2014湖北高考英语专项训练-阅读理解专项-基础训练21-25（共30套）

2012高考英语冲刺阅读理解专项 50-21 A US billionaires are back on top with Microsoft founder Bill Gates again the world's richest man in a year when even billionaires felt the heat of the global recession, Forbes magazine said Wednesday. The wealthy few did not escape big shocks this year, with net worth on the list of 793 billionaires -- down from 1,125 billionaires in 2008 -- plummeting to 2.4 trillion dollars from 4.4 trillion, Forbes said. "The biggest news today is that we are here and there still are billionaires," Forbes spokeswoman Monie Begley joked at a press conference. The much-watched annual rich list put Gates back on top with a net worth of 40 billion dollars, although he saw his bank balance lose 18 billion over the last 12 months. In second came investor Warren Buffett with 37 billion dollars, despite losing 25 billion dollars this year in the value of his Berkshire Hathaway shares. Also losing 25 billion dollars, Mexican telecoms king Carlos Slim still managed to come in third with 35 billion dollars. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at number 17, was notable as the only top 20 member to see a net gain. That was not because of his salary, which is a symbolic one dollar a year, but thanks to re-evaluation of Bloomberg financial news agency after the mayor bought a 20 percent stake from Merrill Lynch last year for 4.5 billion dollars. About 64 percent of the billionaires are self-made and their average age is 63.7, a slight rise resulting from the lower number of rich Russians and Chinese, whose average ages last year were 46 and 48. By contrast with that aging trend, Gates is a relatively youthful 53. The youngest billionaire prize this year goes to Albert von Thurn und Taxis of Germany, who is 25 and listed as having 2.1 billion dollars. But one of the young success stories from last year -- Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg -- dropped off the list altogether. 1. Of all the billionaires mentioned above, who didn’t lose in the global recession? A. Bill Gates. B. Warren Buffet. C. Carlos Slim. D. Michael Bloomberg. 答案解析：答案为D。本题为细节题。由第五段“New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at number 17, was notable as the only top 20 member to see a net gain.”可知，排名第十七的Michael Bloomberg是唯一一位前20名富翁中获得净利的，因此他就是在全球经济萧条中没有输的人，故答案为D。 2. The sentence “The biggest news today is that we are here and there still are billionaires” may probably means _____ A. the number of billionares in 2009 is much smaller than that in 2008 B. the number of billionares in 2009 is a bit larger than that in 2008 C. there are many billionaires in America, which is the biggest news today. D. the biggest news is that many billionaires are at the press conference 答案解析：答案为A。本题为语义理解题。该句话出现在第三段《财富(福布斯)》杂志发言人在记者招待会上的玩笑话，结合第二段的内容 “The wealthy few did not escape big shocks this year, with net worth on the list of 793 billionaires -- down from 1,125 billionai ... ...