List top 10 foreign cities or countries you want to go to.

Tokyo is World's Priciest City

The weak American dollar and strong European and Asian currencies helped make Tokyo and London the most expensive cities in the world, according to a recent survey. American cities were absent from the top 10, with the most expensive U. S. city, New York, dropping two spots from last year to 12 in the survey of 144 urban areas conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Moscow ranked in third place, with Osaka, and Hong Kong rounding out the top five most expensive cities.

The survey, drawn up twice a year, ranks cost of living for foreign workers, not local residents, and is used primarily by multinational companies to determine pay for expatriate employees. "The euro appreciated (升值) more than 11 percent in the last six months. " said Marie-Laurence Sepede, senior researcher at Mercer. "So that made European cities go up and U.S. cities drop. " Sepede noted that while U.S. cities got cheaper in relation to those in Europe and Asia, the rankings among: American cities remained similar to previous years, with Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco all placing high on the list. Also not able was the climb of Australian and New Zealand cities up the list, a shift caused by those nation's strong currencies. Sydney moved from 67 last year to 20 this year, and Auckland, New Zealand climbed 35 places to 80. The rest of the top 20 remained fairly constant, although Paris, Vienna, Austria and Istanbul, Turkey made their first appearances so high in the rankings.

The survey took into consideration 250 criteria, including the cost of utilities, food and entertainment. While the survey looked at a range of living standards, Sepede said the study was most representative of the expenses of people working for big international corporations and maintaining fairly high standards of living. Mercer said the continued appreciation of the euro against the U. S. dollar could eventually force companies to move employees and reorganize. "Mainly, the depreciation(贬值) of the dollar makes it cheaper to send employees to American cities, " said Jackie Barber, a spokeswoman for the survey.

New York is one of the top ten most expensive cities in the world last year.

A．Right

B．Wrong

C．Not mentioned

y a 40% in the two years between 1977 and 1979, and the number has continued to increase steadily. In 1980 South Africa proved to be the largest financial investor in the U. S. controlling about $19. 2 billion in sales. The Netherlands and the U. K. follow as second largest investors--and Germany next. New to the list of the top 100 foreign investors are 12 banking and finance and insurance companies--the largest, the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp. , from Hong Kong. The number of Latin American companies engaged in business here is growing steadily, often through third country holding companies.

Why are so many firms coming to the U. S. ？ There are many reasons. One of the greatest attractions, of course, is a market of over 200 million consumers with a high average per capital income. In addition, with the devalued dollar the cost of American labor has declined significantly, relative to many foreign labor costs. Some firms seeking to avoid economic and/or political pressures at home find the U. S. a politically stable environment in which to work.

Many hope to be able to continue selling to the American market even if the U. S. government restricts imports further, or if major price changes occur due to currency fluctuations (波动). Many foreigners are attracted by U.S. technology, its modem management methods, its labor saving and mass production techniques.

In 1980 the largest foreign financial investor in the U. S. was from ______.

A．H.K.

B．U.K.

C．Latin America

D．South Africa

Which of the following is NOT the top country receiving foreign investment is 1991？

A．Mexico.

B．Urugray.

C．China.

D．Venezucla.

of areas open to foreign banking establishments to include all large cities throughout the country.

Which of the following is NOT the top country receiving foreign investment is 1991 ？

A．Mexico.

B．Urugray.

C．China.

D．Venezuela.

A、the squirrel

B、the mouse

C、the octopus

D、the pig

SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST

Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. At the end of each news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the questions.

听力原文： Major world lending agencies said in Washington last Friday that the flow of private capital is crucial for developing countries' economic growth. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund said that foreign investment is concentrated in a dozen countries but that they will help to increase number.

The statement was contained in a communique issued by the development committee of the World Bank and IMF, which ended their spring meeting on Friday. The top countries receiving foreign investment in 1991 are Mexico, China, Brazil, Malaysia, South Korea, Venezucla and Turkey.

The communique said that host countries' proper investment in environment should include a vigorous private sector, a legal framework, a flexible labor market and prompt service of debt.

The development committee also expressed concern for the delays and "risk of breakdown" in the Uruguay round of multinational trade negotiations.

What will the agencies help to increase？

A．Long range investments.

B．Profitable investments,

C．The number of investing countries.

D．The number of countries receiving foreign investment.