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Part IV Reading Comprehension
Section A
Directions: In this section, there is a short passage with 5 questions or incomplete statements. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words. Please write your answers on Answer Sheet 2.
Questions 47 to 51 are based on the following passage.
Oil is the substance that lubricates the world's economy. Because so many of our modern technologies and services depend on oil, nations, corporations, and institutions that control the trade in oil exercise extraordinary power. The “energy crisis” of 1973-1974 in the United States demonstrated how the price of oil can affect U.S. government policies and the energy-using habits of the nation.
By 1973, domestic U.S. sources of oil. were peaking, and the nation was importing more of its oil, depending on a constant flow from abroad to keep cars on the road and machines running. In addition, at that time a greater percentage of homes and electrical plants were run on petroleum than today. Then, in 1973，the predominantly Arab nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) resolved to stop selling oil to the United States. The move was prompted by OPEC’s desire to raise prices by restricting supply and by its opposition to U.S. support of Israel in the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War. The embargo (禁运) created panic in the West and caused oil prices to shoot up. Short-term oil shortages drove American consumers to wait in long lines at gas pumps.
In response to the embargo, the U.S. government enforced a series of policies designed to reduce reliance on foreign oil. These included developing additional domestic sources (such as those on Alaska’s North Slope), resuming extraction at sites that had been shut down because of cost inefficiency, capping the price that domestic producers could charge for oil, and beginning to import oil from a greater diversity of nations. The government also established a stockpile (贮存) of oil as a short-term buffer (缓冲) against future shortages. Stored underground in large salt caves in Louisiana, this stockpile is called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and currently contains over 600 million barrels of oil, roughly equivalent to one month’s supply.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
47. We learn from the passage that in today’s world, whoever monopolizes the oil market will be able to _______.
48. Oil prices may exert influence not only on American government policies but on how energy
49. Besides the sharp increase in oil prices, OPEC's 1973 oil embargo caused _______.
50. Over the years before the OPEC’s embargo America had depended heavily on _______.
51. As a measure to counter future shortages, the American government decided to _______ in caves underground.
答案：
47. exercise extraordinary power
48. is used in the nation
49. panic in the West
50. foreign oil
51. establish a stockpile of oil
【点评】：本文介绍的是上世纪70年代的美国石油危机。难度不大，只要根据各个题目的题干句子的意思在文中找到相对应的句子就基本能够用原文中的词来进行填空。 |
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发表于 2016-7-12 12:01:54