难句突破


It is a swift reversal for trading firms that have often looked to other investors like profit machines，thanks to high-powered software and superfast data connections that can take advantage of small changes in the price of a stock.

主体句式：It is a swift reversal for trading firms...，thanks to...

结构分析：该句结构较复杂，修饰成分较多，容易引起混淆。主句中的that定语从句用来修饰trading firms，分句中的that定语从句修饰high-powered software and superfast data connections。而整个分句作主句的原因状语，可理解为“由于…；幸亏…”。

句子译文：由于高性能的软件和速度超快的数据连接可以利用股票价格上的微妙变化，交易公司不再是其他投资者眼中的赚钱机器，这是一个极大的转变。





题目分析


1．C 细节题。第一、二段指出高频交易公司由鼎盛开始走下坡路，并且利润值也在下降。A、D两项与文意不符，故排除。高频交易公司虽然利润下降，但并未亏损很多，B项也不正确。只有C选项说法正确。

2．C 细节题。题目要求找出高频交易公司开始衰退的标志。文章二、三段讲述了高频交易公司从利润到员工数量都在下降的趋势，故C项正确。A项中努力获利与原文努力守住盈利之势不符。高频公司衰退是股票交易市场紧缩的原因，后者并非前者的特点，逻辑有误。D项与原文中的下滑趋势不符。

3．D 语义题。由第四段可知，由于高性能的软件和速度超快的数据连接可以有效地利用股票价格上的微妙变化，因此高频交易公司不再是其他投资者眼中的赚钱机器，这是一个极大的转变。这种转变就是上文提到的高频交易公司不再像原来一样可以赚得巨额利润，只有D项符合题意。

4．A 情感态度题。第五段指出，皮特·科斯塔是纽约证券交易市场交易所的一名老交易人，他说，这些公司的衰退可以“使股票市场恢复些秩序”。可见皮特·科斯塔和上文中传统交易人和投资者的看法一致，都不喜欢高频交易公司。B、C、D项均与文意不符，只有A项正确。

5．B 语义题。最后一段讲述了调控者的不确定态度及市场专家的猜测。A 选项明显错误。C、D选项逻辑上和原文不符。只有B项说法正确。





参考译文



高频交易公司，指最近十年涌现出的高速、智能化的公司，曾主导着国家的股票市场。而现在它们却奋力挣扎着守住盈利之势。

根据代理公司罗森布拉特证券的估计，今年从美国股票高频交易中获得的利润最多将达到12.5亿美元，与去年相比下降了35%，与2009年的巅峰值49亿美元相比下降了74%。相比之下，富国银行和摩根大通各自在过去的一个季度都比高频交易产业今年一年将要赚的多。

虽然没有官方资料显示高频交易公司的员工雇佣情况，但对超过12个行业雇员的采访显示，大小型公司都在裁员，而且有一些已经关门停业了。数据公司塔布集团调查称，这些公司也是日益减少的股票交易从三年前的61%萎缩到现在51%的原因所在。

由于高性能的软件和速度超快的数据连接可以利用股票价格上的微妙变化，交易公司不再是其他投资者眼中的赚钱机器，这是一个极大的转变。

高频交易还远远不会从市场上消失，但是一些传统的交易人和投资者正在以极大的“热情”看待交易公司面临的挣扎。在这些传统的交易人和投资者眼中，这些交易公司都是极强大的对手，更甚者，是可以使股价激增或剧降的市场操纵者。皮特·科斯塔是纽约证券交易所的一名老交易人，他说，这些公司的衰退可以“使股票市场恢复些秩序”。

调控者还在努力搞清楚高频公司的兴盛到底会给投资者带来净利润还是净损失，因此还无法确定这些公司的衰退会给市场带来什么影响。许多市场专家认为，近来冲击市场的技术问题是市场已经更加明显地分裂为几十个自动交易业务并缺乏人力监管的结果。





Unit 8


Rich immigrants in Asia's financial capitals generally have life pretty easy．But this summer，those in Hong Kong and Singapore are starting to sweat．The problem? Sizzling real-estate markets that make even bankers blink，and international schools packed like the Tokyo subway at rush hour．One-bedroom flats in Hong Kong's most fashionable buildings now go for $5,000 per month．Office rents in Singapore have shot up 105 percent in the past year—the fastest appreciation rate in the world．For workers with kids，the picture is particularly bleak．Incoming students at international schools now land not in classes but on long waiting lists—unless their parents jump the queue by purchasing debentures that have sold for as much as $120,000 in Hong Kong.

Asia's duelingfinancial hubs invest a lot of capital—real and emotional—in what's often cast as a zero-sum contest for the affection of foreign companies. Yet both cities have done so well wooing them of late that the major threat facing each isn’t the other，but bottlenecks in the foreign infrastructure common to both．High-end housing costs are pushing past records set before the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis，prompting Singapore's founding father，Lee Kuan Yew，to lament，“We must check this hike in rents or we will lose our competitiveness.”

Talent is getting tougher to find as both economies near full employment．Office rents are driving even the richest investment banks to seek cheaper alternatives to prime downtown addresses．And as both cities increase their populations by luring hundreds of thousands of additional outsiders over the coming decade，locals are getting squeezed．“There may be a political cost if Singaporeans feel priced out by foreigners,” warns Charles Chong，head of a parliamentary committee on national development in Singapore.

Both cities are，in a sense，victims of their success．Each ranks among the most efficient spots on the planet to register new businesses．They boast world-class banking，accounting and legal services，undergirded by respect for contracts and commercial codes not found in the rest of Asia．In a region awash in cash from record trade surpluses，Chinese expansion and a flood of new stock listings，the cities have posted incredible GDP growth numbers of late—6.8 percent and 7.9 percent for Hong Kong and Singapore，respectively，last year.

Given that local fertility rates are falling，both hubs hope to continue to fuel that boom via immigration．Singapore's Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan expects the city-state's population to hit 6.5 million by 2027，up 2 million from today—which implies a yearly influx of 100，000 foreigners over the next two decades．Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang has said he envisions his city's population eventually surpassing 10 million—a 30 percent increase from today's total—thanks to“an injection of new blood from all nationalities.” As the hubs grow more receptive to outsiders，new factors are ensuring that immigrants arrive in large numbers．Whereas globalization was once confined to big multinationals，today’s expatriates work disproportionately for smaller-and medium-size companies．Nor are they predominantly European or North America anymore; China，India and South Korea are just three of the many countries now sending professionals abroad.


注（1）：本文选自Newsweek；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1题模仿2014年真题Text 2第4题，第2 题模仿2015年真题Text 3第1题，第3题模仿2008年真题Text 2第3题，第4题模仿2010年真题Text 2第2题，第5题模仿2006年真题Text 3第5题。



1．Foreigners in Hong Kong begin to sweat because _______.

A) the real-estate market is cooling down

B) they cannot afford children's tuition fee at international schools

C) the city is over-populated

D) the hiking rents are making life tougher

2．We can learn from the second paragraph that ______.

A) Hong Kong and Singapore consider each other as competitors

B) both two cities should not attract any more foreigners because there will not be enough land to hold them

C) the“bottlenecks” refer to the fact that the infrastructures of the two cities are not pleasant enough to woo foreign companies

D) Lee Kuan Yew's comment shows that he's pessimistic about Singapore's future development

3．According to the text，local people in the two cities _______.

A) do not welcome overseas talents

B) are facing worse living conditions

C) are unsatisfied with the government

D) are in full employment

4．Which of the following is NOT the reason of the region's abundance of capital?

A) Efficiency of business registration.

B) China's development.

C) Booming stock market.

D) Benefit from trade.

5．We can draw a conclusion from the last paragraph that _______.

A) the conflict between population and rent in the two cities might be more serious since both cities plan to enlarge their citizen number

B) the population increase plan of the two cities can hardly be fulfilled as the higher living expense damages their attractiveness

C) the definition of globalization has been changed mainly because most local people refuse to work in multinational companies

D) the influx of foreigners can damage local economy because they will compete for the limited resources with locals





篇章剖析


本文是一篇说明文，介绍了中国香港和新加坡这两个欣欣向荣的亚洲金融中心地价和房租飞涨的情况及其具体原因。文章第一段介绍了中国香港和新加坡令人咋舌的高房租给人们的工作和生活带来的困难；第二、三段进一步阐发问题的所在及其严重性；第四、五段则分析了造成这种局面的根本原因在于两座城市的成功。





词汇注释


sizzle /ˈsɪzl/ vi. 咝咝地响，烧灼

blink /blɪŋk/ v. 眨眼

pack /pæk/ vi. 挤，群集

bleak /bliːk/ adj. 荒凉的，凄凉的

debenture /dɪˈbentʃə(r)/ n. 债券

duel /djʊəl/ v. 决斗，双方抗争

hub /hʌb/ n. 中心

woo /wuː/ v. 追求，争取…支持

bottleneck /ˈbɒtlnek/ n. 瓶颈

lament /ləˈment/ vi. 悔恨，悲叹

lure /ljʊə/ v. 引诱

squeeze /skwiːz/ v. 压榨，挤，挤榨

boast /bəʊst/ v. 自夸，以有…而自豪

undergird /ˈʌndəˈɡəːd/ v. 加强，巩固…的底部

awash /əˈwɒʃ/ adj. 被浪冲打的

fertility /fəˈtɪləti/ n. 人口出生

influx /ˈɪnflʌks/ n. 流入；汇集

envision /ɪnˈvɪʒn/ vt. 想象；预见；展望

injection /ɪnˈdʒekʃn/ n. 注射，注入

expatriate /ˌeksˈpætriət/ n. 移居国外者





难句突破


Asia's dueling financial hubs invest a lot of capital—real and emotional—in what's often cast as a zero-sum contest for the affection of foreign companies.

主体句式：Asia's financial hubs invest in...

结构分析：该句结构并不复杂，但是其中修饰成分较多，容易引起混淆。两个破折号中间的“real and emotional”用来补充修饰前面提到的“capital”。此外，invest in这个短语后面通常跟的都是sth．，而句中的sth．就是what引导的主语从句。

句子译文：这两个竞争激烈的亚洲金融枢纽为了赢得外国公司的青睐，都在所谓的零和竞争（零和竞争原意指一种技术的应用带来的市场份额上的增加，必然会导致另一种技术在市场份额上的减少，双方加起来的总变化量为零）上投入了大量资金——不论是实际的还是情感上的。





题目分析


1．D 细节题。文章第一段提到的香港那些富裕的移民们开始冒汗是一种比喻的说法，意指他们开始变得紧张，后面指出问题所在是由于房价现在高得离谱，使得他们现在的生活开始变得不像以前那么轻松舒适。可见，令他们紧张的是上涨的房价。

2．A 推理题。文章第二段第一句话中的“dueling”含有“决斗、竞争”的意思，说明了两座城市都视对方为竞争者。B选项的错误原因在于文章并没有指出因为土地的限制，两座城市应该限制外国人的进入。C选项的错误在于所谓的“瓶颈”并不在于其城市基础设施建设没能赢得外国公司的偏爱，而是两座城市已经赢得了外国公司的偏爱，但是由于租金过高迫使他们不得不离开。D错误的原因是这里的态度既不是悲观，也不是乐观，只是客观地指出了问题所在。

3．B 细节题。根据文章第三段，随着外来人口的增多，两座城市的本地人口住得越来越拥挤，可见本地人的居住环境正在变差。A和C选项的错误原因在于文章并没有指出本地人不欢迎外地人或者对政府不满意。D选项错误是因为文章第三段第一句话指出就业几乎已经饱和，但并不是完全饱和。

4．A 细节题。第四段第四句指出“不断刷新纪录的贸易顺差、中国的不断扩张，以及无数新上市的股票，所有这些都使得这个地区充斥着各种资金”，答案显而易见。而A选项中的“注册新公司效率高”的直接效果应该是促进本地商业与贸易的繁荣，资金的增加只是一个间接的效果。

5．A 推理题。根据文章最后一段，两座城市的政治家们都希望进一步扩大本地的人口规模，以促进经济的发展。考虑到前文指出两地目前的人口和土地之间已经产生了尖锐的矛盾，可以推出未来随着人口的增长，这一冲突将会更加严重。B选项的错误在于文章的结论并没有指出两座城市的人口增长计划无法实现，相反，其领导人对于人口增加显得相当有信心。C选项与文中意思相左，不是本地人拒绝进入跨国公司，而是现在大部分外国人都倾向于到中小型公司工作。D选项陈述也与文意不符，因为文章并不认为外国人会破坏当地经济。





参考译文



那些居住在亚洲金融中心的富有移民们普遍过着非常轻松的生活。但是今年夏天，连中国香港和新加坡的富人们也开始焦虑了。问题在哪里呢？过热的房地产市场甚至令银行家们都感到惊讶，许多国际学校更是拥挤得像高峰时段的东京地铁。香港大部分豪华高楼中的一居室房租现高达每月5000美元。新加坡的写字楼房租在过去的一年中更是上涨了105个百分点——这是世界上最快的升值率。对于那些有孩子的雇员来说，情况尤为窘迫。香港的国际学校中那些新来的学生们现在无法直接被分到班级中，而必须要在长长的等待列表中排队——除非他们的父母插队来购买售价高达12万美元的债券。

这两个竞争激烈的亚洲金融枢纽为了赢得外国公司的青睐，都在所谓的“零和竞争”上投入了大量资金——不论是实际的还是情感上的。两座城市在吸引外国公司上都做得非常成功，但是现在对于他们来说，最大的威胁不是来自于对方，而是来自一个共同的问题，即为外国人进行基础设施建设的瓶颈。高档住房的花费正在突破1997～1998年亚洲金融危机前的纪录，以至于新加坡国父李光耀感慨道：“我们必须要控制房租的高涨，否则我们会失去竞争力。”

这两个经济体几乎都已经实现了充分就业，因此寻找人才也变得更加困难。写字楼的房租高到连最有钱的投资银行都开始在市中心以外的地方寻找更加便宜的办公室。在接下来的10年中，这两座城市都通过吸引成千上万的移民来增加其人口规模，以至于本地人的居住环境越来越拥挤。新加坡议会的国家发展委员会主席查尔斯·宋警告道：“如果新加坡人觉得因为外国人的到来使得价格变得如此高昂，那么这就有了一个政治成本。”

从某种意义上来说，这两座城市都是自身成功的受害者。它们都是这个星球上注册新公司最高效的地方。它们以拥有世界级的金融、会计和法律服务为豪，并充分尊重合同和商业法规，这在亚洲的其他地方是见不到的。不断刷新纪录的贸易顺差、中国的不断扩张，以及无数新上市的股票，所有这些都使得这两座城市充斥着各种资金，从而推动着它们以令人难以置信的速度发展，去年香港和新加坡的GDP分别增长了6.8个和7.9个百分点。

由于当地的出生率不断降低，这两个金融枢纽都希望继续通过吸引移民来推动增长。新加坡的国家发展部长马宝山希望这个城市国家的人口到2027年能够达到650万，即比现在增加200万人——这意味着在接下来的20年中，新加坡每年要输入10万外国人。香港行政长官曾荫权曾经表示，他希望这座城市的人口能够最终突破1000万——即比现在的人口总数增长30%——且人口增长将包括“来自各个国家的新鲜血液”。随着两座城市更加接受外来人口，一些新的因素保证了将会有更大规模的移民迁入。过去，人们认为全球化仅限于那些大规模的跨国公司，但现在大部分移民却都是在为小型和中型的公司工作。这些移民也不再是主要来自于欧洲和北美；很多的国家都在向国外输出专业人才，其中包括中国、印度和韩国。





Unit 9


Whatever else，Airbus cannot be accused of failing to put on a brave face at this week's Paris Air Show，held every two years．Louis Gallois is the troubled European airframe-maker's third chief executive within 12 months．But still he declared:“I can tell you with full confidence that Airbus is back and fully back.” Supporting his confident public message was an extraordinary flow of orders and commitments for over 600 aircraft accumulated in time for the show by the firm's super-salesman，John Leahy.

Although it is heading for a second successive loss—last year it plunged572m ($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．It has begun the“Power8” recovery plan，intended to save2 billion annually by cutting 10,000 jobs and auctioning off six factories to partners．And the giant A380 will begin commercial service with Singapore Airlines in the autumn，although being two years late.

In the contest between the twin-engined wide-body Boeing 787 and the A350 XWB，Mr Gallois struggles to be as positive．The 787 is already a sales phenomenon，with over 630 firm orders even before the plane's roll-out next month．The airlines are excited by its revolutionary use of a composite material called carbon-reinforced plastic（CRP）．Five years behind the 787，which will enter service next year，the A350 contains a similar share of composite material，but is based on a less advanced structural design that involves hanging CRP panels on a titanium frame. 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.

Mr Gallois admits that following Boeing's approach would have been too expensive and risky for Airbus．At the same time Mr Gallois bemoaned the advantage his rival has in government-supported research and development．Boeing，he claims，receives about $800m a year—ten times as much as Airbus．Earlier in the week，during meetings with ministers representing the four Airbus partners（France，Germany，Britain and Spain），he asked them to fund half the company's planned600m-a-year investment in research and technology．He is not hopeful.

But for the moment what matters most for Airbus is that the market stays strong and that it gets to grips with its costs．This may require going further in imitating Boeing's risk-sharing partner（RSP）model than Airbus seems willing to contemplate．According to some estimates，about 80% of the work on the 787 is outsourced to RSPs，saving Boeing both precious development time and working capital.

What this week has shown is that for all the success of the 787 and the mistakes of Airbus，the competitive duopoly of the past decade is still firmly in place．But will things stay that way? That depends partly on whether Airbus really has learnt its lessons and partly on who else wants to get into the game．Boeing reckons that in 20 years，36% of the market will be in the Asia-Pacific region．For the time being，the Chinese，the Indians and others are happy to be partners and customers．But that could change.


注（1）：本文选自Economist；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为2004年真题Text 3。



1．How can Louis Gallois be confident that Airbus is“fully back”?

A) Because under his leadership there is a sign that the company will soon stop losing money.

B) Because Airbus put on a good show in Paris in which it received a large number of orders.