考研英語經(jīng)濟類閱讀理解及參考答案
閱讀理解,我們在考研之前英語考試上造就做過了,但是還沒有針對性地做過經(jīng)濟的吧。下面是學(xué)習(xí)啦小編給大家整理的考研英語經(jīng)濟類閱讀理解及答案,供大家參閱!
考研英語經(jīng)濟類閱讀理解及答案:Crude awakening
A battle between two energy exchanges
OPEN-OUTCRY trading is supposed to be a quaint, outdated practice, rapidly being replaced by sleeker, cheaper electronic systems. Try telling that to the
New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the world's largest commodities exchange. On November 1st the NYMEX opened an open-outcry pit in Dublin to handle Brent crude futures, the benchmark contract for pricing two-thirds of the world's oil.
The NYMEX is trying to snatch liquidity from London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), which trades the most Brent contracts; the New York exchange has hitherto concentrated on West Texas Intermediate, an American benchmark grade. The new pit is a response to the IPE's efforts to modernise. On the same day as NYMEX traders started shouting Brent prices in Dublin, the IPE did away with its morning open-outcry session: now such trades must be electronic, or done in the pit after lunch.
The New York exchange claims that customers, such as hedge funds or energy companies, prefer open-outcry because it allows for more liquidity. Although most other exchanges are heading in the opposite direction, in commodity markets such as the NYMEX, pressure from "locals"--self-employed traders--is helping to prop up open-outcry, although some reckon that customers pay up to five times as much as with electronic systems. Even the IPE has no plans to abolish its floor. Only last month it signed a lease, lasting until 2011, for its trading floor in London.
Dublin's new pit is "showing promise", says Rob Laughlin, a trader with Man Financial, despite a few technical glitches. On its first day it handled 5,726 lots of Brent (each lot, or contract, is 1,000 barrels), over a third of the volume in the IPE's new morning electronic session. By the year's end, predicts Mr Laughlin, it should be clear whether the venture will be viable. It would stand a better chance if it moved to London. It may yet: it started in Ireland because regulatory approval could be obtained faster there than in Britain.
Ultimately, having both exchanges offering similar contracts will be unsustainable. Stealing liquidity from an established market leader, as the NYMEX is trying to do, is a hard task. Eurex, Europe's largest futures exchange, set up shop in Chicago this year, intending to grab American Treasury-bond contracts from the Chicago Board of Trade. It has made little headway. And the NYMEX has dabbled in Brent contracts before, without success.
Given the importance of liquidity in exchanges, why do the IPE and the NYMEX not band together? There have been merger talks before, and something might yet happen. Some say that the freewheeling NYMEX and the more staid IPE could never mix. For now, in any case, the two exchanges will slug it out--across the Irish Sea as well as across the Atlantic.
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Economist; 11/6/2004, Vol. 373 Issue 8400, p78-78, 1/2p, 1c
注(1):本文選自Economist;11/6/2004, p78-78, 1/2p, 1c;
注(2):本文習(xí)題命題模仿2001年真題text 2第1題(1),text 4第2題(2),text 1第2題(4),2002年真題text 2第2題(3),text 3第4題(5);
1.The NYMEX and IPE are___________.
[A] both using open outcry trading as a major trading form
[B] partners that are reciprocal in their business activities
[C] rivals that are competing in the oil trading market
[D] both taking efforts to modernize their trading practice
2.According to the author, one of the reasons that the NYMEX takes open-outcry trading
is__________.
[A] the preference of its customers
[B] the standard practice of energy exchange
[C] the long tradition of this trading practice
[D] the nostalgic feeling it arouses
3.The word “glitches” (Line 2, Paragraph 4) most probably means_________.
[A] backwardness
[B] disappointments
[C] engineers
[D] problems
4.From Paragraph 4 we can infer that_________.
[A] trading volume in the IPE's new morning electronic session is falling
[B] London is a better business location for energy exchanges than Dublin
[C] Britain’s regulators are less efficient than those of Ireland
[D] the Dublin pit of the NYMEX will be more prosperous next year
5.We can draw a conclusion from the text that___________.
[A] it’s very unlikely that the NYMEX and the IPE could combine their businesses
[B] the NYMEX will fail in Ireland as many precedents have shown
[C] the two energy exchanges will figure out a way to cooperate with each other
[D] the market environment for both energy exchanges is getting better
答案:C A D B A
篇章剖析
本文介紹了兩家能源交易所之間的商戰(zhàn)。第一段介紹了紐約商品交易所在都柏林的交易所采用公開叫價的交易形式。第二段介紹了紐約商品交易所和倫敦國際石油交易所之間的競爭。第三段介紹了紐約商品交易所采用公開叫價交易方式的原因。第四段介紹了目前都柏林這個交易所的經(jīng)營情況。第五段對這種能源交易所之間的競爭前景進行了簡單的分析。最后一段總結(jié)全文,兩個交易所都會在這張商戰(zhàn)中放手一搏。
詞匯注釋
open-outcry: n. 公開叫價
quaint: [kweint] adj. 古怪有趣的
sleek: [sli:k] adj. 時髦的
pit: [pit] n. 期貨交易場
Brent crude futures:北海布倫特原油期貨
benchmark: [5bentFmB:k] n. 基準(zhǔn)點;可依照做出衡量和判斷的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)
liquidity: [li5kwiditi] n. 流動資金;資產(chǎn)折現(xiàn)力
West Texas Intermediate: 西德州輕質(zhì)原油
hedge fund: 對沖基金
prop up: v. 支撐, 支持
glitch: [^litF] n. 小故障,小毛病
lot: [lCt] n. 一批(在一起)拍賣的物品
viable: [5vaiEbl] adj. 可行的;可實施的
unsustainable: [7QnsEs5teinEbl] adj. 無法維持的
treasury-bond: 國庫券
headway: [5hedwei] n. 前進;進展
dabble: [5dAbl] v. (作為興趣或愛好)隨便搞搞, 涉獵
難句突破
Although most other exchanges are heading in the opposite direction, in commodity markets such as the NYMEX, pressure from "locals"--self-employed traders--is helping to prop up open-outcry, although some reckon that customers pay up to five times as much as with electronic systems.
主體句式:pressure …is helping to prop up open-outcry
結(jié)構(gòu)分析:這是一個復(fù)雜句,包含兩個由although引導(dǎo)的讓步狀語從句。prop up的意思是“支持”。
句子譯文:雖然其它絕大多數(shù)交易所正在取消這種公開叫價的交易方式,在紐約商品交易所這類商品市場里,來自“本地人”---那些自營商---的壓力卻起到了支持公開叫價的作用,盡管一些人估計客戶為此要支付五倍于使用電子系統(tǒng)的費用
題目分析
1. 答案為C,屬事實細節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章第二段“紐約商品交易所試圖搶走IPE的交易量”和“新開張的交易所回應(yīng)了倫敦國際石油交易所進行的現(xiàn)代化努力”兩句來看,這兩家交易所是競爭石油交易的對手。
2. 答案為A,屬事實細節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章第三段,NYMEX聲稱“對沖基金或者能源公司這樣的客戶更喜歡公開叫價”可知,顧客的喜好是他們考慮采用公開叫價方式的原因之一。
3. 答案為D,屬猜詞題。根據(jù)文章第四段,除了一些技術(shù)上的“glitches”之外,新交易所讓人們看到了希望。顯然,glitches應(yīng)該是不利的方面,四個選項中,只有B的意義最符合上下文。
4. 答案為B,屬推理判斷題。根據(jù)文章第四段,如果NYMEX把在都柏林的交易所開在倫敦的話,“it would stand a better chance”??梢姡瑐惗厥悄茉唇灰姿玫臉I(yè)務(wù)場所。
5. 答案為A,屬推理判斷題。根據(jù)文章最后兩段,兩家能源交易所因為交易內(nèi)容相似,且兩家都是著名交易所,這種市場局面最終將難以維系。作者提出了兩家能否聯(lián)手的問題,但兩個交易所一靜一動,很難合并。
參考譯文
公開叫價交易被認(rèn)為是一種奇怪而過時的做法,應(yīng)該很快被更加時髦,更加廉價的電子系統(tǒng)所取代。但紐約商品交易所(NYMEX)這個世界上最大的商品交易所卻反其道而行。11月1日,紐約商品交易所在都柏林的期貨交易所開張,并以公開叫價的方式交易作為世界三分之二原油的定價基準(zhǔn)的布倫特原油期貨。
大部分布倫特合約都是在倫敦國際石油交易所(IPE)進行交易的;紐約商品交易所試圖搶走IPE的交易量;因此紐約交易所把注意力都集中在了西德州輕質(zhì)原油這個美國交易基準(zhǔn)上。新開張的交易所回應(yīng)了倫敦國際石油交易所進行的現(xiàn)代化努力。同一天,當(dāng)紐約商品交易所的交易員開始在都柏林高喊布倫特原油期貨價格的時候,倫敦國際石油交易所廢除了上午的公開叫價交易:現(xiàn)在這類的交易都必須實行電子化,或者在午飯之后才能在交易所進行。
紐約商品交易所聲稱對沖基金或者能源公司這樣的客戶更喜歡公開叫價,因為這種方式照顧到了更多的流動資金。雖然其它絕大多數(shù)交易所正在取消這種公開叫價的交易方式,在紐約商品交易所這類商品市場里,來自“本地人”---那些自營商---的壓力卻起到了支持公開叫價的作用,盡管一些人估計客戶為此要支付五倍于使用電子系統(tǒng)的費用。甚至倫敦國際原油交易所也沒有打算放棄其交易廳。上個月他們才剛剛簽署一項租約,將其在倫敦交易大廳的租期延續(xù)到2011年。
曼氏金融公司的交易員羅布·拉夫林說,雖然出現(xiàn)了一些技術(shù)故障,但都柏林的這個新建交易所正在“嶄露頭角”。在開張當(dāng)天布倫特原油的成交量就達到了5726手(每一手就是一份合約,相當(dāng)于1000桶),是倫敦國際原油交易所當(dāng)天上午更換電子交易成交量的三分之一。拉夫林預(yù)測,這一次投機是否可行到了年底就會見分曉。如果交易所遷到倫敦,則成功的機會更大。也許最終它會被遷到倫敦:不過它在愛爾蘭開張就是因為那里比倫敦能更快獲得監(jiān)管部門的批準(zhǔn)。
兩家交易所交易相似期貨合同的局面最終將難以維系。紐約商品交易所想和一個老牌市場領(lǐng)袖叫板談何容易。歐洲最大的期貨交易所歐洲期貨交易所(Eurex)今年在芝加哥設(shè)立分店,打算從芝加哥期貨交易所的美國國庫卷交易里分一杯羹,但進展不大。紐約商品交易所以前也曾涉足布倫特原油期貨交易,但無功而返。
考慮到交易中資金折現(xiàn)力的重要性,為什么倫敦國際原油交易所和紐約商品交易所不聯(lián)合起來呢?以前有過合并商談,不過也許時機還沒到。有人說紐約商品交易所和倫敦國際原油交易所一動一靜,水火不容?,F(xiàn)在,無論如何,這兩家交易所都要放手一搏---戰(zhàn)場橫跨愛爾蘭海洋和大西洋。
考研英語經(jīng)濟類閱讀理解及答案:Robo-traders
Computerised trading agents may help humans build better markets
THANKS to slumping markets, investment banks are shedding many of their highly-paid traders. When markets recover, the banks might be tempted to replace t
hem with rather cheaper talent. One alternative has been around for a while but has yet to catch on: autonomous trading agents-computers programmed to act like the human version without such pesky costs as holidays, lunch breaks or bonuses. Program trading has, of course, been done before; some blamed the 1987 stockmarket crash on computers instructed with simple decision-making rules. But robots can be smarter than that.
Dave Cliff, a researcher at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories in Bristol, England, has been creating trading robots for seven years. In computer simulations he lets them evolve "genetically", and so allows them to adapt and fit models of real-world financial markets. His experiments have suggested that a redesign of some markets could lead to greater efficiency. Last year, a research group at IBM showed that Mr Cliff's artificial traders could consistently beat the human variety, in various kinds of market. Nearly all take the shape of an auction. One well-known type is the English auction, familiar to patrons of the salesrooms of Christie's and Sotheby's, where sellers keep mum on their offer price, and buyers increase their bids by stages until only one remains.
At the other extreme is the Dutch auction, familiar to 17th-century tulip-traders in the Netherlands as well as to bidders for American Treasury bonds. Here, buyers remain silent, and a seller reduces his price until it is accepted. Most markets for shares, commodities, foreign exchange and derivatives are a hybrid of these two types: buyers and sellers can announce their bid or offer prices at any time, and deals are constantly being closed, a so-called "continuous double auction".
Mr Cliff's novel idea was to apply his evolutionary computer programs to marketplaces themselves. Why not, he thought, try and see what types of auction would let traders converge most quickly towards an equilibrium price? The results were surprising. In his models, auctions that let buyers and sellers bid at any time like most of today's financial exchanges were less efficient than ones that required relatively more bids from either buyers or sellers. These "evolved auctions" also withstood big market shocks, such as crashes and panics, better than today's real-world versions. Mr Cliff's most recent results, which will be presented in Sydney, Australia, on December 10th, show that the best type of auction for any market depends crucially on even slight differences in the number of buyers and sellers.
Bank of America has been investigating these new auctions, along with robotic traders, for possible use in electronic exchanges. The hope is that today's financial auctions and online marketplaces might work better by becoming more like their English and Dutch forebears. But what to call such multi-ethnic hybrids? Here's introducing the "Cliffhanger".
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Economist; 11/30/2002, Vol. 365 Issue 8301, p65, 1/2p, 1c
注(1):本文選自Economist;11/30/2002, p65, 1/2p, 1c;
注(2):本文習(xí)題命題模仿2000年真題text 3第1題(1),text 4第3題(2),2004年真題text 4第1題,2001年真題text 1第2題(4),1999年真題text 1第4題(5);
1.The passage is mainly__________.
[A] a review of two kinds of auctions
[B] an introduction of trading robots
[C] a survey of the trading market
[D] about trading alternatives
2.Which of the following is true according to the text?
[A] David’s robot traders have now been used in real-world markets.
[B] Robot traders can evolve like creatures.
[C] There is room for improvement in efficiency in trading markets.
[D] The English auction is the most popular trading form.
3.If you were trading American Treasury bonds, you would most likely take the trading
form of ___________.
[A] the English auction
[B] the continuous double auction
[C] the Dutch auction
[D] the evolved auction
4.We can infer from the text that______________.
[A] existing auctions can not withstand market shocks
[B] the Dutch auction is better than the continuous double auction
[C] it’s hard for traders to reach an equilibrium price
[D] the best type of auction takes place when the number of the buyers is equal to that of sellers
5.Toward robot traders, the writer’s attitude can be said to be__________.
[A] biased
[B] objective
[C] pessimistic
[D] optimistic
答案:B C C B D
篇章剖析
本篇文章是一篇說明文,介紹了一種機器人交易員。第一段以銀行也需要薪資更低廉的交易員開始引入機器人交易員的話題,說明機器人交易員不同于程序交易,是聰明的交易員。第二段介紹了這種機器人交易員的研發(fā)過程和其模擬的一種拍賣形式。第三段介紹了其他拍賣形式。第四段介紹了這種機器人交易員在模擬拍賣中的表現(xiàn)。最后一段對這種機器人交易員的前景及影響作了簡單評價。
詞匯注釋
slump: [slQmp] v. (價格等)暴跌, (買賣)清淡; 衰落; 蕭條
shed: [Fed] v. 去除除去(不想要或不需要的東西)
pesky: [5peski] adj. 討厭的,麻煩的
auction: [5C:kFEn] n. 拍賣
patron: [5peitrEn] n. 顧客;主顧
salesroom: n. 拍賣場
mum: [mQm] adj. 沉默的;無言的;不說話的
derivative: [di5rivEtiv] n. 衍生物
hybrid: [5haibrid] n. 混合物
converge: [kEn5vE:dV] v. 達成一致趨于或達成聯(lián)合、共同結(jié)論或者結(jié)果
equilibrium: [7i:kwi5libriEm] n. 平衡
forebear: [5fC:bZE] n. 祖先,祖宗
cliffhang: [`klIfhAN] v. 扣人心弦,懸疑
難句突破
In his models, auctions that let buyers and sellers bid at any time like most of today's financial exchanges were less efficient than ones that required relatively more bids from either buyers or sellers.
主體句式:auctions… were less efficient than ones..
結(jié)構(gòu)分析:這是一個復(fù)雜句,句子的主語auctions后面有一個that引導(dǎo)的定語從句對它進行修飾,句子主體結(jié)構(gòu)中包含了一個比較級,在比較的對象ones后面也有一個that引導(dǎo)的定語從句對它進行修飾。
句子譯文:在他的模式中,現(xiàn)今大多數(shù)金融交易中采用的讓買賣雙方隨時競價的拍賣方式比起那些需要買賣雙方提出更多競價的模式效率要低下。
題目分析
1. 答案為B,屬推理判斷題。判斷文章主旨要從文章整體來把握。文章第一段說明機器人交易員可以替代人類從事交易工作。接下來作者介紹其研發(fā)過程及其模擬的幾種拍賣形式以及拍賣中的表現(xiàn),最后一段對這種機器人交易員的前景進行了展望,可見全文都是在介紹機器人交易員。
2. 答案為C,屬事實細節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章第二段第四行,克里夫的研究表明“對某些市場進行重新設(shè)計可能會大幅提高效率。”可見交易市場仍然有提高效率的空間。
3. 答案為C,屬事實細節(jié)題。文章第三段介紹荷蘭式拍賣時說它是“今天競拍美國國庫券競標(biāo)人所熟悉的一種拍賣形式。”可見,如果交易美國國庫券,最有可能采用荷蘭式拍賣方式。
4. 答案為B,屬推理判斷題。根據(jù)文章第四段克里夫的研究發(fā)現(xiàn),現(xiàn)今大多數(shù)金融交易中所采用讓買賣雙方隨時競價的拍賣方式比起那些需要買賣雙方提出更多競價的模式效率要低下。可見荷蘭式的拍賣方式比連續(xù)雙向拍賣。這也可以從文章最后一段中所說的“今天的金融拍賣和網(wǎng)上市場如果能更多地模仿它們的英國和荷蘭先祖生意也許就會更好”看出。
5. 答案為D,屬推理判斷題。作者的態(tài)度可以通過材料的選擇和措辭來判斷。在第一段,作者指出,機器人交易員不同于程序交易,是聰明的交易員。接著作者介紹了IBM的一個研究小組的成果:這種機器人交易員可以在各種市場上擊敗真人交易員??梢?,作者對機器人交易員持積極樂觀的態(tài)度。
參考譯文
由于市場不景氣,投資銀行辭退了許多高薪交易員。等到市場恢復(fù),銀行也許會用薪資更低廉的人才來取代他們?,F(xiàn)在他們又多了一個選擇:電子交易員---經(jīng)過編程可以像人一樣工作,但卻不需要休假,午餐休息或者獎金等煩人的支出的電腦。這種電子交易員已經(jīng)面世一段時間了,但尚未流行起來。以前當(dāng)然也出現(xiàn)過程序交易;有人就把1987年的股市崩盤歸罪于那些只按照簡單決策規(guī)則指令工作的電腦。不過機器人會聰明得多。
大衛(wèi)·克利夫是英國布里斯托惠普實驗室的研究員,7年來他一直致力于創(chuàng)造交易機器人。在計算機仿真試驗中,他使這些機器人“按照遺傳方式”不斷發(fā)展,以使它們適應(yīng)并且適合真實金融市場的各種模式。他的實驗意味著對某些市場進行重新設(shè)計可能會大幅提高效率。去年,IBM的一個研究小組證明克利夫的人造交易員可以在各種市場上擊敗真人交易員。幾乎所有這些實驗都是以拍賣的形式進行的。其中一種著名的拍賣形式就是英式拍賣,克里斯蒂和索斯比拍賣行的顧客對此都很熟悉,賣家不報出他們的競拍價,而買家則不斷抬高競拍價鉻,直到只有一位買家出價為止。
另外一種形式是荷蘭式拍賣,它是十七世紀(jì)荷蘭的郁金香商人以及今天競拍美國國庫券競標(biāo)人所熟悉的一種拍賣形式。這一回,買家不報價,由賣家不斷降價,直到有人接受這個價格為止。大部分股票市場,商品市場,外匯市場和衍生產(chǎn)品市場則采用這兩種類型的混合模式:買賣雙方可以隨時宣布他們的競價或者報價,交易也隨時完成,即所謂“連續(xù)雙向拍賣”。
克利夫的新思路就是把他研制的可以不斷升級的電腦程序應(yīng)用于市場。他想,為什么不試試看哪種拍賣形式能最快地讓交易員趨于一個均衡價格呢?其研究結(jié)果令人吃驚。在他的模式中,現(xiàn)今大多數(shù)金融交易中采用的讓買賣雙方隨時競價的拍賣方式比起那些需要買賣雙方提出更多競價的模式效率要低下。這些“進化的拍賣方式”還承受住了大的市場震蕩,比如崩盤和恐慌,比真人拍賣表現(xiàn)出色??死?qū)⒂?2月10日在澳大利亞悉尼演示他的最新研究成果,這些成果表明買賣雙方人數(shù)的輕微差異都會對最好的市場拍賣形式產(chǎn)生影響。
美洲銀行已經(jīng)開始研究這些新型拍賣形式以及機器人交易員,看看是否可能在電子交易中使用。今天的金融拍賣和網(wǎng)上市場如果能更多地模仿它們的英國和荷蘭先祖生意也許就會更好。但這種多種類混合體該叫什么呢? 叫“克利夫懸疑”如何?
看過考研英語經(jīng)濟類閱讀理解及答案的人還看了: