阅读理解 Since the Nov.4 election, investors have been abandoning stocks in a kind of slow-motion crash that experts say underlines just how anxious they are about what is likely to be a long and deep recession. Even after a late-day rally on Friday, the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index has plunged 20 percent since the election. That more than wiped out the index's 18 percent gain in the six trading days ahead of the balloting as optimism grew that Barack Obama would be elected president.
Analysts aren't blaming Obama specifically for the post-election hangover. Rather, they peg it to growing fears that the Bush Administration and Congress are fumbling the $ 700 billion bailout plan and the weakened economy's impact on financial stocks—highlighted by the plunge in shares of Citigroup Inc. to below $ 4 a share. 'You can almost hear people yelling, 'Get me out at any price, ' ' said Al Goodman, chief market strategist at Wachovia Securities. 'It's the highest level of fear and depression in my 45 years as a student of the market.'
Market experts define a crash as a decline of 20 percent over a single day or several days. Over seven trading days that ended Oct.9, the Dow lost 22 percent. This month, the S&P 500 skidded more than 25 percent in the 12 trading days after the election before a bounceback on Friday narrowed the loss to 20 percent. All told, stocks have lost a stunning $ 2.6 trillion since Nov.4, as measured by the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, which reflects the value of nearly all U.S. stocks.
The Friday afternoon news that Obama is likely to choose Timothy Geithner, the president of the New York Federal Reserve, to be the next Treasury secretary helped spark a rally that sent the Dow Jones industrial average surging almost 500 points. Geithner has worked closely with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this year as the government seized control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and insurer American International Group Inc.
But analysts say it would be a mistake to say Friday's market reversal marks an end to the carnage that has wiped out 45.8 percent of the value of the S&P 500 index since the start of the year. 'I don't think anyone can say we've reached the bottom yet, ' said Chuck Gabriel, managing director of Capital Alpha Partners in Washington. 'It's going to be a very gloomy Christmas.' Kim Caughey, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh, said that 'for investors to get more confidence, we need to know details' of the new administration's plans to handle the crisis.' There's been a vacuum of leadership' she added, ' and when that happens, you get fear and rumors, and then people sell.'

单选题 What can we learn from the first paragraph about the US stock market? ______

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】事实细节根据题干可定位在文章首段的第一句“Since the Nov.4 election, investors have been abandoning stocks in a kind of slow-motion crash that experts say underlines just how anxious they are about what is likely to be a long and deep recession”，由此可以判断选项B为正确答案。该题针对第一段内容命题，属于事实细节考查类题目。此类题目的正确答案一般要在相关语句中进行查找。文章第一段的第一句Since the Nov. 4 election，investors have been abandoning stocks in a kind of slow-motion crash that experts say underlines just how anxious they are about what is likely to be a long and deep recession，其中abandoning stocks, anxious, a long and deep recession等暗示股市在下滑，因此选项B为正确答案。本题的干扰性较弱。选项A和首段第一句表达的感情色彩恰恰相反；第一段第二句Even after a late-day rally on Friday, the benchmark Standard & Poors 500 index has plunged 20 percent since the election，表示周五股市的继续下滑，因此也可排除选项C和选项D。

单选题 What accounts for the post-election behavior of the US stock market? ______

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】事实细节根据题干中的the post-election behavior，可定位在文章第二段第二句“Rather，they peg it to growing fears that the Bush Administration and Congress are fumbling the $ 700 billion bailout plan and the weakened economy，sn11pact on financial stocks”，由此可判断选项A为正确答案。该题针对第二段内容命题，属于事实细节考查类题目。此类题目的正确答案一般是根据题干在原文定位的句子或句子上下句来查找。根据该题题干，定位在Rather，they peg it to growing fears that the Bush Administration and Congress are fumbling the $ 700 billion bailout plan and the weakened economy's impact on financial stocks(第二段的第二句话)，此句暗示人们越来越担忧布什政府的经济政策，因此A项为正确答案。选项D并没有出现在原文中，可首先排除。第二段第一句“Analysts aren't blaming Obama specifically for the post-election hangover”，选项B与此句话意义相反，可以排除；第二句话提及布什政府投入7000亿的救援计划，因此选项C也可排除。

单选题 What's the stock market's reflection on the news about Timothy Geithner? ______

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】推理判断根据题干中的Timothy Geithner可定位在文章第四段。第四段第一句“The Friday afternoon news that Obama is likely to choose Timothy Geithner, the president of the New York Federal Reserve, to be the next Treasury secretary helped spark a rally that sent the Dow Jones industrial average surging almost 500 points”，句中的helped spark a rally, surging almost 500 points等表达说明这一消息刺激了股市，形成反弹。由此可以推断选项B为正确答案。该题针对第四段内容命题，属于推理判断考查类题目。此类题目的正确答案一般是根据原文相关内容来进行判断。第四段第一句The Friday afternoon news that Obama is likely to choose Timothy Geithner, the president of the New York Federal Reserve, to be the next Treasury secretary helped spark a rally that sent the Dow Jones industrial average surging almost 500 points，其中spark a rally意为“刺激回升”，随后提及“道琼斯工业平均指数高涨了几乎500点”，由此可以推断这一消息引起了股市的积极反应，因此选项B为正确答案。文章第四段主要表明盖特纳出任下一届财政部长对股市带来的影响。选项C、选项D、选项A与原文相关内容中spark a rally、surging等表达意义相反，因此都可排除。

单选题 Kim Caughe thought ______ was the big problem to be resolved to handle the crisis?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】事实细节根据题干中的Kim Caughe，该题可以定位到文章第五段。第五段最后一句“There's been a vacuum of leadership' she added, 'and when that happens, you get fear and rumors, and then people sell”，由此可判断选项C为正确答案。该题针对第五段命题，属于事实细节考查类题目，讲述了股市下滑带来的影响，段末提及，缺乏领导造成了投资者的恐慌，因此他们会卖掉手中的股票。由此可知，交接过渡时期缺乏领导是问题的症结所在，也就是最需要解决的问题。因此选项C为正确答案。选项B和选项D并没有出现在原文中，可首先排除；干扰性较大的是选项A。第五段中Kim Caughey, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh, said that 'for investors to get more confidence, we need to know details' of the new administration's plans to handle the crisis，从这句话可以看出，投资者希望得知政府处理危机计划的具体细节，这样他们才有信心去投资，这和题干提出的问题不符。

单选题 Which can properly describe the atmosphere of the US stock market in Nov? ______

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】推理判断问题题干要求描述美国股市的氛围，考生需要通读全文，在把握全文大意的基础上作答。文章第一段第一句“Since the Nov.4 election, investors have been abandoning stocks in a kind of slow-motion crash that experts say underlines just how anxious they are about what is likely to be a long and deep recession”，其中使用anxious一词来表达股市下滑带来的影响；文章最后一句“There's been a vacuum of leadership，”she added, 'and when that happens, you get fear and rumors, '其中fear和rumors也表现了股民们的感受。由这些词汇可以推断11月份股市充满恐慌，因此选项A为正确答案。该题针对全篇文章内容命题，属于推理判断考查类题目。本篇文章主要围绕美国11月份股市下跌的情况而展开说明，“股票下跌”是贯穿其中的线索，所以描述股市氛围的必然是与下跌相关的词语。因此选项A为正确答案。选项B和选项D和“股市下跌”这一中心内容恰好相反，可首先排除；文章并没有详细分析股市下跌的复杂多变，只是描述了带给股民的影响，因此选项C也可排除。