Has the recent economic downturn affected your life? For many young Chinese, it has driven

Has the recent economic downturn affected your life? For many young Chinese, it has driven them to embrace a far more frugal (economical) lifestyle.

Wang Hao, 24, is a Beijing office worker. He made a resolution in June last year to limit his weekly living expenses to 100 yuan. That's the cost of eight Big Macs in China.

“The financial crisis has taught a spending lesson to young people in China, including me,” said Wang, who posted his resolution on his blog, which has drawn over 200,000 hits.

As the financial crisis affects the economy, white-collar workers speak of reducing salaries. Some are unemployed. And university students are facing the worst job prospects since China's economic reform began 30 years ago.

To save money, people have started to share dinners, houses, taxis and other activities with strangers they meet online. Web users post their activities on sites, such as www.Pinkewang.com and invite others to join them. Lin Xiongbo, the founder of Pinkewang, said his website saw a 100 percent increase of visitors last November after the global financial crisis broke out.

People are also using websites like Lin's to share other activity ideas such as training programs, sports, and entertainments.

“Sharing activities with others can save a lot of money without lowering one's quality of life,” said 27-year-old Xu Li. He's a manager at a public relations firm and a long-time user of websites like Pinkewang.

It was on the Internet that Xu recently found another person to take part in an English training program with him. By joining the program with another person, he and his partner received a 10 percent discount for the course, saving them more than 1,000 yuan.

Young Chinese born in the 80s used to be accused of being materialistic. They favored designer clothes and the latest electronic products, and many of them spent their monthly salaries rather than saving them. They became known as the "Yueguang group".

However, since the economy slowed down, this lifestyle has lost much of its charm. Now, more and more young Chinese consider saving money to be more fashionable than spending.

The frugal lifestyles these young Chinese are embracing seem to be accepted by the authorities too. In a commentary published in the People's Daily recently, the writer said frugality did not conflict with the government's demand-stimulating policies, as it called for reasonable rather than reckless spending.

“Frugal lifestyles should become a fashion, especially in the financial crisis,” said the writer Wang Jinyou.

63. The passage was written to _________.
   A. advertise a website called www.Pinkewang.com
   B. show how young Chinese are dealing with the economic situation
   C. show the life conditions of white-collar workers in China
   D. tell the readers about the economic problems China is facing

64. What can we conclude from the passage?
A. Wang Hao’s blog is popular because the stories in his blog are very interesting.
B. The financial crisis began to affect Chinese people’s lives in December 2008.
C. Since the economic downturn, fast consumer lifestyles are less popular in China now.
D. The government has asked people to spend less money to fight the economic crisis.

65. According to the passage, the following are all caused by the financial crisis EXCEPT that _________.
A. a great many college students have decided not to continue their studies
B. there is less hope for college graduates to find their ideal jobs 
C. young people have to cut down their living expenses
D. some white-collar workers are out of work

66. We know from the passage that _______.
A. Xu Li will have to pay over 5,000 yuan for his training program if he attends it alone
B. the Chinese people who were born in the 1980s developed the good habit of saving money
C. the trend for young Chinese to adopt frugal lifestyles goes against current government policies
D. it’s nothing new for young Chinese to share activities with others on the Internet