阅读理解   It is not quite Benidorm yet, but Antarctica has become an increasingly popular destination for the more adventurous tourist. In this year's southern-hemisphere summer season, running from November to March, as many as 39,000 visitors are expected to make the trip from Tierra del Fuego, the nearest jumping-off point to the world's emptiest continent. That amounts to a fourfold increase in a decade. Officials in both Chile and Argentina are getting increasingly worried about the risk of a fatal accident-'a new Titanic' as one Chilean naval officer puts it.
    Nobody has died so far, but there have been some near-collisions. In 2007 more than 150 people were evacuated when their ship, the Explorer, sank after hitting an iceberg near the South Shetland Islands. They were  'very lucky with the weather', says Chile's deputy minister for the navy, Carolina Echeverria. That was one of only two accidents last season, with a similar number the previous year and one so far this season.
    Help is usually not far away. Although cruise ships plan their route so as to keep out of each other's sight, there are generally 20 to 30 boats heading to or from the Antarctic Peninsula on any one day. Even so, surviving an accident is something of a lottery. It depends partly on the weather. Not all the ships have the covered lifeboats recommended for polar conditions. Small boats, like the Explorer, have a better chance of being able to transfer their passengers if they get into difficulties. But some cruise ships visiting Antarctica now carry almost 3,000 passengers-more than ten times the limit that offers a reasonable chance of timely rescue. according to Chile's navy.
    The navy is annoyed about the cost of patrols, rescue operations and cleaning up fuel spills. It wants legally binding rules, backed by penalties, for Antarctic cruise ships. But that is hard to achieve. Under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty no country can exercise sovereignty over any part of the continent and its waters are international.  Some rules on tourism have been written under the treaty: cruise ships carrying over 500 passengers cannot make landings, for example. But these are not legally enforceable. Neither will be rules being debated by the United Nations' International Maritime Organization on safety requirements.
    Some tour operators say they would welcome tighter regulation and higher safety standards. Others insist that safety is already adequate. The world recession may place a temporary brake on the trade. But Chilean officials reckon that the trend to big cruise ships, with their cheaper fares, will resume once recovery comes. If so, a tragedy may be only a matter of time.
单选题     We learn from the first paragraph that Antarctica has ______
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】事实细节题。该段首句指出，南极洲已经越来越受具有冒险精神的旅游者的欢迎，因此C项为正确答案。首句提到“虽然南极洲还赶不上西班牙旅游胜地贝尼多姆，但……”，可知A项错误；末句仅提到政府官员对致命事故的日益担忧，故B项“目击了比以前更多的事故”属无中生有，错误；D项把对未来的担忧说成是事实，亦可排除。
单选题     The Explorer is mentioned in paragraph 2 to show that ______
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】推理判断题。文中举出“探索者号”的事例总结说明了近三年以来事故发生的情况。因此D项为正确答案。A项中的perfectly safe完全否定危险的存在，太武断且与文中内容也相悖；B项为事故的部分原因；C项为事故的结果，均不是例证所要说明的内容。
单选题     'Help is usually not far away' (Line 1, Paragraph 3) suggests that ______
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】语义理解题。该段首句谈到救援帮助不会很远，通常每天都有20至30艘船只往返南极半岛。因此C项为正确答案。A项指出游轮彼此相隔甚远，这与题目“救援帮助一般不远”所要表明的内容不相关，故排除；文中提到一部分运气取决于天气状况，B项将其夸大为“大部分”，理解错误；not all the ships表示部分否定，意为“并不是所有的游轮都配有适合极地环境的封闭救生艇”，D项却是全部肯定，亦可排除。
单选题     According to the Antarctic Treaty, ______
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推理判断题。根据《南极公约》直接定位到第四段。文中提到《南极公约》规定任何国家都无权在南极大陆的任何部分行使国家主权，并且南极洲附近水域属于国际公海，因此B项为正确答案；A项内容公约未涉及；C项完全否定公约的限制作用，错误；文中没有提到公约条款是否需要联合国的认可，故D项也排除。
单选题     It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ______
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】推理判断题。末段提到如果搭乘游轮前往南极洲旅游的趋势兴起，那么悲剧性事故的发生就可能只是时间问题了，因此D项为正确答案。A项“旅行社迫切希望看到更多有关南极洲的限制规定”，该段首句提到的只是部分旅行社希望如此；B项完全否定游轮安全的重要性，本身表述错误；文中提到全球经济衰退可能会使南极洲旅游业务暂时停滞，C项则认为有帮助降价的作用，文中提到的是经济回暖后，以更实惠的价格来吸引游客，故该项与原文意思不符。