高中英語閱讀理解精讀100篇unit1
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Some of the concerns surrounding Turkey’s application to join the European Union, to be voted on by the EU’s Council of Ministers on December 17th, are economic-in particular, the country’s relative poverty. Its GDP per head is less than a third of the average for the 15 pre-2004 members of the EU. But it is not far off that of one of the ten new members which joined on May 1st 2004 (Latvia), and it is much the same as those of two countries, Bulgaria and Romania, which this week concluded accession talks with the EU that could make them full members on January 1st 2007.
Furthermore, the country’s recent economic progress has been, according to Donald Johnston, the secretary-general of the OECD, stunning. GDP in the second quarter of the year was 13.4% higher than a year earlier, a rate of growth that no EU country comes close to matching. Turkey’s inflation rate has just fallen into single figures for the first time since 1972, and this week the country reached agreement with the IMF on a new three-year, $10 billion economic programme that will, according to the IMF’s managing director, Rodrigo Rato, help Turkey... reduce inflation toward European levels, and enhance the economy’s resilience.
Resilience has not historically been the country’s economic strong point. As recently as 2001, GDP fell by over 7%. It fell by more than 5% in 1994, and by just under 5% in 1999. Indeed, throughout the 1990s growth oscillated like an electrocardiogram recording a violent heart attack. This irregularity has been one of the main reasons (along with red tape and corruption) why the country has failed dismally to attract much-needed foreign direct investment. Its stock of such investment (as a percentage of GDP) is lower now than it was in the 1980s, and annual inflows have scarcely ever reached $1 billion (whereas Ireland attracted over $25 billion in 2003, as did Brazil in every year from 1998 to 2000).
One deterrent to foreign investors is due to disappear on January 1st 2005. On that day, Turkey will take away the right of virtually every one of its citizens to call themselves a millionaire. Six noughts will be removed from the face value of the lira; one unit of the local currency will henceforth be worth what 1m are now-ie, about 0.53 ($0.70). Goods will have to be priced in both the new and old lira for the whole of the year, but foreign bankers and investors can begin to look forward to a time in Turkey when they will no longer have to juggle mentally with indeterminate strings of zeros.
注(1):本文選自Economist;12/18/2004, p115-115, 2/5p;
注(2):本文習(xí)題命題模仿2004年真題text 1第1題和第3題(1,3),2001年真題text 1第2題(2),1999年真題text 2第2題(4)和2002年真題text 3第4題(5);
1. What is Turkey’s economic situation now?
[A] Its GDP per head is far lagging behind that of the EU members.
[B] Its inflation rate is still rising.
[C] Its economy grows faster than any EU member.
[D] Its economic resilience is very strong.
2. We can infer from the second paragraph that__________.
[A] Turkey will soon catch the average GDP level of the 15 pre-2004 EU members
[B] inflation rate in Turkey used to be very high
[C] Turkey’s economy will keep growing at present rate
[D] IMF’s economic program will help Turkey join the EU
3. The word “oscillated” (Line 3, Paragraph 3) most probably means_________.
[A] fell
[B] climbed
[C] developed
[D] swang
4. Speaking of Turkey’s foreign direct investment, the author implies that_________.
[A] it’s stock is far less than that of other countries
[B] it does not have much influence on Turkey’s economic progress
[C] steady GDP growth will help Turkey attract more foreign direct investment
[D] Turkey’s economic resilience relies on foreign direct investment
5. We can draw a conclusion from the text that__________.
[A] foreign investment environment in Turkey will become better
[B] Turkey’s citizens will suffer heavy loss due to the change of the face value of the lira
[C] the local currency will depreciate with the removal of six noughts from the face value
[D] prices of goods will go up
答案:C B D C A
篇章剖析
本篇文章是一篇說明文,介紹了土耳其的經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況。第一段將土耳其的經(jīng)濟(jì)情況和其他幾個歐盟新成員國的經(jīng)濟(jì)情況進(jìn)行了一下對比,說明土耳其的經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況并非如人們擔(dān)心的那樣糟糕;第二段對土耳其這幾年的經(jīng)濟(jì)增長情況進(jìn)行了簡要介紹;第三段說明土耳其的經(jīng)濟(jì)缺乏彈性以及由此帶來的影響;最后一段說明妨礙投資者的一個因素即將消失。
詞匯注釋
GDP: 國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值(gross domestic product)
accession: [] n. 添加, 增加
OECD: 經(jīng)合,經(jīng)濟(jì)合作與發(fā)展組織 (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development)
resilience: [] n. 彈回, 有彈力, 恢復(fù)力,
oscillate: []v. 振蕩
electrocardiogram: [] n. .[醫(yī)]心電圖, 心動電流圖(略作ECG)
inflow: [] n. 流入, 流入物
deterrent: [di5tE:rEnt] n. 阻礙物
nought: [] n. 無, 零
lira: [] n. 里拉
juggle: [] v. (常與with連用)耍雜耍
indeterminate: [] adj. 在程度、體積、性質(zhì)或數(shù)量上沒有準(zhǔn)確確定的
難句突破
But it is not far off that of one of the ten new members which joined on May 1st 2004 (Latvia), and it is much the same as those of two countries, Bulgaria and Romania, which this week concluded accession talks with the EU that could make them full members on January 1st 2007.
主體句式:it is not far off that…and it is much the same as..
結(jié)構(gòu)分析:這是一個復(fù)雜句,句子主體結(jié)構(gòu)是一個并列句,在第一個并列分句里有一個which引導(dǎo)的定語從句修飾new members,在第二個并列分句里有一個which引導(dǎo)的非限定性定語從句修飾Bulgaria and Romania,還有一個that引導(dǎo)的定語從句,修飾accession talks。
句子譯文:但是和2004年5月1日加入歐盟的十個新成員國之一(拉脫維亞)相比,土耳其差得并不算太遠(yuǎn),而和本周剛剛完成加入歐盟的談判,并將在2007年1月獲得完全成員地位的兩個國家,保加利亞和羅馬尼亞相比則相差無幾。
題目分析
1. 答案為C,屬事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章第二段,土耳其的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展“十分驚人”。接著載第二行,作者以數(shù)據(jù)說明土耳其本年度第二季度的GDP增長“no EU country comes close to matching”,可見其經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展速度超過任何歐盟成員。
2. 答案為B,屬推理判斷題。根據(jù)文章第二段“土耳其得通貨膨脹率自1972年以來首次跌進(jìn)各位數(shù)”可知,以前的通貨膨脹率都在兩位數(shù)甚至更多,是非常高的數(shù)字。
3. 答案為D,屬猜詞題。這個詞的意思可以根據(jù)文中第三段所用的明喻判斷出來。文中說,整個1990年代,土耳其的GDP增長就好像“遭受了猛烈的心臟病發(fā)作時的心電圖一?