1. Airbus carries out Power 8 because _____.

[A] it cannot make up the deficits caused by the delays in delivering A380

[B] it wants to move its production abroad to handle the problem of dollar's decline

[C] it has not predicted the dollar decline at the beginning

[D] it wants to raise money to build new production sector in low-cost countries

2. The lesson Airbus learns from Boeing's case of 787 Dreamliner is that _____.

[A] it should not adopt outsourcing at all given its uncertainty and insecurity

[B] it should not cooperate with partners in designing

[C] it should not waste time in flying the semi-finished sections of the aircraft

[D] it should make use of the local manufacturing expertise instead of international partners

3. According to the passage, the 787 program is delayed probably because _____.

[A] the partners are incapable of building the plane

[B] the suppliers are far away from the main assembly operation

[C] 80% of it has been outsourced to other countries which affected efficiency

[D] the executive is incapable of finding qualified partners

4. The word “converge” (Line 5, Paragraph 5) most probably means _____.

[A] unite

[B] combine

[C] meet

[D] cooperate

5. Why Airbus and Boeing are more likely to converge than to diverge?

[A] Boeing quits the global supply chain while Airbus adopts it.

[B] Both of them need to adopt greater flexibility in the working process.

[C] Both of them need to make their foreign purchases and outsourcing more skillful and powerful.

[D] Both of them have to take measures to deal with problems caused by weak dollar.





文章剖析


这篇文章主要介绍了空中客车公司目前在生产和采购方面的一些新的动向和调整，也提到了波音公司的一些调整。第一段讲述空中客车和波音两大飞机公司目前在生产、供应方面都面临的一些新问题，空中客车已决定要采取海外采购计划；第二段讲述空中客车目前面临的一些问题；第三段讲述空中客车将来在采购方面的计划；第四段讲述空中客车采取海外采购计划的另外一个原因；第五段讲述空中客车和波音公司虽然表面看起来采取的措施不同，但其海外采购的大方向是确定的。





词汇注释


albeit conj. 虽然

ostensibly adv. 表面上

consortium n. 社团，协会

superjumbo n. 巨型喷气式飞机

forge ahead 向前迈进

outsource v. 外部买办，采购

tap into 接入

renounce vt. 放弃

grumbling adj. 嘟嘟囔囔的，抱怨的；疼痛的





难句突破


① This week Louis Gallois, the boss of EADS, the Franco-German aerospace consortium that owns Airbus, added substance to warnings a week earlier by the planemaker's chief executive, Tom Enders, that the dollar's decline was “life-threatening” for the firm.

主体句式：...Louis Gallois... added substance to warnings...

结构分析：这是一个复合句，the boss of EADS是主语的同位语，而the Franco-German aerospace consortium that owns Airbus又是EADS的同位语；最后，that引导的定语从句用来修饰前面的warnings。

句子译文：法德航天财团EADS（空中客车公司属于该财团）的老总Louis Gallois本周强调了飞机制造首席执行官Tom Enders一周前提出的警告，指出美元的贬值给公司造成了“生命威胁”。

② A few weeks ago Mike Bair, the executive responsible for the 787 programme, who was recently moved sideways after mounting production delays, launched a withering attack on some of the companies recruited to build the plane.

主体句式：...Mike Bair... launched...

结构分析：这是一个复合句，短语the executive...是主语的同位语，后面who引导的定语从句是修饰主语的。

句子译文：负责787项目的主管Mike Bair近期因为延误了生产而被调离，几周前，他对一些已参与制造该飞机的公司进行了毁灭性的攻击。





题目分析


1. Airbus carries out Power 8 because _____.

[A] it cannot make up the deficits caused by the delays in delivering A380

[B] it wants to move its production abroad to handle the problem of dollar's decline

[C] it has not predicted the dollar decline at the beginning

[D] it wants to raise money to build new production sector in low-cost countries

1. 空中客车实行“能量8”计划是因为 _____。

[A] 公司无法弥补因延迟交付A380型飞机而造成的损失

[B] 它想要将自己的生产移到海外，以应对美元贬值问题

[C] 在一开始它没有预见到美元贬值

[D] 它想要筹集资金在低成本国家建立新的生产部门

答案：A　难度系数：☆☆

分析：推理题。文章第一段指出，Gallois已经决定将一大部门的生产移到海外，第二段紧接着就说空中客车已经实施“能量8”计划了，目的就是要弥补因为A380的交付延误造成的损失。因此，选项A最为符合文章内容。选项B不是实施这一计划的直接原因。选项C是无中生有。而选项D是该计划的一个结果，而不是原因。

2. The lesson Airbus learns from Boeing's case of 787 Dreamliner is that _____.

[A] it should not adopt outsourcing at all given its uncertainty and insecurity

[B] it should not cooperate with partners in designing

[C] it should not waste time in flying the semi-finished sections of the aircraft

[D] it should make use of the local manufacturing expertise instead of international partners

2. 从波音787“梦之机”事件中，空中客车得到的教训是 _____。

[A] 由于各种不确定和不安全因素，公司根本不应当实行海外采购

[B] 它不应当在设计方面与合伙人合作

[C] 它不应当浪费时间空运飞机的半成品部件

[D] 它应当利用当地的制造技术，而不是与国际合伙人合作

答案：D　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：推理题。第四段提到了波音787计划，提到其主管指出，波音公司今后不会再将设计工作交给不能胜任的合作人，还会让供应商在装配车间旁边直接建工厂，以免去运输飞机半成品部件的费用。由此可见，波音在该项目中主要的问题就是这两方面的，而本段主要是讲述空中客车指出，要进行海外采购的另外一方面原因是，如果当地有制造技术，那么就直接运用该技术。从这两方面可以看出，空中客车得到的经验应该是制造方面应利用本地资源。因此，答案D最为符合。

3. According to the passage, the 787 program is delayed probably because _____.

[A] the partners are incapable of building the plane

[B] the suppliers are far away from the main assembly operation

[C] 80% of it has been outsourced to other countries which affected efficiency

[D] the executive is incapable of finding qualified partners

3. 根据文章，787项目被延误的原因是 _____。

[A] 合作商没有能力制造飞机

[B] 供应商离主要的组装车间很远

[C] 80%是依靠海外采购，因而影响了效率

[D] 主管没有能力找到符合条件的合作方

答案：B　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：推理题。文章第四段提到了波音787计划，提到其主管指出，波音公司今后不会再将设计工作交给不能胜任的合作人，还会让供应商在装配车间旁边直接建工厂，以免去运输飞机半成品部件的费用。由此可以推断，延误的主要原因可能就是这两方面。答案A和B涉及这两个方面，但A与原文不符，原文是合作人在设计飞机方面不能胜任，而不是在制造飞机方面；B是原文提到的第二方面，符合题意，为正确答案。C和D选项可以比较容易地排除，首先，相关段落没有提到效率的问题，因此可以排除选项C；而选项D利用了文章中的executive和qualified partners这些词汇，但组成的句子却是与原文无关的。

4. The word “converge” (Line 5, Paragraph 5) most probably means _____.

[A] unite

[B] combine

[C] meet

[D] cooperate

4. converge（第五段第五行）这个词最有可能的意思是 _____。

[A] 联合

[B] 结合

[C] 会合

[D] 合作

答案：C　难度系数：☆☆☆☆

分析：猜词题。要根据上下文来理解这个词，文章最后一段提到，现在就下结论说这两个公司今后会向不同方向发展还为时尚早，虽然他们的说法不同，但对于海外采购的态度还是肯定的，因此说他们今后更可能是向同一个方向会合，而不是各自走上不同的道路。另外，从最后一句话可以大致分析出来，converge和diverge应该是相反的意思，那么也可以猜出这个词的意思应当是“会合”，故答案C最为符合。

5. Why Airbus and Boeing are more likely to converge than to diverge?

[A] Boeing quits the global supply chain while Airbus adopts it.

[B] Both of them need to adopt greater flexibility in the working process.

[C] Both of them need to make their foreign purchases and outsourcing more skillful and powerful.

[D] Both of them have to take measures to deal with problems caused by weak dollar.

5. 为什么说空中客车公司和波音公司更像是要向一个方向会聚，而不是兵分两路？

[A] 波音放弃了全球供应链，但空中客车却采取了这个方式。

[B] 他们都需要在工作流程中增加更多的灵活性。

[C] 他们在进行海外采购时，应该更加注重技巧和实力。

[D] 他们都需要采取措施来应对美元贬值引发的问题。

答案：C　难度系数：☆☆

分析：推理题。文章最后一段提出，表面上看好像他们采取的方法会有很大不同——波音要放弃全球供应链，但空中客车却决定要采取这个方案，但每个公司的打算不同，空中客车需要更大的灵活度，而波音却是想要通过这个决定把787项目的责任转移到其合作商身上，但其实全球采购这个做法在这个行业内还是盛行的。可见，他们终究还是需要进行海外采购，文章同时也指出了他们的海外采购需要有所改进。文章最后一句指出，两个公司其实是走得更近而不是兵分两路，这也是选项C的佐证。因此，之所以说他们向一个方向会合，就是就全球采购这方面而言的，因此，答案为C。





参考译文


尽管收到了大量的订单，空中客车和波音公司中却丝毫没有庆祝的气氛。两个航空业巨头都在大声抱怨其生产系统和供应链有缺陷，虽然表面上看起来其原因各不相同。法德航天财团EADS（空中客车公司属于该财团）的老总Louis Gallois本周强调了飞机制造首席执行官Tom Enders一周前提出的警告，指出美元的贬值给公司造成了“生命威胁”。Gallois先生表示，空中客车公司将其很大一部分生产转移到“美元区”或低成本国家不再是一种可能，而成为了一种必然。

空中客车正在进行“能量8”计划，这项大型重组计划将导致1万名员工失去工作，以及出售数家工厂，目的是弥补由于延迟交付A380型巨型喷气式飞机而造成的损失。但开始时“能量8”假定1欧元兑换1.35美元，而不是现在的1.47美元。Gallois先生估计欧元每升值10分，空中客车就要损失10亿欧元。目前，空中客车76%的采购来源都在欧洲，但60%的销售却在别的地方。现在它必须将一些生产转移到海外去。

现在空中客车可能要往前更进一步。Gallois先生建议，2013年A350型进入市场后，其70%的采购将以美元进行，而目前A380型50%为美元采购，空中客车平均24%的生产为美元采购。因为空中客车强调，其部分欧洲供应商必须以美元定价，这也就意味着A350型50%的生产将在海外采购。新的飞机，如下一代A320可能几乎全部都要在欧元区之外的地方生产。

空中客车认为，汇率并不是海外采购的唯一原因，他还希望接纳复合的制造技术，无论哪里有这种技术。公司还强调，不会重复波音在其新的787型“梦之机”上已经犯过的错误，该机型80%的采购都外包出去了。负责787项目的主管Mike Bair近期因为延误了生产而被调离，几周前，他对一些已参与制造该飞机的公司进行了毁灭性的攻击。他说，未来波音公司不会将任何设计工作委托给“被证明不能胜任的”合作者，也将会让供应商在波音主要的组装车间旁建立工厂，而不再用大型的Dreamlifter运输机将飞机零件的半成品从世界各地运过来。

正当空中客车刚刚采用了全球供应链时，波音公司却放弃了这种模式，但是现在就下结论说，这两个对手正朝两个不同的方向发展还为时太早。每个公司都有自己的打算，空中客车需要更大的灵活性，而美元贬值很好地掩护了这家受工会抱怨的公司。而波音却想将787项目延误的责任推到其合作者身上。航空业全球外包的做法还是非常合理的，不管空中客车和波音公司现在说的是什么，他们其实是在走得更近，而不是分道扬镳。





TEXT FOUR


Imagine how much sleep future musicologists will lose over Philip Glass. Throughout his career he has changed his scores to suit the circumstances, trimming them for recordings, for example, because he believes that nonvisual performances benefit from (relative) concision. The notion of an immutable, sacrosanct urtext—the very thing musicologists sift historical evidence hoping to establish—is entirely alien to him.

Still, you would think that if Mr. Glass held anything sacred, it would be the structure and format of Einstein on the Beach. At that opera's premiere in 1976, and in its 1984 and 1992 revivals, “Einstein” played for five hours with no intermission. Free of narrative but rich in associations and imaginary—Einstein as a madly ecstatic violinist but also as the father of nuclear power—the work unfolded inexorably, its repeated musical phrases creating rhythmic wheels within wheels. The libretto, mostly numbers, solfege syllables and quirky, stream-of-consciousness spoken texts, works its own hypnotic spell. Listeners were free to come and go as they pleased, but some of the work's power came from its relentlessness, to say nothing of the quirkiness of Robert Wilson's staging.

The version that Mr. Glass and his ensemble presented at Carnegie Hall on Thursday evening swept away the elements that made the work a happening and transformed it into a concerto piece: three hours long, with an intermission and with formal seating rules in force. The breadth of the work was presented, if not its full sweep. The two-hour trim was accomplished by deleting sections from all but a few scenes. Some trims were noticeable: Lucinda Childe's tale of the multicolored bathing cap was intact, as were the quotations from Carole King's “I Feel the Earth Move”, but Mr. Bojangles was evicted from this version.

Musically, the score survived the trims and might even have benefited from them: The brisker movement from one section to the next highlighted the degree of inventiveness that drives this piece and pointed up passages of real beauty. In Knee Play 3, for example, the unaccompanied chorus sings streams of numbers, yet the music has the grandeur of a sacred setting much of the time and, at others, the energy of a symphonic presto. And Tim Fain, the violinist, gave the solo passages in the second, fourth and fifth Knee Plays and in the climactic, swirling Spaceship Interior scene an electrifying, virtuosic workout.

Some of the work's magic is in the way its elements pull in opposite directions. The repetition of short phrases, on one hand, can be soporific; yet the wheezing keyboard and woodwind textures and the bursts of choral counting, with sibilants creating their own rhythmic patterns, are invigorating. And because the performance is heavily amplified, timbres seem to melt together: Is that repeating fragment a voice, a violin or the top notes of the organ figure? The ensemble, which included musicians who have been with Mr. Glass from the early days as well as newcomers, gave the score a tight, high-energy reading.

1. Future musicologists will lose much sleep over Philip Glass because _____.

[A] Philip Glass's works are consistently changing based on the different context and various external conditions

[B] Philip Glass's music is characterized by its unintelligibility

[C] Philip Glass is ignorant of establishing an immutable, sacrosanct urtext

[D] Philip Glass's works are totally alien to modern and even future audience

2. To make the opera become a concerto, Mr. Glass trimmed _____.

[A] the tale of the multicolored bathing cap

[B] the quotations from Carole King

[C] Mr. Bojangles' scene

[D] Lucinda Childe's adventure

3. Which one of the following is NOT true of the new version of Einstein on the Beach?

[A] The former structure and format was kept constantly for the majority part.

[B] The version was changed into a concerto with a more formal procedure and a more fixed setting.

[C] The version was a success partly because of the advantages brought by the trims.

[D] The version was tighter than its ancestor.

4. The contrary elements which added charm to the new version were _____.

[A] the soporific repetition of phrases and invigorating music

[B] the streams of numbers and symphonic energy

[C] the classical violin solo passage and electrifying workout

[D] inventiveness and real beauty

5. The passage is mainly _____.

[A] a comparison of two versions of Einstein on the Beach

[B] an introduction of a new art form

[C] a study on the influence of trims on musical works

[D] an analysis of Mr. Glass's works





文章剖析


这篇文章主要介绍了音乐家Philip Glass的作品。文章第一段提到Glass作品多变的风格；第二段讲述其作品《海滩上的爱因斯坦》的特点；第三段讲述在卡内基大厅演出的经过删节的《海滩上的爱因斯坦》版本的情况；第四段和第五段讲述了新版本音乐的特色。





词汇注释


immutable adj. 不变的，永恒的

sacrosanct adj. 极神圣的

urtext n. 原始文本（如乐谱等）

sift vt. 选拔，精选

premiere n. （戏剧的）首演

libretto n. 歌词

solfege n. 视唱练习

quirky adj. 诡诈的，离奇的

hypnotic adj. 催眠的

brisker adj. 轻快的，活泼的

presto n. 急板乐段或乐章

virtuosic adj. 艺术的

soporific adj. 催眠的

wheeze vi. 喘息

timbre n. 音色，音质





难句突破


① Free of narrative but rich in associations and imaginary—Einstein as a madly ecstatic violinist but also as the father of nuclear power—the work unfolded inexorably, its repeated musical phrases creating rhythmic wheels within wheels.

主体句式：...the work unfolded...

结构分析：这是一个简单句，前面的现在分词短语作句子的伴随状语（分词被省略），而最后面的分句是一个带有主语的分词独立结构，也是句子的伴随状语；而破折号之间的句子是一个独立的结构，用来解释说明前面的伴随状语。

句子译文：爱因斯坦不仅是一个疯狂的小提琴迷，也是核能之父，而这部作品没有多少叙述，却充满了联想和想象，它冷酷地展现在大家面前，循环反复的乐句创造出环环相套的节奏。

② The version that Mr. Glass and his ensemble presented at Carnegie Hall on Thursday evening swept away the elements that made the work a happening and transformed it into a concerto piece: three hours long, with an intermission and with formal seating rules in force.

主体句式：The version... swept away the elements... and transformed it...

结构分析：这是一个复合句，紧跟在主语后面的是由that引导的定语从句；句子的宾语the elements后面也是一个用来修饰它的定语从句，冒号后面的是一个独立成分，用来解释前面的a concert piece。

句子译文：周四晚上，Glass先生和他的演出团队在卡内基大厅进行了演出，这次演出删除了这部剧作中一些令其显得怪诞的因素，将其转变为一部协奏曲。这次演出历时三个小时，有一次幕间休息，还有正式的座位规则。





题目分析