2012年考研英語(yǔ)閱讀理解精讀高分版(14)

來(lái)源：中華考試網(wǎng) 時(shí)間：2011-12-30 11:55:15

　　TEXT EIGHTEEN
　　Richard Burton probably knew nothing of the small South African town of Cullinan when he bought yet another chunky diamond for Elizabeth Taylor in 1969. Now the Cullinan mine itself, like so many of the diamonds unearthed there, is about to change hands. On November 22nd De Beers, the diamond giant that has owned the mine since 1930, said it was selling it to a consortium led by Petra Diamonds, one of South Africa’s emerging diamond producers, for 1 billion rand in cash. Provided regulators approve the deal, the transfer should take place by the middle of next year.
　　De Beers is selling because the mine is no longer profitable, despite attempts to turn it around. But Petra reckons the mine still has another 20 years of production in it and plans to extract at least 1m carats a year. The unexploited "Centenary Cut" deposit, which lies under the existing mine, could yield a lot more. This is good news for the mine’s 1,000 or so employees and for the town, which has depended on the diamond business since Sir Thomas Cullinan discovered a prospect there in 1898 that contained kimberlite, a rock that can be rich in diamonds. The mine, established in 1903, is one of 30 or so kimberlite diamond mines in the world, and is believed to be still the world’s second-most-valuable diamond resource　　Petra is a relatively small outfit, listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market, that specialises in buying mines that bigger companies see as marginal. Its trick is to extract better returns by rationalising production and processing, and keeping operating costs and overheads down. Petra has already bought two of De Beers’s loss-making South African mines-both of which are now profitable-and is finalising the 78.5m rand acquisition of the group’s underground operation in Kimberley, which stopped working in 2005.
　　It already operates four mines in South Africa and has promising exploration in Angola (a joint-venture with BHP Billiton), Sierra Leone and Botswana. Petra expects to produce over 1m carats by 2010-quite a jump from 180,474 carats in the year to June. The company has yet to make a profit, but expects to be making money by the middle of next year.
　　In the 1990s De Beers decided that it was no longer a good idea to try to monopolise the diamond market. It started focusing on higher returns rather than market share, and has been revamping its mine portfolio, selling off mines that are no longer profitable and investing in more enticing operations, such as its mine off the west coast of South Africa, its Voorspoed operation in the Free State province, and two new mines in Canada.
　　This has opened the way for a new class of diamond firm that operates in the vast middle ground between the world’s handful of large producers and a multitude of much smaller exploration firms. The Cullinan deal should entrench Petra in this middle tier, alongside firms such as Kimberley Diamond and Trans Hex. But even if it does reach its target of 1m carats a year, Petra will still not be able to match the sparkle of the giants. Last year De Beers produced 51m carats from its mines in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania, which amounted to 40% of the world’s diamonds by value.

　　1. The Cullinan mine was named after_____.
　　[A] the original name of the town　　[B] the name of its first owner
　　[C] the name of its discoverer　　[D] the name of the town’s first colonist

　　2. Which one of the following statements is TRUE of the Cullinan mine?
　　[A] The mine is the only business of the town which employs most of the local residents
　　[B] It can be mined for another 20 years given Petra’s advanced technology
　　[C] It is the world’s second largest diamond mine with a yearly capacity of 1m carats
　　[D] Whether the mine will maintain its profitability is yet to know.

　　3. Petra’s opearting philosophy can be said as _____.
　　[A] to make profits by reducing the costs
　　[B] to exploit the surrounding areas of an existing mine
　　[C] to integrate the resources of all the money-losing small mines
　　[D] to restructure the mine portfolio and to optimize the process management

　　4. De Beers has made changes on its development stratege because_____.
　　[A] it plans to shrink its market share and ends its long-term monopoly
　　[B] it wants to open the way for the middle tier of diamond market
　　[C] it switches its attention to making larger profits
　　[D] it wants to turn around the loss-making mines by cooperating with companies of smaller size.

　　5. The future of the new class of diamond firm is _____.
　　[A] promising
　　[B] dim
　　[C] unknown
　　[D] frustrating

　　文章剖析：

　　文章從Petra公司收購(gòu)礦產(chǎn)為契因，介紹了鉆石礦業(yè)新興的一個(gè)中間階層。第一段講述了Cullinan礦將要轉(zhuǎn)手的消息；第二段介紹了De Beers公司之所以將礦轉(zhuǎn)手的原因；第三段、第四段介紹Petra公司的一些經(jīng)營(yíng)方式和情況；第五段講述De Beers公司的運(yùn)營(yíng)調(diào)整；第六段介紹了鉆石礦業(yè)的新階層。

　　詞匯注釋：

　　chunky adj. 含小而厚的塊：

　　consortium n. 財(cái)團(tuán)

　　kimberlite n. 金伯利巖

　　entrench v. 確立，使處于牢固地位

　　portfolio n. 組合

　　enticing adj. 引誘的, 迷人的, 動(dòng)人心目的

　　難句突破：

　　(1) This is good news for the mine’s 1,000 or so employees and for the town, which has depended on the diamond business since Sir Thomas Cullinan discovered a prospect there in 1898 that contained kimberlite, a rock that can be rich in diamonds.

　　[主體句式] This is good news for ...

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析] 這是一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單句，for后面的賓語(yǔ)比較復(fù)雜，which 引導(dǎo)的非限定性定語(yǔ)從句修飾the town，在該從句中有一個(gè)since引導(dǎo)的狀語(yǔ)從句；在該狀語(yǔ)從句中，that 引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句修飾prospect, a rock...是kimberlite的同位語(yǔ)。

　　[句子譯文] 這對(duì)于這個(gè)礦的1000名左右的雇工以及這個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)來(lái)說(shuō)是個(gè)好消息，這個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)從1898年Thomas Cullinan爵士發(fā)現(xiàn)該礦含有金伯利巖（可能富含鉆石的一種巖石）后，就一直依賴鉆石生意存活。

　　(2) It started focusing on higher returns rather than market share, and has been revamping its mine portfolio, selling off mines that are no longer profitable and investing in more enticing operations, such as its mine off the west coast of South Africa, its Voorspoed operation in the Free State province, and two new mines in Canada.

　　[主體句式]It started focusing on..., and has been...

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析] 這是一個(gè)并列句，由連詞and 連接，后半分句結(jié)構(gòu)比較復(fù)雜；has been 后面帶有三個(gè)并列的成分，第二個(gè)成分selling off mines后面有that 引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句，第三個(gè)成分中such as 后面都是用來(lái)修飾operations的。

　　[句子譯文] 它開(kāi)始修關(guān)心更高的回報(bào)率而不是市場(chǎng)份額了，也一直在修改它的礦產(chǎn)組合，賣掉不再盈利的礦產(chǎn)，投資更讓人動(dòng)心的項(xiàng)目，如南非西海岸的礦產(chǎn)、自由州省的Voorspoed項(xiàng)目、加拿大的兩處新礦。

題目分析：
　　1. The Culliman mine in deal was named after_____.1. 正在交易的礦是以_____命名的。
　　[A] the original name of the town[A]小鎮(zhèn)原來(lái)的名字
　　[B] the name of its first owner[B] 第一個(gè)礦主的名字
　　[C] the name of its discoverer[C] 礦場(chǎng)發(fā)現(xiàn)者的名字
　　[D] the name of the town’s first colonist[D] 小鎮(zhèn)第一個(gè)殖民者的名字
　　[答案] C
　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆
　　[分析] 細(xì)節(jié)題。該礦的名字為Culliman, 從第一段可以看到它所在的小鎮(zhèn)的名字也是這個(gè)，但是第二段提到1898年Thomas Cullinan爵士發(fā)現(xiàn)了這個(gè)礦含有金伯利巖，1903年該礦成立。那么可以推斷，這個(gè)鎮(zhèn)和礦的名字都是以Cullinan爵士、即其第一個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)者的名字命名的。因此，正確答案為C。

　　2. Which one of the following statements is TRUE of the Cullinan mine?2.關(guān)于Cullinan礦，以下的陳述哪個(gè)是正確的？
　　[A] The mine is the only business of the town which employs most of the local residents[A] 該礦山是小鎮(zhèn)大多數(shù)人工作的地方。
　　[B] It can be mined for another 20 years given Petra’s advanced technology[B] 有了Petra的先進(jìn)技術(shù)，該礦山還可以被挖掘20年。
　　[C] It is the world’s second largest diamond mine with a yearly capacity of 1m carats[C] 它是世界上第二大鉆石礦山，年產(chǎn)鉆石100萬(wàn)克拉。
　　[D] Whether the mine will maintain its profitability is yet to know.[D] 該礦山是否還會(huì)保持盈利還是一個(gè)未知數(shù)。
　　[答案]D
　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆☆
　　[分析] 細(xì)節(jié)題。文章第二段之處小鎮(zhèn)上的大部分人都依賴于鉆石產(chǎn)業(yè)，但這并不意味著他們都在礦山工作，因此A選項(xiàng)錯(cuò)誤。文章第三段談到Petra的盈利策略主要是改進(jìn)流程、降低成本，并沒(méi)有強(qiáng)調(diào)使用先進(jìn)的技術(shù)。選項(xiàng)C，在第二段提到Cullinan目前仍被認(rèn)為是世界第二大比較有價(jià)值的鉆石礦，但并不一定在規(guī)模上也是第二大的，而且年產(chǎn)量1百萬(wàn)克拉指的不是該礦山的年產(chǎn)量，而是Petra公司的計(jì)劃年產(chǎn)量。選項(xiàng)D，文章沒(méi)有明確指出該礦山將來(lái)究竟是否會(huì)贏利，因?yàn)椴坏枚鸢窪為正確的陳述。

　　3. Petra’s opearting philosophy can be said as _____.3. Petra 的運(yùn)營(yíng)理念可以說(shuō)是_____。
　　[A] to make better profits by reducing the costs[A] 通過(guò)削減成本來(lái)取得更好的收益
　　[B] to exploit the surrounding areas of an existing mine[B] 從已經(jīng)存在的礦山周圍尋找資源
　　[C] to integrate the resources of all the money-losing small mines[C] 整合那些虧損的小礦山的資源
　　[D] to restructure the mine portfolio and to optimize the process management[D] 調(diào)整礦產(chǎn)組合并且優(yōu)化流程管理
　　[答案]A
　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆☆
　　[分析]推理題。文章第三段提到Petra專門收購(gòu)大公司邊緣化的礦產(chǎn)，其秘訣就在于通過(guò)合理化生產(chǎn)和加工，降低運(yùn)作和管理費(fèi)用來(lái)獲得更好的收益。可以看出，公司運(yùn)營(yíng)理念就是通過(guò)自己的努力，比如合理化生產(chǎn)、加工，降低費(fèi)用來(lái)盈利，因此，選項(xiàng)A比較為符合這一點(diǎn)。

　　4. De Beers has made changes on its development stratege because_____.4. De Beers 改變了自己的發(fā)展戰(zhàn)略因?yàn)開(kāi)____。
　　[A] it plans to shrink its market share and ends its long-term monopoly[A] 它計(jì)劃縮小其市場(chǎng)份額并中止長(zhǎng)期的壟斷
　　[B] it wants to open the way for the middle tier of diamond market[B] 它希望可以為鉆石市場(chǎng)的中間階層開(kāi)辟道路
　　[C] it switches its attention to making larger profits[C] 它的注意力轉(zhuǎn)移到如何謀取更大的利潤(rùn)
　　[D] it wants to turn around the loss-making mines by cooperating with companies of smaller size[D] 它想要通過(guò)與小規(guī)模公司的合作來(lái)扭轉(zhuǎn)那些虧損的礦產(chǎn)
　　[答案]C
　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆
　　[分析] 推理題。文章第五段提到De Beers 認(rèn)為試圖壟斷市場(chǎng)已經(jīng)不是什么很好的策略了，它開(kāi)始關(guān)心更高的利潤(rùn)而不是市場(chǎng)份額了，還采取了一系列的措施來(lái)實(shí)現(xiàn)這個(gè)策略。因此，它改變了自己的發(fā)展策略，主要是想要謀取更大的利潤(rùn)，B為正確答案。A是公司改變策略的方式，B不符合原文內(nèi)容。D選項(xiàng)具有一定的迷惑性，但要注意De Beers知識(shí)將一些礦山賣給小公司，這并不意味著它與小公司合作，因此該選項(xiàng)錯(cuò)誤。

　　5. The future of the new class of diamond firm is _____.5. 鉆石業(yè)新階層的未來(lái)會(huì)是_____。
　　[A] promising[A] 有前景的　　[B] dim[B] 暗淡
　　[C] unknown[C] 未知的　　[D] frustrating[D] 困難重重的
　　[答案]C
　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆
　　[分析]推理題。關(guān)于鉆石業(yè)新出現(xiàn)的中間階層，文章只是介紹了其剛剛開(kāi)始發(fā)展的情況，但是未來(lái)怎么樣文章并沒(méi)有給出明確的看法，因此，答案為C，其余三個(gè)選項(xiàng)的態(tài)度顯然不符合題意。