阅读理解。
Is it time to kick Russia out of the BRICs (金砖四国)? If so, it may end up sounding like a famous
ball-point pen maker-BIC. An argument is being made that Goldman Sach's famous marketing device
(策略), the BRICs, should really be the BICs.
"Is Russia really worth the name BRICs?" asks Anders Aslund, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute
for International Economics, in an article for Foreign Policy. Aslund, who is also co-author with Andrew
Kuchins of "The Russian Balance Sheet", thinks the Russia of Putin and Medvedev is just not worthy of
inclusion alongside Brazil, India and China in the list of future economic powerhouses. He writes:
"The country's economic performance has fallen to such a weak level that one must ask whether it has
any say at all on the global economy, compared with the other members of its group. I have just returned
from Moscow, which is always dull around this season. For the last seven years, Russia has taken very
few measures to improve its economy. Instead, the state has been living on oil and gas."
Economically, Aslund has the numbers on his side. The International Monetary Fund figures that the
Russian economy will fall by 6.7 percent in 2009, while China will grow 8.5 percent and India 5.4 percent.
There is less of a case for Brazil, with a fall of 0.7 percent, but it is still doing far better than Russia.
But the BRICs are not just about economy. As is mentioned above, it is a marketing device to encourage
investors (投资者)to focus on the big promising players. From an investment standpoint, it could be argued
that Russia is leading the BRICs. Its stock (股票) market is up 128 percent this year while around 80 percent
is for the other three.
At very least, however, Russia's economic underperformance and stock market outperformance does suggest it is indeed one of the group.
1. According to the passage, which country will enjoy the biggest increase in 2009?
A. China.
B. Russia.
C. Brazil.
D. India.
2. According to Aslund, Russia shouldn't be a BRIC partly because _____.
A. Russia's economic performance is far worse than the other three
B. Russia's leaders are not good at managing economy
C. Russia has taken effective measures to improve its economy
D. Russia will no longer attract investors from other countries
3. From the passage we know that _____.
A. Anders Aslund is working for the Russian government
B. Russia outperformed the other three countries in stock market
C. most people disagree Russia is included in BRICs
D. the BRICs would end up being the BICs sooner or later
4. The author seems to _____.
A. suggest it's time to kick Russia out of the BRICs?
B. feel worried about the economy of the BRICs
C. think Russia is worth being one of the group
D. show disappointment to Russia's economy
