2010考研英語閱讀精讀100篇(高分版)TEXT ONE
　　The bride and groom, a guitar-wielding rock vixen and a muscle-rippling dragon-slayer, make an odd couple—so it is hardly surprising that nobody expected their marriage. But on December 2nd the video-game companies behind “Guitar Hero” and “World of Warcraft”, Activision and Vivendi Games respectively, announced plans for an elaborate merger. Vivendi, a French media group, will pool its games unit, plus $1.7 billion in cash, with Activision; the combined entity will then offer to buy back shares from Activision shareholders, raising Vivendi's stake in the resulting firm to as much as 68%.

　　Activision's boss, Bobby Kotick, will remain at the helm of the new company, to be known as Activision Blizzard in recognition of Vivendi's main gaming asset: its subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment, the firm behind “World of Warcraft”, an online swords-and-sorcery game with 9.3m subscribers.The deal was unexpected, but makes excellent strategic sense, says Piers Harding-Rolls of Screen Digest, a consultancy. Activision has long coveted “World of Warcraft”, and Vivendi gets a bigger games division and Activision's talented management team to run it. As well as making sense for both parties, the $18.9 billion deal—the biggest ever in the video-games industry—says a lot about the trends now shaping the business.

　　The first is a push into new markets, especially online multiplayer games, which are particularly popular in Asia, and “casual” games that appeal to people who do not regard themselves as gamers. “World of Warcraft” is the world's most popular online subscription-based game and is hugely lucrative. Blizzard will have revenues of $1.1 billion this year and operating profits of $520m. “World of Warcraft” is really “a social network with many entertainment components,” says Mr Kotick.

　　Similarly, he argues, “Guitar Hero” and other games that use new kinds of controller, rather than the usual buttons and joysticks, are broadening the appeal of gaming by emphasising its social aspects, since they are easy to pick up and can be played with friends. Social gaming, says Mr Kotick, is “the most powerful trend” building new audiences for the industry. He is clearly excited at the prospect of using Blizzard's expertise to launch an online version of “Guitar Hero” for Asian markets. Online music games such as “Audition Online”, which started in South Korea, are “massive in Asia,” says Mr Harding-Rolls.

　　A second trend is media groups' increasing interest in gaming. Vivendi owns Universal Music, one of the “big four” record labels. As the record industry's sales decline, it makes sense to move into gaming, a younger, faster-growing medium with plenty of cross-marketing opportunities. (Activision might raid Universal's back catalogue for material for its music games, for example, which might in turn boost music sales.) Other media groups are going the same way. Last year Viacom, an American media giant, acquired Harmonix, the company that originally created “Guitar Hero”. It has been promoting its new game, “Rock Band”, using its MTV music channel. Viacom has also created online virtual worlds that tie in with several of its television programmes, such as “Laguna Beach” and “Pimp My Ride”. Disney bought Club Penguin, a virtual world for children, in August. And Time Warner is involved in gaming via its Warner Bros Home Entertainment division, which publishes its own titles and last month bought TT Games, the British firm behind the “Lego Star Wars” games.

　　1. The merger of these two companies are out of expection because_____

　　[A] they aim to design marriage games which sound really weird.

　　[B] it is difficult for big companies of two different nations to end up in successful cooperation.

　　[C] their games are by no means similar to each other in terms of their styles.

　　[D] it would be illegal for them to buy back the shares.

　　2. Why Piers Harding-Rolls thinks this marriage has strategic sense?

　　[A] Activision has been longing to cooperate with “World of Warcraft”.

　　[B] Vivendi could get bigger portion and better management resources from Activision.

　　[C] This deal is beneficial to both sides for they can combine their talents to make various games.

　　[D] This deal make them become decisive factor of this industry’s trend in the future.

　　3. The word “l(fā)ucrative” (Line 3, Paragraph 3) most probably means_____

　　[A] profitable.

　　[B] luxurious.

　　[C] entertaining.

　　[D] populous.

　　4. The first trend shaping the industry is _____

　　[A] pushing people online to develop their own games.

　　[B] building new audiences for the new network of games.

　　[C] promoting games with new kinds of controller.

　　[D] expanding the reign of traditional games and creating new market.

　　5.From the two trends we can infer that_____

　　[A] this merger is a great success because it goes along with both trends.

　　[B] this deal can strengthen both parties to surpass the other media giants.

　　[C] this allied group is powerful enough to shape the industry’s trends.

　　[D] it is indeed of strategic sense to have initiate and carry out the merger.

　　篇章剖析：

　　本篇文章講述了兩個游戲公司Activision和Vivendi的“聯(lián)姻”。第一段講述兩個公司的結(jié)合令人吃驚以及他們的聯(lián)姻方式;第二段講述這次聯(lián)姻具有一定的戰(zhàn)略意義;第三段和第四段講述他們結(jié)合后塑造的第一個行業(yè)發(fā)展趨勢;第五段講述第二個發(fā)展趨勢。

　　詞匯注釋：

　　wield v. 操縱，熟練掌握 vixen n. 潑婦, 悍婦, 刁婦

　　slayer n. 殺人者, 兇手 stake n. 股份

　　helm n. 領(lǐng)導或支配地位 in recognition of 承認……而; 為酬答……而

　　covet v. 垂涎, 覬覦 lucrative adj. 獲利的，賺錢的

　　joystick n. 操縱桿 tie in結(jié)合成一體

　　難句突破：

　　(1) Activision's boss, Bobby Kotick, will remain at the helm of the new company, to be known as Activision Blizzard in recognition of Vivendi's main gaming asset: its subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment, the firm behind “World of Warcraft”, an online swords-and-sorcery game with 9.3m subscribers.

　　[主體句式] Activision’s boss will remain at the helm.

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析]這個一個簡單句，具有復雜的表語。表語是由一個固定介詞短語充當，介詞的賓語比較復雜，帶有復雜的修飾成分。to be known as…是作the new company的定語，冒號后面的成分是用來說明main gaming asset的，可以看作是同位語;冒號后面的成分中，后面兩個短語都是前面一個的同位語，用來對Blizzard Entertainment作進一步的解釋。

　　(2) Similarly, he argues, “Guitar Hero” and other games that use new kinds of controller, rather than the usual buttons and joysticks, are broadening the appeal of gaming by emphasising its social aspects, since they are easy to pick up and can be played with friends.

　　[主體句式] He argues, “Guitar Hero” and other games are broadening the appeal… since…

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析]這是一個簡單句，argues后面是賓語從句，結(jié)構(gòu)比較復雜，帶有原因狀語從句。賓語從句的主語有that引導的定語從句，by emphasising its social aspects是方式狀語修飾are broadening …。

　　[句子譯文]同樣的，他說，“吉他英雄”和其他游戲也沒有用普通的按鈕和操作桿，而是使用了新式控制器，通過重點強調(diào)其社會性的特點來增加游戲的吸引力，因為這些游戲很容易就可以開始，而且可以和朋友一起玩。

　　題目分析：

　　1. The merger of these two companies are out of expection because_____1.這兩個公司的聯(lián)姻出乎人們的意料是因為_____。

　　[A] They aim to design marriage games which sound really weird.[A]他們計劃要設計一些結(jié)婚游戲，聽起來非常奇怪。

　　[B] It is difficult for big companies of two different nations to end up in successful cooperation. [B]兩家屬于不同國家的公司要成功合作是非常困難的。

　　[C] Their games are by no means similar to each other in terms of style. [C] 它們研發(fā)的游戲有完全不同的風格。

　　[D] It would be illegal for them to buy back the shares. [D]他們要想買回股票是不合法的。

　　[答案] C

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆

　　[分析] 細節(jié)題。文章開頭就用形象的比喻說明這兩家公司的結(jié)合很奇怪，揮舞著吉他的搖滾悍婦和一身肌肉的殺龍者是兩家公司研發(fā)的不同的游戲的風格代表，因此是因為他們研發(fā)產(chǎn)品截然不同才令這次聯(lián)合讓人大吃一驚。因此，C為正確答案。A選項有一定的迷惑性，但是要注意到文中第一段的marriage不是“結(jié)婚”的意思，而是“合并、合作”的意思。B和D選項都與原文意思無關(guān)。

　　2.Why Piers Harding-Rolls thinks this marriage has strategic sense?2.為什么Piers Harding-Rolls認為這次聯(lián)姻具有戰(zhàn)略意義?

　　[A] Activision has been longing to cooperate with “World of Warcraft”.[A] Activision公司一直想要和“戰(zhàn)艦世界”合作。

　　[B] Vivendi could get bigger portion and better management resources from Activision.[B]Vivendi公司可以從Activision公司那里獲得更大的份額和更好的管理資源。

　　[C] This deal is beneficial to both sides for they can combine their talents to make various games.[C] 這個交易對雙方都有益，因為他們可以充分結(jié)合各自的人才推出更加多種多樣的游戲。

　　[D] This deal make them become decisive factor of this industry’s trend in the future. [D]這個交易使得他們成為本行業(yè)未來發(fā)展趨勢的決定性力量。

　　[答案]D

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆☆

　　[分析]推理題。Piers認為這項交易的達成有重大的戰(zhàn)略意義，那么應該是對未來有一定的意義。緊接著就說Activision已經(jīng)覬覦“戰(zhàn)艦世界”很久了，而且Vivendi公司也可以獲得對本公司有利的幫助，而更重要的是它們從此后將對本行業(yè)發(fā)展潮流有著決定作用。因此，比較而言，答案D比較佳。

　　3. The word “l(fā)ucrative” (Line 3, Paragraph 3) most probably means_____3.“l(fā)ucrative”這個詞(第三段第三行)比較有可能的意思是_____

　　[A] profitable.[A] 盈利的。

　　[B] luxurious.[B] 奢華的。

　　[C] entertaining.[C] 娛樂的。

　　[D] populous.[D] 人多的。

　　[答案]A

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆

　　[分析] 猜詞題。根據(jù)上下文來判斷該詞的意思，上文是說“戰(zhàn)艦世界”是世界上比較流行的基于網(wǎng)上注冊的游戲，而下文說的是“暴風雪”今年可以贏利的數(shù)額，那么可以大致推斷是關(guān)于“戰(zhàn)艦世界”盈利方面的，答案A 比較為符合。D選項populous 與 popular意思不同，但從字面上看有一定迷惑性，需要加強對形似單詞的區(qū)分能力。

　　4. The first trend shaping the industry is _____4. 塑造該產(chǎn)業(yè)的第一個趨勢是_____。

　　[A] pushing people online to develop their own games.[A] 促使人們上網(wǎng)來開發(fā)自己的游戲。

　　[B] building new audiences for the new social network of games.[B] 為了新的社會交際游戲創(chuàng)造新的玩家。

　　[C] promoting games with new kinds of controller.[C] 利用新的操作器推出游戲。

　　[D] expanding the reign of traditional games and creating new market. [D] 拓展傳統(tǒng)游戲的范疇并拓展新的市場。

　　[答案]D

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆☆

　　[分析]細節(jié)題。第三段和第四段講述了塑造該產(chǎn)業(yè)的第一個趨勢，其中第三段第一句話就提到了這一點，就是推進新的領(lǐng)域，包括傳統(tǒng)的游戲和新開發(fā)的游戲，尤其是多人游戲和休閑游戲。接下來提到的社交性游戲等等都是為了說明這一點，因此，選項D是正確答案。A選項指出讓玩家自己來開發(fā)游戲，這顯然是超出很多人的能力的，因此是不現(xiàn)實的。B選項表示只是第一個趨勢中的部分內(nèi)容，其概述不如D選項更加全面。

　　5. From the two trends we can infer that_____5.從這兩個趨勢我們可以推斷出_____

　　[A] this merger is a great success because it goes along with both trends.[A] 這個聯(lián)盟是一個成功，因為它同時符合了兩個趨勢。

　　[B] this deal can strengthen both parties to surpass the other media giants.[B] 這個交易對雙方都有利，能幫助他們趕超其他的媒體巨頭

　　[C] this allied group is powerful enough to shape the industry’s trends. [C]新同盟集團又足夠的能力來決定該產(chǎn)業(yè)的發(fā)展趨勢。

　　[D] it is indeed of strategic sense to initiate and carry out the merger.[D] 發(fā)起和實施這個聯(lián)合確實具有戰(zhàn)略性的意義。

　　[答案]D

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆

　　[分析] 推理題。文章講述了該產(chǎn)業(yè)的兩個發(fā)展趨勢，提及這兩個趨勢是由皮爾斯的一番話引起的，他認為這次聯(lián)姻具有戰(zhàn)略意義，189億美元的成交足可以決定該行業(yè)的新趨勢。那么緊接著講述這兩個趨勢其實就是事實上的證明，因此，答案D比較符合題意。A選項首先表述錯誤，因為現(xiàn)在沒有人能夠預言這項合作是否是一個成功。同時，B和C選項的表述過于夸大，不符合文章的客觀語調(diào)。

　　參考譯文：

　　新娘是揮舞著吉他的搖滾悍婦，新郎是一身肌肉的殺龍者，這一對實在古怪，也怪不得沒有人相信他們能結(jié)合在一起。但是12月2日，“吉他英雄”和“戰(zhàn)艦世界” 的兩個視頻游戲公司——Activision和Vivendi公司宣布了他們的精心策劃的聯(lián)姻。Vivendi是一家法國媒體公司，它準備將自己的游戲單元以及17億美元現(xiàn)金注入到Activision公司。聯(lián)合體自后再從Activision股東那里買回股份，將Vivendi在聯(lián)合公司的股份提到到68%。

　　新公司仍由Activision公司老總Bobby Kotick來執(zhí)舵，新公司名為“Activision 暴風雪”，取這個名字是為了酬謝Vivendi注入的主要的游戲資產(chǎn)——子公司“暴風雪娛樂”，該公司屬于“戰(zhàn)艦世界”，是一個擁有930萬注冊者的在線“劍與巫術(shù)”游戲。這筆生意出乎大家意料，但卻有非凡的戰(zhàn)略意義，Screen Digest的顧問Piers Harding-Rolls這樣說。Activision 對“戰(zhàn)艦世界”已經(jīng)覬覦很久，而Vivendi公司也因此獲得了更大的游戲份額，擁有Activision公司優(yōu)秀的管理團隊來為之運營。同樣對雙方有利的是，189億美元的交易是視頻游戲產(chǎn)業(yè)中比較大的，因此其決策將對未來該產(chǎn)業(yè)的發(fā)展趨勢起著舉足輕重的作用。

　　第一個趨勢是推進新的市場，尤其在風靡于亞洲的在線多人游戲領(lǐng)域和“休閑游戲”，這種游戲?qū)δ切┎话炎约寒斖嬗螒虻娜擞形�引力�！皯?zhàn)艦世界”是全球比較流行的在線注冊游戲，盈利巨大。“暴風雪”今年收入將達11億美元，操作利潤就有5.2億美元。Kotick 先生評價說，“戰(zhàn)艦世界”是真正的“擁有眾多娛樂成分的交際性網(wǎng)絡”。

　　同樣的，他說， “吉他英雄”和其他游戲也沒有用普通的按鈕和操作桿，而是使用了新式控制器，通過重點強調(diào)其交際性的特點來增加游戲的吸引力，因為這些游戲很容易就可以上手，而且可以和朋友一起玩。Kotick 先生說，交際游戲是為這個產(chǎn)業(yè)創(chuàng)造新玩家的“比較強大的趨勢”。很明顯，他談到利用“暴風雪”的技術(shù)來向亞洲市場推行“吉他英雄”在線版的前景時十分興奮。Harding-Rolls說，像比較先開始于韓國的“在線試聽”這樣的在線音樂游戲“在亞洲占有相當大的份額”。

　　第二種趨勢就是媒體集團在游戲方面興趣不斷增加。Vivendi擁有“四大”唱片之一的“全球音樂”。由于唱片行業(yè)銷售衰退，它就轉(zhuǎn)向游戲，這是更為年輕且成長迅速的一種媒介，擁有很多跨市場型的機遇。(比如Activision 可能就要從“全球音樂”曲目中為自己的音樂游戲搜索一些素材，而這樣反過來又促進了唱片的銷售。)其他的媒體集團也大體一樣。去年，美國媒體巨頭Viacom收購了Harmonix公司——“吉他巨人”比較初就是由該公司創(chuàng)造出來的。目前它利用自己的MTV音樂頻道推展新游戲——“搖滾樂隊”。Viacom還創(chuàng)造了在線虛擬世界，這個游戲和幾個電視頻道如“Laguna Beach”、“Pimp My Ride”取得了聯(lián)合。迪斯尼也于八月份購買了“企鵝俱樂部”，這是專門為孩子創(chuàng)造的虛擬世界。華納時代通過其華納兄弟家庭娛樂公司也涉足游戲業(yè)，該公司出版了自己的名稱，并于上個月收購了TT 游戲公司(該公司為“Lego 星際爭霸”游戲旗下的英國公司)。