Passage 2
Insurance is the sharing of risks. Nearly everyone in exposed to risk of some sort. The house-owner, for example, knows that his property can be damaged by fire; the shipowner knows that his vessel may be lost at sea; the breadwinner knows that he may die at an early age and leave his family the poorer. On the other hand, not every house is damaged by fire, not every vessel lost at sea. If these persons each put a small sum into a pool, there will be enough to meet the needs of the few who do suffer loss. In other words, the losses of few are met form the contributions of the many. This is the basis of insurance. Those who pay the contributions are known as ″insured″ and those who administer the pool of contributions as ″insurers″.
Not all risks lend themselves to being covered by insurance. Broadly speaking, the ordinary risks of business and speculation(投机买卖)cannot be covered. The risk that buyers will not buy goods at the prices offered is not of a kind that can be statistically estimated and risks can only be insured against if they can be so estimated.
The legal basis of all insurance is the ″policy″. This is a printed form of contract on stout paper of the best quality. It states that in return for the regular payment by the insured of a named sum of money, called the ″premium″,which is usually paid every year, the insurer will pay a sum of money, if the risk or event insured against actually happens. The wording of policies, particularly in marine insurance, often seems very old—fashioned, but there is a sound reason for this. Over a large number of years many law case have been brought to clear up the meanings of doubtful phrases in policies. The law courts, in their judgment, have given these phrases a definite and indisputable meaning, and to avoid future disputes, the phrases have continued to be used in policies even when they have passed out of normal use in speech.
6. According to this passage insurance is possible because ______.
A. everyone at some time suffers loss
B. only a small proportion of the insured suffer loss
C. nearly everyone suffers loss
D. only insured people suffer loss
7. By ″the pool of contributions″ the writer means ______.
A. the cost of administering insurance
B. the amount of each premium
C. money paid by the insurers
D. money paid by the insured
8. The insurance of ordinary business risks is not possible because ______.
A. businessmen will not buy insurance
B. the premiums would be too high
C. the risks are too high
D. the risks cannot be estimated
9. Old—fashioned wording is sometimes used in insurance policies because _____.
A. the meaning of such wording has been agreed upon
B. it enables ordinary people to understand it
C. insurance is old—fashioned
D. insurance has existed for a long time
10. The writer of this passage seems to think that insurance is ______.
A. a form of gambling
B. a way of making money quickly
C. old—fashioned
D. useful and necessary
六、英汉句子互译(共15分)
1、将下列句子译成中文
(1)Labor supply remained elastic owing to the large reservoir of able, educated workers still available in agriculture and in assorted pockets of traditional uderemployment. (4分)
(2)Nowadays industry has persuaded us that its products can only last a very short time. It is cheaper to throw them away than to repair them. (4分)
2. 将下句子译成英文
(1)企业预测是影响投资开销的最关键的因素。(4分)
(2)越来越多物美价廉的产品正在投放市场。(3分) |
