2019高考英语 阅读理解专题选编(8)(含解析)

2019高考英语阅读理解专题选编（8）

李仕才

A

The British are supposed to be famous for laughing at themselves, but even their sense of humor has a limit, as the British retailer Gerald Ratner found out to his cost.

When Ratner took over his father’s chain of 140 jewelry shop s in 1984, he introduced a very clear company policy. He decided that his shops should sell down market products at the lowest possible prices. It was a great success. The British public loved his cheap gold earrings and his tasteless silver decorations. By 1991, Ratner’s company had 2,400 shops and it was worth over 680 million pounds. But in April of that year, Gerald Ratner made a big mistake. At a bit meeting of top British business people, he suited up and explained the secret of his success —People say “How can we sell our goods for such a low price?”. He say “Because they are absolute rubbish.” His audience burst out laughing. But the British newspapers and the British public were not so amused. People felt insulted and stayed away from Ratner’s shops.

Sales fell and six months after his speech ,Ratner’s share price had fallen by 42%. The following year, things got worse and Gerald Ratner was forced to resign. By the end of 1992, he lost his company, his career and his house. Even worse, 25,000 of his employees had lost their jobs. It had been a very expensive joke.

1.What are the British noted for according to the passage?

A. Their jewelry shops.

B. Their love for jewelry.

C. Their jokes about themselves.

D. Their harmless humor.

2.How did Ratner achieve success in his business?

A. He cut down his labor cost.

B. He adopted an effective business model.

C. He employed a lot of new staff.

D. He developed great relations with business VIPs.

3.Which of the following can best replace the underlined wor d “insulted”?

A. Offended.

B. Amazed.

C. Abused.

D. Attracted.

4.What does the story of Gerald Ratner suggest?

A. Action speaks louder than words.

B. What goes around comes around.

C.A friend in need is a friend indeed.

D.A man may dig his grave with his teeth.

【文章大意】本文为记叙文。讲述的是英国零售商Gerald Ratner因为自嘲时说错话而导致失败的故事。

2.B 【解析】推理判断题。根据第二段第一句话中的“…he introduced a very clear company

policy.” 和第二句话He decided that his shops should sell down market products at the lowest possible prices. 可知他采用了一种有效的商业模式——以最低价销售产品，故选B。

3.A 【解析】词义猜测题。根据第二段最后两句话可知人们感到受到了侮辱冒犯，都不去他

的商店了，由此可知该词与offended一致，故选A。

B

(2015·河南毕业班适应性模拟练习)

Indians who like alcohol usually choose whiskey as their drink.But, slowly, wine is growing more popular in the country. India’s first vineyard, a farm where grapes are grown, is named Sula. Nagesh Kamble and his wife Snehal have come to the hilly vineyard from Pune, about two hundred kilometers south. The young couple wanted to learn how wine is made. They began drinking wine at a special event two years ago.

“It was in Pune when there was a wine tasting festival going on.”Snehal Kamble