Question

Dear residents of Molten,

    We can’t keep silent in the current wild situation when prices for all existing products are skyrocketing unbelievably. The enormous figures on price tags（標(biāo)簽）for food products have caused a real panic. We’ve perfectly realized that, and that's why we have kept bread prices affordable for all this time.

    At the moment all our reserves are exhausted. Stocks of bread-baking ingredients (配料) such as flour, sugar, butter and the like are running out. To buy what we need at reasonable prices is virtually impossible today.

    However, we all need bread every day, which means we will be forced to buy everything we need at much higher prices.

    The cost of bread closely depends on ingredients. Another financial crisis(危機(jī)) has led to a 300-percent increase of prices for butter, vegetable oil and others as of September 1. All these prices continue to grow every hour.

    We have to take any possible measures which will help Figaro contain the growth of prices for its products. Despite of our SOS signal, no measures have been taken as yet. We have found ourselves in the same situation as any of you. We see the situation changing steadily for the worse. We will not cope with that alone.

    Because of this, Figaro came to the critical point where it is necessary to raise prices of its products. We see one recourse (way): raise the bread price minimally（最低限度）and cancel our free plastic bag service. But what is next? This is the concern of all the 700 employees and the board of Figaro.

    Every extra cent in the cost of bread upsets you and us very much. Making our sincere apologies for a forced increase of the bread price, we hope for your understanding and support. Today and tomorrow we are with you, as usual.

The staff and board of Figaro

 

53. Figaro is _______.

   A. a farm                                           B. a bakery  

   C. a businessman                               D. a government department

54. In this open letter Figaro explains to the people of Molten that _______.

   A. they can no longer supply bread

   B. the price of bread will be three times as high 

   C. they need their help in holding down prices

   D. it will have to close down

55. A possible solution to the crisis, what Figaro suggests is _______.

  A. to use ingredients of a lower quality and lower energy prices

  B. to use shopping bags less

  C. to urge people to eat less bread

  D. to have the bread price raised to a certain level

56. We can infer from the passage that _______.

   A. bread may end up as an article that many people can no longer afford

   B. the local people have responded positively to recent SOS messages from Figaro

   C. bread may become less tasty in recent months

   D. the government has a tradition of helping out local businesses in difficult times

 

Answer 1

53―56:BCDA