Question

Suppose that we lined up our roughly 14 million United States businesses in order of size, starting with the smallest, along an imaginary road from San Francisco to New York. There will be 4,500 businesses to the mile, or a little less than one per foot. Suppose further that we planted a flag each business. The height of the flag pole represents the yearly volume of sales (销量) , each $ 10, 000 in sales in shown by one foot of pole.
The line of flagpoles is a very interesting sight. From San Francisco to about Reno, it is almost unnoticeable, a row of poles about a foot high. From Reno eastward the poles increase in height until, near Columbus, Ohio - about four - fifths of the way across the nation - flags fly about 10 feet in the air.
But as we approach the eastern terminus (终点) , the poles suddenly begin to mount (升高) . There are about 300, 000 firms in the country with sales over $ 500, 000. These firms take up the last 75 miles of the 3,000 - mile road. There are 200, 000 firms with sales over $ 1 million. They take up the last 50 miles. Then there are 1, 000 firms with sales of $ 50, 000, 000 or more. They take up the last quarter of a mile before the city limits, flags flying at cloud height, 5 , 000 feet up .
At the very gate of New York, on the last 100 feet of the last mile , we find the 100 largest industrial firms . They have sales of at least $ 1.5 billion, so that their flags are already miles high. Along the last 10 feet of road , there are 10 largest companies . Their sales are roughly $ 10 billion and up : their flags fly 190 miles in the air , almost in the stratosphere (平流层) .
【小题1】What is the author’s main purpose in this passage?

A．To tell the reason why the largest firms are in New York.

B．To show the geographical distribution (分布) of the United States businesses.

C．To provide a general idea of the size of businesses in the United States.

D．To tell us how the United States businesses are arranged.

【小题2】What’s the correct order of the following places from east to west?

A．San Francisco, Reno, New York, Columbus.

B．San Francisco, Reno, Columbus, New York.

C．New York, Columbus, Reno, San Francisco

D．New York, Reno, Columbus, San Francisco

【小题3】Among the four parts of the imaginary road , which part , considering all the firms in it , has the largest total volume of sales ?

A．The last 75 miles.	B．The last 50 miles.
C．The last 100 feet of the last mile.	D．The last quarter of a mile

【小题4】Which of the following diagrams (图表) shows the right order of size of the US businesses , according to the text ?
S =" San" Francisco  R =" Reno"  C =" Columbus"  N =" New" York  H =" height"  F = feet

Answer 1

【小题1】C
【小题2】C
【小题3】A
【小题4】B 

解析试题分析：文章通过想象了一条从西向东的路，在路上插旗子来表示美国公司的销售规模，结果显示，从西向东规模越来越大。
【小题1】主旨题：从第一段的主题句：Suppose that we lined up our roughly 14 million United States businesses in order of size, starting with the smallest, along an imaginary road from San Francisco to New York.可知是提供美国公司的规模的信息。选 C
【小题2】细节题：从第二段的内容：可知从东向西排列顺序是C. New York, Columbus, Reno, San Francisco 选C
【小题3】细节题：从第三段的句子：These firms take up the last 75 miles of the 3,000 - mile road.可知最后的75英里的公司销售额最大。选A
【小题4】细节题：从第二段的内容可知San Francisco是一英尺，从Reno到Columbus上升至10 英尺，第三段可知New York是5，000英尺。选B 
考点：考查经济类短文
点评：本文较难，难在题目设置新，信息量大，但考查的都是细节题，要求考生仔细阅读全文，做好相应的标志，以提高阅读的效率和速度