2010考研英語(yǔ)閱讀精讀100篇(高分版)TEXT SIXTEEN
　　Richard Burton probably knew nothing of the small South African town of Cullinan when he bought yet another chunky diamond for Elizabeth Taylor in 1969. Now the Cullinan mine itself, like so many of the diamonds unearthed there, is about to change hands. On November 22nd De Beers, the diamond giant that has owned the mine since 1930, said it was selling it to a consortium led by Petra Diamonds, one of South Africa's emerging diamond producers, for 1 billion rand in cash. Provided regulators approve the deal, the transfer should take place by the middle of next year.

　　De Beers is selling because the mine is no longer profitable, despite attempts to turn it around. But Petra reckons the mine still has another 20 years of production in it and plans to extract at least 1m carats a year. The unexploited “Centenary Cut” deposit, which lies under the existing mine, could yield a lot more. This is good news for the mine's 1,000 or so employees and for the town, which has depended on the diamond business since Sir Thomas Cullinan discovered a prospect there in 1898 that contained kimberlite, a rock that can be rich in diamonds. The mine, established in 1903, is one of 30 or so kimberlite diamond mines in the world, and is believed to be still the world's second-most-valuable diamond resource

　　Petra is a relatively small outfit, listed on London's Alternative Investment Market, that specialises in buying mines that bigger companies see as marginal. Its trick is to extract better returns by rationalising production and processing, and keeping operating costs and overheads down. Petra has already bought two of De Beers's loss-making South African mines—both of which are now profitable—and is finalising the 78.5m rand acquisition of the group's underground operation in Kimberley, which stopped working in 2005.

　　It already operates four mines in South Africa and has promising exploration in Angola (a joint-venture with BHP Billiton), Sierra Leone and Botswana. Petra expects to produce over 1m carats by 2010—quite a jump from 180,474 carats in the year to June. The company has yet to make a profit, but expects to be making money by the middle of next year.

　　In the 1990s De Beers decided that it was no longer a good idea to try to monopolise the diamond market. It started focusing on higher returns rather than market share, and has been revamping its mine portfolio, selling off mines that are no longer profitable and investing in more enticing operations, such as its mine off the west coast of South Africa, its Voorspoed operation in the Free State province, and two new mines in Canada.

　　This has opened the way for a new class of diamond firm that operates in the vast middle ground between the world's handful of large producers and a multitude of much smaller exploration firms. The Cullinan deal should entrench Petra in this middle tier, alongside firms such as Kimberley Diamond and Trans Hex. But even if it does reach its target of 1m carats a year, Petra will still not be able to match the sparkle of the giants. Last year De Beers produced 51m carats from its mines in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania, which amounted to 40% of the world's diamonds by value.

　　1. The Cullinan mine was named after_____

　　[A] the original name of the town.

　　[B] the name of its first owner.

　　[C] the name of its discoverer.

　　[D] the name of the town’s first colonist.

　　2. Which one of the following statements is TRUE of the Cullinan mine?

　　[A] The mine is the only business of the town which employs most of the local residents.

　　[B] It can be mined for another 20 years given Petra’s advanced technology.

　　[C] It is the world’s second largest diamond mine with a yearly capacity of 1m carats.

　　[D] Whether the mine will maintain its profitability is yet to know.

　　3. Petra’s operating philosophy can be said as _____.

　　[A] to make profits by reducing the costs.

　　[B] to exploit the surrounding areas of an existing mine.

　　[C] to integrate the resources of all the money-losing small mines.

　　[D] to restructure the mine portfolio and to optimize the process management.

　　4. De Beers has made changes on its development stratege because_____

　　[A] it plans to shrink its market share and ends its long-term monopoly.

　　[B] it wants to open the way for the middle tier of diamond market.

　　[C] it switches its attention to making larger profits.

　　[D] it wants to turn around the loss-making mines by cooperating with companies of smaller size.

　　5. The future of the new class of diamond firm is _____

　　[A] promising.

　　[B] dim.

　　[C] unknown.

　　[D] frustrating.

　　文章剖析：

　　文章從Petra公司收購(gòu)礦產(chǎn)為契因，介紹了因鉆石礦業(yè)新興的一個(gè)中間階層。第一段講述了Cullinan礦將要轉(zhuǎn)手的消息;第二段介紹了De Beers公司之所以將礦轉(zhuǎn)手的原因;第三、四段介紹Petra公司的一些經(jīng)營(yíng)方式和情況;第五段講述De Beers公司的運(yùn)營(yíng)調(diào)整;第六段介紹了鉆石礦業(yè)的新階層。

　　詞匯注釋：

　　chunky adj. 含小而厚的塊：

　　consortium n. 財(cái)團(tuán)

　　kimberlite n. 金伯利巖

　　portfolio n. 組合

　　enticing adj. 引誘的, 迷人的, 動(dòng)人心目的

　　entrench v. 確立，使處于牢固地位

　　難句突破：

　　(1) This is good news for the mine's 1,000 or so employees and for the town, which has depended on the diamond business since Sir Thomas Cullinan discovered a prospect there in 1898 that contained kimberlite, a rock that can be rich in diamonds.

　　[主體句式] This is good news for …

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析] 這是一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單句，for后面的賓語(yǔ)比較復(fù)雜，which 引導(dǎo)的非限定性定語(yǔ)從句修飾the town，在該從句中有一個(gè)since引導(dǎo)的狀語(yǔ)從句;在該狀語(yǔ)從句中，that 引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句修飾prospect, a rock…是kimberlite的同位語(yǔ)。

　　[句子譯文] 這對(duì)于這個(gè)礦的1000名左右的雇工以及這個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)來(lái)說(shuō)是個(gè)好消息，這個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)從1898年Thomas Cullinan爵士發(fā)現(xiàn)該礦含有金伯利巖(可能富含鉆石的一種巖石)后，就一直依賴鉆石生意存活。

　　(2) It started focusing on higher returns rather than market share, and has been revamping its mine portfolio, selling off mines that are no longer profitable and investing in more enticing operations, such as its mine off the west coast of South Africa, its Voorspoed operation in the Free State province, and two new mines in Canada.

　　[主體句式]It started focusing on…, and has been…

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析] 這是一個(gè)并列句，由連詞and 連接，后半分句結(jié)構(gòu)比較復(fù)雜;has been 后面帶有三個(gè)并列的成分，第二個(gè)成分selling off mines后面有that 引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句，第三個(gè)成分中such as 后面都是用來(lái)修飾operations的。

　　[句子譯文] 它開(kāi)始修關(guān)心更高的回報(bào)率而不是市場(chǎng)份額了，也一直在修改它的礦產(chǎn)組合，賣掉不再盈利的礦產(chǎn)，投資更讓人動(dòng)心的項(xiàng)目，如南非西海岸的礦產(chǎn)、自由州省的Voorspoed項(xiàng)目、加拿大的兩處新礦。

　　題目分析：

　　[答案] C

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆

　　[分析] 細(xì)節(jié)題。該礦的名字為Culliman, 從第一段可以看到它所在的小鎮(zhèn)的名字也是這個(gè)，但是第二段提到1898年Thomas Cullinan爵士發(fā)現(xiàn)了這個(gè)礦含有金伯利巖，1903年該礦成立。那么可以推斷，這個(gè)鎮(zhèn)和礦的名字都是以Cullinan爵士、即其第一個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)者的名字命名的。因此，正確答案為C。

　　[答案]D

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆☆

　　[分析] 細(xì)節(jié)題。文章第二段之處小鎮(zhèn)上的大部分人都依賴于鉆石產(chǎn)業(yè)，但這并不意味著他們都在礦山工作，因此A選項(xiàng)錯(cuò)誤。文章第三段談到Petra的盈利策略主要是改進(jìn)流程、降低成本，并沒(méi)有強(qiáng)調(diào)使用先進(jìn)的技術(shù)。選項(xiàng)C，在第二段提到Cullinan目前仍被認(rèn)為是世界第二大比較有價(jià)值的鉆石礦，但并不一定在規(guī)模上也是第二大的，而且年產(chǎn)量1百萬(wàn)克拉指的不是該礦山的年產(chǎn)量，而是Petra公司的計(jì)劃年產(chǎn)量。選項(xiàng)D，文章沒(méi)有明確指出該礦山將來(lái)究竟是否會(huì)贏利，因?yàn)椴坏枚�知，選項(xiàng)D為正確的陳述。

　　[答案]A

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆☆

　　[分析]推理題。文章第三段提到Petra專門收購(gòu)大公司邊緣化的礦產(chǎn)，其秘訣就在于通過(guò)合理化生產(chǎn)和加工，降低運(yùn)作和管理費(fèi)用來(lái)獲得更好的收益�？梢钥闯觯�公司運(yùn)營(yíng)理念就是通過(guò)自己的努力，比如合理化生產(chǎn)、加工，降低費(fèi)用來(lái)盈利，因此，選項(xiàng)A比較為符合這一點(diǎn)。

　　[答案]C

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆

　　[分析] 推理題。文章第五段提到De Beers 認(rèn)為試圖壟斷市場(chǎng)已經(jīng)不是什么很好的策略了，它開(kāi)始關(guān)心更高的利潤(rùn)而不是市場(chǎng)份額了，還采取了一系列的措施來(lái)實(shí)現(xiàn)這個(gè)策略。因此，它改變了自己的發(fā)展策略，主要是想要謀取更大的利潤(rùn)，C選項(xiàng)為正確答案。A選項(xiàng)是公司改變策略的方式，B選項(xiàng)不符合原文內(nèi)容。D選項(xiàng)具有一定的迷惑性，但要注意De Beers知識(shí)將一些礦山賣給小公司，這并不意味著它與小公司合作，因此該選項(xiàng)錯(cuò)誤。

　　[答案]C

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆

　　[分析]推理題。關(guān)于鉆石業(yè)新出現(xiàn)的中間階層，文章只是介紹了其剛剛開(kāi)始發(fā)展的情況，但是未來(lái)怎么樣文章并沒(méi)有給出明確的看法，因此，答案為C選項(xiàng)，其余三個(gè)選項(xiàng)的態(tài)度顯然不符合題意。

　　參考譯文：

　　Richard Burton 在1969年為Elisabeth Taylor 新購(gòu)一塊又小又厚的鉆石時(shí)，他可能對(duì)南非小鎮(zhèn)Cullinan一無(wú)所知�，F(xiàn)在Cullinan連同埋在地下的鉆石一起都將易主了。11月22日， De Beers，這個(gè)從1930年起就一直是礦主的鉆石巨頭說(shuō)要以10億蘭特現(xiàn)金的價(jià)格賣給Petra Diamonds為首的財(cái)團(tuán)，Petra Diamonds是南非新興的鉆石制造商�，F(xiàn)在管理者已經(jīng)同意了這筆交易，該礦將于明年年中易手。

　　De Beers要做這筆買賣是因?yàn)楸M管采取了很多措施，該礦不再是利潤(rùn)豐厚了。但是Petra 估計(jì)該礦還可以生產(chǎn)20年，計(jì)劃每年比較少挖掘100萬(wàn)克拉。而位于該礦下方尚未被開(kāi)采的“百年切割”層，生產(chǎn)力更高。這對(duì)于該礦1000名左右的雇工以及小鎮(zhèn)來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)好消息，這個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)從1898年Thomas Cullinan爵士發(fā)現(xiàn)該礦含有金伯利巖(可能富含鉆石的一種巖石)后，就一直依賴鉆石生意存活。該礦建立于1903年，是世界上約30個(gè)金伯利巖鉆石礦之一，現(xiàn)在仍被認(rèn)為是世界上第二比較有價(jià)值的鉆石儲(chǔ)藏礦。

　　Petra是比較小的一個(gè)商業(yè)組織，在倫敦的 Alternative Investment Market上市。該組織專門收購(gòu)大公司認(rèn)為不重要的礦產(chǎn)，其秘訣在于通過(guò)合理化生產(chǎn)和加工、以及降低運(yùn)作和管理費(fèi)用來(lái)獲得更好的收益。Petra已經(jīng)在南非收購(gòu)了De Beers兩家虧損的礦(這兩個(gè)礦目前都在盈利)，目前也即將完成以7850萬(wàn)蘭特收購(gòu)該組織在金伯利地下礦的項(xiàng)目，該礦于2005年停產(chǎn)。

　　目前該公司在南非經(jīng)營(yíng)四座礦藏，在安哥拉、塞拉利昂和博茨瓦納也有非常好的勘探項(xiàng)目(與BHP Billiton的合資公司)。Petra希望到2010年產(chǎn)量可以超過(guò)100萬(wàn)克拉，相比六月前180474克拉的年產(chǎn)量來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)飛躍。公司現(xiàn)在還未贏利，但可望從明年年中開(kāi)始賺錢。

　　20世紀(jì)90年代開(kāi)始，De Beers認(rèn)為壟斷鉆石市場(chǎng)不再是個(gè)好主意了，它開(kāi)始關(guān)心更高的回報(bào)率而不是市場(chǎng)份額了，也一直在修改它的礦產(chǎn)組合，賣掉不再盈利的礦產(chǎn)，投資更讓人動(dòng)心的項(xiàng)目，如南非西海岸的礦產(chǎn)、自由州省的Voorspoed項(xiàng)目、加拿大的兩處新礦。

　　這就為鉆石行業(yè)的一個(gè)新階層開(kāi)辟了道路，這個(gè)階層處于世界上少數(shù)的大生產(chǎn)商和眾多小勘探公司之間那片廣闊的區(qū)域。Cullinan這筆交易確立了Petra作為這個(gè)中間階層的地位，類似的公司還有金伯利鉆石和Trans Hex。不過(guò)即使達(dá)到年產(chǎn)量100萬(wàn)克拉，Petra還是遠(yuǎn)不及那些鉆石巨頭。去年，De Beers在其博茨瓦納、納米比亞、南非和坦桑尼亞礦的產(chǎn)量為5100萬(wàn)克拉，估計(jì)價(jià)值占到世界鉆石的40% 。