英语专业八级阅读理解高分特训100篇【命题分析+答题攻略+强化训练】(第2章 英语专业八级基础阅读篇

商业经济类（Passage13～18）

Passage13

题材：商业经济类字数：587建议用时：6分钟

In recent years rums have stuffed a lot more money into their final-salary pension schemes.With a fair wind from more favorable markets,that helped to plug the big deficits that had emerged.

Now it turns out that some of the improvement may be illusory.The Pensions Regulator said this week in a consultation paper that it will insist on tougher assumptions about longevity trends when the trustees responsible for the schemes get actuarial valuations.The new guidance will increase pension liabilities.

Actuaries have been caught out by startling falls in death rates among older people.In the1980s life expectancy for men aged65rose by a year.In the1990s it went up by two years,and official forecasts suggest that it will increase by2.5years in the current decade.Gains for women aged65,who live longer than men,have been less dramatic—an extra year a decade in the1980s and1990s—but they have also picked up,to1.5years,in the2000s.

These big improvements reflect especially steep falls in death rates for people born between1920and1945.A crucial question is how much longer this“golden cohort”will lead the way to lower mortality.According to the regulator,55%of pension schemes have been assuming that the big declines in death rates will taper away to more normal falls by2020;11%that they will fade by2010;and virtually all

the others have paid no heed to the phenomenon.

The watchdog wants schemes to pick2040as the date when the golden cohort's super-fast mortality reductions draw to an end.It is also serving notice on valuations that assume an eventual end to improvements in longevity.Instead they should allow for future falls in death rates of at least1%a year.The scope for further gains in life expectancy is clear in the gap between Britain and other countries where longevity is higher,especially for women.

The new guidance may be more realistic but it will be a cold shower for firms with final-salary schemes.It will raise life expectancy assumptions for people retiring today by two to three years.According to the regulator,an increase of a year pushes up pension-scheme liabilities by2.5%,which suggests that they would rise by between5%and7.5%.Some accountancy firms even think that the liabilities will rise by as much as10%.

The watchdog's tough line on longevity is not the only worry for firms with final-salary schemes.In a recent discussion paper,the Accounting Standards Board called tot the discount rate,which is used to calculate the present value of future pensions,to be based on government rather than high-quality corporate bonds. This would push up pension-scheme liabilities,which vary inversely with the discount rate;because gilts are safer than company debt and so have a lower yield.

Like the regulator's guidance on longevity,the ASB's proposal injects realism.If companies generally become more likely to default,then corporate-bond spreads —the extra interest they pay compared with gilts—will rise.Perversely,that will

shrink pension-plan liabilities even though the firms backing the schemes have become less creditworthy.

It will take several years for the ASB's new approach,if adopted,to affect company accounts.Yet,together with the regulator's move on longevity,the reform could have an unfortunate consequence for pension-scheme members.More firms may conclude that maintaining a defined-benefit scheme—even one closed to new members—is the financial equivalent of running up the down escalator.

1.Why will the new guidance increase pension liabilities?

A.Because it can plug the big deficits that have emerged.

B.Because it will raise life expectancy assumptions.

C.Because it may be more realistic.

D.Because the scope for further gains in life expectancy is clear in the gap between Britain and other countries.

2.According to the passage,what role do the trustees responsible for the schemes

play?

A.They issue notice on actuarial valuations that assume an end to improvements in longevity.

B.They help the regulator make tougher assumptions about longevity trends.

C.They appraise demographic change in order to estimate future liabilities.

D.They reflect steep falls in death rates for people born between1920and1945.

3.“...gilts are safer than company debt and so have a lower yield”(Para.7)means

that_____.

A.corporate bonds of high quality vary inversely with the discount rate

B.corporate bonds are not as safe as gilt-edged securities in investment yield

C.corporate bonds are focused on present value instead of future yield

https://www.360docs.net/doc/d818510649.html,pany debt can yield very low interest

4.Which of the following statements does NOT contain a metaphor?

A.Now it tarns out that some of the improvement may be illusory.

B…but it will be a cold shower for firms with final-salary schemes.

C.With a fair wind from more favorable markets,that helped to plug the big deficits that had emerged.

D…is the financial equivalent of running up the down escalator.

5.What does the conclusion of more firms at the end of the passage seem to

suggest?

【答案及解析】

1.B推断题。由The new guidance will increase pension liabilities.定位于第二段。根

据…it will insist on tougher assumptions about longevity mends...和文章第六段It will raise life expectancy assumptions for people retiring today by two to three years.…an increase of a year pushes up pension-scheme liabilities by

2.5％，which suggests that they would rise by between5％and7.5％.可以推断

出B是正确答案。A和D与问题无关。C未提及实质。

2.C推断题。根据原文第二段中The Pensions Regulator said…it will insist on tougher

assumptions about longevity trends when the trustees…get actuarial

valuations.可知，Pensions Regulator是根据trustees获取的actuarial valuations 制定关于人口趋势的new guidance，导致pension-scheme liabilities的上升，故选C。A与原文相悖，B是regulator所为，D与trustees无关。

3.B推断题。结合上下文可以推断company debt指的是corporate bonds，而gilts指

的是政府发行确保获利的金边证券，gilts比corporate bonds更安全，故选B。4.A修辞题。A中不含修辞成分。B中的cold shower、C中的fair wind、D中的down

escalator都包含了隐喻内涵，所以选A。

5.The defined-benefit scheme runs against the longevity trends.文章最后提到“更

多企业得出结论：保持a defined-benefit scheme等同于在下行扶梯上向上跑”，即其与the longevity trends是背道而驰的。

Passage14

题材：商业经济类字数：428建议用时：6分钟

Forget about the spurious benefits of eating shark fin soup,a Traditional Asian delicacy that is said to be responsible for the needless destruction of some73 million sharks a year.In Palau,the first country in the world to proclaim a shark sanctuary,the sharks that frequent the Pacific island country's reefs generate enormous financial benefits.A single reef shark can contribute almost US$2million in its lifetime to the economy of Palau.

The analysis quantified the economic benefits of the shark-diving industry to the Pacific island nation and found that its value far exceeded that of shark fishing.

A research focused on hundreds of reef sharks that frequent the five major dive

sites in Palau.The study did not take into account the sharks in Palau waters that do not regularly visit the dive sites.Because of their low rates of reproduction and late maturity,shark populations have been driven into a global decline due to fishing. Yet the study shows that these animals on top of the ecosystem can contribute far more as a tourism resource than as a catch target.

Findings from the study,which looked at the reef sharks observed at Palau's major dive sites,include:

The estimated annual value to the tourism industry of an individual reef shark that frequents these sites was US$179,000or US$1.9million over its lifetime;

Shark diving brings approximately US$18million annually to the Palauan economy,approximately eight percent of the country's gross domestic product;

The annual income in salaries paid by the shark-diving industry was an estimated US$1.2million;and the annual tax income to Palau generated by shark diving was approximately14percent of the country's business tax revenue.

Globally,up to73million sharks are killed every year primarily for their fins, which are used in the Asian delicacy shark fin soup.The Pacific Island States have been among the first to recognize the danger of this unsustainable rate of consumption.In2009,Palau President Johnson Toribiong declared Palauan waters to be a shark sanctuary in his address to the United Nations General Assembly. Since then,the US state of Hawaii,the territories of Guam and the Northern Marianas,and the Republic of the Marshall Islands all banned the possession,sale or distribution of shark fins.