Text 4
    
    Bankers have been blaming themselves for their troubles in public .Behind eht scenes,they have been taking aim at someone else the accounting standard-setters.Their rules,moan the banks,have forced them to report enormous losses,and it’s just not fair.These rules say they must value some assets at the price atheird party would pay,not the price managers and regulators would like them to fetch.
    
    Unfortunately,banks’lobbying now seems to be working.The details may be unknowable,but the independence of standard-setters,essential to the proper functioning of capital marksts,is being compromised.And,unless banks carry toxic assets at prices that attract buyers,reviving the banking system will be difficult.After a bruising encounter with Xongress.America;s Financial Accounting Standards Board(FASB)rushed through rule changse.These gave banks more freedom to use models to value illiquid assets and more flexibility in recognizing losses on long0term assets in their income statement.Bob Herz,the FASB’s chairman,cried out against ehose who ”question our motives.”Yet bank shares rose and the changes enhance what one lobby group politely calls”the use of judgment by management.”
    
    European ministers instantly demanded that the International Accounting Standards Board(IASB)do likewise.The IASB says it does not want to act without overall planning,but the pressure to fold when it comletes it reconstruction of rules later this year is strong Charlie McCreevy,a European commissioner,warned the IASB that is did”not live in a political vacuum”but”in the real word” and the Europe could yet develop different rules.
    
    It was banks that were on the wrong planet,with accouts htat wastly overvalued assets.today they argue htat market prices overstate loeees,because htey
    
    Largerly reflect the temporary illiquldity of markets,not the likely entent of bad debts.The truth will not be known for years.But bank’s shares trade below their book value,suggeting that investors are akeptical.And dead markets partly reflect the paralysis of banks which will not sell assets for fear of booking losses,yet are relucaant to buy all those supposed bargains.
    
    To get the sysytem working again, losses must be recognized and dealt with.America’s new plan to buy up toxic assets will not work unless banks mark assets to levels which buyers find attractive. Successful markets require independent and even combative standard-setters. The FASB and IASB have been exactly that,cleaning up rules on stock options ang pensions,for example,against hostility interests. But by giving in to critics now they are inviting pressure to make more concessions.
    
    36. Bankers complained that they were forced to
    
    [A]follow anfavorable asset evaluation rules
    
    [B]collect payments from third parties
    
    [C]cooperate with the price managers
    
    [D]reevaluate some of their assets
    
    37.According to the author,the rule changes of the FASB may result in
    
    [A]the dimingishing role of management
    
    [B] the revival of the banking syestem
    
    [C]the bank’s long-term asset lossers
    
    [D]the weakening og its indepentdence
    
    38. According to Paragarph 4,McCreevy objects to the IASB’s attempt to
    
    [A] keep away from political influences
    
    [B] evade the pressure from their peers
    
    [C] act on their own in ruli-setting
    
    [D]take gradual measures in reform
    
    39、The author thinks the banks were“on the wrong planet”in that they
    
    [A]mis interpreted market price indicators
    
    [B]exaggerated the real value of their assets
    
    [C]neglected the likely existence of bad debts
    
    [D]denied booking losses in their sale of assets
    
    40、The author’s attitude towards standard-setters is one of
    
    [A]satisfaction
    
    [B]skepticism
    
    [C]objectiveness
    
    [D]sympathy
    

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