Section A Exploratory Reading
Try to determine the meaning of the underlined words with the help of word formation clues.
It is well known that trade in Hong Kong has flourished considerably during recent years， despite problems at home and abroad. While the influx of refugees has brought the government severe problems in housing， education and other fields， it has made available a large number of relatively inexpensive but very hard⁃working employees.However， the availability of cheap labour has also brought problems which affect the export trade.
Some foreign countries have objected to the unrestricted import of Hong Kong goods，particularly textiles， and have imposed tariff barriers or other restrictions. In a number of importing countries， allegations have been made that Hong Kong manufacturers have been“dumping” goods at unfairly low prices.
In some cases， anti⁃dumping policies have been imposed to protect industries in the importing countries. The cumulative effect has been to curtail exports from Hong Kong to some areas， especially to newly⁃developing countries trying to develop pioneer industries of their own. Hong Kong is conveniently near the large potential markets of China，Japan and South East Asia， and trade with these areas has shown a steady improvement.But if Hong Kong is conveniently placed for Asian markets， she is at a disadvantage when trading with Africa， Europe and America. The cost of freight and insurance is another problem which industrialists have to face when they try to increase their exports to distant markets.
Within Hong Kong， a number of factors help the development of trade. The average employee working harder than his counterpart in some other countries， is highly adaptable and technically very skillful. There are highly developed banking， insurance and shipping systems which help the local manufacturer and exporter. These systems have evolved to maintain Hong Kong's position as a basically tariff⁃free port， and they are easily able to deal with the complexities of modern trade. Income tax， too， is more favorable than in some of the countries with which Hong Kong must compete in the search for overseas markets. The incentive for workers， manufacturers and overseas investors is higher than in many other parts of the world. A particular obstacle which local industrialists have to overcome or learn to live with is the shortage of land and the high price which must be paid for suitable manufacturing sites. The Government has carried out a systematic policy of land reclamation but this is an expensive and lengthy process. It can not be expected to keep pace with the rapid development of industry， particularly when land is urgently multifunctional for housing and other purposes.
Choose the best answer.
1. “While the influx of refugees has brought the government severe problems… it has made available a large number of relatively inexpensive but very hard⁃working employees.” The underlined word is likely to mean________.
A. inflow B. influence C. arrival D. infection
2. “In some cases，anti⁃dumping policies have been imposed to protect industries in the importing countries.” Anti⁃dumping policies likely refer to the policies which________dumping.
A. support B. oppose C. predict D. declare
3. “It cannot be expected to keep pace with the rapid development of industry， particularly when land is urgently multifunctional for housing and other purposes.” The underlined word probably means________.
A. having two functions B. having one functions
C. having no function D. having many functions
Explanations
1. The key is A. flux means flow； the prefix in⁃means into. So， influx of refugees means refugees flood into.
2. The key is B. the prefix anti⁃ means oppose or against. So， anti⁃dumping policies mean policies which oppose dumping.
3. The key is D. In the compound word multifunctional， multi⁃ means having many of. So，multifunctional means having a lot of functions.
Reading Skill： Guessing Words by Word Formation
Using context clues is one way to discover the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Another way is word formation（构词法）.The followings are four general methods of word formation.They are affixation （词缀法）， conversion （转化法）， compounding （合词法） and blending（混合法）.
I. Affixation （词缀法）
Affixation is looking at the meanings of parts of words. Many English words have been formed by combining parts of older English， Greek， and Latin words. If you know the meanings of some of these word parts， you can often guess the meanings of an unfamiliar English word.
For example， report is from re， which means “back”， and port which means “carry”.Scientist is derived from sci， which means “know”， and ist， which means “one who”. Port and sci are called stems. A stem is the basic part on which groups of related words are built.Re and ist are called affixes， that is， word parts which are attached to stems. Affixes like re，which are attached to the beginning of stems are called prefixes. Affixes attached to the end，like ist， are called suffixes. Generally， prefixes change the meaning of a word and suffixes change its part of speech. Here is an example：
1. Prefixes
1）Negative prefixes（表示否定的前缀）
2）Prefixes of extent and size （表示程度、大小等的前缀）
3）Prefixes of position （表示位置的前缀）
4）Prefixes of sequence （表示时间和顺序）
5）Prefixes of quantities （表示数量的前缀）
6）Latin and Greek prefixes （来源于希腊、拉丁语的前缀）
7）Prefixes of changing word class （转化词类的前缀）
2. Suffixes
1）Noun suffixes （名词后缀）
（1） Countable noun suffixes （表示个体名词的后缀）
4）Adverb suffixes （副词后缀）
II. Conversion （转化法）
A word class is changed into another， which refers to conversion. Generally， the converted word means closely to its original. The following are some types.
1. noun →verb （名词转化为动词）
face n. （front part of the head from the forehead to the skin） →face v. （be opposite to；confront）
hand n.（end part of the human arm below the wrist） →hand v. （give or transfer）
2. adjective →verb （形容词转化为动词）
slow adj. （not fast） →slow v. （cause sth. to go at a slower speed）
clear adj. （easy to see； distinct） →clear v. （remove）
3. verb →noun （动词转化为名词）
doubt v. （feel uncertain） →doubt n. （uncertainty or disbelief）
answer v. （say， write or do sth. in response to） →answer n. （thing said， written or done
as a response to reaction； reply）
4. adjective／past participle →noun （形容词或过去分词转化为名词）
rich adj.→the rich n.（the rich people）
disabled adj.→the disabled n.（the disabled people）
III. Compounding （合词法）
A compound word is made up of two or more words that together express a single idea.There are three types of compounds. An open compound consists of two or more words written separately， such as salad dressing， Boston terrier， or April Fools'Day.A hyphenated compound has words connected by a hyphen， such as age⁃old， mother⁃in⁃law， force⁃feed. A solid compound consists of two words that are written as one word， such as keyboard or typewriter.
IV. Blending （混合法）
Blending is a relatively complex form of compounding，in which two roots are blended by joining the initial part of the first root and the final part of the second root， or by joining the initial parts of the two roots.breakfast ＋lunch →brunchmotor ＋hotel →motel network ＋citizen →netizendigital ＋computer →digicom