阅读试题

Passage 33
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 _1_ their business travelers. Indeed, companies like Lufthansa and Swissair would rightly argue that they have always _2_ 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 _3_ 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_4_ more for their tickets.
It is no _5_ that the two major airline bankruptcies in 1982 were among the companies _6_ in cheap flights.but low fares require consistently full aircraft to make flights economically viable(可行的), and in the recent recession the volume of traffic has not grown. EquaUy the large number of airlines jostling for (争夺）the _7_ passenger has created a huge excess of capacity. The net result of excess capacity and cut-throat _8_ driving down fares has been to push some airlines into _9_ and leave many others hovering on the brink.
Against this grim background, it is no surprise that airlines are turning increasingly to the business travelers to improve their rates of return. They have _10_ much time and effort to establish exactly what the executive demands for sitting apart from the tourists.
A)competition B)entertained C)coincidence D)abandoned
E)expense F)centralizing G)collapse H)attachable
I)invested J)ultimtely K)specializing L)available
M)substantially N)approach O)catered

解题思路

Passage 33
解题思路
1.[D]此处应填人that从句的谓语动词。首句提到国际航空公司rediscovered“重新找到”商务游客，由此推断这里应该是讲有关“失去、抛弃”的经历，因此选abandoned，表示“这并不一定意味着航空公司放弃过商务游客”。
2.[0]have表明此处应填人动词的过去分词，且能与for搭配。catered for“迎合，顾及”符合句意，表示“他们一直都在迎合商务阶层的乘客”。
3.[E] the... of结构表明此处应填入名词。空格所在句提到航空公司被谴责过于关注乘客的数量，由此可知那些定期乘坐航班的乘客被忽略了，at the expense of“以……为代价”符合句意。at the approach of“在……快到的时候”，意思不对，故排除approach。
4.[M]此处应填人副词，修饰more。根据逗号前后内容的对比，此处应该选与low fare(低票价）意思相反的词，substantially“大量”修饰more,表示“多得多”，符合句意。
5.[C] no表明此处应填入名词。空格后that从句提到，1982年破产的两家大航空公司都是廉价航空，由这个共性选择coincidence“巧合”最恰当。
6.[K]此处应填人形容词或分词，作后置定语修饰companies,且能与in搭配。specializing与in搭配，意为“专门从事”，表示这些公司专营廉价航班，符合文中语境。
7.[L]此处应填人形容词或分词，修饰passengers。根据句意“众多航空公司为争夺……乘客，已导致了运载量过剩”,可判断此处的定语应该是available“能得到的”。
8.[A]此处应填入cut-throat(激烈的，拼命的）所修饰的名词。上文提到航空公司争夺乘客，故competition“竞争”符合此处语境，表示降低票价的激烈竞争。
9.[G]此处应填入名词，作介词into的宾语。根据driving down fares(降低票价)和该段首句中的bankruptcies(破产）推断此处应该是讲低价竞争将一些公司逼垮，其他许多公司濒临倒闭。故collapse“倒塌，崩溃”正确。
10.[I]have表明此处应填入动词的分词形式，作句子谓语。根据宾语time and effort，此处应选invested“投人(资金、时间等）”。