阅读理解
Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States. It was 50 years ago this month that America's Surgeon General sounded that warning, marking the beginning of the end of cigarette manufacturing—and of smoking itself—as a respectable activity.
Some 20 million Americans have died from the habit since then. But advertising restrictions and smoking bans have had their effect: the proportion of American adults who smoke has dropped from 43% to 18%; smoking rates among teenagers are at a record low. In many other countries the trends are similar.
The current Surgeon General, Boris Lushniak, marked the half-century with a report on January 17th, declaring smoking even deadlier than previously thought. He added diabetes, colorectal cancer and other ailments to the list of ills it causes, and promised end-game strategies to extinguish cigarettes altogether.
New technologies such as e-cigarettes promise to deliver nicotine less riskily. E-cigarettes give users a hit of vapour infused with nicotine. In America, sales of the manufacturer, who is the fastest e-cigarettes-adopter, have jumped from nearly nothing five years ago to at least 1 billion in 2013.
At first, it looked as if e-cigarettes might lure smokers from the big tobacco brands to startups such as NJOY. But tobacco companies have bigger war chests, more knowledge of smokers' habits and better ties to distributors than the newcomers. Some experts reckon Americans will puff more e-cigarettes than normal ones within a decade, but tobacco folk are skeptical. E-cigarettes account for just 1% of America's cigarette market. In Europe 7% of smokers had tried e-cigarettes by 2012 but only 1% kept them up.
And no one knows what sort of restrictions regulators will eventually place on reduced risk products, including e-cigarettes. If these companies can manage the transition to less harmful smokes, and convince regulators to be sensible, the tobacco giants could keep up the sort of performance that has made their shares such a fine investment over the years. But some analysts are not so sure.
Many tobacco firms are struggling to deliver the consistency of the earnings-per-share model we've seen in the past. If that persists, investors may fall out of love with the industry. A half-century after the Surgeon General's alarm, they, and hopeless smokers, are its last remaining friends.
Some 20 million Americans have died from the habit since then. But advertising restrictions and smoking bans have had their effect: the proportion of American adults who smoke has dropped from 43% to 18%; smoking rates among teenagers are at a record low. In many other countries the trends are similar.
The current Surgeon General, Boris Lushniak, marked the half-century with a report on January 17th, declaring smoking even deadlier than previously thought. He added diabetes, colorectal cancer and other ailments to the list of ills it causes, and promised end-game strategies to extinguish cigarettes altogether.
New technologies such as e-cigarettes promise to deliver nicotine less riskily. E-cigarettes give users a hit of vapour infused with nicotine. In America, sales of the manufacturer, who is the fastest e-cigarettes-adopter, have jumped from nearly nothing five years ago to at least 1 billion in 2013.
At first, it looked as if e-cigarettes might lure smokers from the big tobacco brands to startups such as NJOY. But tobacco companies have bigger war chests, more knowledge of smokers' habits and better ties to distributors than the newcomers. Some experts reckon Americans will puff more e-cigarettes than normal ones within a decade, but tobacco folk are skeptical. E-cigarettes account for just 1% of America's cigarette market. In Europe 7% of smokers had tried e-cigarettes by 2012 but only 1% kept them up.
And no one knows what sort of restrictions regulators will eventually place on reduced risk products, including e-cigarettes. If these companies can manage the transition to less harmful smokes, and convince regulators to be sensible, the tobacco giants could keep up the sort of performance that has made their shares such a fine investment over the years. But some analysts are not so sure.
Many tobacco firms are struggling to deliver the consistency of the earnings-per-share model we've seen in the past. If that persists, investors may fall out of love with the industry. A half-century after the Surgeon General's alarm, they, and hopeless smokers, are its last remaining friends.
单选题
1.It can be learned from Paragraph 1 that cigarette manufacturing in the United States_____.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】推断题。根据题干关键词定位到第一段。该段第二句讲到“这是50年前的这个月美国卫生部部长发出的警告。这一警告标志着卷烟制造……不再是一项让人尊敬的行为”，故D项“曾是一项令人尊敬的行为”与原文相符，为正确答案。
单选题
2.According to the passage, e-cigarettes_____.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】细节题。根据题干关键词定位到第四、五段。第四段首句指出“一些新的技术，比如电子香烟承诺提供危害风险更小的尼古丁”，A项中的supply和more safely与首句中的deliver和less riskily是同义替换，故A项为正确答案。
单选题
3.The phases "war chests" (Para. 5) most probably means______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】含义题。根据题干关键词定位到第五段。其中war“战争”和chests“胸部”对考生来说并不陌生，但war chests的含义需要通过上下文并运用排除法来确定。本句将烟草公司和新兴公司做比较，But表转折，因此考生需要参考前文。第四段讲了运用电子香烟这一技术的新兴公司销售额激增，故本句涉及到的比较，第一个内容可能就是“资金”方面。war chests合在一起意为“战争基金；(为竞争等筹措的)资金”，故B项为正确答案。
单选题
4.The smokers' attitude toward the consumption of e-cigarettes is______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】态度题。此题考查作者的态度，根据关键词定位到文章第五段。第三句意为“一些专家预测在未来的十年里，美国人将消费更多的电子香烟，但是烟民们对此却持怀疑态度”，doubtful“怀疑的”与文中skeptical意思相符，故D项为正确答案。
单选题
5.What is the passage mainly about?
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】主旨题。根据题干关键词需纵观全文。文章前三段讲吸烟的危害在美国引起重视，并加大了广告限制及禁烟标志力度；第四段引出电子香烟；第五段指出电子香烟所占的市场份额；后面谈到烟草公司的反应及发展趋势。所以C项“烟草巨头的现状及挑战”为正确答案。