考研英語(yǔ)閱讀理解精讀100篇【社會(huì)文化類】

考研英語(yǔ)閱讀理解精讀100篇unit25
Unit 25
Jim Boon is a hybrid kind of guy. He drives a Toyota hybrid to work, a Honda hybrid on weekends and, as a manager for Seattle public transit he recently placed the world's largest order for hybrid electric buses.

Now, with the biggest hybrid-bus fleet in the world, Seattle has become the main testing ground for a technology that claims it can drastically cut air pollution and fuel consumption. In the 1990s, demo fleets of 35 buses or fewer started cropping up in cities such as Tempe, Ariz. Sixteen of these early hybrids still service Genoa, Italy, where drivers switch from diesel to electric power when passing the city's downtown architectural treasures. But no city has gone as far as Seattle, which last year bought 235 GM hybrid buses at $645,000 a pop. When the final one rolls out this December, the region's bus system will be 15 percent hybrid.

But why Seattle, and why now? The Pacific Northwest has long been a hotbed of both Green politics and cutting-edge technology. Fourteen years ago the Seattle area bought 236 Italian-made Breda buses to service a mile-long downtown tunnel. They were supposed to operate as clean electric trolleys underground, but the switching mechanism often failed and "the bus drove through the tunnel as a diesel," says Boon. "It was pretty loud and smoky."

When the Bredas hit retirement age in 2002, Boon went shopping. He chose the GM buses because they use an automatic transmission and diesel boosters that provide power to scale inclines without strain. In hilly Seattle, the prospect of a hybrid that could climb like a diesel but accelerate without belching black fumes helped justify a price $200,000 higher than that of a regular bus. "The days of seeing a diesel pull away and pour out smoke are over," says Boon. "After we drove these hybrid buses across the country, I wiped a handkerchief inside the tailpipe. It came out spotless."

Experts say buses are critical to realizing the hybrid dream of greater efficiency and cleaner air. It would take thousands of hybrid cars to save as many gallons of gas (750,000) as Boon expects his buses to save Seattle each year. GM claims that compared with conventional diesels, its new buses also churn out 90 percent less particulate matter--a known carcinogen. "Buses are a major source of pollution in any city," says Dave Kircher of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. "They operate where people are breathing this exhaust, so this is a major step forward in terms of emissions."

And a major step forward in the marketplace: Philadelphia; Honolulu; Long Beach, Calif., and Albuquerque, N.M., have all bought the GM buses in recent months. GM is now touting itself in ads as the top hybrid-bus innovator, but Siemens is among the global giants dueling GM for new business, and New York plans to deploy 325 BAE Systems hybrids by 2006. "There's room for competition," says James Cannon, editor of Hybrid Vehicles newsletter. Seems Seattle isn't the only city trying to leave grunge behind.

注（1）：本文選自Newsweek; 9/20/2004；
注（2）：本文習(xí)題命題模仿對(duì)象2004年Text 1.

1． How does Genoa protect its architectural treasures?

[A]Following Seattle’s steps to reduce pollution.
[B]Using electric power of the car when crossing.
[C]Shifting the power of the hybrids when crossing.
[D]Reducing the number of the buses crossing there.

2． Which of the following can be the main advantage of hybrid bus?

[A]Cutting air pollution and fuel consumption
[B]Producing less smoke and noise.
[C]Owning strong switching mechanism.
[D]Producing less dangerous matter.

3． The expression “churn out”(Line 4, Paragraph 5) most probably means ______.

[A]increase
[B]destroy
[C]reduce
[D]produce

4． Why buses are critical to realizing the hybrid dream of higher efficiency?

[A]Buses are a major source of pollution.
[B]A single bus saves much more gas than a single car.
[C]Buses carry more passengers.
[D]New buses produce less harmful material.

5． Which of the following is true according to the text?

[A]Many cities plan to buy GM buses.
[B]GM buses have the incomparable advantages over other buses.
[C]There is severe competition in the field of hybrid vehicles.
[D]The best way to keep the city clean is to buy hybrid buses.

答案：CADBC

篇章剖析
本文采用的是提出問(wèn)題——分析問(wèn)題的模式，指出混合動(dòng)力公交車的優(yōu)點(diǎn)，并分析了西雅圖為什么會(huì)成為世界上擁有這種汽車最多的城市。第一段介紹了西雅圖公共交通系統(tǒng)經(jīng)理吉姆•布恩；第二段指出西雅圖是世界上擁有混合動(dòng)力公交車最多的城市；第三段和第四段分析了為什么會(huì)是西雅圖這座城市，而且又是現(xiàn)在購(gòu)買這么多GM公交車的原因；第五段介紹了同柴油機(jī)相比，混合動(dòng)力公交車的性能優(yōu)點(diǎn)；第七段介紹了其市場(chǎng)經(jīng)營(yíng)情況。

詞匯注釋
hybrid[]n.雜種, 混血兒, 混合物adj.混合的, 雜種的
place an order for sth. with  v.向...定購(gòu)某物
drastically adv.激烈地, 徹底地
demo[]n.演示, 民主黨員, 樣本唱片
crop up  v.突然出現(xiàn)
diesel[]n.柴油機(jī)
a pop每個(gè)，各
roll out  v.鋪開(kāi), 低沉地講出, 離開(kāi), 動(dòng)身, 大量生產(chǎn), 滾出
hotbed[]n.溫床
cutting-edge  尖端的，先進(jìn)的
trolley[]n.電車
accelerate[]v.加速, 促進(jìn)
belch[]v.打嗝, (火山、炮等)冒煙、噴出
tailpipe[]n.[汽]排氣管
churn out 大量產(chǎn)出；以一種豐富的和自動(dòng)的方式產(chǎn)生
carcinogen[]n.致癌物質(zhì)
exhaust[]n.廢氣
tout[]v.吹捧
duel[]v.決斗
deploy[]v.展開(kāi), 配置
grunge[]n.<美俚>蹩腳貨,難看的東西,乏味的東西

難句突破
1．In hilly Seattle, the prospect of a hybrid that could climb like a diesel but accelerate without belching black fumes helped justify a price $200,000 higher than that of a regular bus.
主體句式：… the prospect … helped justify a price …
結(jié)構(gòu)分析：這句話的主語(yǔ)是“the prospect of a hybrid”，之后跟的是由that引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句來(lái)修飾“a hybrid”。在這個(gè)定語(yǔ)從句中，“climb”和“accelerate”都是謂語(yǔ)動(dòng)詞�！癶elp”是謂語(yǔ)，后面經(jīng)常跟“to do sth”， 其中“to”常被省略�！�$200,000 higher than that of a regular bus”修飾“a price”，其中 “that”指代的是“price”。
句子譯文：在多山的西雅圖，能夠像柴油機(jī)那樣上下行駛，加速時(shí)又不冒黑煙這樣的混合動(dòng)力車比普通汽車高出200，000美元的價(jià)位還是合理的。

題目分析
1.答案為C, 屬事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)題。原文對(duì)應(yīng)信息是：“Sixteen of these early hybrids still service Genoa, Italy, where drivers switch from diesel to electric power when passing the city's downtown architectural treasures.”
2.答案為A，屬事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)題。原文對(duì)應(yīng)信息是第二段第一句話“a technology that claims it can drastically cut air pollution and fuel consumption”。第五段第一句話“Experts say buses are critical to realizing the hybrid dream of greater efficiency and cleaner air.”又進(jìn)一步印證了這一點(diǎn)。
3.答案為D，屬猜詞題。本段的主題句是“Experts say buses are critical to realizing the hybrid dream of greater efficiency and cleaner air.”其中已經(jīng)介紹過(guò)了高功效，接下來(lái)要介紹高清潔。 “churn out”所在的句子是在說(shuō)明這種新型公交車在減少大氣污染方面的優(yōu)良性能，根據(jù)語(yǔ)境可猜出詞組的含義。
4.答案為B，屬事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)題。原文對(duì)應(yīng)信息是“It would take thousands of hybrid cars to save as many gallons of gas (750,000) as Boon expects his buses to save Seattle each year.”作對(duì)本題的關(guān)鍵是對(duì)此句的正確理解。參照“難句突破”部分的解釋。
5.答案為C，屬推理判斷題。本段指出雖然美國(guó)通用汽車公司自詡是最棒的混合動(dòng)力公共汽車的改革者，但是GM在這一市場(chǎng)中做的并不是獨(dú)家生意，也還存在著激烈的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，其中主要競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手是勁敵西門子公司，而且紐約作為一大客戶，準(zhǔn)備訂購(gòu)的是BAE系統(tǒng)混合動(dòng)力車，而不是GM公司的車。由此我們可作出判斷。

參考譯文
吉姆•布恩是個(gè)混血兒。他上班開(kāi)豐田混合動(dòng)力車，周末開(kāi)本田混合動(dòng)力車。作為西雅圖公共交通系統(tǒng)經(jīng)理，他最近訂購(gòu)了世界上最大一批混合電力公交車。

現(xiàn)在，擁有世界上最大的混合動(dòng)力公交車車隊(duì)的西雅圖已經(jīng)成為一項(xiàng)技術(shù)的主要試驗(yàn)地。這項(xiàng)技術(shù)據(jù)說(shuō)能大幅度降低空氣污染和燃料消耗。在二十世紀(jì)九十年代，就有35輛或再少幾輛這樣的示范車突然出現(xiàn)在諸如亞利桑那州滕比這樣的城市里。這些早年的混合動(dòng)力車至今仍有16輛服務(wù)于意大利的熱那亞。在熱那亞，途經(jīng)城市市區(qū)的建筑瑰寶時(shí)，司機(jī)就會(huì)把柴油動(dòng)力轉(zhuǎn)換成電力動(dòng)力。但是沒(méi)有哪座城市的做法趕得上西雅圖，去年它以每輛645，000美元的價(jià)格購(gòu)買了235輛美國(guó)通用汽車公司生產(chǎn)的混合動(dòng)力公共汽車。今年十一月，當(dāng)最后一輛車生產(chǎn)出來(lái)的時(shí)候，這個(gè)地區(qū)的公交汽車系統(tǒng)中混合動(dòng)力車將占到15%。

可為什么是西雅圖？為什么又是現(xiàn)在呢？美國(guó)太平洋西北部長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)一直是綠色政治和尖端科技產(chǎn)生的搖籃。十四年前，西雅圖地區(qū)曾購(gòu)買了236輛意大利制造的布雷達(dá)（Breda）公共汽車用于一英里長(zhǎng)的市區(qū)隧道的使用。本指望能把它們當(dāng)作潔凈的電力有軌電車在地下使用，但是車上的轉(zhuǎn)換裝置經(jīng)常出毛病，“而且汽車在穿越隧道時(shí)就像是輛柴油機(jī)，”布恩說(shuō)，“噪音太大，煙霧太多�！�

2002年，當(dāng)布雷達(dá)汽車到了“退休”的年齡時(shí)，由布恩進(jìn)行新的采購(gòu)。他之所以選擇美國(guó)通用汽車是因?yàn)樗麄兪褂玫氖亲詣?dòng)轉(zhuǎn)換裝置和能夠提供動(dòng)力來(lái)測(cè)量沒(méi)有張力的斜坡的柴油推進(jìn)器。在多山的西雅圖，能夠像柴油機(jī)那樣上下行駛，加速時(shí)又不冒黑煙這樣的混合動(dòng)力車比普通汽車高出200，000美元的價(jià)位還是合理的。“看著柴油機(jī)冒著黑煙開(kāi)走的日子終于結(jié)束了，”布恩說(shuō)，“我們開(kāi)車駛過(guò)鄉(xiāng)村，我拿出手絹擦拭排氣管的內(nèi)部。手絹潔白無(wú)暇�！�

專家認(rèn)為汽車是實(shí)現(xiàn)高功效和高清潔夢(mèng)想的關(guān)鍵。上千輛混合動(dòng)力小汽車節(jié)省下來(lái)的汽油（750，000加侖）才和布恩預(yù)計(jì)他的汽車每年為西雅圖節(jié)省的石油一樣多。美國(guó)通用汽車公司聲稱，同傳統(tǒng)柴油機(jī)相比，他們的這種新型汽車還能把產(chǎn)生的某種物質(zhì)—— 一種已知的致癌物減少90%。“公共汽車在任何一座城市里都是主要的污染源，”普吉特海灣清潔空氣監(jiān)測(cè)站（the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency）的戴夫•奇瑟說(shuō)，“汽車一開(kāi)動(dòng)，人們就開(kāi)始在呼吸這種廢氣。因此這是在汽車排放物方面邁出的重大一步。”

在市場(chǎng)方面也向前邁出了重大一步：最近幾個(gè)月，費(fèi)城、火奴魯魯、長(zhǎng)堤、加州和新墨西哥州的阿爾伯克基都購(gòu)買了美國(guó)通用公共汽車�，F(xiàn)在，美國(guó)通用汽車公司在廣告中把自己吹噓成最棒的混合動(dòng)力公共汽車的改革者，但是與通用公司競(jìng)爭(zhēng)這一新生意的還有全球性的大公司西門子公司；紐約計(jì)劃到2006年配備325輛BAE系統(tǒng)的混合動(dòng)力車�！斑@大有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的余地�！薄秳�(dòng)力機(jī)動(dòng)車時(shí)事通訊》的編輯詹姆士•坎農(nóng)是這樣說(shuō)的。看來(lái)好象不只西雅圖一座城市想要把骯臟拋在身后。

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