Text 4

When the government talks about infrastructure contributing to the economy the focus is usually on roads, railways, broadband and energy. Housing is seldom mentioned.

Why is that? To some extent the housing sector must shoulder the blame. We have not been good at communicating the real value that housing can contribute to economic growth. Then there is the scale of the typical housing project. It is hard to shove for attention among multibillion­pound infrastructure project, so it is inevitable that the attention is focused elsewhere. But perhaps the most significant reason is that the issue has always been so politically charged.

Nevertheless, the affordable housing situation is desperate. Waiting lists increase all the time and we are simply not building enough new homes.

The comprehensive spending review offers an opportunity for the government to help rectify this. It needs to put historical prejudices to one side and take some steps to address our urgent housing need.

There are some indications that it is preparing to do just that. The communities minister, Don Foster, has hinted that George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, may introduce more flexibility to the current cap on the amount that local authorities can borrow against their housing stock debt. Evidence shows that 60, 000 extra new homes could be built over the next five years if the cap were lifted, increasing GDP by 0.6%.

Ministers should also look at creating greater certainty in the rental environment, which would have a significant impact on the ability of registered providers to fund new developments from revenues.

But it is not just down to the government. While these measures would be welcome in the short term, we must face up to the fact that the existing ￡4.5bn programme of grants to fund new affordable housing, set to expire in 2015，is unlikely to be extended beyond then. The Labour party has recently announced that it will retain a large part of the coalition's spending plans if returns to power. The housing sector needs to accept that we are very unlikely to ever return to era of large-­scale public grants. We need to adjust to this changing climate.

36. The author believes that the housing sector ________.

[A] has attracted much attention [B] involves certain political factors

[C] shoulders too much responsibility [D] has lost its real value in economy

37. It can be learned that affordable housing has ________.

[A] increased its home supply [B] offered spending opportunities

[C] suffered government biases [D] disappointed the government

38. According to Paragraph 5, George Osborne may ________.

[A] allow greater government debt for housing

[B] stop local authorities from building homes

[C] prepare to reduce housing stock debt

[D] release a lifted GDP growth forecast

39. It can be inferred that a stable rental environment would ________.

[A] lower the costs of registered providers

[B] lessen the impact of government interference

[C] contribute to funding new developments

[D] relieve the ministers of responsibilities

40. The author believes that after 2015, the government may ________.

[A] implement more policies to support housing

[B] review the need for large-­scale public grants

[C] renew the affordable housing grants programme

[D] stop generous funding to the housing sector

36、【答案】[B] involves certain political factors

【解析】根据本题题干中的关键词 housing sector 可以对应到文章的第二段，中间说的很多，我们注意到最后有 but 出现，最后应该是作者真正想要表达的观点，另外这里用了 the most significant 最高级，所以最后这个是最重要的一个原因，politically charged 和选项 B 的 political factors 有对应关系，故选 B involves certain political factors。A 项的吸引注意没有提及，C 项的承担太多责任，原文说的 shoulder the blame，D 项说的丧失价值，原文说的是不善于表明真正价值，两者不一致，故排除。

37、【答案】[C] suffered government biases

【解析】经济适用房曾受到政府的偏见。答案定位到文章第三段最后一句话 It needs to put historical prejudices to one side and take some steps to address our urgent housing need. 政府需要把历史的偏见放在一边并且采取一些策略解决我们迫切的住房需求。Suffered 是过去式，是对于原文 history 的同义反复，biases 是对原文prejudices 的同义反复。

38、【答案】[A] allow greater government debt for housing

【解析】根据人名 George Osborne 定位得知，此人将会让当地政府用来偿还建房借贷的限额变得更加宽松，并在借贷限额放宽的情况下，将会另有 60,000 所房屋在未来的五年中建立，并由此拉动国内生产总值的百分之零点六。因此 A(允许更大的政府的建房借贷)是正确的，而 B(禁止当地政府建房)，C(准备减少建房借贷)，D(发布国内生产总值增长的预报)都与原文意思不符。

39、【答案】[C] contribute to funding new developments

【解析】推断题。根据文章题干定位到第五段，题干考察的是对稳定的租赁环境的理解。A 项的意思是“减少注册供应者的成本”，其中“成本一词”并未在文中出现，属于无中生有。B项的意思是“减少政府接介入的影响”，其中“政府介入”并未在文中出现，属于无中生有。B 项的意思是“有助于为新发展提供资金支持”，其中“为新发展提供资金持”对应文中的“fund new developments”;C选项中的“contribute to”(意思是有助于)对英文中的have a significant impact(意思是有重要影响)，符合正解的同义复现原则，所以是正确选项。

40、【答案】[D] stop generous funding to the housing sector

【解析】推断题。根据题干定位到最后一段第三行。考察的是 2015 年以后政府的可能性动作。A 项的意思是“推行更多的政策来支持住房”与原文意义相反。B 项的意思是重新审视大规模公共拨款的需求，与原文倒数第二段意义相违背。C 项的意思是更新可负担的住房拨款项目并没有提到 renew 一词。D 项的意思是停止对住房部门的大额资助，与原文的倒数第二句相匹配，故为正确选项。