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Large companies need a way to reach the saving of the public at large. The same problem, on a smaller scale, faces practically every company trying to develop new products and create new jobs. There can be little prospect of raising the sort of sums needed from friends and people we know, and while banks may agree to provide short-term finance, they are generally unwilling to provide money on a permanent basis for long-term projects. So companies turn to the public, inviting people to lend them money, or take a share in the business in exchange for a share in future profits. This they do by issuing stocks and shares in the business through the Stock Exchange. By doing so, they can put into circulation of the saving of individuals and institutions, both at home and overseas.

When the saver needs his money back, he does not have to go to the company with whom he originally placed it. Instead, he sells his shares through a stockbroker to some other saver who is seeking to invest his money.

Many of the services needed both by industry and by each of us are provided by the Government or by local authorities. Without hospitals, roads, electricity, telephones, railways, this country could not function. All these require continuous spending on new equipment and new development if they are to serve us properly, requiring more money than is raised through taxes alone. The government, local authorities, and nationalized industries therefore frequently need to borrow money to finance major capital spending, and they, too, come to the Stock Exchange.

There is hardly a man or woman in this country whose job or whose standard of living does not depend on the ability of his or her employers to raise money to finance new development. In one way or another, this new money must come from the savings of the country. The Stock Exchange exists to provide a channel through which these savings can reach those who need finance.

1．Almost all companies involved in new production and development must____.

A．rely on their own financial resources

B．persuade the banks to provide long-term finance

C．borrow large sums of money from friends and people they know

D．depend on the population as a whole for finance

2．The money which enables these companies to go ahead with their projects is____.

A．repaid to its original owners as soon as possible

B．raised by the selling of shares in the companies

C．exchanged for part ownership in the Stock Exchange

D．invested in different companies on the Stock Exchange

3．When the savers want their money back they____.

A．ask another company to obtain their money for them

B．look for other people to borrow money from

C．put their shares in the company back on the market

D．transfer their money to more successful company

4．All the essential services on which we depend are____.

A．run by the Government or our local authorities

B．in constant need of financial support

C．financed wholly by rates and taxes

D．unable to provide for the needs of the population

5．The Stock Exchange makes it possible for the Government, local authorities and nationalized industries____.

A．to borrow as much money as they wish

B．to make certain everybody saves money

C．to raise money to finance new developments

D．to make certain everybody lends money to them

1．【答案】D

【精析】文章第一段中写明：“So companies turn to the public, inviting people to lend them money, or take a share in the business in exchange for a share in future profits.”该句中的“turn to”“lend”和选项D中的“depend on”“for finance”是同义替换。

2．【答案】B

【精析】从文章第一段末尾“This they do by issuing stocks and shares in the business

through the Stock Exchange. By doing so, they can put into circulation the saving of individuals and institutions, both at home and overseas.”可知，B项正确。

3．【答案】C

【精析】从第二段第二句“he sells his shares through a stockbroker to some other saver who is seeking to invest his money”可知，C项正确。

4．【答案】B

【精析】文章第三段写明：“All these require continuous spending on new equipment and new development if they are to serve us properly, requiring more money than is raised through taxes alone.”该句中“requiring more money”与选项B“in constant need of financial support”是同义替换。

5．【答案】C

【精析】从文章第四段第一句“There is hardly a man or woman in this country whose job or whose standard of living does not depend on the ability of his or her employers to raise money to finance new development.”可知，C项正确。