Passage Four
Insurance is the sharing of risks. Nearly everyone is exposed to risk of some sort. The house-owner, for example, knows that his property can be damaged by fire; the ship-owner knows that his vessel may be lost at sea; the breadwinner knows that he may die at an early age and leave his family the poorer. On the other hand, not every house is damaged by fire, nor every vessel lost at sea. If these persons each put a small sum into a pool, there will be enough to meet the needs of the few who do suffer loss. In other words, the losses of the few are met from the contributions of the many. This is the basis of insurance. Those who pay the contribution are known as “insured” and those who administer the pool of contributions as “insurers”.
Not all risks lend themselves to being covered by insurance. Broadly speaking, the ordinary risks of business and speculation cannot be covered. The risk that buyers will not buy goods at the prices offered is not of a kind that can be statistically estimated—and risks can only be insured against if they can be so estimated.
The legal basis of ail insurance is the “policy”. This is the printed form of contract on paper of the best quality. It states that in return for the regular payment by the insured of a named sum of money, called the “premium”(保险费), which is usually paid every year, the insurer will pay a sum of money or compensation for loss, if the risk or event insured against actually happens. The wording of policies, particularly in marine insurance, often seems very old-fashioned, but there is a sound reason for this. Over a large number of years many law cases have been brought to clear up the meaning of doubtful phrases in policies. The law courts, in their Judgments, have given these phrases a definite and indisputable meaning, and to avoid future disputes the phrases have continued to be used in policies even when they have passed out of normal use in speech.
According to this passage, insurance is possible because ________.
根据第一段， 讲到每个人都有遭受损失的可能， 但这种损失并不会降临到每一个人的头上， 只有小部分人遭受损失。 所以保险是可能的， 故B正确。
By “the pool of contributions” the writer means ________.
“集体储备金”是指投保人所交付的钱， 这里要弄清the insured和the insurers。 the insured指投保人， the insurer指保险人。
The insurance of ordinary business risks is not possible because ________.
细节题。 从第二段可知， 并不是所有的风险都能得到担保， 从广义上讲， 不包括做生意和投机买卖。 只有能够被合理估价的才能得到担保。
Old-fashioned wording is sometimes used in insurance policies because ________.
最后一段提到保单的措辞保留老式风格， 是有充分理由的。 多少年来， 法庭在判决时用这些词语， 其含义既明确又无可争议。 为了避免日后的争议， 即使在说话中这些词语不经常使用， 但在保单上它们仍被沿用至今。 故选D。
The writer of this passage seems to think that insurance is ________.
根据文章最后一段中的“but there is a sound reason for this”以及“The law courts have given these phrases a definite and indisputable meaning, and to avoid future disputes the phrases have continued to be used in policies ...”可推断insurance尽管已不常用， 但其含义明确， 尤其在在法律中可以避免有所争议， 所以是有用的也是必需的，故D项符合题意。