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  3. Oil and Islam continue to define Saudi Arabia’s room for maneuver. With global demand unlikely to wane in the foreseeable future

Oil and Islam continue to define Saudi Arabia’s room for maneuver. With global demand unlikely to wane in the foreseeable future

admin2010-06-30  41
问题      Oil and Islam continue to define Saudi Arabia’s room for maneuver. With global demand unlikely to wane in the foreseeable future and reserves elsewhere diminishing, oil will continue to keep the kingdom rich for decades to come. At the same time, the Saudis’ attachment to their faith is not diminishing; it may even be growing stronger. But the faith itself is changing in subtle ways.
     Having gone through waves of progress and retrenchment during its 73 years as a unified kingdom, Saudi Arabia is now well into another period of rapid change. This time, however, the well-oiled complacency of the previous big boom, in the 1970s, is largely gone. Four years ago, a survey in this newspaper argued that it might require internal shocks to jolt the Saudis into taking reform seriously. Those shocks have now arrived.
     Since May 2003, when suicide bombers attacked a housing compound in Riyadh, terrorist violence has touched every corner of the kingdom, claiming some 200 lives. Saudi nationals, the most famous being Osama bin Laden, continue to be implicated in terrorist attacks abroad, most notably in Iraq. Yet far from rallying Saudis, terrorism has made them identify more closely with the state. More importantly, the violence has brought intense introspection and debate.
     Long accustomed to blaming outside influences for all ills, Saudis now accept that the fixing needs to start at home. Aside from extremism, the problems of unemployment, poverty and the abuse of human rights have moved to the top of the national agenda. Even the most absolute of previous taboos, political reform, is being widely debated. In dozens of interviews with Saudis of all stripes, one phrase kept coming up: the question is no longer whether to reform/restructure/change, but how fast to do it.
     The government’s answer, to date, has been slow, and not very sure. But this survey will argue that far from being a dinosaur nation, lumbering to extinction, Saudi Arabia is capable of rapid evolution. On some important issues, such as the rules governing business, it is already far down the right track. On others, such as the ways it educates its youth and excludes women, the kingdom is only just beginning to shift course.
     Most Saudis reckon it is premature to speak of democracy in their country; but there are myriad ways to emancipate citizens, from upholding the rule of law to making budgets more transparent and loosening the grip of security agencies over universities and the press. Instead of their old tactics of prevarication, slow consensus-building and co-optation, the A1Sauds should try a new one: putting trust in their people.
What is Saudi Arabia like now?
选项 A、It is in a big boom.
B、It is in a period of reforming.
C、It is in a period of rapid change.
D、It is in fast progress.
答案C
解析 文章第二段说明了沙特过去几十年的情形和目前的现状。沙特现在正处于一个急速变化的阶段。A所述是沙特七十年代所处的情形。B沙特确实需要改革，但人们尚未严肃对待这个问题，改革没有在进行中。D所述是沙特几十年前所处的情形。
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