantly in the past several weeks. Last week, the Energy Department reported supplies of crude increased by 6.1 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 16, when analysts had been expecting an increase of only 1.9 million barrels. Crude prices have dropped more than $100 from a record peak above $147 a barrel in July last year, sunk by plummeting demand amid the recession.

Demand is dependent on the ongoing economic uncertainty and whether the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which produces about 40% of the world’s oil, will meet its pledge to cut output by 2.2 million barrels a day this month.

36. Why is the oil’s supply-demand picture still weak?

37. What helped to prevent the price of oil increase on Tuesday?

38. What has been the highest oil price in the United States last year?

Passage 2

American hopes that pressure from the U. S. will force Japan to suddenly dismantle its trade barriers are almost certain to evaporate in disappointment.

The fact is that Washington faces an obstacle far more formidable than a few power brokers in Tokyo’s government offices. It must buck centuries-old, deeply ingrained Japanese customs. To move the Japanese government, Washington must move an entire nation.

So far, the U.S. has had only limited success despite congressional threats to retaliate. In an April 9 nationwide broadcast, Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone urged the Japanese to buy more imported goods and unveiled a long-awaited three-year plan to ease import restrictions. But this program was far short of what Washington hoped to see. White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan said the Japanese offered “few new or immediate measures.” While the plan did promise fewer curbs on imports of telecommunications gear, medicine and medical equipment, it offered no relief for American forest products—which are among the most contentious trade issues.

Nakasone gives every sign of being secure in his desire to reduce a Japanese surplus in trade with the U.S. that hit 36.8 billion dollars in 1984 and could soon top 50 billion. Yet to rely on any one Japanese political leader, no matter how popular he is at home, to reverse trade policies is to underestimate the culture and traditions that weigh heavily against a breakthrough.

Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan’s top elected leaders.

“The whole concept that we can turn this around right now is patently ridiculous,” says an American trader who has lived and worked here since 1952. “The vested interests are being shaken and slowly moved, but at a pace too slow for the eye to follow.”

39. What of the Japanese government is meant to be “moved”?

40. Does the underlined word “top” in the fourth paragraph mean “increase by as much as” 50 billion?

41. Please paraphrase “a pace too slow for the eye to follow” in the last paragraph.