BEC中级阅读理解Part 3

　　BEC中级阅读理解Part 3

　　Banks are as likely as any other business to suffer the consequences of an economic recession. Their business customers will suffer from falling sales and losses which will reflect in a surge of bad debts as business loans fail to be required. Their private customers are unlikely to fare better. For them the problem becomes redundancy and meeting the normal household bills.

　　The problem is compounded because banking is becoming increasingly international. The customers are not confined to their banks’ national boundaries, but spread across the world. Even the resources of a giant banking group like Midland or National Westminster are not enough to finance oil exploration or the development of satellite communication systems and this explains the growth of banking consortia. Banks from all the developed countries of the world join forces to supply the capital required for some of the most ambitious (and risky) projects. Unless these international ventures are successful the banks are faced with the problem of collecting debts from customers in countries which are often politically unstable. As if this were not enough, the banks in the UK are also confronted with foreign banks which are beginning to look covetously towards our domestic market for financial services.

　　Another problem for the banks is the increasing competition between our various financial institutions. At one time there was a clear-cut distinction between the banks and the building societies. The building societies collected savings from ordinary members of the public and lent that money to people who wanted to buy their own homes. In the past banks were not interested in such long term loans, but in recent years they have shifted their ground. They are now increasingly prepared to grant loans to house purchasers and in response the building societies are offering cheque facilities to their own depositors. The result is that the dividing line between banks and building societies is becoming blurred as the competition warms up. The public at large are the beneficiaries.

　　Technology provides both opportunities and threats to the banking community. Credit cards have made it easier for the public to buy goods and services and in doing so to run up debts which, when converted into formal borrowings, are very profitable from the banks’ point of view. Similarly, the cash dispensing units which give customers greater access to their funds are likely to be popular, particularly among “down-market” customers. However, cash dispensing units are cheaper than cashiers and, while this may increase the profitability of banks, it is also putting pressure on the Staff Departments to review their recruitment policies.

　　The major clearing banks report that half the cash withdrawn from branches is taken out of cash dispensing machines – dumb bankers as they are called. Ten years ago, for every National Westminster transactions through a cash dispenser, 15 were conducted over the counter. Now the two systems are level-pegging. The banks and building societies are both affected, but hope they will be able to use the staff freed to sell and service more sophisticated products.

　　13 The best title for this passage may be ____________

　　Abanks’ problems

　　Bbanks’ bad debts

　　Cbanking consortia

　　Dbanking competition

　　14 Banking consortia grow because ___________.

　　Abanking is becoming increasingly international.

　　Bthe national banks’ boundary is easy for customers to break.

　　Cthe giant banking group can not afford the capital for some ambitious and risky projects.

　　Dnumerous small banks intend to control the financial market worldwide.

　　15 The building societies usually _____________

　　Afunctioned as the banks

　　Boffered longer term loans for house purchases

　　Clent money to individual borrowers

　　Dcollected savings from institutions

　　16 A cash dispensing machine is a(n) ________________

　　Aaccounting machine

　　Bcashier carrier

　　C ATM

　　Dthe reticent accountant

　　17 The dumb bankers here refer to ____________

　　Athe silent bank staff

　　Bthe cash dispensers

　　Cthe reticent accountants

　　Dthe cashiers

　　18 From the passage we can conclude that with the wide use of cash dispensers, staffs in the banks and other financial institutions tend to do the following jobs except __________

　　Acash dispensing

　　Bselling insurance

　　Coffering sophisticated financial services

　　Dservicing private pension plans

　　参考答案: 13 A 14 C 15 B 16 C 17 B 18 A

　　解析：

　　第13题是问这篇文章的最佳题目是什么，根据文章大意，及二、三段的开头可以判断是在讲银行存在的问题，那么A为最佳选择。

　　第14题是问银行团壮大的原因是什么，原文中的第二段给出的几个例子和“Banks from all the developed countries of the world join forces to supply the capital required for some of the most ambitious (and risky) projects.”可以判断答案为C。

　　第15题属于细节题，第三段对比了银行和房屋互助协会，在第三行，解释了房屋互助协会的作用，就是为买房者提供长期贷款，那么B为正确答案。

　　第16题，是常识判断题，根据文章中的描述，我们可以判断a cash dispensing machine,就是ATM机。

　　第17题是细节题，在最后一段的第2句，选B。

　　第18题在文章的最后一句可找到答案，只有A没有提到。