2010考研英語(yǔ)閱讀精讀100篇(高分版)TEXT  ELEVEN
　　As Americas digest the news of another gun atrocity, a mall shooting in Nebraska on December 5th, they cannot be blamed for thinking that guns are in too ready supply. But an article in the latest Economic Journa suggests that the demand for illegal guns, at least, is not met as easily as people might fear. Sudhir Venkatesh, now of Columbia University, has talked to 132 gang-members, 77 prostitutes, 116 gun-owning youths, 23 gun-dealers and numerous other denizens of Chicago's Grand Boulevard and Washington Park neighbourhoods. He did not find many satisfied customers.

　　Chicago has unusually tough restrictions on legal handguns. Even so the black market is surprisingly “thin”, attracting relatively few buyers and sellers. The authors reckon that the 48,000 residents of the two neighbourhoods buy perhaps 1,400 guns a year, compared with at least 200,000 cocaine purchases. Underground brokers sell guns for $150-350, a mark-up of perhaps 200% over the legal price. They also demand a fee of $30-50 for orchestrating the deal. Even then, 30-40% of the transactions fall through because the seller cannot secure a gun, gets cold feet or cannot agree on a location for the deal.

　　Buyers also find it hard to verify the quality of the merchandise. They often know little about the weapons they covet. “Tony”, who owns a .38 calibre handgun, learnt how to use his weapon by fiddling with it. He even put a stone in it. “Did it fire?” Mr Venkatesh asked. “I'm not sure. I think it did,” Tony said.

　　Fortunately for Tony and his peers, their rivals and the victims of crime cannot tell if their guns work any better than they can. Often, showing the “bulge” is enough to gain the respect of rival gangs. In robberies brandishing the weapon will usually do. Storekeepers do not wait for proof that it works.

　　Markets can overcome thinness, the paper says; they can also overcome illegality. But they cannot overcome both. A thin market must rely on advertising or a centralised exchange: eBay, for example, has dedicated pages matching sellers of imitation pearl pins or Annette Funicello bears to the few, scattered buyers that can be found. But such solutions are too cumbersome and conspicuous for an underground market. The drugs market, by contrast, slips through the law's fingers because of the natural density of drug transactions. Dealers can always find customers on their doorstep, and buyers can reassure themselves about suppliers through repeated custom. There are no fixed and formal institutions that the police could easily throttle.

　　Indeed, the authors argue that the gun market may be threadbare partly because the drug market is so plump. Gang-leaders are wary of gun-dealing because the extra police scrutiny that guns attract would jeopardise their earnings from coke and dope. Even Chicago's gang-leaders have to worry about the effect of crime on commerce.

　　1. Some of the gun transactins are unsuccessful mainly because_____

　　[A] it is not profitable as the underground price of gun far exceeds legal price.

　　[B] Chicago has surprisingly tough restrictions on the ownership and business of guns.

　　[C] the dealers are unable to guarntee whether the deal is really going to happen or not.

　　[D] it is hard to testify the quality of the guns in actual situations.

　　2.Compared with the gun market, the drug market can be “fat” mainly because_____

　　[A] it hardly attracts the police’s attention due to the flexibility of the business.

　　[B] the drug dealings are taking place in higher frequency.

　　[C] there are no fixed and formal spots for drug dealing.

　　[D] drug is affordable to a larger number of people.

　　3. The word “cumbersome” (Line 4, Pargraph 5) most probably means_____

　　[A] transparent.

　　[B] troubling.

　　[C] horrible.

　　[D] stupid.

　　4. The reason why the authors argue that the gun market may be threadbare partly because the drug market is so plump is _____

　　[A] that the drug transaction is more prefitable thatn gun-dealing.

　　[B] that the police are more dedicated to the gun-dealing than to the drug-dealing.

　　[C] that the gang-leaders are suppressing the gun-dealing in order to maintain their profit from drug

　　[D] that the gang-leaders are worried about the effect of crime on commerce.

　　5. Towards the future of gun-dealing, the author’s attitude is _____

　　[A] pessimistic.

　　[B] optimistic.

　　[C] desperate.

　　[D] sorrowful.

　　文章剖析：

　　這篇文章主要介紹了目前美國(guó)槍支黑市的情況。第一段通過(guò)美國(guó)人將槍殺案多的原因歸于槍支比較容易獲得這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)引出Sudhir經(jīng)調(diào)查后的駁論;第二段講述強(qiáng)制黑市交易量情況;第三段、第四段講述買(mǎi)槍支人員的情況;第五段、第六段比較了槍支和毒品交易，得出目前槍支交易慘淡的另一方面原因。

　　詞匯注釋?zhuān)?/p>

　　denizen n. 居民

　　 mark-up n. (價(jià)格中)標(biāo)高的金額; 漲價(jià)幅度

　　fall through v. 失敗

　　cold feet. 臨陣退縮

　　covet v. 覬覦，垂涎

　　calibre n. 口徑

　　bulge n. 突起

　　brandish v. 揮舞

　　cubersome adj. 討厭的, 麻煩的, 笨重的

　　throttle v. 壓制，扼殺

　　threadbare adj. 破舊的，磨薄的

　　難句突破：

　　(1) Fortunately for Tony and his peers, their rivals and the victims of crime cannot tell if their guns work any better than they can.

　　[主體句式] Their rivals and the victims cannot tell…

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析] 這是一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單句，前面的介詞短語(yǔ)做句子的狀語(yǔ), any better than they can后面省略了tell，也做句子的狀語(yǔ)。

　　[句子譯文] 幸運(yùn)的是，對(duì)于Tony這樣的人，他們的敵人以及那些受害人也比他們強(qiáng)不了多少，并不能辨別出一支搶是否好用。

　　(2) A thin market must rely on advertising or a centralised exchange: eBay, for example, has dedicated pages matching sellers of imitation pearl pins or Annette Funicello bears to the few, scattered buyers that can be found.

　　[主體句式] A thin market must rely on…: eBay has dedicated…

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析]這是一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單句，后面用來(lái)解釋整個(gè)句子的從句中，matching…組成的現(xiàn)在分詞短語(yǔ)做前面pages的定語(yǔ)，而后面有一個(gè)that引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句修飾buyers。

　　[句子譯文] 一個(gè)狹窄的市場(chǎng)要依賴(lài)于廣告或是集中的交易。比如易趣專(zhuān)門(mén)設(shè)出幾頁(yè)讓那些賣(mài)假珍珠針飾的商家或Annette Funicello熊的商家與所能找到的極少的、分布在各地的買(mǎi)家進(jìn)行配對(duì)。

　　題目分析：

　　[答案]C

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆

　　[分析] 細(xì)節(jié)題。文章第二段提到，30%到40%的交易比較后失敗是因?yàn)橘u(mài)家或是沒(méi)有拿到槍支，

　　或者臨陣脫逃，或者沒(méi)有就交易地點(diǎn)達(dá)成一致。因此，交易失敗的主要原因是賣(mài)家不能保證交易，

　　選項(xiàng)C符合題意。A選項(xiàng)在該段中有所涉及，但卻不是交易不成功的直接原因。B與選項(xiàng)無(wú)關(guān)，

　　而D則涉及到了第三段，且所談及的是槍支的質(zhì)量問(wèn)題，而不是交易是否成功的問(wèn)題。

　　[答案]B

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆☆

　　[分析] 細(xì)節(jié)題。文章第五段提到槍支交易因?yàn)槠鋸?fù)雜性很難改變其慘淡的現(xiàn)狀，而相反地，毒品交易因?yàn)槠浔旧韉ensity of drug transactions(毒品交易密度)的原因可以逃避法律，接著下面就具體作了解釋?zhuān)�比如交易很容易達(dá)成，而且其交易地點(diǎn)不固定，警察不能輕易壓制。主要原因就是由于其交易量本身比較大，因此B為正確選項(xiàng)，其中選項(xiàng)中的frequency可以視為density的統(tǒng)一詞。A和C選項(xiàng)都是導(dǎo)致了毒品交易頻繁的原因，但是B選項(xiàng)卻是題干的直接原因。D選項(xiàng)在原文中沒(méi)有根據(jù)。

　　[答案]B

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆

　　[分析]猜詞題。該詞所在的句子意思是“但是，對(duì)于一個(gè)地下市場(chǎng)來(lái)說(shuō)，這樣的解決辦法又麻煩又顯眼”。前文中提到“一個(gè)狹窄的市場(chǎng)要依賴(lài)于廣告或是統(tǒng)一的交易。比如易趣專(zhuān)門(mén)設(shè)出幾頁(yè)讓那些賣(mài)假珍珠針飾的商家或Annette Funicello熊的商家和所能找到的極少的、分布在各地的買(mǎi)家進(jìn)行配對(duì)”，顯然這是很麻煩的�？忌�可以將四個(gè)選項(xiàng)分別代入原文，其余三個(gè)選項(xiàng)都不能符合題意。答案為B。

　　[答案]C

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆

　　[分析]推理題。文章比較后一段指出，研究者認(rèn)為槍支市場(chǎng)慘淡的部分原因在于毒品市場(chǎng)交易的興旺，接著下面就具體作了解釋。匪徒頭子對(duì)于槍支交易非常警覺(jué)，因?yàn)樗麄兒ε聵屩��?huì)使得警察增加調(diào)查，這樣就會(huì)危及其毒品交易的收入。那么可以看出，研究者這樣認(rèn)為就是看到不法分子的舉措，因此，答案C比較為符合題意。

　　[答案]A

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆

　　[分析]態(tài)度題。這篇文章主要分析了目前美國(guó)槍支交易的情況，因?yàn)榉N種原因處于比較慘淡的狀態(tài)，而從作者分析來(lái)看，對(duì)于未來(lái)的情況也不是很看好，尤其和毒品交易相比較。因此，作者對(duì)其未來(lái)持悲觀態(tài)度。因此正確答案為A選項(xiàng)。C和D選項(xiàng)的表述語(yǔ)氣過(guò)于強(qiáng)烈，不符合原文的含義。

　　參考譯文：

　　美國(guó)尚在因?yàn)橐粍t新的槍殺案——12月5日內(nèi)部達(dá)斯加州一家商場(chǎng)的槍擊案——而余悸未消，因此不能責(zé)怪他們將此歸咎于槍支太容易得到。但是在比較新的《經(jīng)濟(jì)期刊》上發(fā)表的一篇文章認(rèn)為至少非法槍支需求并不像人們想象得那么容易得到滿足。Sudhir Venkatesh目前在哥倫比亞大學(xué)供職，他和132名歹徒、77名妓女、116名擁有槍支的年輕人、23名槍支經(jīng)銷(xiāo)商以及許多在芝加哥大林蔭大道及華盛頓公園附近的居民交談過(guò)，但他并未發(fā)現(xiàn)有多少滿意的顧客。

　　芝加哥在合法手槍方面有著嚴(yán)格的規(guī)定，即便如此，黑市還是異常慘淡,只有很少數(shù)的買(mǎi)賣(mài)雙方在交易。研究者認(rèn)為這兩個(gè)區(qū)的48000個(gè)居民中間只購(gòu)買(mǎi)1400支槍?zhuān)�而可卡因的交易卻至少有20萬(wàn)宗。地下代理人銷(xiāo)售槍支的價(jià)格為150美元到350美元，這要比合法價(jià)格高出200%。而且，他們還要多要30到50美元的協(xié)調(diào)費(fèi)用。即便如此，30%到40%的交易還是流產(chǎn)了，因?yàn)殇N(xiāo)售者或是沒(méi)能拿到槍?zhuān)�或是臨陣畏縮，或是不能就交易地點(diǎn)達(dá)成一致。

　　買(mǎi)槍的人發(fā)現(xiàn)要證實(shí)商品的質(zhì)量也比較困難。他們對(duì)自己想要的槍支的情況知之甚少�！癟ony”有一把口徑為38的槍?zhuān)�他只能是自己把玩才能弄清楚怎么使��。他甚至還把一顆石頭放在里面�！八�能開(kāi)火嗎?” Venkatesh問(wèn)他。“我不知道。我想應(yīng)該是的�！盩ony回答說(shuō)。

　　幸運(yùn)的是，對(duì)于Tony這樣的人，他們的敵人以及那些受害人也比他們強(qiáng)不了多少，并不能辨別出一支搶是否好用。一般地，只要露出“凸起”的部分就可以贏得敵人的尊重，在搶劫中只要揮舞一下武器就夠了。店主不會(huì)等著去證明搶知否有效。

　　文章提到，市場(chǎng)可以克服慘淡經(jīng)營(yíng), 也可以克服非法問(wèn)題。但是不能同時(shí)克服兩個(gè)問(wèn)題。一個(gè)狹窄的市場(chǎng)要依賴(lài)于廣告或是集中的交易。比如易趣專(zhuān)門(mén)設(shè)出幾頁(yè)讓那些賣(mài)假珍珠針飾的商家或Annette Funicello熊的商家與所能找到的極少的、分布在各地的買(mǎi)家進(jìn)行配對(duì)。但是，對(duì)于一個(gè)地下市場(chǎng)來(lái)說(shuō)，這樣的解決辦法又麻煩又顯眼。而毒品市場(chǎng)可以鉆法律的空子，因?yàn)槎酒方灰资欠浅ｎl繁的。賣(mài)主在他們門(mén)口就能找到顧客，而買(mǎi)家作為老主顧也能相信供應(yīng)商。而且因?yàn)闆](méi)有固定、正式的地方，警察要對(duì)此進(jìn)行打擊也比較困難。

　　實(shí)際上，研究者認(rèn)為槍支市場(chǎng)如此慘淡的部分原因就在于毒品市場(chǎng)過(guò)于興旺。匪徒頭子對(duì)槍支交易十分警惕，因?yàn)闃屩��?huì)引起警察額外的審查，從而危及他們從毒品上獲得的收入，甚至連芝加哥的匪徒頭子也得擔(dān)憂經(jīng)濟(jì)犯罪的影響。