辽宁省沈阳铁路实验中学2015-2016学年高二上学期期中考试 英语试题
第二部分 阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）
第一节 （共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑
A
Los Angeles: Love for Mom is necessary, but buying flowers on her big day may not be.
A slump in flower sales since late last year was likely to continue through Mother’s Day, another example of Americans cutting back on spending due to recession fears, which is a period of reduced trade and business activity, and increasing food and gasoline prices.
“if you look at what has happened on Valentine’s Day and Christmas, the market for flowers has cooled,” said Eric Beder, an analyst at Brean Murray. “Growth has slowed in the past two quarters. Mother’s Day will probably be a slow quarter, too.”
US floral sales for Mother’s Day, celebrated yesterday, will fall thirteen percent this year to $2 billion, with consumers spending an average of $17.65, according to the National Federation estimates.
Mother’s Day, which accounts for a one-quarter of annual holiday purchases, according to the Society of American Florists, is traditionally the day when flowers are delivered to the doorsteps of many mothers.
But this year, the shop-owners are concerned.
Gabriel Soto, who owns a flower shop beneath an office high-rise in the Los financial district, is expecting lower sales—and has ordered 30 percent fewer flowers than normal this Mother’s Day. Last month, Soto, who also operates nearby building that was headquarters to a mortgage company. After workers lost their jobs due to the housing crisis, orders decreased.
1. The underlined word “slump” in Para. 2 probably means _______.
A. sharp decrease in price B. great fear for losing jobs
C. global worry of floral stores D. sudden fall by a large amount
2. This passage implies that Americans have _______.
A. Met financial problems recently
B. No longer bought flowers for mothers
C.delivered flowers to every house for mothers
D.cut back on spending because of having lost jobs
