题目内容
About Homeownership in America
Is there a housing(住房供给)crisis in America？ Or are we simply in need of adjusting a system that already works？ The answers to these questions axe vital, especially for those in the real estate (房地产) industry, including homebuyers and sellers, real estate practitioners, home builders, multifamily property developers and community planners. After all, if there are not enough homes, and once American households can afford, where will people live？ How will local communities build their tax revenue (收入)？ If people stop buying homes because of lack of supply, what happens to the U.S. economy ？
The Importance of Homeownership
The housing sector is one of the largest and most important sectors of the U.S. economy. In addition to providing shelter, housing provides millions of Americans with jobs and generates hundreds of billions of dollars of economic output each year. The value of residential (住宅的) structures totals over $12 trillion, while the housing sector directly and indirectly accounts for about 15 to 20 percent of our nation' s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (中民人均生产总值) every year. Moreover, most studies indicate that households spend about 30 to 40 percent of their disposable(可支配的)income on housing-related expenses. Those expenditures help to support other sectors of the economy. During the same period, the housing sector contributed more than half to the economic growth, with total singlefamily sales posting an all-time high of 6.2 million units.
Housing is also an important source of wealth for many households. In 2001, existing home prices appreciated (增值)at a rate of 6.3 percent, the strongest increase is over a decade. Recent studies suggest that a home buying spurs additional expenditures such as new furniture, new appliances and moving costs, all of which contribute to economic activity.
Rise in the value of home equity(资产净值)has a large impact on consumer spending decisions. The Federal Reserve estimates that for each one-dollar change in stock market equity, consumer spending increases by 3 to 7 cents. In another study, Case, Quigley, and Shiller (2001) argue that each extra dollar of housing wealth has five times the impact of an extra dollar of stock market wealth.
Healthy home price appreciation (增值), in combination with robust sales, provides a strong tax base for local governments. Almost 70 percent of all tax revenues raised by local governments in the United States comes from property taxes. Homeowners contribute about 43 percent of property taxes, while commercial property taxes account for the remaining 57 percent. Because home prices historically have outpaced the rate of inflation(通货膨胀) by a couple of percentage points, the local tax base and tax revenue also keep pace with, if not exceed, the rate of inflation.
One of the ways housing contributes to economic growth is via the se-called multiplier(增效器) effect. Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) estimates that the multiplier effects from a single home sale amounts to about 0.28 percent of GDP. That translates into $ 5,100 for each home sale. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) places the estimate at $ 7,800 to $ 8,900 in the first year of a move. The multiplier effect is particularly important to local economies. Home sales and the construction of new homes provide jobs and tax revenues for local, state and federal governments. The National Association of Home Builders estimates that the construction of 1,000 single-family homes generates 2,448 full-time jobs in construction and construction related industries, $ 79.4 million in wages.
Homeownership and Housing Opportunity
Throughout most, if not all of the past decade, employment and wage gains were strong and interest rates moved near historic lows, creating favorable conditions for all households. The result is record-level homeownership rates. The
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It is estimated that rise in the value of house equity increases consumer spending while the dollar change in stock market equity decreases the consuming expenditure.
听力原文：M: Excuse me. I have a ticket for the 6 o'clock flight to Los Angeles. But I'm afraid I can't make it. Is there a seat available for tomorrow morning？
W: Let me see. I'm sorry. All the morning flights have been booked up. The earliest we can get for you is the two o'clock flight in the afternoon.
Q: What does the conversation tell us？
(13)
M: I'd be happy to help you. What would you like to know？
W: First of all, how was the standard weight used？
M: Well, the people in our department use it to check the scales all over the country. The department of weights and measures, we are a government agency. It's our responsibility to see that all the scales measure a kilogram accurately so this is the way we use to adjust the scales.
W: How did you cheek the scales before？
M: We have an old standard weight that we used to use. It had to be replaced because it was imprecise. You see it was made of poor quality metal that was too porous. It absorbed too much moisture.
W: Oh. So when the weather was humid it weighed more and when it was dry it weighed less.
M: Exactly. And that variation can affect the standards of the whole country. So our department had the new weight make out of higher quality metal.
W: How much did it cost？
M: About 45 thousand dollars.
W: 45,000 dollars？ For one kilogram weight ？ That's more expensive than gold. Is it really worth that much？
M: I'm sure it is. Industries depend on our government agency to monitor the accuracy of scales so that when they buy and sell their products there is one standard. Think of the drug industry, for example, those companies rely on high accuracy scales to manufacture and package medicine.
What is the conversation mainly about？
People take photographs for a 【C1】______ of reasons but the most 【C2】______ is to make a record of something in order to show others and to look back on in times to come. The subject is the sole reason for taking pictures like these and aesthetic standards are not usually a consideration as long as the image is sharp and clear. 【C3】______ for those us who call ourselves photographers the situation is often 【C4】______ and the subject becomes 【C5】______ much less importance than the visual and photographic quality of the image.
I've just spent a few days in Paris and have returned home without a single picture of the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe or Notre Dame. Why？ Because during the time of my visit the weather and the 【C6】______ would not have produced the sort of quality and atmosphere I wanted my photographs to have. If I'd simply wanted a visual record of these places I would have been much better 【C7】______ buying a postcard. On the other hand I did take a shot of some wet cobblestones that I'm pretty pleased with, although as a visual memento of Paris it leaves something 【C8】______ .
It's not unreasonable to ask why taking a photograph of wet cobblestones should be more 【C9】______ to me than shooting a beautiful building like Notre Dame. The answer is that the former was rich in many of the key visual elements which give an image that elusive eye-catching quality, whereas, on the day of my visit, Notre Dame was noticeably 【C10】______ them.
As a travel photographer I often find myself in beautiful places knowing that what I'm seeing and experiencing is simply not going to make a striking photograph and I 【C11】______ find that very frustrating. But it's important to be able to recognise this. It's sad when you have to make excuses for a photograph. It was stunning but the photograph just hasn't come 【C12】______ very well. It was probably not there to begin with and building a reputation as a photographer has as much to do with the photographs you don't take as it has with 【C13】______ you do.
Our vision is greatly influenced by factors which cannot be recorded on film, such as sounds, smells and even our mood. I'm sure you've taken what you thought would be great pictures 【C14】______ stimulated by an exciting event, a beautiful view, or simply when enjoying yourself, only to find that your pictures have captured nothing of what you believed to be 【C15】______ . I know I have.
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