《考研英語閱讀理解100篇 高分版》 Unit 16 - TEXT ONE
- TEXT ONE
- 題目分析
- 參考譯文
As the oil price climbed towards $100 a barrel during the past few weeks, big Western oil firms were reporting their results for the third quarter. Record oil prices, it turns out, do not translate into record profits. Oil is now close to exceeding the record set in 1979 of between $100 and $110, depending on how you adjust for inflation and what benchmark you use. Yet almost without exception, big oil firms' profits are falling from the peaks reached last year.
Exxon Mobil, for example, reported a 10% drop in profits in the third quarter, and BP's fell even more sharply. Profits also fell at Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Eni. They rose at Total and Royal Dutch Shell—but only thanks to exchange-rate fluctuations and one-off asset sales. Analysts at Citigroup calculate that, measured in dollars, the biggest oil firms' earnings fell by 15% on average.
To be fair, the oil price has surged most dramatically since the end of September, although it was also buoyant in the third quarter. The majors' poor showing also reflects lower profits from refining, as the difference in price between petrol and crude oil has fallen from the exceptionally high levels of recent months.
But the fact remains that oil giants are struggling to pump more oil and gas. In part, this is due to a quirk of the rules that oblige Western oil firms to share the crude they produce with state-owned oil firms in many countries. The contracts in question often stipulate that as the price goes up, the volume of oil the foreigners receive decreases. Worse, several countries are changing contracts or tax rules in ways that will further erode the Western oil firms' profits—and in some cases are throwing them out altogether.
Rising costs are also a problem. Exxon, which is known for its stringent financial discipline, saw costs rise almost twice as fast as revenue in the third quarter. The shortage of labour and equipment that is feeding this inflation is also causing delays to new projects. And there are not enough new projects in the pipeline. The International Energy Agency reckons that the expansion plans of the big Western and state-owned oil firms will leave the world 12.5m barrels per day short of requirements in 2015.
Despite this looming deficit and the glaring price signal, all the big companies except Total produced less oil and gas in the third quarter than they did in the same period last year. According to Citigroup, the average decline in overall output was 3.3%. If the relatively steady supply of natural gas is stripped out, the numbers look even worse: Oil production fell by 9% on average. No matter how high the price goes, the oil majors cannot make a profit from oil they do not produce.
1. According to the first paragraph, which one of the following is TRUE of the oil price?
[A] The oil price is rising and will continue rising to the historical record.
[B] Whether the oil price is exceeding the record depends on the measurement used.
[C] The oil price is not really close to the degree of exceeding the historical record.
[D] The profit of the oil production industry reached the historical record last year.
2. Record oil prices do not translate into record profits because of the following reasons except _____.
[A] the declining margin from oil refining
[B] the disadvantageous change in contracts
[C] the increasing cost of labor and equipment
[D] the decreasing quantity of oil production
3. Which one of the following statements is NOT true of the situation of the third quarter?
[A] The oil price was on the rise in the third quarter.
[B] Most oil companies were suffering a serious loss in the third quarter.
[C] The oil refining industry was also suffering a surplus deduction in the third quarter.
[D] Some companies also enjoyed rising profits in the third quarter.
4. “This inflation” (Line 2, Paragraph 5) refers to _____.
[A] the rise of oil price
[B] the rise of Consumer Price Index （CPI）
[C] the rise of oil production costs
[D] the rise of oil production revenue
5. The word “looming” (Line 1, Paragraph 6) most probably means _____.
[A] imminent
[B] rising
[C] haunting
[D] alarming
1. According to the first paragraph, which one of the following is TRUE of the oil price?
[A] The oil price is rising and will continue rising to the historical record.
[B] Whether the oil price is exceeding the record depends on the measurement used.
[C] The oil price is not really close to the degree of exceeding the historical record.
[D] The profit of the oil production industry reached the historical record last year.
1. 根據(jù)第一段，下列哪個選項是關(guān)于石油價格的正確說法？
[A] 石油價格正在上升并將持續(xù)上升直至達到歷史紀錄。
[B] 石油價格是否能打破紀錄取決于衡量的標準。
[C] 石油價格不是真的快要打破歷史紀錄了。
[D] 石油制造產(chǎn)業(yè)的利潤去年達到了歷史紀錄。
答案：B 難度系數(shù)：☆☆☆
分析：細節(jié)題。第一段提到，石油價格快要超過歷史紀錄了，但是否真的如此還要取決于如何看待通脹和所采用的標準，因此，選項B是正確的。選項C是錯誤的，因為是否會打破歷史紀錄有待于標準的確立。選項A的錯誤在于，文章中沒有談到石油價格上升的趨勢是否是持續(xù)的。選項D也是明顯錯誤的，因為第一段末尾提到，石油公司的利潤反而是下降的。
2. Record oil prices do not translate into record profits because of the following reasons except _____.
[A] the declining margin from oil refining
[B] the disadvantageous change in contracts
[C] the increasing cost of labor and equipment
[D] the decreasing quantity of oil production
2. 石油價格破紀錄并不能代表石油的利潤也可以創(chuàng)紀錄，這是因為下列除 _____ 外的其他因素。
[A] 煉油利潤的下滑
[B] 合同中不利的修訂
[C] 勞動力和設(shè)備的成本提高
[D] 石油產(chǎn)量的減少
答案：C 難度系數(shù)：☆☆☆☆
分析：推理題。選項A，文章第二段提到：The majors' poor showing also reflects lower profits from refining. 而且第五段主要是講述成本上升的問題，因此可以推斷，運輸成本上升了。選項B，文章第四段提到有些國家修訂了合同，這也使得它們的利潤降低。選項C，第五段提到了勞動力和設(shè)備短缺，但沒有提到勞動力和設(shè)備成本提高的問題，因此該選項錯誤。選項D，文章最后一段提到了這個因素。因此，答案為C。
3. Which one of the following statements is NOT true of the situation of the third quarter?
[A] The oil price was on the rise in the third quarter.
[B] Most oil companies were suffering a serious loss in the third quarter.
[C] The oil refining industry was also suffering a surplus deduction in the third quarter.
[D] Some companies also enjoyed rising profits in the third quarter.
3. 關(guān)于第三季度的情況，下列哪項陳述是錯誤的？
[A] 石油價格在第三季度出現(xiàn)了上漲。
[B] 大多數(shù)的石油公司第三季度都遭受了嚴重的虧損。
[C] 煉油產(chǎn)業(yè)在第三季度也出現(xiàn)了利潤下降。
[D] 一些公司的利潤在第三季度還是增加了。
答案：B 難度系數(shù)：☆☆☆
分析：細節(jié)題。選項A，由第三段可以看出，第三季度的石油價格是緩慢上升的。選項B，根據(jù)第二段，大多數(shù)公司的利潤出現(xiàn)了下降，而文章最后一段提到逐漸迫近的赤字，由此可以推斷，這些公司沒有虧損，只是利潤下降。選項C，第三段提到，石油公司的利潤下降也反映了煉油企業(yè)同樣的處境。選項D，第二段提到，一些公司因為其他的原因利潤有所上升。因此，答案為B。
4. “This inflation” (Line 2, Paragraph 5) refers to _____.
[A] the rise of oil price
[B] the rise of Consumer Price Index (CPI)
[C] the rise of oil production costs
[D] the rise of oil production revenue
4. “這種通脹”（第五段第二行）指的是 _____。
[A] 石油價格的上漲
[B] 消費者價格指數(shù)的增加
[C] 石油制造成本的增加
[D] 石油制造利潤的增加
答案：C 難度系數(shù)：☆☆
分析：推理題。第五段提到，?？松谌径瘸杀旧蠞q的速度是收入增長速度的兩倍，接著談到除了這個上漲，勞動力和設(shè)備的短缺使得新項目被延遲。由此可以推斷，“這種通脹”應當是在前面提到的，那么應該就是成本的上漲。因此，答案為C。
5. The word “looming” (Line 1, Paragraph 6) most probably means _____.
[A] imminent
[B] rising
[C] haunting
[D] alarming
5. looming這個詞（第六段第一行）最有可能的意思是 _____。
[A] 即將來臨的
[B] 上升的
[C] 反復出現(xiàn)的
[D] 令人警覺的
答案：A 難度系數(shù)：☆☆☆
分析：猜詞題。根據(jù)上下文：Despite this looming deficit and the glaring price signal, all the big companies except Total produced less oil and gas in the third quarter than they did in the same period last year.即“盡管隱約出現(xiàn)了赤字和價格信號，但除了Total以外，所有的大公司第三季度石油和汽油的生產(chǎn)量都比去年同期減少了。”赤字還沒有出現(xiàn)，只是利潤減少，那么可以推斷出是可能即將產(chǎn)生的赤字，因此，答案A是正確選項。
隨著石油價格在過去幾周內(nèi)攀升到每桶100美元，西方的幾家大型石油公司匯報了他們第三季度的收益。結(jié)果表明，石油價格創(chuàng)紀錄并不代表石油公司的利潤也創(chuàng)了紀錄。石油價格目前即將打破1979年創(chuàng)下的每桶100到110美元的紀錄，不過這與通脹及使用的衡量標準有關(guān)。但是無論如何，幾乎所有大型石油公司的利潤都在去年達到峰值后出現(xiàn)了下滑。
比如，?？松梨趫蟾嬲f其第三季度的利潤減少了10%，而英國石油公司利潤下滑得更為厲害。Chevron、ConocoPhillips和 Eni的利潤也出現(xiàn)了下滑，Total和荷蘭皇家殼牌的利潤雖然有所增加，但是這只是由于匯率波動和一次性資產(chǎn)出售的原因?；ㄆ煦y行的分析家用美元核算得出的結(jié)果是，最大的石油公司的利潤平均下降了15%。
其實石油價格從9月底開始就急劇上升，盡管在整個第三季度中呈緩慢上升的態(tài)勢。主要的石油公司欠佳的匯報也反映出了煉油企業(yè)的利潤降低，因為近幾個月內(nèi)，汽油和原油之間的高額差價已經(jīng)縮小了。
但事實上，石油巨頭仍然在努力抽出更多的石油和天然氣。這部分是由于，許多國家突然規(guī)定，西方的石油公司必須將其生產(chǎn)的原油分給國有石油公司。這些尚在討論中的合同經(jīng)常規(guī)定，如果石油價格上漲，那么出口到外國的石油就要減少。更糟糕的是，幾個國家甚至修改了合同或稅收規(guī)則，這將進一步減少西方石油公司的利潤，更有甚者，還逐出了西方石油公司。
成本上升也是個問題。?？松疽云鋰栏竦呢攧占o律而聞名，在第三季度，該公司成本上漲的速度是收入增長速度的兩倍。這種成本上升再加上勞動力和設(shè)備的短缺，使得新項目被延遲。同時，在輸油管道建設(shè)方面也沒有足夠的新項目。國際能源組織承認，西方大型石油公司和國有石油公司的擴展計劃將導致全世界在2015年的日石油缺口達1,250萬桶。
盡管赤字隱約出現(xiàn)，價格信號十分明顯，但除了Total以外，所有的大公司第三季度石油和天然氣的生產(chǎn)量都比去年同期減少了?；ㄆ煦y行稱，總產(chǎn)量平均下降了3.3%。如果不考慮天然氣相對穩(wěn)定的供應量，那么這個數(shù)字會更為驚人：石油產(chǎn)量平均下降了9%。無論石油價格漲到多高，主要的石油公司都不能從它們未生產(chǎn)的石油中獲利。
