考研英语阅读理解精读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）：本文选自The New York Times；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1、2题分别模仿2014年真题Text 2第5题和2010年真题Text 2第2题，第3题模仿2014年真题Text 4第2题，第4题模仿2015年真题Text 4第2题，第5题模仿2013年真题Text 2第5题。

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

本篇文章是一篇说明文，介绍了美国股市昨日下跌的情况。第一段开门见山地说明了股市大跌的事实及其原因，第二、三段则进一步展开说明了股市最近的状况，影响股市的各种负面因素等。第四段用了一个具体的市场交易事例来说明股市不稳定导致的后果，并引用了经济专业分析师的评论。最后两段综述了美国股市几大指数以及世界各地股市的涨跌情况，引用了大量的数据。

词汇注释

tumble /ˈtʌmbl/ vi. 暴跌，骤降；倒塌，坍塌

buyout /ˈbaɪˌaʊt/ n. 全部买下

gauge /geɪdʒ/ n. 标准，尺度；计量器

index /ɪndeks/ n. 指数

plunge /plʌndʒ/ vi. 投入，跳进，陷入

scare /skɜə/ n. 惊恐，恐慌，恐惧

precondition /ˌprɪːkənˈdɪʃn/ n. 前提，先决条件

nonchalant /ˈnɒnʃələnt/ adj. 不关心的，若无其事的

volatile /ˈvɒlətaɪl/ adj. 可变的，不稳定的

boom /buːm/ n. 繁荣，迅速发展；激增

transaction /trænˈzækʃn/ n. 交易，业务

pharmacy /ˈfɑːməsi/ n. 配药学，制药学

recession /rɪˈseʃn/ n. 经济衰退，不景气

takeout /ˈteɪkˌaʊt/ n. 资产外带

难句突破

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.

主体句式：The plunge came a day after the...firm...said...

结构分析：这是一个复杂句，主句为The plunge came，但a day after后面的结构比较复杂。首先，buying Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler是用来修饰the private equity firm，因此后面这个长句的基本结构就是the firm said。said后面跟的是一个间接引语，主体是it would complete the transaction for the automaker，之后的despite表示一个转折的意思，而as had been planned是用来形容borrow the money in credit markets的。

句子译文：股市大跌的前一日，从戴姆勒-克莱斯勒购买克莱斯勒企业债的这家私有证券公司声称，尽管现在从信贷市场借钱的进程不像原计划那么顺利，但其仍将与这家汽车制造公司完成这笔交易。

题目分析

1. A 主旨题。判断文章主旨要从文章整体来把握。文章第一段就指出美国股市昨日大幅下跌，接下来的几段都在介绍下跌的状况、原因、相关因素，并且详细介绍了各个股票指数的一系列数据，最后一段又描述了世界其他地区的股市情况，可见全文都是在说明美国和世界股市的现状。因此正确答案为A。B选项的错误原因在于本文并没有介绍世界股票市场的发展历程，只是聚焦其近期的发展状况。C选项的错误原因在于关于戴姆勒-克莱斯勒案例的讨论并不是文章的主要内容和目的。D选项的意思是世界主要股票市场股票价格的起伏状况，虽然与文章内容比较贴近，但是概括过于泛泛，不如A选项精确。

2. A 细节题。根据文章第一段第二句，“从大公司收购到普通人购买房屋等各种事情都变得更加困难”，答案显而易见。B选项的错误原因在于文章第二段和最后一段指出，世界各个股票市场的下跌幅度和损失是不同的。C选项的错误原因在于在昨日股票大幅下跌之前，投资者们并没有意识到风险的严重性，这在第二段中有所反映。D选项的错误原因在于文章最后一段指出，亚洲股市也开始下滑。

3. C 细节题。根据文章第五段倒数第三句，“在昨日收盘前一小时左右的时间里，华尔街的各种主要指数在一天的狂跌之后又上涨了约三分之一的幅度”，所以在最后一两个小时内进行买卖的投资者有可能会获利。

4. D 推理题。根据文章第四段第一、二句话谈到借钱不顺利，银行不愿意贷款等情况，因此导致了克莱斯勒收购案进展受到了一定的阻碍。这一消息影响到了公司的股价，紧接着第三句话就谈到了戴姆勒-克莱斯勒股票价格的下跌。可见两者之间是有因果联系的。A选项的错误原因在于该交易目前还在进行中，并没有失败。B选项的错误原因在于文中并没有指出两个收购案性质完全相同。C选项的错误原因在于该表述没有正确地传达比尔·格罗斯的意思。

5. B 情感态度题。作者的态度可以通过材料的选择和措辞来判断。纵观全文，作者基本上都在描述事实和引用各种数据、言论，并没有发表自己的看法。可见，作者对于股市现状的态度是非常客观的。

参考译文

华尔街以及世界许多地区的股票价格昨日都经历了大幅下跌。急剧下跌的主要原因在于公众对美国经济发展速度放慢的忧虑，以及恶化的信贷状况，因而导致从大公司收购到普通人购买房屋等各种事情都变得更加困难。几个主要的股市指标——包括道·琼斯工业平均价格指数和标准普尔500种股份指数——都下挫了两个百分点以上。

自二月底上海投资危机导致全球股市下跌以来，这是华尔街经历过的一天内最大幅度的下跌，而现在正是纽约证券交易所五年来交易规模最大的时候。欧洲股市也遭遇了相当规模的损失，而许多发展中国家股市的损失则更为严重。穆迪经济网首席经济学家马克·赞第说，股市震荡的预警早已出现。直到不久前，许多投资者仍然对风险视若无睹。

最近几周股市一直跌宕起伏。亚洲许多公司持续的高盈利报告和经济的迅速发展推动了油价的进一步上涨。但与此同时，已有各种信号显示出美国经济的疲软、很多房屋购买者面临的新的信贷困难以及许多公司举债经营或者拥有不良的信用记录。

股市大跌的前一日，从戴姆勒-克莱斯勒购买克莱斯勒企业债的这家私有证券公司声称，尽管现在从信贷市场借钱的进程不像原计划那么顺利，但其仍将与这家汽车制造公司完成这笔交易。许多银行都不愿意发放贷款，就像他们也不愿意为一桩涉及英国医药经销连锁商联合博姿公司的交易放款一样。戴姆勒-克莱斯勒的股票价格下跌4.11美元，收盘为88.91美元。“这是一种恐慌，但不是对于经济衰退的恐慌。”太平洋投资管理公司（即Pimco公司，一家大型债券管理公司）首席投资官比尔·格罗斯说道，“恐慌来源于人们质疑谁会愿意为这个先前宣称的私募基金交易提供2000亿美元的资产外带。”

昨日，道·琼斯工业指数狂泻311.50点，收盘于13,473.57点，下跌了2.3%，而标准普尔下跌了35.43点，收盘于1,482.66点，跌幅为2.3%。纳斯达克综合指数下跌了48.83点，收盘于2,599.34点，跌幅为1.8%。标准普尔全年仍上升了4.5个百分点，道·琼斯工业指数则高出8.1个百分点。但是自从上周创造新纪录以后，标准普尔下降了4.5个百分点。在昨日收盘前一小时左右的时间里，华尔街的各种主要指数在一天的狂跌之后又上涨了约三分之一的幅度。西班牙、法国、德国的股市损失超过了两个百分点，而英国、阿根廷、墨西哥和巴西的股市则下降了三个百分点以上。亚洲市场昨日并没有经历严重的下跌，在最差交易开始前就已收盘，但周五开盘时急剧下滑。