1、专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 71及答案与解析 0 A year has passed since Chiles 33 trapped miners were hauled to freedom in the Atacama Desert. By and large, its been a relatively safe year in the countrys mines. The number of deaths from mining accidents has fallen sharply, from 27 in the first half of 2010 to 12 in the
2、same period this year. Although it is too early to tell how much of that improvement will stick, the days when mining claimed hundreds of Chilean lives each year are thankfully gone. The government has increased the number of inspectors at Chiles mines from 18 at the time of last years accident to 4
3、5 now. Those officials have carried out more than 3,800 inspections in Chiles 8,000 mines so far this year. In July the government sent a draft bill to Parliament to overhaul mine safety regulation, describing it as the most important legislation in the area in 30 years. Despite this good work, howe
4、ver, there is one glaring anomaly that needs to be addressed; Chile has yet to ratify(正式批准 )the International Labour Organisations(ILO)Convention 176 on mining safety. The convention has been around for 13 years, and has been adopted by 25 countries from Albania to Zimbabwe. It establishes workers r
5、ights to refuse work they consider unsafe, to leave a mine they consider dangerous and to elect their own health and safety representatives. In the days after last years remarkable rescue Sebastian Pihera, the President, promised to ratify the convention. But today his government still seems hesitan
6、t to do so. It has asked the ILO for more information on how the measures would affect the mining industry, which accounts for around a fifth of the countrys GDP. Even though all 33 people trapped in the San Jose mine were rescued, last year was still the deadliest in Chiles mines for over a decade:
7、 45 miners were killed at work. Its no coincidence that it was also the year in which the copper price averaged a record high of over $3. 40 a pound($7.50 per kg). When the price of Chiles chief export is high, accidents happen. Thats because an army of part-time, unsupervised miners, often with lit
8、tle experience, head out into the Atacama Desert in search of the mineral. Mines that closed long ago because they were unprofitable suddenly find they can make money again and reopen, often with no better safety standards than when they closed. The reverse is also true: when the copper price is low
9、, the accident rate falls. The safest year in the history of Chilean mining was 1999, with just 0. 09 deaths for every million hours worked. That year copper sold for just 72 cents a pound. This year copper has averaged over $4 a pound. Mining is booming. All the more reason, therefore, to reflect o
10、n the extraordinary events of last year at the San Jose mine, and to invest a little more of the industrys handsome profits in safety improvements. 1 We can infer from Paragraph 1 that_. （ A） mining accidents in Chiles Atacama Desert claimed 33 lives last year （ B） there has been much improvement in
11、 Chiles mining safety since last year （ C） Chilean government has closed quite a number of poorly-operated mines （ D） Chilean parliament has passed a draft bill on mining regulations 2 The phrase “one glaring anomaly“ in Paragraph 2 probably means_. （ A） an embarrassing fact （ B） a dazzling achievem
12、ent （ C） a shocking response （ D） an unavoidable phenomenon 3 Last year, the death toll in Chiles mines was_. （ A） 33 （ B） 45 （ C） 72 （ D） 90 4 According to the passage, which of the following statements is CORRECT? （ A） The mining industry occupies a minor part in Chiles GDP. （ B） Chilean governmen
13、t should think twice before ratifying the ILOs Convention 176. （ C） San Joses mine rescue shows Chiles remarkable progress in rescue work. （ D） Its high time Chilean government took measures to strengthen its mining safety. 5 The authors tone in writing the passage is_. （ A） critical and cynical （ B
14、） objective and urging （ C） partial and harsh （ D） scientific and indifferent 5 If you think money cant buy you friends, think again. In the online world, its possible to purchase a crowd of fans. One thousand cost only $18 on average, according to estimates by Barracuda Networks, a network security
15、 company. Yet these friends wont meet you for drinks after work. In fact, they dont even exist. They are pixels on a screen. A large share of social-media followers of the biggest companies are not human, believes Marco Camisani Calzolari, an entrepreneur and professor at Milans ILUM University. In
16、a recent study he quantified the proportion of computer-generated fans or inactive users following big brands on Twitter. To decide whether a follower is human, Mr. Camisani Calzolari used various criteria, including the number of posts from a fans Twitter account and the use of correct punctuation
17、in tweets. According to this research, by June 2011 nearly half of Twitter followers of computer maker Dell about 700,000were bots. Some politicians also seem to have many fake followers. Mitt Romney, the former Republican presidential candidate, became the focus of media attention when his Twitter
18、following swelled by 17% in a single day in July. On close inspection, a significant proportion of Mr. Romneys followers appeared to be fake profiles. In Italy Beppe Grillos Five Star Movement lost the driving force when Mr. Camisani Calzolari made a similar claim about the followers of the comedian
19、-turned-politician. There is no indication that any of the companies mentioned in Mr. Camisani Calzolaris paper have bought followers rogue bots often attach themselves to people and brands without payment. But some firms do buy a social media following. Fake profiles are at the center of a very vib
20、rant and growing underground economy, says Barracuda Networks. On eBay, the e-commerce site, for instance, the firms researchers have found 20 sellers offering to set up such profiles. For start-ups a strong social media following can boost business. A small mom-and-pop shop struggling to sell its g
21、oods can look like a booming upstart thanks to a swollen Twitter account, or an artificially high number of Facebook likes. For major international companies, a small number of followers in the early stages of engagement with social media can be embarrassing at best and damaging to brand perception
22、at worst. Buying crowds of fans even if they arent engaged with the brand can give an artificial boost to a business. For now, the trick works. “Normal people dont know yet that there is this black market. Most have total trust that a brands followers are real,“ says Mr. Camisani Calzolari. But bran
23、ds are already finding diminishing returns. When everybody has a large following, the impact is much diminished. And consumers are starting to cotton on to sharp practices. “The number of followers is a superficial measurement unless they are engaged,“ argues Carly Donovan of Ogilvy Action, an arm o
24、f Ogilvy & Mather, the advertisement and public relations agency. Money can buy you friends just not very good ones. 6 According to the first paragraph, friends online_. （ A） can be bought （ B） cost $18 each （ C） are drinking friends （ D） are real people 7 Which of the following is INCORRECT about M
25、r. Camisani Calzolaris recent study? （ A） He investigated the followers of big brands on Twitter. （ B） He compared computer-generated fans with inactive users. （ C） He needed to judge whether a follower is real. （ D） He used the number of articles posted as a research standard. 8 The instance of eBa
26、y is cited to_. （ A） indicate the companies mentioned by Camisani have bought followers （ B） suggest that there is no market for free rogue bots （ C） prove fake profiles are at the center of a growing business （ D） show the number of fake profiles sellers is small 9 The phrase “a swollen Twitter acc
27、ount“ in Paragraph 5 refers to a_. （ A） Twitter account with bigger online storage space （ B） Twitter account with an excess of fake followers （ C） Twitter VIP account （ D） Twitter special account for business 10 According to Carly Donovan,_. （ A） half of the Twitter followers of Dell are bots （ B）
28、most people believe the followers are human （ C） the number of followers is not a real measurement （ D） the impact of social media following is reducing 11 What does the passage mainly discuss? （ A） The purchase of followers. （ B） The research on Twitter followers. （ C） The effect of social media. （
29、 D） The fake followers of social media. 11 Younger Americans will have to take our word for it: there was a time, way back when Ronald Reagan was president, when your countrymen ordered coffee by simply asking for “coffee“. Ordering a “venti skinny chai latte“ or a “grande chocolate cookie crumble f
30、rappuccino“ would have earned, at best, a blank stare. But that was before Howard Schultz took Starbucks from a single coffeehouse in downtown Seattle to a chain with more than 17,000 shops in 55 countries. The chain grew so quickly, and in some areas seemed so ubiquitous, that as early as 1998 a he
31、adline in The Onion, a satirical American newspaper, joked, “New Starbucks Opens in Rest Room of Existing Starbucks“. After suffering through lean years in 2008 and 2009, the company is again going strong. In the 2011 financial year the company served 60m customers per week more than ever. It also h
32、ad its highest-ever earnings-per-share($1. 62)and global net revenue($11.7 billion). Yet in 2011 Starbucks decided to do away with something important: it dropped the word “Coffee“ from its logo. While coffee remains as central to Starbuckss business and identity as hamburgers are to McDonalds, the
33、companys recent American acquisitions have moved it beyond java. In November 2011 it acquired Evolution Fresh, a small California-based juice company, for $30m, giving the company a foothold in Americas $1. 6 billion high-end juice market. And in June 2012 Starbucks bought a bakery, Bay Bread, and i
34、ts La Boulange-branded cafes, for $100m. Starbuckss customers “have never been as satisfied with our food as our coffee,“ explained Troy Alstead, Starbuckss chief financial officer. On November 14th Starbucks made it largest acquisition yet, buying Teavana, an Atlanta-based tea retailer, for $620m.
35、This is not the firms first attempt into the tea market its stores sell tea, of course, and it bought Tazo, a tea manufacturer and distributor, back in 1999 but it is by far its boldest. When Starbucks bought Tazo it was simply a brand, but Teavana has some 300 shops, largely mall-based, throughout
36、North America. Mr. Alstead hopes that scale will allow Starbucks “to do for tea what we did for coffee.“ This may seem, as they say at Starbucks, a tall order. Americans drink far more coffee than tea. In 2011 the average coffee consumption was 9.39 pounds per person, while tea was a paltry 0.9 poun
37、ds. Coffee has long been an essential part of American mornings. Tea has no comparably firm position, except for the tooth-shiveringly sweet iced tea served during meals in the South(85% of all tea consumed in America is iced). That said, since 1980 Americas coffee consumption has fallen, and is for
38、ecast to fall further. Consumption of tea, on the other hand, has grown, and is forecast to keep growing perhaps benefiting from the idea that it has health benefits that coffee lacks, perhaps driven partly by immigration from tea-drinking countries. The Tea Association of the USA put the value of t
39、he tea market in America at $8. 2 billion in 2011, up from $1. 8 billion just 20 years earlier, and forecasts that it will nearly double in value again by 2014. The sharpest growth will come from tea that is green which also happens to be the color of money and the logo of Starbucks. 12 What does th
40、e news about Starbucks in The Onion mean? （ A） A new Starbucks opens in the toilet of an old Starbucks. （ B） Starbucks has no funds to open its new shops. （ C） New Starbucks shops are shrinking in size. （ D） There are too many Starbucks in one place. 13 According to Troy Alstead, the aim of Starbuck
41、s acquisition of Bay Bread is to_. （ A） occupy the bread market （ B） expand the company （ C） raise customers satisfaction towards food （ D） diversify its commodity 14 The earliest company that Starbucks purchased is_. （ A） Evolution Fresh （ B） Bay Bread （ C） Teavana （ D） Tazo 15 Which of the followi
42、ng is INCORRECT about the consumption of tea in America? （ A） Americans tend to drink iced tea instead of hot tea. （ B） The consumption of tea has become more than that of coffee since 1980. （ C） The growing consumption of tea might be caused by immigrants. （ D） The green tea has the biggest increas
43、e in tea consumption. 15 Each year, more U. S. properties within floodplains are destroyed by flooding than fire. Changing weather patterns, increased urban development, and the leveling of forests have reduced the lands natural ability to absorb water. As flooding becomes a common occurrence, prope
44、rty owners need to face the facts. Flood damage can happen anytime, no matter where you live. Flood insurance, which is financially backed by the U. S. Government through the National Flood Insurance Program, is available through Homesite Insurance and the Homesite Insurance Agency. The National Flo
45、od Insurance Program(NFIP)through the Federal Emergency Management Agency is the primary provider of flood insurance. The Homesite Insurance Company acts as a “Write-Your-Own“ company on behalf of the NFIP. “Write-Your-Own“ companies sell and service flood policies and the NFIP pays the claims. Prop
46、erty owners know a Homeowners policy covers fire damage, but most dont realize that it wont cover flood or mudslide damage. Rising waters and debris can destroy your home, business, and personal belongings within minutes. Most floods dont qualify for federal disaster aid. Only floods that are declar
47、ed national disasters by the President qualify for federal assistance. This assistance is in the form of a grant averaging less than $2,500, or a federal loan that must be paid back with interest. Thats in addition to payments on your existing mortgage loan! Only flood insurance protects your home a
48、nd your belongings from damage caused by rising water or mudflow. Flood insurance is available for the value of the structure minus the land value. Contents coverage is also available, but is optional and must be requested. Even if youve had previous flooding, you can still buy flood insurance. If y
49、ouve received disaster assistance before, you must first obtain flood insurance to be eligible for future federal relief. The average flood policy is only $324 a year thats less than $1 a day. Compare that to a typical disaster loan of $50,000, costing more than $300 a month for over 18 years! Flood insurance pays all covered claims even if a federal disaster is not declared. Claims are paid quickly so victims can recover faster. You can even get a partial payment right
