答案：D　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：推理题。文章第二段第一句话说：Although it is heading for a second successive loss—last year it plunged €572m ($718m) into the red—Airbus is undoubtedly in better shape than it was 12 months ago when wiring problems delayed the A380 and the weak dollar exposed the firm's bloated cost base. 即空中客车公司该年的年度亏损小于去年，公司的状况开始变好，因此，选项D正确。选项A错误的原因是，并没有迹象显示公司将会停止亏损。选项B错误的原因在于，尽管文章第一段指出，空客在巴黎航空展上表现不错，但是订单的增加并不是从航空展上得到的，同时关于声誉的表述也是没有根据的。选项C错误的原因是，文章第二段提到的公司的恢复计划能够节约成本，但并没有提到会带来很大的利润。

2. How does Boeing feel about the coming A350 by Airbus?

[A] Critical.

[B] Indifferent.

[C] Optimistic.

[D] Supportive.

2. 波音公司对于空中客车即将投入市场的A350型飞机是什么看法？

[A] 批评的。

[B] 无所谓的。

[C] 乐观的。

[D] 支持的。

答案：A　难度系数：☆

分析：态度题。文章第三段最后一句指出：Boeing acknowledges that the A350 may be as light as the 787, but argues that it will be a less pleasant plane to fly in and a more difficult one to maintain.即波音公司认为A350可能跟波音787一样轻，但是不如波音787舒适，而且前者比后者更难维护，这说明波音公司并不看好空客即将推出的A350，或者说，波音公司是带着吹毛求疵的态度看待A350机型的性能的，认为其不仅不够完美，而且没有波音787的各项优点。

3. According to Mr. Gallois, how can Airbus catch up with Boeing?

[A] By mastering advanced technology that can compete with or even far excel Boeing.

[B] By receiving more financial and other kinds of support from the partner governments.

[C] By adopting the RSP model so as to cut costs and improve the efficiency of its working process.

[D] By reducing cost through its recovery plan and relevant policies on cutting employees immensely.

3. Gallois先生认为空中客车如何才能赶上波音？

[A] 通过掌握能够与波音匹敌甚至远远超越对方的先进技术。

[B] 通过从与该公司合作的政府中拿到更多的财政支持和其他支持。

[C] 通过采用风险分担伙伴模式以便降低成本，提高工作流程的效率。

[D] 通过其恢复计划和相关的大幅裁员的政策来降低成本。

答案：B　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：细节题。文章第四段中，Gallois感叹：Boeing, he claims, receives about $800m a year—ten times as much as Airbus. 即波音公司每年从政府得到的研发支持和资金是空客的10倍，充足的政府支持是波音能够一直保持行业领先地位的重要因素。因此Gallois希望与空客合作的四个国家的政府也能够增加对空客的投资，从而增强其竞争力。

4. What is Boeing's strategy of cutting cost?

[A] It outsources a large portion of work to its partners.

[B] It invests heavily in its technology research and development.

[C] It receives much support from the government after much effort of negotiations.

[D] It expands its production by looking for more orders from its competitors' clients.

4. 波音公司降低成本的战略是什么？

[A] 公司把很大一部分工作外包给了合作方。

[B] 公司在技术研发上投入了很多资金。

[C] 在进行了艰苦的谈判之后，公司从政府那里得到了很多的支持。

[D] 公司通过从其竞争者的客户那里寻找更多的订单来扩大生产。

答案：A　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：细节题。本问题关键是空客如何降低成本，而文章第五段介绍了波音公司通过风险分担伙伴模式将许多工作外包给合作伙伴，从而节约了工作资金，降低了成本，因此，答案为选项A。选项B和C都是波音保持强劲发展势头的原因，但不是降低成本的原因。选项D则属于无中生有，在文章中没有根据。

5. By “But will things stay that way?” （Line 2, Paragraph 6）, the author means that _____.

[A] Airbus might make more mistakes if it neglects its other competitors

[B] the markets in Asia-Pacific region might shrink if Airbus merely focuses on its competition with Boeing

[C] the competitive duopoly by Boeing and Airbus might change

[D] Chinese and Indians might become the two companies' strong competitors in the near future

5. But will things stay that way?（第六段第二行）的意思是 _____。

[A] 如果空中客车公司忽视其他的竞争者，就可能会犯更多的错误

[B] 如果空中客车公司仅仅注重与波音公司的竞争，那么其在亚太地区的市场就可能会缩小

[C] 波音和空中客车之间的垄断竞争局面可能会改变

[D] 中国和印度的公司在不久的将来可能会变成这两家公司有力的竞争者

答案：C　难度系数：☆☆☆☆

分析：推理题。在But will things stay that way?这句话之前，文章说这两家公司仍然处于竞争垄断市场的局面，后文又继续说明了有可能导致这种局面发生变化的一些因素。这句话处在中间的衔接位置，说明了作者认为，这种状况不一定能够长期持续下去。因此，正确答案为C。





参考译文


无论如何，我们不能说空中客车在这周的巴黎航空展上表现不佳，该航展两年举办一次。Louis Gallois是这个麻烦缠身的欧洲飞机制造商12个月内的第三任首席执行官。但是他仍旧声称：“我可以充满信心地告诉你们，空中客车回来了，完全地回来了。”他之所以发表如此充满信心的公开讲话，是因为该公司的超级销售员John Leahy在航展前，及时地拉到了600多架飞机的大规模订单和合同承诺。

尽管空中客车今年会连续第二年亏损——去年该公司的赤字为5.72亿欧元（合7.18亿美元）——空中客车毫无疑问比12个月前的情况好得多，那个时候由于配线问题导致了A380被推迟推出，同时，疲软的美元暴露了公司的高成本问题。现在公司实施了“Power8”恢复计划，通过裁员1万人，把6个工厂拍卖给合作伙伴等措施，达到每年节约20亿欧元的目的。新加坡航空公司将在今年秋天首先把巨型的A380用于商业运营，这比原计划推迟了两年。

在空客A350 XWB和双引擎宽体波音787的竞争中，Gallois先生力图保持积极的姿态。波音787的销售已经十分成功，该机型在下个月正式推出之前就已经收到了超过630架的订单。这款机型革命性地使用了一种叫做碳增强塑料（CRP）的合成材料，这使得航空公司都非常振奋。将于明年开始投入使用的A350比波音787的推出晚了五年，它使用了一种类似的合成材料，但是这种材料所基于的结构设计不如波音787的先进，即把碳增强塑料板挂在钛框架上。波音承认，A350有可能和787 一样轻，但同时指出，坐在A350上可能不是非常舒适，且这款机型比较难维护。

Gallois承认，紧跟波音的步子对空客来说成本高昂且风险很大。同时，Gallois也感叹，其对手拥有政府对研发的支持这个优势。他声称波音每年得到的资金为8亿美元，这是空客的10倍。本周早些时候，在与空客四家合作者（法国、德国、英国和西班牙）的部长的会谈中，他要求后者每年为公司提供6亿欧元的资金用于研发和改进技术。但是希望并不大。

但目前对于空中客车来说，最重要的是市场保持强劲，而且公司要解决其成本的问题。这可能要求空客进一步去模仿波音的风险分担伙伴（RSP）模式，尽管这也许超出了空客的预期。根据一些预测数据，波音787约80%的工作外包给了风险分担伙伴，这给波音节约了宝贵的研发时间和工作资金。

本周的一系列事件告诉我们，尽管波音787取得了巨大的成功而空客犯下了一些错误，但这两家竞争公司在过去十年中的垄断地位依旧岿然不动。可是这种情况会一直持续下去吗？这一部分取决于空客是否真的吸取了教训，一部分取决于还有哪家公司愿意加入这场游戏。波音估计，20年后，其36%的市场将在亚太地区。目前，中国和印度等都非常愿意成为波音的合作伙伴和客户。但是这种局面是会改变的。





TEXT FOUR


The humble but industrious ant has long served as a metaphor for the economic virtues of simplicity, parsimony and diligence. But in the case of weaver ants in Africa, this description may be more than just a metaphor. According to Paul Van Mele of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and his colleagues, African mango farmers could increase their harvests by as much as two-thirds with the help of these doughty insects.

Mangoes in Africa, as elsewhere, often fall prey to fruit flies, which destroy about 40% of the continent's crop. In fact, fruit flies are so common in African mangoes that America has banned their import altogether, to protect its own orchards. African farmers, meanwhile, have few practical means to defend their fruit. Chemical pesticides are expensive. And even for those who can afford them they are not that effective since, by the time a farmer spots an infestation, it is too late to spray. Added to that, spraying tall trees is a much more complicated and unhealthy business than treating low-growing fruit and vegetables.

Agricultural scientists have also looked at controlling fruit flies with parasitic wasps. But the most common ones kill off only about one fly in 20, leaving plenty of survivors to go on the rampage. Lethal traps baited with fly-attracting pheromones are another option. But they, too, are expensive. Moreover, all these methods require farmers to detect the presence of fruit flies, and to identify them as the main threat to their crop—no mean feat when most of the action is taking place in dense, leafy canopies ten metres off the ground. Instead, most farmers simply harvest their fruit early, when it is not yet fully ripe. This makes it less vulnerable to the flies, but also less valuable.

Farmers whose trees are teeming with weaver ants, however, do not need to bother with any of this. In a survey of several orchards in Benin, Dr. Van Mele and his colleagues found an average of less than one fruit-fly pupa in each batch of 30 mangoes from trees where weaver ants were abundant, but an average of 77 pupae in batches from trees without weaver ants. The weaver ants, it turns out, are very thorough about hunting down and eating fruit flies, as well as a host of other pests. The only drawback is the ants' painful bite, which can be avoided by harvesting fruit with poles, rather than climbing trees.

Weaver ants have been used for pest control in China and other Asian countries for centuries. The practice has also been adopted in Australia. But Dr. Van Mele argues that it is particularly suited to Africa since weaver ants are endemic to the mango-growing regions of the continent, and little training or capital is needed to put them to work. All you need do is to locate a suitable nest and run strings from it to the trees you wish to protect. The ants will then quickly find their way to the target. Teaching a group of farmers in Burkina Faso to use weaver ants in this way took just a day. Those farmers no longer use pesticides to control fruit flies, and so are able to market their mangoes as organic to eager European consumers, vastly increasing their income. The ants, so to speak, are on the march.

1. For weaver ants in Africa, the description of the economic virtues of ant is more than just a metaphor because _____.

[A] the weaver ants could really bring out economic benefits for the fruit farmers

[B] the weaver ants are really economical and diligent in killing the fruit flies

[C] the weaver ants are in fact have the economic virtues

[D] the weaver ants are not a typical representative for the economic virtues

2. The word “infestation” (Line 5, Paragraph 2) most probably means _____.

[A] pest

[B] infection

[C] invasion

[D] aggression

3. The method of using chemical pesticide is not practical to defend the African farmers' fruit because of the following reasons except that _____.

[A] the cost of using chemical pesticide is too high for most of the farmers in Africa

[B] the chemical pesticide is not so effective in killing the fruit pests

[C] it is hard to decide a best change of spraying the chemical pesticide with most efficiency

[D] it requires special technique to spray tall trees with chemical pesticide

4. Reaping the fruit too early is not a good way to deal with the fruit flies because _____.

[A] the fruit will be less welcomed in the market given its lack of ripeness

[B] the fruit will be of worse taste and thus of much less value

[C] the fruit becomes less vulnerable to the fruit flies

[D] the fruit will still be affected by the flies even after they are harvested

5. Dr. Van Mele argues that weaver ants are particularly suited to Africa because of the following reasons except that _____.

[A] weaver ants are prevalent in the mango-growing regions in Africa

[B] the cost of employing weaver ants is low

[C] it is easy to grasp the method of using the weaver ants

[D] it requires simple training to make the weaver ants work





文章剖析


这篇文章主要讲述了织网蚂蚁是对付果蝇的最佳方法。第一段讲述织网蚂蚁的作用；第二段和第三段讲述目前对付果蝇的一些方法效果不佳；第四段讲述用织网蚂蚁控制果蝇的效果；第五段讲述织网蚂蚁适合在非洲使用。





词汇注释


parsimony n. 节俭

doughty adj. 勇敢的

pheromone n. 信息素

canopy n. 帐篷，华盖





难句突破


① And even for those who can afford them they are not that effective since, by the time a farmer spots an infestation, it is too late to spray.

主体句式：And even for those... they are not that effective since,... it is...

结构分析：这是一个复合句，who引导的是定语从句，修饰those；since引导的是原因状语从句。

句子译文：化学农药非常昂贵，即使有些人买得起，农药也不是那么有效，因为等到农民发现了害虫群袭时，再去喷药已经为时过晚了。

② Moreover, all these methods require farmers to detect the presence of fruit flies, and to identify them as the main threat to their crop—no mean feat when most of the action is taking place in dense, leafy canopies ten metres off the ground.

主体句式：..., all these methods require farmers to detect..., and to identify...—no mean feat when...

结构分析：这是一个复合句，when引导的是时间状语从句。

句子译文：而且，所有这些方法都要求农民先发现果蝇，还要确定它们是自己作物的主要威胁，而且在离地面10米高的茂密枝叶中落实大部分措施可是一个大动作。





题目分析


1. For weaver ants in Africa, the description of the economic virtues of ant is more than just a metaphor because _____.

[A] the weaver ants could really bring out economic benefits for the fruit farmers

[B] the weaver ants are really economical and diligent in killing the fruit flies

[C] the weaver ants are in fact have the economic virtues

[D] the weaver ants are not a typical representative for the economic virtues

1. 对于非洲的织网蚂蚁来说，关于该蚂蚁的经济性的描述不仅仅是个比喻，因为 _____。

[A] 织网蚂蚁可以为种植水果的农民带来经济收益

[B] 织网蚂蚁非常经济，而且在杀死果蝇方面是很勤快的

[C] 织网蚂蚁在经济上实际上拥有很多优点

[D] 织网蚂蚁并不是经济优点的典型代表

答案：A　难度系数：☆☆

分析：推理题。根据第一段，蚂蚁是勤俭的象征，但是对于织网蚂蚁来说，这种描述不仅仅是个比喻；接着说非洲的芒果农有了这些昆虫的帮助增加了收成，由此可以看出，是因为蚂蚁确实带来了经济收益，因此这就不仅仅是个比喻，而是实际情况了。因此，选项A最为符合题意。

2. The word “infestation” (Line 5, Paragraph 2) most probably means _____.

[A] pest

[B] infection

[C] invasion

[D] aggression

2. infestation这个词（第二段第五行）最有可能的意思是 _____。

[A] 群袭

[B] 感染

[C] 侵略

[D] 侵略

答案：A　难度系数：☆

分析：猜词题。根据第二段：And even for those who can afford them they are not that effective since, by the time a farmer spots an infestation, it is too late to spray. 可见，如果等到农民发现了害虫群袭，再去喷药就已经晚了。选项B的意思是“传染”，选项C和D的意思都是“侵略”，文章中的意思要比这两个更强烈一些。因此，答案为A。

3. The method of using chemical pesticide is not practical to defend the African farmers' fruit because of the following reasons except that _____.

[A] the cost of using chemical pesticide is too high for most of the farmers in Africa

[B] the chemical pesticide is not so effective in killing the fruit pests

[C] it is hard to decide a best chance of spraying the chemical pesticide with most efficiency

[D] it requires special technique to spray tall trees with chemical pesticide

3. 使用化学农药保护非洲农民的水果是不现实的，这是因为下列除 _____ 外的其他原因。

[A] 使用化学农药对于大部分非洲农民来说成本过高

[B] 化学农药在杀死果蝇方面不是那么有效

[C] 要决定喷洒农药的最佳时机很难

[D] 往高的树上喷洒农药需要特殊的技巧

答案：B　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：细节题。根据第三段，喷洒农药比较昂贵，而且要等到农民发现了害虫袭击时再去喷药就太晚了，再者就是往高树上喷洒农药需要一定的技艺，选项A、C和D符合这些描述。而选项B，农药不那么有效，是因为在农民发现了害虫群袭后再去喷药就已经晚了，而并不是农药本身在杀死飞虫方面没有效果。因此，答案为B。

4. Reaping the fruit too early is not a good way to deal with the fruit flies because _____.

[A] the fruit will be less welcomed in the market given its lack of ripeness

[B] the fruit will be of worse taste and thus of much less value

[C] the fruit becomes less vulnerable to the fruit flies

[D] the fruit will still be affected by the flies even after they are harvested

4. 过早地收获水果并不是对付果蝇的好方法，这是因为 _____。

[A] 这些水果不够成熟，因此在市场上也并不那么受欢迎

[B] 这些水果的味道会差得多，因此价值也大大下降

[C] 这些水果不太容易受到果蝇的袭击

[D] 这些水果即使在收获后还是会受到果蝇的袭击

答案：A　难度系数：☆☆☆☆

分析：细节题。根据第四段，因为水果还没有完全成熟就早早地收获了，虽然不再受果蝇的危害，但是其本身的价值也降低了。因此，答案为A。选项B是错误的，虽然文章提到了这些水果的价值大大降低，但是没有谈及其味道的问题。选项C不是题干的原因，而是结果。而选项D与文章的意思相反，因为过早地收获水果正是为了减少飞虫的影响。

5. Dr. Van Mele argues that weaver ants are particularly suited to Africa because of the following reasons except that _____.

[A] weaver ants are prevalent in the mango-growing regions in Africa

[B] the cost of employing weaver ants is low

[C] it is easy to grasp the method of using the weaver ants

[D] it requires simple training to make the weaver ants work

5. Van Mele博士认为织网蚂蚁特别适合非洲，是因为除了下列 _____ 外的原因。

[A] 织网蚂蚁在非洲的芒果种植地区非常多

[B] 使用织网蚂蚁的成本很低

[C] 掌握使用织网蚂蚁的方法很容易

[D] 要让织网蚂蚁工作，只需要简单的训练

答案：D　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：细节题。第五段中提到这种方法特别适用于非洲，因为其一，这种蚂蚁多；其二，使用方法简单；其三，成本低。因此，选项A、B和C是这方面的原因。而选项D说的是要训练织网蚂蚁，但实际上根据第五段，使用这种蚂蚁并不需要什么训练，故该选项的陈述错误。





参考译文