阅读理解 International airlines have rediscovered the business travelers, the man or woman who regularly jets from country to country as part of the job. This does not necessarily mean that airlines ever abandoned their business travelers. Indeed, companies like Lufthansa and Swissair would rightly argue that they have always catered best for the executive class passengers. But many lines could be accused of concentrating too heavily in the recent past on attracting passengers by volume, often at the expense of regular travelers. Too often, they have seemed geared for quantity rather than quality. Operating a major airline in the 1980s is essentially a matter of finding the right mix of passengers. The airlines need to fill up the back end of their wide-bodied jets with low fare passengers, without forgetting that the front end should be filled with people who pay substantially more for their tickets. It is no coincidence that the two major airline bankruptcies in 1982 were among the companies specializing in cheap flights. But low fares require consistently full aircraft to make flights economically viable, and in the recent recession the volume of traffic has not grown. Equally the large number of airlines jostling for the available passengers has created a huge excess of capacity. The net result of excess capacity and cutthroat competition driving down fares has been to push some airlines into collapse and leave many others hovering on the edge. Against this severe background, it is no surprise that airlines are turning increasingly towards the business travelers to improve their rates of return. They have invested much time and effort to establish exactly what the executive demands for sitting apart from the tourists. High on the list of priorities is punctuality; an executive''s time is money. In-flight service is another area where the airlines are jostling for the executive''s attention. The free drinks and headsets and better foods are all part of the lure.

单选题 One criticism against many international airlines is that they have, in the recent past,______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】事实细节题。从第一段最后：But many lines could be accused of concentrating too heavily in the recent past on attracting passengers by volume…they have seemed geared for quantity rather than quality可以得知，许多国际航空公司受到批评是因为它们着重吸引更多的乘客而不是以维护固定乘客为目标。因此答案选D。题干中的criticism对应文中的be accused of with the masses in mind对应文中的by volume，Reared for quantity。

单选题 With the intention of attracting a somewhat different type of passengers, the airlines have now begun to concentrate on______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】事实细节题。文章倒数第二段提到They have invested much time and effort to establish exactly what the executive demands…，最后一段列举了航空公司提供给经理人士的各种具体的高档服务，这说明航空公司已经重视给经常旅行的经理人士提供高档的服务和设施，答案选B。A、C、D三项原文未提及。

单选题 From the passage we can infer that______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】推理判断题。文章第二段说Operating a major airline in the 1980s is essentially a matter of finding the right mix of passengers，接着又说不仅要使飞机的尾舱坐满，也不能忘记飞机前端坐着花高价买票的人。A项是对此的同义转述。B可从常识判断为错；C项文中未提及；D项与文中事实相矛盾。