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考研英语阅读理解有一部分是截取自报刊文章,因此考生在复习备考的过程中要注意提高报刊文章的阅读能力,把握时事阅读。下面新东方在线小编分享历年真题同源的30篇报刊文章,附有注释和解析,希望考生认真阅读,提高对此类文章的阅读能力和增加相关词汇量。
考研英语阅读真题同源报刊文章30篇(14)
Seychelles: A president in paradise
BEST known as a destination for honeymooners in search of perfect white
beaches and swaying palms, the Seychelles islands rarely make any sort of
headlines. Few tourists would even have noticed the presidential election on
July 30th, in which James Michel, leader of the Seychelles Peoples Progressive
Front, was returned with 54% of the ballot. For Mr. Michel, it was the first
time he had faced the islands 62,000odd voters, having been promoted from
vicepresident two years ago by his predecessor, Albert René, who had ruled the
islands for 27 years since taking power in a coup in 1977.
To the casual eye, Seychelles seems both fortunate and wellgoverned. The
115 islands, most of them uninhabited, cover a mere 445 square kilometers (175
square miles) of the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar, and enjoy several
advantages over most of the rest of Africa. The weather is never extreme. There
is no malaria. The islanders have free education and health care. Their
multiracial society is pretty harmonious. With GDP at around $8,000 a head,
there is almost no discernible poverty.
But this standard of living has come at a cost: the IMF says its public
debt is too high and may be unsustainable. Mr. Michels main opposition, the
Seychelles National Party, which scored 46% in the elections, claims that
Seychelles, per person, is the worlds most indebted country; with some $590m of
external debt for just 82,000 people, it is certainly one of them. A black
market in foreign currency already exists as speculation persists that the
government, unable to meet its obligations, may be forced to devalue. Basic
consumer goods sometimes run out. If, as the IMF predicts, GDP falls by over 1%
this year, Mr. Michel may find his next five years in power more testing than he
had hoped.
The country needs more ways of making money. In the cold war, it was easy.
The Seychelles played each side off against the other, remaining a member of the
Commonwealth as well as the NonAligned Movement and taking military aid from
the Soviet Union while leasing a satellite tracking station to the Americans.
Since those streams of revenue dried up, the main Seychellois streams of revenue
have been from tourism-leasing land to foreign hoteliers-and from tuna: the
government earns about $200m a year from selling tunafishing licenses to Spain,
France and South Korea.
But conflict in the Middle East has brought Seychelles an unexpected bonus:
Western warships stop off in the islands, which offer rest and recreation. The
soldiers and sailors scubadive, sail and drink Seybrew, the local beer-and pay
for it all in hard currency.
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