1、2014高考英语冲刺阅读理解专项 50-21AUS billionaires are back on top with Microsoft founder Bill Gates again the worlds richest man in a year when even billionaires felt the heat of the global recession, Forbes magazine said Wednesday. The wealthy few did not escape big shocks this year, with net worth on the lis
2、t of 793 billionaires - down from 1,125 billionaires in 2008 - plummeting to 2.4 trillion dollars from 4.4 trillion, Forbes said. The biggest news today is that we are here and there still are billionaires, Forbes spokeswoman Monie Begley joked at a press conference. The much-watched annual rich lis
3、t put Gates back on top with a net worth of 40 billion dollars, although he saw his bank balance lose 18 billion over the last 12 months. In second came investor Warren Buffett with 37 billion dollars, despite losing 25 billion dollars this year in the value of his Berkshire Hathaway shares. Also lo
4、sing 25 billion dollars, Mexican telecoms king Carlos Slim still managed to come in third with 35 billion dollars. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at number 17, was notable as the only top 20 member to see a net gain. That was not because of his salary, which is a symbolic one dollar a year, but t
5、hanks to re-evaluation of Bloomberg financial news agency after the mayor bought a 20 percent stake from Merrill Lynch last year for 4.5 billion dollars. About 64 percent of the billionaires are self-made and their average age is 63.7, a slight rise resulting from the lower number of rich Russians a
6、nd Chinese, whose average ages last year were 46 and 48.By contrast with that aging trend, Gates is a relatively youthful 53. The youngest billionaire prize this year goes to Albert von Thurn und Taxis of Germany, who is 25 and listed as having 2.1 billion dollars. But one of the young success stori
7、es from last year - Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg - dropped off the list altogether.1. Of all the billionaires mentioned above, who didnt lose in the global recession? A. Bill Gates.B. Warren Buffet.C. Carlos Slim.D. Michael Bloomberg.答案解析：答案为D。本题为细节题。由第五段“New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at num
8、ber 17, was notable as the only top 20 member to see a net gain.”可知，排名第十七的Michael Bloomberg是唯一一位前20名富翁中获得净利的，因此他就是在全球经济萧条中没有输的人，故答案为D。2. The sentence “The biggest news today is that we are here and there still are billionaires” may probably means _ A. the number of billionares in 2009 is much smalle
9、r than that in 2008 B. the number of billionares in 2009 is a bit larger than that in 2008 C. there are many billionaires in America, which is the biggest news today. D. the biggest news is that many billionaires are at the press conference答案解析：答案为A。本题为语义理解题。该句话出现在第三段财富(福布斯)杂志发言人在记者招待会上的玩笑话，结合第二段的内容
10、 “The wealthy few did not escape big shocks this year, with net worth on the list of 793 billionaires - down from 1,125 billionaires in 2008 - plummeting to 2.4 trillion dollars from 4.4 trillion, Forbes said.”可知，发言人指出今年（2009年）有793位亿万富翁，2008年却有1,125位，因此该发言人的言外之意就是2009年的亿万富翁比2008年少了，故答案为A。C选项只是文字的表层意
11、思，D选项与文意完全不符合，均不选。3. How many billion dollars did the US billionaires lose in 2008 altogether mentioned in the paragraph 4? A. 18B. 25C. 43D. 50答案解析：答案为C。本题为数字计算题。题干要求算出第四段中美国的亿万富翁在2008年总共损失多少美元，由第四段可知，Gates损失了18 billion，Warren Buffett损失了25 billion，他们都是美国人，总共是43 billion，故答案为C。第四段提到的第三位虽然也损失了25 billi
12、on，但是是墨西哥人，因此他所损失的美元不计入总数。4. What is the best title of the passage? A. Self-Made Billionaires B. What Made Billionaires C. Bill Gates Back on Top Again D. Biggest Gainter and Biggest Loser答案解析：答案为C。本题要求选择最佳标题。从文章的语言可以看出本文为新闻报道，首段的内容就是该报道的中心内容，故答案为C。BThe Earth Hour initiative(自发行动) started in Austral
13、ia s biggest city Sydney last year when an estimated 2. 2 million people flicked the switch - leaving the Sydney Opera House bathed in moonlight and the Harbor Bridge blacked out. Organizer Andy Ridley said Sydney s 60 minutes of darkness generated huge interest around the world and 23 other cities
14、from the Asia Pacific, North America, Europe and the Middle East had now signed up to be part of the 2008 event. The eight latest cities to join Earth Hour are Atlanta, San Francisco and Phoenix in the US; Thailands capital Bangkok; Ottawa, Vancouver and Montreal in Canada and Dublin in Ireland. The
15、y joined Australian cities Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide; Denmarks Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense; the Philippine capital Manila, Fiji s biggest city Suva. Christchurch in New Zealand; Chicago; Tel Aviv and Toronto. Ridley said he expected the Earth Hour concept, whi
16、ch is managed by the conservation group WWF, to extend beyond the borders of these countries on the scheduled start time of 8:00 p. m. local time on Saturday March 29. “ I think it already has become much bigger, he said. The idea was that anyone could do it, whether they were in a small village in
17、France or a city like Sydney. Ridley said the Sydney event, in which residents were asked to switch off lights and appliances for one hour, had raised awareness about the problem of global warming while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by conserving energy. I know that on the night we thought we mi
18、ght be able to cut energy use in the city by five percent but it ended up being 10. 1 percent, he said. He said he hoped Earth Hour provided a very big visual message to politicians that climate change must be addressed quickly. “The problem is massive but we do make a difference when we all take ac
19、tion, he said. 1. The purpose of the Earth Hour activity is _. A. to conserve energyB. to change the climateC. to reduce the greenhouse gas emissionsD. to draw people s attention to the global warming答案解析：答案为C。本题为细节推理题。由第六段 “Ridley said the Sydney event, in which residents were asked to switch off l
20、ights and appliances for one hour, had raised awareness about the problem of global warming while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by conserving energy.” 可知，地球日就是人们关灯一小时，此活动已经提高了人们全球气候变暖问题的意识，通过节能的方式来减少温室气体排放，故C选项正确。 A选项 “节能”是方式，D选项 “引起人们对全球气候变暖的关注”，是地球日的影响而不是目的。故答案为C。2. The underlined word flick i
21、n paragraph 1 means _.A. switch on B. switch off C. move quickly D. hit quickly答案解析：答案为B。本题为词义猜测题。结合该词出现的上下文 “when an estimated 2. 2 million people flicked the switch - leaving the Sydney Opera House bathed in moonlight and the Harbor Bridge blacked out.” 可知，破折号后面的内容是对前面的“flicked the switch”进行解释，让悉尼
22、歌剧院沐浴在月光中，悉尼大桥一片漆黑，可以推断flicked the switch就是关灯。flick 即意为switch off“关掉”。switch on意为“打开”，move quickly 意为“迅速移动”，hit quickly意为“迅速打击”，均不符合该词意思。故答案为B。3. Which city doesnt join the black-out organization?A. Bangkok. B. Manchester. C. Montreal. D. Brisbane.答案解析：答案为B。本题为细节题。由第三段 “Thailands capital Bangkok; Ot
23、tawa, Vancouver and Montreal in Canada and Dublin in Ireland. They joined Australian cities Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, ”可知， Manchester没有加入该组织。故答案为B。4. From the passage we can learn that_.A. the black-out activity will have a great effect on climate changeB. the Earth Hour initiati
24、ve first began in the capital of AustraliaC. all the countries in the world become interested in the black-out activityD. the black-out activity has already caught politician s attention to the climate change答案解析：答案为A。本题为推理题。由最后一段 “The problem is massive but we do make a difference when we all take
25、action, he said.”可推断，地球日关灯一小时会对气候变化产生影响， 故答案为A。 由第一段 “The Earth Hour initiative started in Australia s biggest city Sydney last year” 可知，B选项表述错误，悉尼不是澳大利亚的首都。C选项明显表述错误。由倒数第二段 “He said he hoped Earth Hour provided a very big visual message to politicians that climate change must be addressed quickly.”可知，政治家对气候变化的重视是Ridley的希望，D选项与此不符，均不选。
