2010考研英語閱讀精讀100篇(高分版)十六

2010考研英語閱讀精讀100篇(高分版)TEXT SIXTEEN
　　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 operating 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，介紹了因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、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

　　portfolio n. 組合

　　enticing adj. 引誘的, 迷人的, 動人心目的

　　entrench v. 確立，使處于牢固地位

　　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：

　　[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。

　　[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最有價值的鉆石礦，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，選項D為正確的陳述。

　　[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�？梢钥闯�，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最為符合這一點。

　　[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，C選項為正確答案。A選項是公司改變策略的方式，B選項不符合原文內容。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。

　　[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選項，其余三個選項的態度顯然不符合題意。

　　參考譯文：

　　Richard Burton 在1969年為Elisabeth Taylor 新購一塊又小又厚的鉆石時，他可能對南非小鎮Cullinan一無所知。現在Cullinan連同埋在地下的鉆石一起都將易主了。11月22日， De Beers，這個從1930年起就一直是礦主的鉆石巨頭說要以10億蘭特現金的價格賣給Petra Diamonds為首的財團，Petra Diamonds是南非新興的鉆石制造商。現在管理者已經同意了這筆交易，該礦將于明年年中易手。

　　De Beers要做這筆買賣是因為盡管采取了很多措施，該礦不再是利潤豐厚了。但是Petra 估計該礦還可以生產20年，計劃每年最少挖掘100萬克拉。而位于該礦下方尚未被開采的“百年切割”層，生產力更高。這對于該礦1000名左右的雇工以及小鎮來說是一個好消息，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。該礦建立于1903年，是世界上約30個金伯利巖鉆石礦之一，現在仍被認為是世界上第二最有價值的鉆石儲藏礦。

　　Petra是比較小的一個商業組織，在倫敦的 Alternative Investment Market上市。該組織專門收購大公司認為不重要的礦產，其秘訣在于通過合理化生產和加工、以及降低運作和管理費用來獲得更好的收益。Petra已經在南非收購了De Beers兩家虧損的礦(這兩個礦目前都在盈利)，目前也即將完成以7850萬蘭特收購該組織在金伯利地下礦的項目，該礦于2005年停產。

　　目前該公司在南非經營四座礦藏，在安哥拉、塞拉利昂和博茨瓦納也有非常好的勘探項目(與BHP Billiton的合資公司)。Petra希望到2010年產量可以超過100萬克拉，相比六月前180474克拉的年產量來說是一個飛躍。公司現在還未贏利，但可望從明年年中開始賺錢。

　　20世紀90年代開始，De Beers認為壟斷鉆石市場不再是個好主意了，它開始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。

　　這就為鉆石行業的一個新階層開辟了道路，這個階層處于世界上少數的大生產商和眾多小勘探公司之間那片廣闊的區域。Cullinan這筆交易確立了Petra作為這個中間階層的地位，類似的公司還有金伯利鉆石和Trans Hex。不過即使達到年產量100萬克拉，Petra還是遠不及那些鉆石巨頭。去年，De Beers在其博茨瓦納、納米比亞、南非和坦桑尼亞礦的產量為5100萬克拉，估計價值占到世界鉆石的40% 。