[单项选择]Last night a fire ______ in that market, so the firm suffered a heavy loss.


A. broke up
B. broke off
C. broke out
D. broke down

[单项选择]There wasn't much snow last winter so people couldn't go （）except in the mountains.
A. skiing
B. to ski
C. skied
D. having skied

[单项选择]The word "shackles" in the last sentence of the first paragraph most probably means ______.


A. restrictions
B. emphases
C. considerations
D. weights

[单项选择]Gregg Inc. attributes its success over the last five decades to its ______ to adapt to changing consumer needs.
A. ability
B. command
C. capacity
D. strength

[单项选择]The building around the corner caught fire last night. The police are now ______ the matter.


A. seeing through
B. working out
C. looking into
D. watching over

[单项选择]A fire ______ last night in his house and the fireman came and


A. broke out ... put down
B. broke in ... put out it
C. broke out ... put it out
D. broke through... put it down

[单项选择]

Text 3
Never has a straitjacket seemed so ill-fitting or so insecure. The Euro area’s "stability and growth pact" was supposed to stop irresponsible member states running excessive budget deficits, defined as 3% of GDP or more. Chief among the restraints was the threat of large fines if member governments breached the limit for three years in a row. For some time now, no one has seriously believed those restraints would hold. In the early hours of Tuesday November 25th, the Euro’s fiscal straitjacket finally came apart at the seams.
The pact’s fate was sealed over an extended dinner meeting of the euro area’s 12 finance ministers. They chewed over the sorry fiscal record of the Euro’s two largest members, France and Germany. Both governments ran deficits of more than 3% of GDP last year and will do so again this year. Both expect to breach the limit for the third time in 2004. Earlier this year the European Commission
A. vocal in their own interests.
B. angry in face of potential threats.
C. considerate of large members.
D. supportive of a proposed treaty.

[单项选择]These farmers got a good harvest last year, so they ______ a big sum of money for new farm machines.
A. set aside
B. set about
C. set up
D. set back

[单项选择]When we got to the station, we were so sorry to find that the train was ______.
A) taking up C) pulling away
B) taking off D) pulling out


A. When we got to the station, we were so sorry to find that the train was ______.
B. taking up
C. taking off
D. pulling away
E. pulling out

[单项选择]Late last night, a fire ______ in a hotel near where I live.


A. broke off
B. broke forth
C. broke in
D. broke out

[单项选择]A big fire ______ in that factory last night.


A. broke out
B. was broken out
C. has taken place
D. took place

[单项选择]Last November's cease-fire _________.


A. allowed 12,000 UN peacekeepers to deploy throughout the country
B. set a timetable for disarmament
C. agreed to evacuate all UN peacekeepers
D. resulted in a united government