专业英语八级(阅读)模拟试卷128(题后含答案及解析)

专业英语八级（阅读）模拟试卷128(题后含答案及解析)
题型有： 2. READING COMPREHENSION
PART II READING COMPREHENSION
SECTION A MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONSIn this section there are several passages followed by fourteen multiple-choice questions. For each multiple-choice question, there are four suggested answers marked [A] , [B], [C] and [D]. Choose the one that you think is the best answer.
Distant indeed seem the days when the two great rivals of commercial aviation, Boeing and Airbus, would use big air shows to trumpet hundreds of new orders. This year’s Paris Air Show was a much more sombre affair, even if the Boeing-Airbus feud still took centre stage. There were one or two bright spots. Airbus was able to boast of a firm order for ten of its wide-body A350s from AirAsia X. John Leahy, its top salesman, expects deliveries in 2009 to match the record 483 in 2008. Boeing, which was hit by a prolonged strike last year, will probably deliver more aircraft this year than last. Both firms built up huge backlogs in the fat years: each has orders for about 3,500 planes. But many of those may soon evaporate. Giovanni Bisignani, the boss of IATA, the trade body that speaks for most airlines, gave warning earlier this month that his members might defer as many as 30% of aircraft deliveries next year. He also almost doubled his forecast for the industry’s cumulative losses in 2009, to $9 billion. Both Mr. Leahy and Jim McNerney, the chief executive of Boeing, think that Mr. Bisignani is overdoing the gloom. But they concede that potential customers may find purchases hard to finance. Another issue is the cost of fuel. Mr. McNerney thinks the recent increase in the oil price should encourage carriers to replace elderly gas guzzlers with efficient new planes. But if the price “spikes over $100”all bets are off. The two aviation giants agree on one other thing: the industry will not get a successor to its ubiquitous short-haul workhorses, the 737 and the A320, for more than a decade. That is partly because the 15 -20% efficiency gain that airlines say they want from the next generation is, says Mr. McNerney, “a bar that keeps moving north”thanks to the continuous improvements of 1 -2% a year that the manufacturers are making to existing planes. Moreover, both Boeing and Airbus are conserving cash for a long and bitter scrap to dominate the market for long-haul aircraft with up to 350 seats. Boeing’s troubled 787 Dreamliner will at last take to the air this month, two years late. The production problems that stemmed from both the revolutionary use of composites and an extended global supply chain appear to have been overcome. To speed up deliveries of the 787, for which Boeing has received more than 860 orders, Mr. McNerney is planning a second assembly line. The delays to the 787 have been a godsend for Airbus. Its rival, the slightly bigger A350, is on track to fly in early 2012 after a painful gestation. With nearly 500 orders, Airbus claims that the A350 is selling even
faster than the record-breaking 787 did at the same stage in its development. The biggest concern for Boeing, however, is not that the A350 will take sales from the 787, but that its largest variant, the A350-1000, will be a strong rival to its successful 777. Mr McNerney says that Boeing can afford to wait and see how great a threat the biggest A350 is. But according to Airbus executives, Boeing will be faced with the dilemma of merely upgrading the 777 or taking the bigger and more costly step of building a replacement. The A350 and the 787 are at the heart of the long-running and acrimonious dispute between Boeing and Airbus at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over state subsidies for large commercial aircraft. This week European governments declared that they were ready to contribute 3.5 billion ($4.9 billion) of reimbursable launch aid to the 11 billion cost of developing the A350. The announcement had Boeing executives scurrying to their BlackBerrys to condemn what they saw as a “provocative”move given that the WTO is expected to issue a ruling on Boeing’s complaint within weeks (a ruling on a counter-complaint by Airbus is due later in the year). Louis Gallois, the chief executive of EADS, the parent company of Airbus, denied there was anything odd about the timing: “We do not plead guilty,” he said. “Our support is much more transparent than Boeing’s. We have fully repaid with interest the support we received for the A320 and A330 and we are already paying back on the A380 (super-jumbo).” Tom Enders, the chief executive of Airbus, added that the aid was aimed only at “levelling the playing field” and that the European Union had described the 787 as the most subsidised commercial aircraft in history.
1．It can be inferred from Paragraph One that Boeing and Airbus________.
A．have not suffered from a reduction of new orders until this year
B．did not compete with each other intensely in the past
C．used to advertise their success in business at air shows
D．would have to resolve their rivalry as early as possible
正确答案：C
解析：推断题。

第一段第一句指出波音和空客似乎已很久没有利用大型航空展宣传其赢得的多达数百架飞机的订单，言外之意是它们过去曾经做过这样的宣传，故选[C]。

同时还可推断，这两家公司不是今年才遭受新订单减少的影响，这种状况似乎已经持续较长一段时间了，故可排除[A]；根据该段第一句得知，波音和空客之间过去就展开了激烈的竞争，该段第二句中的“still”也印证了二者的竞争对手关系由来已久，故排除[B]；本段并未提及波音和空客在面对困境时应尽早解决彼此间的争斗，故排除[D]。

知识模块：阅读
2．According to the passage, Airbus and Boeing shared the following challenges EXCEPT____
A．financial trouble of potential customers
B．labour dispute with their employees
C．risk of oil price higher than $100
D．difficulties in developing new aircraft
正确答案：B
解析：细节题。

根据第三段和第四段可知，全球航空业陷入财政困境，可能取消或推迟订购新飞机；第四段末句指出如果油价每桶超过100美元，更换飞机也是徒劳；第六段第三句表明波音在开发787的过程中遇到了复合材料的应用和供应链方面的困难，第七段第二句中的“after a painful gestation”暗示空客A350的开发也经历过困难，可见，[A]、[c]和[D]都是波音和空客共同面临的挑战。

文章只是在第二段中提及波音遭受了长期罢工的打击，并未提到空客也遇到类似的劳资纠纷问题，故[B]为正确答案。

知识模块：阅读
3．Boeing executives found the announcement of Airbus “provocative”because________.
A．Airbus received higher subsidies than Boeing
B．Airbus received new subsidies while the old dispute remained unsolved
C．Airbus didn’t have to repay the newly announced subsidies
D．WTO ruling is expected to be in Airbus’s favour
正确答案：B
解析：推断题。

第八段前两句提到波音就国家补贴问题与空客的争端由来已久，双方已诉诸WTO，而在WTO即将对波音的申诉做出裁决时，欧洲政府又宣布对A350飞机给予新的补贴，可谓变本加厉，因而波音对此尤其不满，故[B]为正确答案。

文中未提及波音获得的补贴数额，故排除[A]；第八段和第九段第三句表明空客必须偿还所获补贴，而且它正在偿还以往获得的补贴，故排除[C]；第八段首句表明波音和空客都在WTO起诉了对方，但并未表示WTO的裁决将对哪一方有利，故排除[D]。

知识模块：阅读
4．Which type of the aircrafts mentioned in this passage will be the last to begin delivery?
A．Boeing 787.
B．Boeing 777.
C．A380.
D．A350.
正确答案：D
解析：细节题。

文中第六段末句提到波音787已经首飞，且已获得860架的订单，而第七段第二、三句表明空客A350计划于2012年试飞，已获得500架的订单，可见，A350的开发进程落后于波音787；第七段第四句还提到波音777是“成功的”，即已经投入商用的成熟机型；第八段第二句表明A350刚刚获得欧盟政府资助，而第九段第三句表明A380所获资助已经开始偿付，可知A380的开发也早于A350。

可见，A350是文中提到的各机型中开发最晚的，将比其他机型更晚交付使用，因此选[D]。

知识模块：阅读
Scientist, engineer, musician and great artist, Leonardo da Vinci is the
archetypal Renaissance man. This undisputed genius, who lived to be 67, was also one of history’s most accomplished underachievers. He started many projects he did not finish; he accepted commissions he never began; his many planned treatises remained just notes. Only 18 of his paintings survive. Half of them are included in a show that opened on November 9th at London’s National Gallery, making this the most important da Vinci display ever. The artist was born near Florence in 1452 and went to Milan at the age of 30. Luke Syson, the show’s curator, has come to believe that the freedom da Vinci enjoyed there as court painter to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, was the key that unlocked his genius. Mr. Syson’s contention that Leonardo’s great breakthrough came in Milan and not later in Florence, as has generally been accepted until now, has captivated curators, collectors and museum directors who have been generous in loaning works to the show; from the Vatican, Prague, Cracow, Paris and the Royal Collection. All the pictures on show were painted during da Vinci’s 18 years in Milan. Never has it been possible to see so many of da Vinci’s paintings together. There are also some 50 drawings, including the monumental Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist (sometimes called The Burlington House Cartoon). The one picture missing from this period is The Last Supper, which is painted on a wall. This work, which is badly damaged, is represented here by a large photograph and a near-contemporary (though far inferior) copy. In pages from a notebook da Vinci’s slanted “mirror”writing describes the guests at a dinner. With a novelist’s interest in detail, he carefully observed the shrug of one man’s shoulders, the position of another’s hands, the scowl on one face and the frown on yet one more. The exhibition is arranged thematically; in addition to “Beauty and Love”, there is also “Character and Emotion” and “Body and Soul”. The visitor quickly comes face to face with the portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, also known as The Lady with an Ermine. Although the image is familiar from reproductions, the radiance of the painting is surprising. Further along is an unfinished, yet searing, Saint Jerome. For the first time, both versions of The Virgin of the Rocks, one the National Gallery’s own and the other belonging to the Louvre, are shown together. The two versions hang at opposite ends of the long exhibition space. The more one looks at the two pictures, the more visible are the differences between them; the strangely formed rocks in the Louvre’s version create a protective atmosphere, whereas in the National Gallery’s painting the rocks seem quite eerie, contributing to the overall sepulchral feel of the work. As a philosopher and scientist, da Vinci strove to understand what he observed in his close studies of nature. Art was an expression of his thoughts. The Lady with an Ermine shows the Duke of Milan’s teenage mistress in a fashionable red gown, its slit sleeves revealing a pale underdress. Da Vinci, always fascinated by knots, carefully details the way the black ribbons are tied on Cecilia’s left sleeve. Her right arm is in shadow. The ties on that sleeve are sketchy. The artist has taken into account his observation that visual acuity declines in the dark. The brain fills in necessary information. The sketchiness of the right sleeve helps bring the portrait to life, creating what Walter Pater, a 19th-century British essayist and art critic, described as a “reality which almost amounts to illusion”. Da Vinci would sometimes spend years thinking about a single painting. Mr. Syson hopes visitors to
the National Gallery will, in turn, look long and hard at these works. Advance tickets for entry to the end of the year had sold out by the opening day. The show does not close until February 5th 2012, but advance tickets for its final weeks are going fast. Meanwhile, the only way to get in now is to queue for one of the 500 tickets being held back for sale each morning. The security checks are elaborate, but the wait is well worth it.
5．The original The Last Supper is not displayed at the show because________.
A．its replica looks better
B．it cannot be moved
C．it is not kept in London
D．it does not fit into the theme of the show
正确答案：B
解析：细节题。

第五段前两句提到《最后的晚餐》是一幅壁画且损坏严重。

可见，无法把原作搬来参展，因此选[B]。

该段第二句提到复制品明显比不上真迹，故可排除[A]；第三段末尾提到梵蒂冈、布拉格、克拉科夫、巴黎等地也把作品借给本次展览，可见，原作未保存在伦敦并不是未能参展的原因，因此排除[C]；尽管第六段首句指出本次展览是分主题陈列的，但第一段指出该展览是迄今为止最隆重的达.芬奇画展，汇集了达.芬奇存世画作中的一半，可见，本次展览力求尽可能多地将达.芬奇的作品拿来展出，作品主体只是陈列时的分类依据而非入选标准，故排除[D]。

知识模块：阅读
6．Which of the following words can best describe the style of Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings?
A．Radiant.
B．Exquisite.
C．Exotic.
D．Sketchy.
正确答案：B
解析：推断题。

文章第五段和第八段通过对达.芬奇画作的描述，着重指出其画风精致细腻，对细节表现得十分逼真、透彻，故[B]正确。

[A]“光彩照人的”和[C]“奇异的”用于概括达.芬奇的风格不够全面，可排除；尽管[D]“粗略的”在文中被用于形容画作的局部，但达.芬奇的手法正是用某些局部的粗略衬托其他部分的细致，以体现明与暗、前景与背景的强烈对比，因而“sketchy”也不能描述达.芬奇的整体风格，故排除。

知识模块：阅读
7．Which of the following statements contains a pun?
A．The key that unlocked his genius. (Paragraph Two)
B．Mr. Syson’s contention...has captivated curators...(Paragraph Three)
C．...the monumental Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist. (Paragraph Four)
D．...an unfinished, yet searing, Saint Jerome. (Paragraph Six)
正确答案：A
解析：修辞题。

[A]中的“key”和“unlocked”既可以当“钥匙”和“锁”来理解，也可以当“关键”和“释放”来理解，是一句巧妙的双关语，因此选[A]。

[C]和[D]仅为一般的暗喻；[B]中的“captivated”本义为“囚禁，俘虏”，文中使用的“吸引，迷惑”之意为该词的引申义，三者均不包含双关语，故排除。

知识模块：阅读
8．The tone of the author to Leonardo da Vince is________.
A．critical
B．neutral
C．curious
D．praising
正确答案：D
解析：态度题。

文章第一段前两句肯定达.芬奇是一位无可争议的天才，文章第八段在描述达.芬奇的画作时以明显赞誉的口气突出了其细腻的画风和强烈的感染力，最后一段末句更是表示达.芬奇的画展绝对值得一看，可见，作者对达.芬奇的语气是赞赏的，故[D]正确。

尽管作者在第一段第二句称达.芬奇为“underachiever”，但这只是表示他凭自己的天赋本该取得更高的成就，并非批评之意，因此排除[A]；作者对达.芬奇的赞赏之意表露明显，故可排除[B]；文中对达.芬奇作品的描绘栩栩如生，但并不是为了体现作者的好奇心，而是突出达.芬奇的鲜明画风和独特天赋，故可排除[C]。

知识模块：阅读
One of the paradoxes of human biology is that the rich world has fewer children than the poor world. In most species, improved circumstances are expected to increase reproductive effort, not reduce it, yet as economic development gets going, country after country has experienced what is known as the demographic transition; fertility (defined as the number of children borne by a woman over her lifetime) drops from around eight to near one and a half. That number is so small that even with the reduced child mortality which usually accompanies development it cannot possibly sustain the population. This reproductive collapse is particularly worrying because it comes in combination with an increase in life expectancy which suggests that, by the middle of the century, not only will populations in the most developed countries have shrunk (unless they are propped up by historically huge levels of immigration) but also that the number of retired individuals supported by each person of working age will increase significantly. If Mikko Myrskyla of the University of Pennsylvania and his colleagues are correct, though, things might not be quite as bad as that. A study they have just published in Nature suggests that as development continues, the demographic transition goes into reverse. Dr. Myrskyla compared two things. One was the total fertility rate (the number of children that would be born to a woman in a particular country over the course of her life if she experienced the age-specific fertility rates observed in that country during the calendar year in
question). The other was the human development index for that country. The HDI, a measure used by the United Nations, has three components; life expectancy; average income per person; and level of education. Its maximum possible value is one. Back in the 1970s, no country got anywhere near one. Of the 107 places the researchers looked at, the best was Canada, with an HDI of 0.89. By 2005, however, things had improved markedly. Two dozen of what were now 240 countries had HDIs above nine—and something else remarkable had happened. Back in 1975, a graph plotting fertility rate against the HDI fell as the HDI rose. By 2005, though, the line had a kink in it. Above an HDI of 0. 9 or so, it turned up, producing what is known in the jargon as a “J-shaped” curve (even though it is the mirror image of a letter J). In many countries with really high levels of development (around 0.95) fertility rates are now approaching two children per woman. There are exceptions, notably Canada and Japan, but the trend is clear. Why this change has come about, and why the demographic transition happens in the first place, are matters of debate. There are lots of social explanations of why fertility rates fall as countries become richer. The increasing ability of women in the developed world to control their own reproductive output is one, as is the related phenomenon of women entering the workplace in large numbers. The increasing cost of raising children in a society with more material abundance plays a part. So does the substitution of nationalised social-security systems for the support of offspring in old age. Falling rates of child mortality are also significant. Conversely, Dr. Myrskyla speculates that the introduction of female-friendly employment policies in the most developed countries allows women to have the best of both worlds, and that this may contribute to the uptick. No doubt all these social explanations are true as far as they go, but they do not address the deeper question of why people’s psychology should have evolved in a way that makes them want fewer children when they can afford more. There is a possible biological explanation, though.
9．Which of the following factors does NOT contribute to the falling fertility rate in many developed countries?
A．Higher cost of raising children.
B．More material abundance.
C．Better availability of birth control measures.
D．Improved social-security systems.
正确答案：B
解析：细节题。

第五段列举了多方面导致国家越发达生育率越低的社会原因，其中包括职业妇女控制自身生育量、抚养成本的增加、社会保障体系的完善(无需为了养老多生孩子)等，因此排除[A]、[C]、[D]。

社会资源的日益富足本身并不是直接导致生育率降低的原因，只是随着经济的发展，抚养孩子的成本日益昂贵，所以人们不愿意多生孩子。

只有[B]不符合文意，故为答案。

知识模块：阅读
10．The following statements are consistent with Dr. Myrskyla’s view about demographic transition EXCEPT that________.
A．fertility rates in Canada don’t rise because of the lack of female-friendly employment policies
B．some countries experience another transition: fertility rate rises as they become more developed
C．the rising female employment does not always result in reduced reproductive output
D．HDI is an important indicator for a country’s level of development
正确答案：A
解析：态度题。

第五段末句指出，迈斯基拉博士认为最发达国家实施了有利于妇女的就业政策，可能有助于生育率的提高，但文中也强调生育率的升降可能有多方面的社会原因，甚至还可能有生物学方面的原因，因此不能逆推出加拿大等国没有出现生育率回升就是因为其缺乏有利于妇女的就业政策，因此选[A]。

第四段倒数第三句显示，迈斯基拉博士的研究发现，一些国家在发展到一定程度(HDI大于0．9)时，生育率不降反升。

HDI是被迈斯基拉博士用作衡量国家发展水平的指标，用于与生育率的变化相对照，研究二者的相关性。

根据第五段末句可知，妇女走上工作岗位可能影响生育率，但有利于妇女的就业政策也能让妇女兼顾生育和事业，所以妇女就业并不必然导致生育率降低。

所以[B]、[C]和[D]均符合迈斯基拉博士的观点，故排除。

知识模块：阅读
11．What is the role of the 4th paragraph in the development of the topic?
A．To illustrate that fertility rates in some highly developed countries began to rise.
B．To show that countries like Canada and Japan remain low fertility rates.
C．To explain how demographic transition occurred from 1975 to 2005.
D．To indicate that the trend of HDI is unrelated to the rise or fall of fertility rates.
正确答案：A
解析：篇章题。

第四段承上启下，通过对相关数据的比较分析，证明了迈斯基拉博士等人的观点，即随着经济的发展，人口转变趋势会发生逆转，也为下文解释这种逆转进行了铺垫。

因此选[A]。

此段的意图并不是为了解释第一段提到的“人口转变”，因为根据此段的分析，当人口转变发展到一定程度时还会发生逆转，所以[C]不正确，故排除；日本和加拿大没有出现逆转，文中将其作为一种例外，但并未作为解释的重点，因此排除[B]；尽管生育率和HDI两个指标之间并不是严格的同向或逆向变化，但并不等于二者彼此无关，事实是二者在HDI 达到0．9的转折点之前是逆向变化，达到转折点之后则是同向变化，因此[D]不正确，故排除。

知识模块：阅读
Detroit seems to be where Wall Street meets Main Street. Tight credit is reckoned to have cost the American carmakers 40,000 sales in August, worth about $1 billion in revenue. The impact has been felt most by America’s Big Three—General
Motors, Ford and Chrysler—which have suffered this year as consumers shunned gas-guzzlers in favour of the smaller cars mostly made by Japanese firms in American factories. Overall light-vehicle sales hit a 15-year low in September, with a fall of 27% compared with a year earlier. The problem is finance. “We have plenty of customers—what we don’t have is financing available to meet their needs,”Mike Jackson, chief executive of AutoNation, a leading car-dealer chain, told CNBC this week. He reckons that tighter credit and limits on finance for leases have cost his firm a fifth of its sales this year. The Big Three have been hit by petrol prices pushing towards $4 a gallon, by more demanding federal fuel-economy rules and by the credit crunch Wrecking consumer finance. But the federal government came to their aid this week when George Bush signed an energy bill that includes $25 billion in loan guarantees to ease their pain. Supposedly this is to allow the Big Three to retool their factories to produce more economical vehicles. David Cole, director of the Centre for Automotive Research, an industry body, estimates that such retooling could cost at least $100 billion. But money is money, so the infusion of cheap credit will help the carmakers pay their bills next year. “Given the market position of the Big Three, things will get sticky by mid-2009, because they have to keep spending on new programmes,” says Joe Philippi of Auto Trends, a consultancy. The rules are still being worked out, but the deal means that car companies—blessed with the government guarantee—should get loans with an interest rate of around 5% rather than the 15% they would face on the open market in today’s conditions. The stipulation that the loans are only for firms with factories at least 20 years old rules out nearly all the “transplant” factories that foreign carmakers built in America to get around tariff barriers. And even if some Japanese carmakers do qualify for loans, they are not expected to ask for them. So a sum that seemed preposterous only a few months ago has won overwhelming approval from politicians. Compared with the demand for $700 billion to underpin the financial system, who can complain about a mere $ 25 billion for carmakers? And using government money to keep honest, hardworking car-industry workers in their jobs is easier for politicians to justify than handouts for greedy Wall Street bankers. The sales-pitch is even more compelling in an election year. Once industrial subsidies like this begin to flow, it is difficult to stop them. A recent study by the Cato Institute, a right-wing think-tank, found that the federal government spent some $92 billion subsidising business in 2006 alone. Only $21 billion of that went to farmers: much of the rest went to firms such as Boeing, IBM and GE in the form of export-credit support and various research subsidies. The Big Three are already complaining that it will take too long to dish out the money, and they want the process speeded up. They also want a further $25 billion, possibly attached to the second version of the Wall Street rescue bill. The logic of bailing out Wall Street is that finance underpins everything. Detroit cannot begin to make that claim. But, given its successful lobbying, can it be long before ailing airlines and failing retailers join the queue?
12．U. S. carmakers, especially the Big Three, are in deep trouble because of the
following factors EXCEPT________.
A．the increasingly high petrol prices
B．the impact of imported cars from other countries like Japan
C．the tighter credit which impairs customers’ finance capability
D．the consumers’ preference to more fuel-efficient vehicles
正确答案：B
解析：细节题。

第一段的第三句和第五句以及第二段的首句阐明了汽车制造商受到打击的多种因素，包括用户转向青睐小型汽车、融资困难、高油价等，因此排除[A]、[C]、[D]。

但三巨头流失的客户转向了日本公司在美国的工厂，且第三段第二句提到，美国为了保护本国汽车产业设置了关税壁垒，使得外国汽车制造商不得不在美国设厂，因而直接从日本等国进口的汽车并非重大威胁，故选[B]。

知识模块：阅读
13．The passage suggests that in fact________can receive the guaranteed loans.
A．all carmakers in need of retooling
B．old U. S. carmakers and dealers caught in trouble
C．factories of foreign carmakers in the U. S.
D．major carmakers like the Big Three
正确答案：D
解析：推断题。

根据第五段末句可知，除了金融行业，能拿到政府巨额补贴的往往是一些大公司，因此[D]为正确答案。

根据第三段第二句可知，法案以工厂至少具有20年历史为限，因此并非所有陷入危机的美国汽车生产商都有资格申请政府贷款，而且也不面向汽车经销商，故排除[A]和[B]；根据第三段末句可知，上述限制条件看似对美资和外资企业一视同仁，实则几乎将所有的外资汽车工厂排除在外，当然历史较短的美国汽车企业也不具备资格，而一些日本汽车工厂即使符合条件，恐怕也拿不到优惠贷款，故排除[C]。

知识模块：阅读
14．Politicians approve the loan guarantee for carmakers because of the following reasons EXCEPT that________.
A．the money needed just becomes available
B．the bankers receive a much larger sum
C．they hope to win more votes by doing so
D．the car industry needs help
正确答案：A
解析：细节题。

根据第四段第二句可知，政府提供给金融行业高达7000亿美元的援助，给汽车行业区区250亿美元又为何不可?而且根据前两段的介绍，汽车行业的确遭遇困境，急需资金。

又根据第四段最后两句可知，政客们对该法案投赞成票，可以表明自己支持汽车行业和帮助汽车工人渡过难关，从而有助于自己赢得更多的选票。

因此[B]、[C]、[D]都是促成资助汽车产业的贷款担保法案通过的因素，并不是因为政府一下子有了钱，故选[A]。

知识模块：阅读
SECTION B SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONSIn this section there are eight short-answer questions based on the passages in SECTION A. Answer each question in NO more than 10 words in the space provided.
Passage One
15．What does “levelling the playing field” in the last paragraph mean?
正确答案：Making the competition fair．
解析：由题干关键词定位到原文最后一段，根据最后一段引述的空客方面人士的表态，空客认为波音787也得到了国家补贴，暗示空客为避免在竞争中落后，也必须获得相应的补贴，因而可推断“leveling the playing field”的正确含义为让竞争变得公平，所以答案是Making the competition fair。

知识模块：阅读
Passage Two
16．What does that Leonardo da Vinci “was also one of history’s most accomplished underachieves” (Paragraph One) mean?
正确答案：He could have achieved more with his genius．
解析：由题干关键词定位到第一段，“most accomplished”肯定了达.芬奇的成就，同时“underachievers”(字面意思为“成就不足者”)又暗示他本应取得更高的成就。

纵观文中对达.芬奇画风的描述，特别是第八段前两句指出他善于深入地观察和细致地表现，第九段首句指出他有时候会花上几年的时间去思索一幅画。

可见，达.芬奇一方面表现出了杰出的艺术才能，另一方面正是因为他绘画时极其认真、细致，所以完成的作品不多，不是一个高产的画家，故答案是He could have achieved more with his genius。

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Passage Three
17．Why is the reproductive collapse particularly worrying?
正确答案：Because it comes along with an increase in life expectancy．
解析：由题干关键词定位到第二段，该段首句指出，这种出生人口的骤减尤其令人担忧，因为它与平均寿命的延长相伴随。

所以答案为Because it comes along with an increase in life expectancy。

知识模块：阅读
18．What does “ the line had a kink in if (Paragraph Four) mean?
正确答案：The turning point appeared in the line．
解析：回顾1975年，图表曲线显示，生育率随着HDI的上升而下降；而2005年时，在HDI约大于0．9时，曲线没有下降，反而上升，因此可以说曲线上出现了一个转折点，所以答案是The turning point appeared in the line．知识模块：阅读
19．What does the word “ uptick” at the end of the 5th paragraph refer to?
正确答案：Increasing fertility rates in countries with HDI above 0．9．
解析：第五段解释了发生“人口转变”(即国家越发达生育率越低)的原因，该段最后一句的“Conversely”显示此处行文发生转折，转而解释另一个现象，即第四段介绍的”J形”分布：一些国家在发展到当HDI超过0．9时，生育率不降反升。

按照迈斯基拉博士的观点，一些最发达国家实施了有利于妇女的就业政策，使得妇女可以多生孩子而无后顾之忧。

因此答案是Increasing fertility rates in countries with HDI above 0．9。

知识模块：阅读
Passage Four
20．What’s the author’s attitude towards the industrial subsidy policy of the government?
正确答案：Slightly critical．
解析：作者尽管认为汽车行业遭遇危机，需要援助，但对产业补贴政策的弊端是持批评态度的，故答案是Slightly critical。

具体依据是：第三段第二句指出政府在法案中对申请贷款担保的条件做了巧妙的限制，只有老牌的美国汽车公司才能获得优惠待遇；根据第四段最后两句可知，政客们在批准巨额贷款担保时，政治因素(为援助金融系统的7000亿美元自圆其说、赢得选票等)是主要的，真正帮助汽车行业摆脱困境的动机反而只是陪衬；第五段首句则进一步表示了作者的担忧：政府补贴往往流向大公司，此情形可能一发不可收拾。

综上可知作者的态度是Slightly critical。

知识模块：阅读
21．What is the function of the 5th paragraph in the passage?
正确答案：Start to make an additional point．
解析：文章前半部分介绍的是美国汽车产业(特别是三大巨头)身陷经济困境，而联邦政府则慷慨解囊，提供巨额贷款担保；从第五段开始则从政府援助汽车产业的措施说起，触及政府产业补贴政策的弊端：大公司通过游说获得巨额补贴，而且得寸进尺，并且预言除金融、汽车之外的其他行业可能也将要求政府的援助，导致产业补贴一发不可收拾。

因此第五段转向另一个话题，不再局限于汽车行业，因此答案是Start to make an additional point。

知识模块：阅读
22．What does “that claim” in the last paragraph refer to?
正确答案：The car industry is as important as the financial industry．
解析：由题干关键词定位到原文最后一段，最后一段倒数第二句中的“Detroit”即指代美国的汽车产业。

第五段末句已提到，大公司善于通过游说将政府的巨额补贴纳入自己的腰包。

金融界要求政府资助的一个有力的理由便是：“金融支撑一切”(finance underpins everything)。

显然，尽管汽车产业对维持就业和经济增长也十分重要，但却无法声称自己具有和金融业等同的重要性，能起。