2012年考研英語閱讀理解精讀高分版(14)

來源：中華考試網時間：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公司收購礦產為契因，介紹了鉆石礦業新興的一個中間階層。第一段講述了Cullinan礦將要轉手的消息；第二段介紹了De Beers公司之所以將礦轉手的原因；第三段、第四段介紹Petra公司的一些經營方式和情況；第五段講述De Beers公司的運營調整；第六段介紹了鉆石礦業的新階層。

　　詞匯注釋：

　　chunky adj. 含小而厚的塊：

　　consortium n. 財團

　　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 ...

　　[結構分析] 這是一個簡單句，for后面的賓語比較復雜，which 引導的非限定性定語從句修飾the town，在該從句中有一個since引導的狀語從句；在該狀語從句中，that 引導的定語從句修飾prospect, a rock...是kimberlite的同位語。

　　[句子譯文] 這對于這個礦的1000名左右的雇工以及這個小鎮來說是個好消息，這個小鎮從1898年Thomas Cullinan爵士發現該礦含有金伯利巖（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...

　　[結構分析] 這是一個并列句，由連詞and 連接，后半分句結構比較復雜；has been 后面帶有三個并列的成分，第二個成分selling off mines后面有that 引導的定語從句，第三個成分中such as 后面都是用來修飾operations的。

　　[句子譯文] 它開始修關心更高的回報率而不是市場份額了，也一直在修改它的礦產組合，賣掉不再盈利的礦產，投資更讓人動心的項目，如南非西海岸的礦產、自由州省的Voorspoed項目、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]小鎮原來的名字
　　[B] the name of its first owner[B] 第一個礦主的名字
　　[C] the name of its discoverer[C] 礦場發現者的名字
　　[D] the name of the town’s first colonist[D] 小鎮第一個殖民者的名字
　　[答案] C
　　[難度系數] ☆☆
　　[分析] 細節題。該礦的名字為Culliman, 從第一段可以看到它所在的小鎮的名字也是這個，但是第二段提到1898年Thomas Cullinan爵士發現了這個礦含有金伯利巖，1903年該礦成立。那么可以推斷，這個鎮和礦的名字都是以Cullinan爵士、即其第一個發現者的名字命名的。因此，正確答案為C。

　　2. Which one of the following statements is TRUE of the Cullinan mine?2.關于Cullinan礦，以下的陳述哪個是正確的？
　　[A] The mine is the only business of the town which employs most of the local residents[A] 該礦山是小鎮大多數人工作的地方。
　　[B] It can be mined for another 20 years given Petra’s advanced technology[B] 有了Petra的先進技術，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，年產鉆石100萬克拉。
　　[D] Whether the mine will maintain its profitability is yet to know.[D] 該礦山是否還會保持盈利還是一個未知數。
　　[答案]D
　　[難度系數] ☆☆☆☆
　　[分析] 細節題。文章第二段之處小鎮上的大部分人都依賴于鉆石產業，但這并不意味著他們都在礦山工作，因此A選項錯誤。文章第三段談到Petra的盈利策略主要是改進流程、降低成本，并沒有強調使用先進的技術。選項C，在第二段提到Cullinan目前仍被認為是世界第二大比較有價值的鉆石礦，但并不一定在規模上也是第二大的，而且年產量1百萬克拉指的不是該礦山的年產量，而是Petra公司的計劃年產量。選項D，文章沒有明確指出該礦山將來究竟是否會贏利，因為不得而知，答案D為正確的陳述。

　　3. Petra’s opearting philosophy can be said as _____.3. Petra 的運營理念可以說是_____。
　　[A] to make better profits by reducing the costs[A] 通過削減成本來取得更好的收益
　　[B] to exploit the surrounding areas of an existing mine[B] 從已經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] 調整礦產組合并且優化流程管理
　　[答案]A
　　[難度系數] ☆☆☆☆
　　[分析]推理題。文章第三段提到Petra專門收購大公司邊緣化的礦產，其秘訣就在于通過合理化生產和加工，降低運作和管理費用來獲得更好的收益。可以看出，公司運營理念就是通過自己的努力，比如合理化生產、加工，降低費用來盈利，因此，選項A比較為符合這一點。

　　4. De Beers has made changes on its development stratege because_____.4. De Beers 改變了自己的發展戰略因為_____。
　　[A] it plans to shrink its market share and ends its long-term monopoly[A] 它計劃縮小其市場份額并中止長期的壟斷
　　[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的中間階層開辟道路
　　[C] it switches its attention to making larger profits[C] 它的注意力轉移到如何謀取更大的利潤
　　[D] it wants to turn around the loss-making mines by cooperating with companies of smaller size[D] 它想要通過與小規模公司的合作來扭轉那些虧損的礦產
　　[答案]C
　　[難度系數] ☆☆☆
　　[分析] 推理題。文章第五段提到De Beers 認為試圖壟斷市場已經不是什么很好的策略了，它開始關心更高的利潤而不是市場份額了，還采取了一系列的措施來實現這個策略。因此，它改變了自己的發展策略，主要是想要謀取更大的利潤，B為正確答案。A是公司改變策略的方式，B不符合原文內容。D選項具有一定的迷惑性，但要注意De Beers知識將一些礦山賣給小公司，這并不意味著它與小公司合作，因此該選項錯誤。

　　5. The future of the new class of diamond firm is _____.5. 鉆石業新階層的未來會是_____。
　　[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] ☆
　　[分析]推理題。關于鉆石業新出現的中間階層，文章只是介紹了其剛剛開始發展的情況，但是未來怎么樣文章并沒有給出明確的看法，因此，答案為C，其余三個選項的態度顯然不符合題意。