作者：孔云军
出版社：西南交大出版社
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英语专业快速阅读（四）试读：
前言
据高等学校外语专业教学指导委员会制定的《高等学校英语专业英语教学大纲》，阅读课程是英语专业本科基础阶段的一门专业必修课程，其中，快速阅读是英语专业阅读课程的主要内容之一。快速阅读旨在培养英语专业学生快速阅读的技能和技巧，培养学生通过阅读快速获取知识和信息的能力，培养英语专业学生语言能力、语言基本功和语言素养。
高等学校《英语专业快速阅读》（1～4册）教材由王扬教授担任总主编。参与编写教材的人员有刘娜、刘晶晶、周化嫒、龚小燕、乔淑霞、孔云军等。
教材每册设计16个单元（共32篇文章），每个单元包括与专题内容相关的2篇阅读材料，短文字数控制在800～1000词，设计阅读量要求学生10分钟左右完成。每篇文章设计5道选择题（其中，2道涉及文章主题或大意，3道涉及内容细节），要求学生在规定时间内选择出正确的答案。教材在语料选择上注意题材、体裁的多样化（科技、文学、语言、文化、社会、习俗、生活等）；在内容上力求体现新颖性、趣味性、实用性、广泛性、可读性；在词汇等级及难易度控制上，根据《高等学校英语专业英语教学大纲》词汇范围选择语料。第一册词汇量范围为3500词，生词出现率为3%～5%；第二册词汇量范围为4500词，生词出现率为3%～5%；第三册词汇量范围为5500词，生词出现率为3%～5%；第四册词汇量范围为6500词，生词出现率为3%～5%。英语专业基础阶段共4学期，本套教材每学期学习1册，每周学习1个单元。
本套教材适用于英语专业本科基础阶段或英语专业专科以及同等水平的英语读者。
由于编写时间紧、任务重，加之编者水平有限，教材中难免有不足之处，敬请外语同行及专家批评指正。总主编 王扬2016年3月30日Unit 1EconomyText A Mining: The Wacky World of Gold
Striking gold is generally considered a slice of good luck.Owning it,however,is a sign that you fear the worst.Some people buy the yellow stuff because they think it looks pretty,to be sure.But the quintessential gold bug is an investor who expects every form of paper wealth to collapse,along with civilization itself.
Gold is not like other commodities.The demand for iron ore depends on down-to-earth things,such as how many steel girders Chinese builders are using.The demand for gold depends on airier considerations.
Not all gold investors stockpile guns and tinned food in remote cabins,of course.Nor are they all fans of Glenn Beck,an American pundit who preaches doom and urges his listeners to buy gold.But most agree that the world is a scary place.The euro zone is tottering,America’s deficit is alarming and inflation is looming,they reckon.Such fears have ramped the price of gold up to an incredible $1,545 a troy ounce,up almost sixfold in a decade.
Yet gold miners’ shares have failed to keep pace.This is new.Gold and gold-mining shares used to rise and fall in lockstep.Over the past five years,however,the price of gold has trebled while the value of gold miners has merely doubled.Investors in firms that shift,crush and process rocks are more grounded,it seems,than those who invest in bullion.
As mines age,extracting gold gets harder and costlier.Ores give up less of the metal–average grades have fallen by 30% since 1999 according to GFMS,a consultancy.And ore must be hauled up from ever greater depths.Fuel is pricier.So,too,are labour and equipment,since the global minerals boom has driven up demand for miners and drills.A decade ago the average cost of extracting an ounce of gold from the ground stood at a little over $200.In 2010 it hit $857,says GFMS–though this figure depends in part on the gold price.When gold was$200 an ounce,nuggets that cost $800 to extract stayed buried.
Finding new seams to replace depleted ones is becoming harder.Metals Economics Group,a mining consultancy,estimates that in 2002 gold miners spent$500 million on exploration.By 2008 they were spending $3 billion but finding much less.All the easy gold has been mined already.
The big gold-mining firms have turned to acquisitions to boost their reserves.Last year Australia’s Newcrest bought an Aussie rival,Lihir Gold,for $8.7 billion.By value,31% of the mining deals last year involved gold,according to the consulting arm of PwC.Merged firms seek to cut costs,and often end up spending less on exploration than they did separately.That makes it even less likely that they will find much more gold.
The world’s miners dug up 2,689 tonnes of gold last year.Granted,that was a record.But,despite the huge surge in investment,it was only a few flakes more than the total output a decade ago.
Investing in gold miners carries risks unrelated to the price of the metal.Mergers can flop.As readily recoverable reserves dwindle in stable places such as North America and Australia,miners are forced to operate in more troublesome ones,such as Latin America and Africa.Huge investments can yield disappointing returns if promising mines turn out to contain less glitter than predicted.
Gold bugs,by definition,bet that the price of gold will go up and up.Miners sometimes do the opposite.Many hedged their wares,selling gold forward to ensure smooth cash flows and to raise money to dig more mines.This may have seemed prudent at the time.But it repelled gold bugs and,as the gold price rose ever higher,it hurt the miners’ profits,too.Barrick Gold,the world’s biggest gold miner,and AngloGold Ashanti,the third-largest,have both spent billions unwinding hedges over the past couple of years.
Gold bugs are often allergic to other metals.Gold miners are not.Many produce copper,too,since it often sits in the same ore bodies as gold.In April Barrick offered $7.7 billion to trump a Chinese bid for Equinox,an Australian copper miner.The heavy demand in China and short global supply for “red gold”makes Barrick’s move look sensible.But gold bugs hated it.Barrick’s shares fell sharply after the bid was revealed.
Most damaging of all for the marriage between gold bugs and gold miners has been the arrival of a seductive new financial tool.Exchange-traded funds（ETFs）,backed by physical gold,offer investors direct exposure to the gold price without any exposure to gold miners themselves.They have become popular: in less than a decade gold ETFs have gone from nothing to holding some 2,200 tonnes of gold–nearly a whole year’s production.
If the world goes to hell,gold bugs will say: “I told you so.” But if investors ever wake up and notice that the yellow metal is little more useful than tulips,the gold bugs will be burned.The miners,less so.（849 words）（The Economist,Jun 2,2011,from http://www.economist.com /node/ 18774624）
1.What does the word “quintessential” in Paragraph One mean?
A.Absurd.
B.Classic.
C.Innocent.
D.Simple-minded.
2.What ramped the price of gold up to $1,545 a troy ounce?
A.Airier considerations.
B.Inflation in America.
C.Fears about global economy.
D.Fans of Glean Beck.
3.It can be learned from Paragraph Six that______.
A.the more the firms spent on exploration,the more gold they would get
B.the Merged Newcrest will find much more gold
C.it is even harder for firms to find new seams
D.the Merged Newcrest holds half of the gold-mining deals
4.Miners have done all the following to prevent the rising price of gold EXCEPT______.
A.reducing the price of gold in the global market
B.trying best to make sure smooth cash flows
C.inventing more money to find new seams
D.selling gold forward and hedging their wares
5.Which of the following words is used metaphorically,NOT literally?
A.Looming（Paragraph Three）.
B.Trebled（Paragraph Four）.
C.Risks（Paragraph Nine）.
D.Marriage（Paragraph Twelve）.Text B Economic Forecasting: A Foggier View than Ever
Predicting how fast a person will be jogging two years hence is tricky,especially when that person is currently flat on his back in a hospital’s intensive-care unit.
Nonetheless,Wall Street prognosticators are expected to have at least two years of growth estimates for the economy; securities analysts must also work up two years of earnings estimates for the companies they follow.That’s never an easy task,even for a single company,but massive stimulus spending is making the job even tougher this year.
“We typically have some sort of stimulus coming out of a recession,” says Maury Harris,chief U.S.economist at UBS,who has yet to finalize his 2011 economic estimates.“What makes it harder than usual is that the stimulus was so much larger than usual.”
Much of the debate about how well the economy will do post-stimulus has to do with the health of the U.S.consumers.Some economists believe that consumers,after not spending much in 2009 and 2010,will open their wallets widely in 2011–and all that pent-up demand will give a big boost to the economy.Others believe that two years of saving won’t be enough to cure a decade or more of overspending.And with the consumer still focused on paying down debt,economic growth will be slow at best.
But it isn’t just the end of the stimulus that makes 2011 a tough year to call.It will also be the year that all the Bush tax cuts expire.And Harris thinks that if a health-care overall gets passed,that could have significant unforeseen effects on the economy as well.S&P’s chief economist,David Wyss,says he thinks most economists are tackling the tricky problem of predicting what will happen in 2011 by doing what they always do: predict the economy will do about average.The problem is that what economists have come to believe is average growth for the U.S.economy in recent years has been falling.The Congressional Budget Office recently said it expects that the U.S.economy will grow on average about 2.2% a year.That’s down from a trend expectation of about 3% just a few years ago.“The economy will feel better in 2011,” says Wyss.“But that doesn’t mean it will feel good.”
In general,the projection for late 2010 and 2011,when much of the stimulus spending will have run out,is that the economy will continue to grow but at a rate slower than past recoveries.A recent poll of economists by the newsletter Blue Chip Economic Indicators found that on average,economists expect the economy to expand 2.7% in the fourth quarter of 2010.That’s faster than the economy is growing today,but not what you would expect in good times.“The rule is that the deeper the recession,the more robust the rebound,” says Blue Chip editor Randy Moore.“But that’s not what people are predicting this time.Absent the stimulus,there is still a worry that there is not much demand out there.”
Stock-market analysts,who are usually wildly bullish on far-off earnings projections,seem to have the same tentative take on the post-stimulus economy.According to Thomson Reuters,analysts believe that on average,companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 will earn 22% more in 2011 than they will next year.That’s a larger-than-average jump for corporate profits.But it will be down from the 25% jump analysts are expecting for 2010,when the stimulus money will still be pumping into the economy.And it is far below other rebounds.In 2003,for instance,corporate profits rose 77%.
“As government spending winds down,we should start getting stronger growth from other parts of the economy,” says S&P’s Wyss.“But our rate of growth is still probably going to slow because of the drop after the stimulus.”And of course,there’s that lingering anxiety over what happens if the stimulus ends and the economy is too weak to generate growth on its own.
To be sure,we have a long way to go until the stimulus is finished.The government has spent just $100 billion of the $787 billion that Congress approved in stimulus spending in February.Much of the rest of the money is due to be spent in 2010.As of now,the stimulus spending looks to be having a positive effect on the economy.If that continues,2011 could be strong as well.If the stimulus affect peters out–or worse,causes hyper-inflation,as some worry–2011 could be a year when economists and analysts eat a big slice of humble pie.（766 words）（Stephen Gandel,Time,Sep 29,2009,from http://content.time.com /time/business/article/0,8599,1926225,00.html）
1.The relationship between the first and second paragraphs is that______.
A.each presents a totally different issue
B.the first poses a comparison to make the second clearer
C.the first exemplifies and the second generalizes
D.the second is the logical consequence of the first
2.“Prognosticators” in Paragraph Two can be best replaced by______.
A.analysts.
B.economists.
C.investors
D.predictors.
3.Who mentions the relationship between health-care program and economic development?
A.Maury Harris.
B.David Wyss.
C.Randy Moore.
D.Thomson Reuters.
4.We can infer from the fifth and sixth paragraphs that the U.S.economy is growing at an average rate______.
A.slower than 2.2%
B.faster than 2.2% but slower than 2.7%
C.faster than 2.7% but slower than 3%
D.faster than 3%
5.The economists predict the U.S.economy in 2011 will behave according to the following factors EXCEPT______.
A.the government’s economic policies
B.the consumers’ demand
C.the effects of the recession
D.the basic economic lawUnit 2Social LifeText A Lonely Planet: Isolation Increases in U.S.
There are more than 300 million of us in the United States,and sometimes it seems like we’re all friends on Facebook.But the sad truth is that Americans are lonelier than ever.Between 1985 and 2004,the number of people who said there was no one with whom they discussed important matters tripled,to 25 percent,according to Duke University researchers.Unfortunately,as a new study linking women to increased risk of heart disease shows,all this loneliness can be detrimental to our health.
The bad news doesn’t just affect women.Social isolation in all adults has been linked to a raft of physical and mental ailments,including sleep disorders,high blood pressure,and an increased risk of depression and suicide.How lonely you feel today actually predicts how well you’ll sleep tonight and how depressed you’ll feel a year from now,says John T.Cacioppo,a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago and coauthor of Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection.Studies have shown that loneliness can cause stress levels to rise and can weaken the immune system.Lonely people also tend to have less healthy lifestyles,drinking more alcohol,eating more fattening food,and exercising less than those who are not lonely.
Though more Americans than ever are living alone（25 percent of U.S.households,up from 7 percent in 1940）,the connection between single-living and loneliness is in fact quite weak.“Some of the most profound loneliness can happen when other people are present,” says Harry Reis,professor of psychology at the University of Rochester.Take college freshmen: even though they’re surrounded by people almost all the time,many feel incredibly isolated during the first quarter of the school year with their friends and family members far away,Cacioppo says.Studies have shown that how lonely freshmen will feel can be predicted by how many miles they are from home.By the second quarter,however,most freshmen have found social replacements for their high-school friends.Unfortunately,as we age,it becomes more difficult to recreate those social relationships.And that can be a big problem as America becomes a more transient society,with an increasing number of Americans who say that they’re willing to move away from home for a job.
Loneliness can be relative: it has been defined as an aversive emotional response to a perceived discrepancy between a person’s desired levels of social interaction and the contact they’re actually receiving.People tend to measure themselves against others,feeling particularly alone in communities where social connection is the norm.That’s why collectivist cultures,like those in Southern Europe,have higher levels of loneliness than individualist cultures,Cacioppo says.For the same reason,isolated individuals feel most acutely alone on holidays like Christmas Eve or Thanksgiving,when most people are surrounded by family and friends.
Still,loneliness is a natural biological signal that we all have.Indeed,loneliness serves an adaptive purpose,making us protect and care for one another.Loneliness essentially puts the brain on high alert,encouraging us not to eat leftovers from the refrigerator but to call a friend and eat out.Certain situational factors can trigger loneliness,but long-term feelings of emptiness and isolation are partly genetic,Cacioppo says.What’s inherited is not loneliness itself,but rather sensitivity to disconnection.
Social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace may provide people with a false sense of connection that ultimately increases loneliness in people who feel alone.These sites should serve as a supplement,but not replacement for,face-to-face interaction,Cacioppo says.He compares connecting on a Web site to eating celery: “It feels good immediately,but it doesn’t give you the same sustenance,” he says.For people who feel satisfied and loved in their day-to-day life,social media can be a reassuring extension.For those who are already lonely,Facebook status updates are just a reminder of how much better everyone else is at making friends and having fun.
Michael J.Bugeja,a professor of communications at Iowa State University and author of Interpersonal Divide: The Search for Community in a Technological Age,says that the encroachment of digital communication into our social lives can amplify feelings of isolation.He describes Texting or Twittering in the presence of others as a “prescription for loneliness.” Such behavior,he says,sends the message that someone somewhere else is more important.“The human heart is suffering from lack of authentic interaction,” he says.“Just being able to engage genuinely and politely with your neighbors is a better fix than Xanax could ever effect for mental stability.”
So how many friends do you need to avoid loneliness? There’s no magic number,according to Cacioppo.An introvert might need one confidante not to feel lonely,whereas an extrovert might require two,three,or four bosom buddies.Experts say it’s not the quantity of social relationships but the quality that really matters.“The most popular kid in school may still feel lonely,”Cacioppo says.“There are a lot of stars who have been idols and lived lonely lives.”（841 words）（Johannah Cornblatt,Newsweek,Aug 20,2009,from http://www.newsweek.com/lonely-planet-isolation-increases-us-78647?piano_d=1）
1.Which of the following is NOT among the factors which may cause people to feel lonely?
A.Less healthy lifestyles.
B.Being far away from family and friends.
C.Holiday atmosphere.
D.Sensitivity to isolation.
2.Who tends to be the least lonely according to the passage?
A.A person who is always surrounded by others.
B.A person who has a lot of friends on Facebook.
C.A person who often moves away from home for a job.
D.A person who lives in an individualist culture.
3.The author’s main purpose of mentioning Facebook is to______.
A.compare Facebook with face-to-face communication
B.emphasize the supplementary function of Facebook to daily communication
C.illustrate the importance of Facebook in helping people to relieve loneliness
D.introduce the ways to make friends on Facebook
4.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
A.There are approximately 8% of Americans who claimed to be lonely in 1985.
B.College sophomores tend to be lonelier than freshmen.
C.The more you expect of social interaction,the lonelier you feel if the reality is the reverse.
D.People who often feel lonely are likely to have lonely children.
5.This passage mainly talks about______.
A.causes of loneliness
B.effects of loneliness
C.ways to avoid loneliness
D.loneliness and lifestylesText B Stay-at-home Students: Want MBA,Won’t Travel
Foreign students are increasingly shunning Western business schools.
Business schools are generally reckoned to be pretty recession proof.Admissions tend to be counter-cyclical as students either opt to ride out the bad times on campus hoping for a jobs upturn on graduation or spend redundancy cash on tuition fees.
In this downturn,however,schools may face a previously unknown threat to their cash flows–the decline of the foreign students who have not just added to brave claims about the “diversity” of business school classrooms but have also proved a lucrative source of income.
Admittedly,the evidence is fairly anecdotal at the moment but it does seem that foreign（or,more euphemistically,“international”）students are thinking twice about handing over their hard-earned and recession-hit cash for an education at a prestigious Western hall of academe.
Big private business schools in America,already hit by the much lower valuations of their endowment funds,seem likely to take the biggest hit.The American-based Graduate Management Admissions Council（GMAC）,a regular surveyor of MBA graduates and recruiters,presciently noted in its 2008 Global MBA Graduate Survey that “graduates who attended full-time MBA programmes outside their country of citizenship rated overall value lower compared with graduates who attended similar programmes in their home country”.Furthermore,Dave Wilson,the GMAC’s president,has stated that he expects a decline in applications from students in countries such as China and India to American business schools.
For the moment the situation in Europe,where business schools are even more dependent on international students for fees than their American counterparts,seems better.In the MBA class of 2010 at London Business School,for example,91% of students are from outside Britain with Europe（excluding Britain）,Asia and North America accounting for 68%.At IMD,in Switzerland,which has a reputation for internationalism and diversity,87 out of 90 students in its MBA class of 2009 are foreign,with 38 nationalities represented.However,although figures may appear healthy,these programmes were sold in 2008 or earlier in a very different economic climate.Not a few schools are wondering with some trepidation what the figures will look like in 2010.
Three factors are likely to weigh heavily on international students’willingness to travel abroad to study: financing their studies,fears about the jobs market and the availability or otherwise of good business schools in their home country.
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