2. C 细节题。题目要求找出高频交易公司开始衰退的标志。文章二、三段讲述了高频交易公司从利润到员工数量都在下降的趋势，故C项正确。A项中努力获利与原文努力守住盈利之势不符。高频公司衰退是股票交易市场紧缩的原因，后者并非前者的特点，逻辑有误。D项与原文中的下滑趋势不符。

3. D 语义题。由第四段可知，由于高性能的软件和速度超快的数据连接可以有效地利用股票价格上的微妙变化，因此高频交易公司不再是其他投资者眼中的赚钱机器，这是一个极大的转变。这种转变就是上文提到的高频交易公司不再像原来一样可以赚得巨额利润，只有D项符合题意。

4. A 情感态度题。第五段指出，皮特·科斯塔是纽约证券交易市场交易所的一名老交易人，他说，这些公司的衰退可以“使股票市场恢复些秩序”。可见皮特·科斯塔和上文中传统交易人和投资者的看法一致，都不喜欢高频交易公司。B、C、D项均与文意不符，只有A项正确。

5. B 语义题。最后一段讲述了调控者的不确定态度及市场专家的猜测。A 选项明显错误。C、D选项逻辑上和原文不符。只有B项说法正确。





参考译文


高频交易公司，指最近十年涌现出的高速、智能化的公司，曾主导着国家的股票市场。而现在它们却奋力挣扎着守住盈利之势。

根据代理公司罗森布拉特证券的估计，今年从美国股票高频交易中获得的利润最多将达到12.5亿美元，与去年相比下降了35%，与2009年的巅峰值49亿美元相比下降了74%。相比之下，富国银行和摩根大通各自在过去的一个季度都比高频交易产业今年一年将要赚的多。

虽然没有官方资料显示高频交易公司的员工雇佣情况，但对超过12个行业雇员的采访显示，大小型公司都在裁员，而且有一些已经关门停业了。数据公司塔布集团调查称，这些公司也是日益减少的股票交易从三年前的61%萎缩到现在51%的原因所在。

由于高性能的软件和速度超快的数据连接可以利用股票价格上的微妙变化，交易公司不再是其他投资者眼中的赚钱机器，这是一个极大的转变。

高频交易还远远不会从市场上消失，但是一些传统的交易人和投资者正在以极大的“热情”看待交易公司面临的挣扎。在这些传统的交易人和投资者眼中，这些交易公司都是极强大的对手，更甚者，是可以使股价激增或剧降的市场操纵者。皮特·科斯塔是纽约证券交易所的一名老交易人，他说，这些公司的衰退可以“使股票市场恢复些秩序”。

调控者还在努力搞清楚高频公司的兴盛到底会给投资者带来净利润还是净损失，因此还无法确定这些公司的衰退会给市场带来什么影响。许多市场专家认为，近来冲击市场的技术问题是市场已经更加明显地分裂为几十个自动交易业务并缺乏人力监管的结果。





Unit 8


Rich immigrants in Asia's financial capitals generally have life pretty easy. But this summer, those in Hong Kong and Singapore are starting to sweat. The problem? Sizzling real-estate markets that make even bankers blink, and international schools packed like the Tokyo subway at rush hour. One-bedroom flats in Hong Kong's most fashionable buildings now go for $5,000 per month. Office rents in Singapore have shot up 105 percent in the past year——the fastest appreciation rate in the world. For workers with kids, the picture is particularly bleak. Incoming students at international schools now land not in classes but on long waiting lists——unless their parents jump the queue by purchasing debentures that have sold for as much as $120,000 in Hong Kong.

Asia's dueling financial hubs invest a lot of capital——real and emotional——in what's often cast as a zero-sum contest for the affection of foreign companies. Yet both cities have done so well wooing them of late that the major threat facing each isn't the other, but bottlenecks in the foreign infrastructure common to both. High-end housing costs are pushing past records set before the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, prompting Singapore's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, to lament, “We must check this hike in rents or we will lose our competitiveness.”

Talent is getting tougher to find as both economies near full employment. Office rents are driving even the richest investment banks to seek cheaper alternatives to prime downtown addresses. And as both cities increase their populations by luring hundreds of thousands of additional outsiders over the coming decade, locals are getting squeezed. “There may be a political cost if Singaporeans feel priced out by foreigners,”warns Charles Chong, head of a parliamentary committee on national development in Singapore.

Both cities are, in a sense, victims of their success. Each ranks among the most efficient spots on the planet to register new businesses. They boast world-class banking, accounting and legal services, undergirded by respect for contracts and commercial codes not found in the rest of Asia. In a region awash in cash from record trade surpluses, Chinese expansion and a flood of new stock listings, the cities have posted incredible GDP growth numbers of late——6.8 percent and 7.9 percent for Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively, last year.

Given that local fertility rates are falling, both hubs hope to continue to fuel that boom via immigration. Singapore's Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan expects the city-state's population to hit 6.5 million by 2027, up 2 million from today——which implies a yearly influx of 100, 000 foreigners over the next two decades. Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang has said he envisions his city's population eventually surpassing 10 million——a 30 percent increase from today's total——thanks to “an injection of new blood from all nationalities.”As the hubs grow more receptive to outsiders, new factors are ensuring that immigrants arrive in large numbers. Whereas globalization was once confined to big multinationals, today's expatriates work disproportionately for smaller-and medium-size companies. Nor are they predominantly European or North America anymore; China, India and South Korea are just three of the many countries now sending professionals abroad.

注（1）：本文选自Newsweek；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1题模仿2014年真题Text 2第4题，第2题模仿2015年真题Text 3第1题，第3题模仿2008年真题Text 2第3题，第4题模仿2010年真题Text 2第2题，第5题模仿2006年真题Text 3第5题。

1. Foreigners in Hong Kong begin to sweat because_______.

A) the real-estate market is cooling down

B) they cannot afford children's tuition fee at international schools

C) the city is over-populated

D) the hiking rents are making life tougher

2. We can learn from the second paragraph that______.

A) Hong Kong and Singapore consider each other as competitors

B) both two cities should not attract any more foreigners because there will not be enough land to hold them

C) the “bottlenecks”refer to the fact that the infrastructures of the two cities are not pleasant enough to woo foreign companies

D) Lee Kuan Yew's comment shows that he's pessimistic about Singapore's future development

3. According to the text, local people in the two cities_______.

A) do not welcome overseas talents

B) are facing worse living conditions

C) are unsatisfied with the government

D) are in full employment

4. Which of the following is NOT the reason of the region's abundance of capital?

A) Efficiency of business registration.

B) China's development.

C) Booming stock market.

D) Benefit from trade.

5. We can draw a conclusion from the last paragraph that_______.

A) the conflict between population and rent in the two cities might be more serious since both cities plan to enlarge their citizen number

B) the population increase plan of the two cities can hardly be fulfilled as the higher living expense damages their attractiveness

C) the definition of globalization has been changed mainly because most local people refuse to work in multinational companies

D) the influx of foreigners can damage local economy because they will compete for the limited resources with locals





篇章剖析


本文是一篇说明文，介绍了中国香港和新加坡这两个欣欣向荣的亚洲金融中心地价和房租飞涨的情况及其具体原因。文章第一段介绍了中国香港和新加坡令人咋舌的高房租给人们的工作和生活带来的困难；第二、三段进一步阐发问题的所在及其严重性；第四、五段则分析了造成这种局面的根本原因在于两座城市的成功。





词汇注释


sizzle /ˈsɪzl/ vi. 咝咝地响，烧灼

blink /blɪŋk/ v. 眨眼

pack /pæk/ vi. 挤，群集

bleak /bliːk/ adj. 荒凉的，凄凉的

debenture /dɪˈbentʃə(r)/ n. 债券

duel /djʊəl/ v. 决斗，双方抗争

hub /hʌb/ n. 中心

woo /wuː/ v. 追求，争取…支持

bottleneck /ˈbɒtlnek/ n. 瓶颈

lament /ləˈment/ vi. 悔恨，悲叹

lure /ljʊə/ v. 引诱

squeeze /skwiːz/ v. 压榨，挤，挤榨

boast /bəʊst/ v. 自夸，以有…而自豪

undergird /ˈʌndəˈɡəːd/ v. 加强，巩固…的底部

awash /əˈwɒʃ/ adj. 被浪冲打的

fertility /fəˈtɪləti/ n. 人口出生

influx /ˈɪnflʌks/ n. 流入；汇集

envision /ɪnˈvɪʒn/ vt. 想象；预见；展望

injection /ɪnˈdʒekʃn/ n. 注射，注入

expatriate /ˌeksˈpætriət/ n. 移居国外者





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