考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇：Unit 6

Unit 6

Stock prices tumbled on Wall Street and across much of the rest of the world yesterday. They were driven sharply lower by worries over slowing economic growth in the United States and worsening borrowing conditions that could make everything from huge corporate buyouts to buying a new home more difficult. Major stock market gauges—including the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poors 500-stock index—were down more than 2 percent.

It was the worst one-day decline on Wall Street since markets plunged worldwide in late February after an investing scare in Shanghai, and it occurred amid the biggest volume of trading on the New York Stock Exchange in five years. Losses were comparable throughout Europe, and larger in many developing countries. The preconditions for a shock are in place, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moodys Economy. com. Until very recently investors were very nonchalant about risks.

Stock markets have been volatile in recent weeks. Continued strong profits for many companies and an economic boom in Asia have helped push oil prices higher. Meanwhile, however, there are various signs of weakness in the American economy and new difficulties in borrowing for many homeowners and companies that are highly leveraged or have poor credit.

The plunge came a day after the private equity firm buying Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler said it would complete the transaction for the automaker despite an inability to borrow the money in credit markets, as had been planned. Banks will hold those loans, as they will for a similar deal involving Alliance Boots, a British pharmacy chain. Shares of DaimlerChrysler fell $4.11, to $88.91. There is fear, but not a fear of recession, said Bill Gross, chief investment officer of the Pacific Investment Management Company, known as Pimco, a large bond management firm. “The fear is directed toward the question of who will be willing to lend $200 billion to provide takeout financing for previously announced private equity deals.”

Yesterday, the Dow industrials plunged 311.50 points, or 2.3 percent, to 13,473.57, while the S. & P. 500 dropped 35.43 points, or 2.3 percent, to 1,482.66. The Nasdaq composite index was down 48.83 points, or 1.8 percent, to 2,599.34. The S. & P. is still up 4.5 percent for the year, while the Dow is 8.1 percent higher. But the S. & P. has fallen 4.5 percent since reaching a record last week. In the last hour or so of trading, the major Wall Street indexes recovered about a third of their steepest losses for the day. Losses of more than 2 percent were recorded in Spain, France and Germany, while Britain, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil fell more than 3 percent. Asian markets fell less yesterday, closing before the worst selling began, but opened down sharply on Friday.

注（1）：本文選自The New York Times；

注（2）：本文習題命題模仿對象：第1、2題分別模仿2014年真題Text 2第5題和2010年真題Text 2第2題，第3題模仿2014年真題Text 4第2題，第4題模仿2015年真題Text 4第2題，第5題模仿2013年真題Text 2第5題。

1. The passage is mainly_______.

A) a review of the current condition of the American and world stock market

B) an introduction of the development of the global stock market

C) a survey of the history and possible results of the stock deal of DaimlerChrysler

D) about the ups and downs of stock prices in world’s major stock markets

2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A) Currently it is more difficult for Americans to borrow money from banks for house purchase.

B) The losses from stock markets are similar in U.S. and some developing countries.

C) Investors were worried about the potential risks in stock market before yesterday.

D) Economic boom in Asia prevents its stock market from falling.

3. If you were an investor, you might be able to earn money if _______.

A) you held the shares of DaimlerChrysler

B) you purchased new shares when the stock market opened yesterday

C) you bought and sold shares at the last one or two hours before closing

D) you didn’t trade any shares yesterday

4. We can infer from the text that _______.

A) the Chrysler transaction will turn to be a failure because of the vibration of stock market

B) the banks hold the loans because the Chrysler case is of exactly the same nature as that of Alliance Boots

C) Bill Gross thinks the fear is from the possibility that the huge amount of money involved in the Chrysler deal may worsen the situation of stock market

D) the difficulty of borrowing leads to the shrinking prices of shares of DaimlerChrysler

5. The writer’s attitude towards the current stock market is_______.

A) biased

B) objective

C) pessimistic

D) optimistic

篇章剖析

本篇文章是一篇說明文，介紹了美國股市昨日下跌的情況。第一段開門見山地說明了股市大跌的事實及其原因，第二、三段則進一步展開說明了股市最近的狀況，影響股市的各種負面因素等。第四段用了一個具體的市場交易事例來說明股市不穩(wěn)定導致的后果，并引用了經濟專業(yè)分析師的評論。最后兩段綜述了美國股市幾大指數以及世界各地股市的漲跌情況，引用了大量的數據。

詞匯注釋

tumble /?t?mbl/ vi. 暴跌，驟降；倒塌，坍塌

buyout /?ba??a?t/ n. 全部買下

gauge /ge?d?/ n. 標準，尺度；計量器

index /?ndeks/ n. 指數

plunge /pl?nd?/ vi. 投入，跳進，陷入

scare /sk??/ n. 驚恐，恐慌，恐懼

precondition /?pr??k?n?d??n/ n. 前提，先決條件

nonchalant /?n?n??l?nt/ adj. 不關心的，若無其事的

volatile /?v?l?ta?l/ adj. 可變的，不穩(wěn)定的

boom /bu?m/ n. 繁榮，迅速發(fā)展；激增

transaction /tr?n?z?k?n/ n. 交易，業(yè)務

pharmacy /?fɑ?m?si/ n. 配藥學，制藥學

recession /r??se?n/ n. 經濟衰退，不景氣

takeout /?te?k?a?t/ n. 資產外帶

難句突破

The plunge came a day after the private equity firm buying Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler said it would complete the transaction for the automaker despite an inability to borrow the money in credit markets, as had been planned.

主體句式：The plunge came a day after the...firm...said...

結構分析：這是一個復雜句，主句為The plunge came，但a day after后面的結構比較復雜。首先，buying Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler是用來修飾the private equity firm，因此后面這個長句的基本結構就是the firm said。said后面跟的是一個間接引語，主體是it would complete the transaction for the automaker，之后的despite表示一個轉折的意思，而as had been planned是用來形容borrow the money in credit markets的。

句子譯文：股市大跌的前一日，從戴姆勒-克萊斯勒購買克萊斯勒企業(yè)債的這家私有證券公司聲稱，盡管現在從信貸市場借錢的進程不像原計劃那么順利，但其仍將與這家汽車制造公司完成這筆交易。

題目分析

1. A 主旨題。判斷文章主旨要從文章整體來把握。文章第一段就指出美國股市昨日大幅下跌，接下來的幾段都在介紹下跌的狀況、原因、相關因素，并且詳細介紹了各個股票指數的一系列數據，最后一段又描述了世界其他地區(qū)的股市情況，可見全文都是在說明美國和世界股市的現狀。因此正確答案為A。B選項的錯誤原因在于本文并沒有介紹世界股票市場的發(fā)展歷程，只是聚焦其近期的發(fā)展狀況。C選項的錯誤原因在于關于戴姆勒-克萊斯勒案例的討論并不是文章的主要內容和目的。D選項的意思是世界主要股票市場股票價格的起伏狀況，雖然與文章內容比較貼近，但是概括過于泛泛，不如A選項精確。

2. A 細節(jié)題。根據文章第一段第二句，“從大公司收購到普通人購買房屋等各種事情都變得更加困難”，答案顯而易見。B選項的錯誤原因在于文章第二段和最后一段指出，世界各個股票市場的下跌幅度和損失是不同的。C選項的錯誤原因在于在昨日股票大幅下跌之前，投資者們并沒有意識到風險的嚴重性，這在第二段中有所反映。D選項的錯誤原因在于文章最后一段指出，亞洲股市也開始下滑。

3. C 細節(jié)題。根據文章第五段倒數第三句，“在昨日收盤前一小時左右的時間里，華爾街的各種主要指數在一天的狂跌之后又上漲了約三分之一的幅度”，所以在最后一兩個小時內進行買賣的投資者有可能會獲利。

4. D 推理題。根據文章第四段第一、二句話談到借錢不順利，銀行不愿意貸款等情況，因此導致了克萊斯勒收購案進展受到了一定的阻礙。這一消息影響到了公司的股價，緊接著第三句話就談到了戴姆勒-克萊斯勒股票價格的下跌。可見兩者之間是有因果聯(lián)系的。A選項的錯誤原因在于該交易目前還在進行中，并沒有失敗。B選項的錯誤原因在于文中并沒有指出兩個收購案性質完全相同。C選項的錯誤原因在于該表述沒有正確地傳達比爾·格羅斯的意思。

5. B 情感態(tài)度題。作者的態(tài)度可以通過材料的選擇和措辭來判斷?？v觀全文，作者基本上都在描述事實和引用各種數據、言論，并沒有發(fā)表自己的看法?？梢?，作者對于股市現狀的態(tài)度是非?？陀^的。

參考譯文

華爾街以及世界許多地區(qū)的股票價格昨日都經歷了大幅下跌。急劇下跌的主要原因在于公眾對美國經濟發(fā)展速度放慢的憂慮，以及惡化的信貸狀況，因而導致從大公司收購到普通人購買房屋等各種事情都變得更加困難。幾個主要的股市指標——包括道·瓊斯工業(yè)平均價格指數和標準普爾500種股份指數——都下挫了兩個百分點以上。

自二月底上海投資危機導致全球股市下跌以來，這是華爾街經歷過的一天內最大幅度的下跌，而現在正是紐約證券交易所五年來交易規(guī)模最大的時候。歐洲股市也遭遇了相當規(guī)模的損失，而許多發(fā)展中國家股市的損失則更為嚴重。穆迪經濟網首席經濟學家馬克·贊第說，股市震蕩的預警早已出現。直到不久前，許多投資者仍然對風險視若無睹。

最近幾周股市一直跌宕起伏。亞洲許多公司持續(xù)的高盈利報告和經濟的迅速發(fā)展推動了油價的進一步上漲。但與此同時，已有各種信號顯示出美國經濟的疲軟、很多房屋購買者面臨的新的信貸困難以及許多公司舉債經營或者擁有不良的信用記錄。

股市大跌的前一日，從戴姆勒-克萊斯勒購買克萊斯勒企業(yè)債的這家私有證券公司聲稱，盡管現在從信貸市場借錢的進程不像原計劃那么順利，但其仍將與這家汽車制造公司完成這筆交易。許多銀行都不愿意發(fā)放貸款，就像他們也不愿意為一樁涉及英國醫(yī)藥經銷連鎖商聯(lián)合博姿公司的交易放款一樣。戴姆勒-克萊斯勒的股票價格下跌4.11美元，收盤為88.91美元?！斑@是一種恐慌，但不是對于經濟衰退的恐慌。”太平洋投資管理公司（即Pimco公司，一家大型債券管理公司）首席投資官比爾·格羅斯說道，“恐慌來源于人們質疑誰會愿意為這個先前宣稱的私募基金交易提供2000億美元的資產外帶?！?

昨日，道·瓊斯工業(yè)指數狂瀉311.50點，收盤于13,473.57點，下跌了2.3%，而標準普爾下跌了35.43點，收盤于1,482.66點，跌幅為2.3%。納斯達克綜合指數下跌了48.83點，收盤于2,599.34點，跌幅為1.8%。標準普爾全年仍上升了4.5個百分點，道·瓊斯工業(yè)指數則高出8.1個百分點。但是自從上周創(chuàng)造新紀錄以后，標準普爾下降了4.5個百分點。在昨日收盤前一小時左右的時間里，華爾街的各種主要指數在一天的狂跌之后又上漲了約三分之一的幅度。西班牙、法國、德國的股市損失超過了兩個百分點，而英國、阿根廷、墨西哥和巴西的股市則下降了三個百分點以上。亞洲市場昨日并沒有經歷嚴重的下跌，在最差交易開始前就已收盤，但周五開盤時急劇下滑。