专业英语八级分类模拟题阅读理解七.docx

1、专业英语八级分类模拟题阅读理解七专业英语八级分类模拟题阅读理解(七)Text A The oil industry has been on a hot streak this year, thanks to a series of major discoveries that have rekindled a sense of excitement across the petroleum sector, despite falling prices and a tough economy. These discoveries, spanning five continents, are th

2、e result of hefty investments that began earlier in the decade when oil prices rose, and of new technologies that allow explorers to drill at greater depths and break tougher rocks. Thats the wonderful thing about price signals in a free market it puts people in a better position to take more explor

3、ation risk, said James T. Hackett, chairman and chief executive of Anadarko Petroleum. More than 200 discoveries have been reported so far this year in dozens of countries, including northern Iraqs Kurdish region, Australia, Israel, Iran, Brazil, Norway, Ghana and Russia. They have been made by inte

4、rnational giants, like Exxon Mobil, but also by industry minnows, like Tullow Oil. Just this month, BP said that it found a giant deepwater field that might turn out to be the biggest oil discovery ever in the Gulf of Mexico, while Anadarko announced a large find in an exciting and highly prospectiv

5、e region off Sierra Leone. It is normal for companies to discover billions of barrels of new oil every year, but this years pace is unusually brisk. New oil discoveries have totaled about 10 billion barrels in the first half of the year, according to IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates. If disc

6、overies continue at that pace through year-end, they are likely to reach the highest level since 2000. While recent years have featured speculation about a coining peak and subsequent decline in oil production, people in the industry say there is still plenty of oil in the ground, especially beneath

7、 the ocean floor, even if finding and extracting it is becoming harder. They say that prices and the pace of technological improvement remain the principal factors governing oil production capacity. While the industry is celebrating the recent discoveries, many executives are anxious about the immed

8、iate future, fearing that lower prices might jeopardize their exploration drive. The world economy is weak, oil prices have tumbled from last years records, corporate profits have shrunk, and global demand for oil remains low. After falling to $34 in December, oil prices have doubled, stabilizing ne

9、ar $70 a barrel. But if the world economy does not pick up, some analysts believe the price could fall again. Oil companies contend that is not a prospect they can afford. Despite reaping record profits in recent years, many executives have warned that they need prices above $60 a barrel to develop

10、the worlds more challenging reserves. In fact, some exploration activity has already slowed this year, as producers seek better terms from service companies and contractors. It is not just oil that is benefiting from the exploration boom. Repsol, Spains biggest oil company, said this month that it h

11、ad discovered what could turn out to be Venezuelas biggest natural gas field. In recent years, companies have found substantial natural gas reserves in the United States, from shale rocks once believed to be impossible to drill. The No. 1 question that exploration teams have right now is: Where do w

12、e go next? said Robert Fryklund, who ran the operations of ConocoPhillips in Libya and Brazil, and is a vice president in Houston at Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Exploration spending swelled in recent years, partly to offset a doubling of costs throughout the industryfrom steel prices to th

13、e cost of renting deepwater drilling rigs. A big issue confronting the industry now is how to drive down costs while maintaining a high level of exploration. On average, costs have fallen by 15 to 20 percent from their peak, according to petroleum executives. Exploration remains a risky, and costly,

14、 business, where some deepwater wells can cost up to $100 million. From 30 to 50 percent of exploration wells find oil. Some executives are also worried the world might face a shortfall in supplies in coming years if another decline in oil prices causes exploration to falter. The chief executive of

15、the French oil giant Total, Christophe de Margerie, has warned that such a supply crunch is possible by the middle of the next decade. There could be a shortage of capacity, he said. His concerns echoed those of Abdullah al-Badri, the secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting

16、Countries, who said that lower oil prices also threatened investments by OPEC nations. Saudi Arabia is also unlikely to expand its production in coming years because of the uncertainty clouding future oil demand, Ali al-Naimi, the kingdoms oil minister, signaled earlier this month. Saudi Arabia is j

17、ust completing a $100 billion program to increase its capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day, from around 9 million barrels a day just a few years ago. Although they are substantial, the new finds do not match the giant fields discovered in the 1970s, like Alaskas Prudhoe Bay, Ekofisk in the North S

18、ea, or Cantarell in Mexico. They are also dwarfed by the last enormous discovery, the Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea, discovered in 2000 and estimated to hold over 20 billion barrels of oil. We have not seen another Kashagan, but still these finds are very material, said Alan Murray, the explorat

19、ion service manager at Wood Mackenzie, a consulting firm in Edinburgh. Since the early 1980s, discoveries have failed to keep up with the global rate of oil consumption, which last year reached 31 billion barrels of oil. Instead, companies have managed to expand production by finding new ways of get

20、ting more oil out of existing fields, or producing oil through unconventional sources, like Canadas tar sands or heavy oil in Venezuela. Reserve estimates typically rise over the life of a field, which can often be productive for decades, as companies find new ways of getting more oil out of the gro

21、und. The industrys record has improved in recent years, thanks to high prices. According to Cambridge Energy Research Associates, oil companies have found more oil than they produced for the last two years through a combination of exploration and field expansions. The appetite for opening new fronti

22、ers when prices were low in the 1990s was very small, said Paolo Scaroni, the chief executive of Italys oil giant Eni. Today, the biggest discovery of all is technology.1. New discoveries in the oil industry are the result of the following EXCEPT _. A.rising oil pricesB.new technologiesC.severe comp

23、etitionD.substantial investments答案：C此题是事实题。由第二段可知，油田的发现是高油价、投资和新技术的结果。2. Many oil companies are concerned about the following EXCEPT _.A.rising costsB.low demandC.a tough economyD.technological improvement答案：D此题是事实题。文章没有提及石油公司担心技术革新问题。3. What can be inferred from the passage?A.Technology is a decisi

24、ve factor in finding oil.B.Oil companies may stop exploring oil fields in the coming years.C.The new discoveries are not comparable to the ones in the 1970s.D.There will be no oil fields to be found due to the massive exploration.答案：A此题是推断题。由最后一段可知，技术在石油开采中起了决定作用。4. What does the passage mainly tell

25、 us?A.The worries that face oil companies.B.The new discoveries that have been made.C.The major factors that affect oil production.D.The reasons why small companies have the largest finds.答案：C此题是主旨大意题。文章分析了影响石油生产的主要因素。5. Which of the following is the best title for this passage?A.Oil Companies See a

26、 Bright FutureB.Technology Is the Biggest Discovery of AllC.Oil Industry Sets A Brisk Pace of New DiscoveriesD.Hefty Investments Make New Discoveries Possible答案：C此题是推理概括题。选项B和D不全面，A不是文章的主题，故C为正确答案。Text B On Wednesday, Sept. 23, President Barack Obama used his first-ever address to the U.N. General A

27、ssembly to try and reverse the impression that his ambitious Middle East peace effort had suffered a reversal at the hand of Israels hawkish Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. I am not naive, Obama told the gathered world leaders. I know this will be difficult. But all of us must decide whether we

28、are serious about peace or whether we only lend it lip service. Many a jaded commentator saw Obamas Tuesday meeting with Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as a symbol of surrender to Netanyahus refusal of the U.S. demand that Israel halt all construction on land conquered i

29、n 1967. Instead, Netanyahu offered a partial and time-limited freeze and appeared to force the President of the United States to back down. For Abbas, the handshake with Netanyahu orchestrated by Obama was viewed as a humiliating climb down from his refusal to talk to the Israelis until they impleme

30、nted that settlement freeze. Netanyahu, briefing the Israeli media after the talks, suggested that the Palestinians had also caved in to his demand for a reopening of talks without preconditions on an agenda the two sides would determine in discussions. But Abbas insisted that any talks would be bas

31、ed on the full range of final-status issues established by previous agreementsNetanyahu has publicly ruled out negotiating on two of those issues, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital. Abbas appeared to win Obamas backing in the U.N. s

32、peech, which made clear that the President has not accepted Netanyahus position on the precursor issue of a settlement freeze even if hes decided to move on to the final-status negotiations. America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements, the President insisted on Wednesday. That could be read as a response to the damage Obamas credibility has suffered in the Arab world as a result of being forced by Netanyahu to retreat on the settlement issue, which had been widely viewed as a test of Israels peacemak