Question

The World Bank is warning that the West Africa Ebola outbreak could seriously harm the economies(经济) of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone unless action is taken quickly. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim spoke to reporters recently to discuss the effects of the Ebola spread.

"Our findings show that if the virus(病毒) continues to spread, the economic cost to these countries could grow eight times by 2015. This would be a big catastrophe to their already weak economies," said Kim.

Mr. Kim says, "saving lives and preventing new spread" is most important. The bank has given $117-million for an "immediate help." The World Bank President says the SARS outbreak between 2002 and 2004 showed how a disease could damage economies. 800 people died from SARS and the economic losses were up to $40-billion.

Mr. Kim says SARS and the H1N1 outbreak of 2009 taught that fear and avoidance resulted in about 90-percent of the economic losses. That means the disease is causing two levels of economic damage.

"There are two kinds of contagion(传染). One is connected with the virus itself and the second is connected with the spread of fear about the virus," said Kim.

The World Bank thinks the losses to the economies of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea will be big .Mr. Kim says losses could be about $97-million at the moment.

Mr. Kim says fast action is necessary. He says getting the disease under control is still far away. That is because there are not enough health care workers in the affected areas. The World Bank President says the most important measure is to act quickly in order to limit economic losses.

1.What does the underlined word mean in the second paragraph?

A. effort B. disaster

C. warning D. result

2.If quick action is not taken to stop the spread of Ebola, the economic losses could reach about_______by 2015.

A. $800-million B. $97-million

C. $117-million D. $40-billion.

3.What’s the main idea of the whole passage?

A. Ebola is a serious and infectious(传染的）illness.

B. Large numbers of people have died from Ebola.

C. People in the West Africa are in great fear of the spread of Ebola virus.

D. Ebola will harm economies in the West Africa seriously without quick action.

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.A

3.D

【解析】

试题分析：文章关注的是发生在西非地区并威胁全球的病毒埃博拉对当地经济的影响。世界银行主席金勇称，如果不采取迅速、有效的措施，到2015年，西非地区的经济损失将是现在损失的八倍。

1.the economic cost to these countries could grow eight times by 2015”，到2015年，损失将会是现在的八倍，这将会给西非地区本来就很脆弱的经济带来巨大的灾难，故选B。

2.the economic cost to these countries could grow eight times by 2015”和倒数第二段“losses could be about $97-million at the moment”可知，现在的损失大约是一亿美元，它的八倍就是大约八亿美元，故选A。

3.The World Bank is warning that the West Africa Ebola outbreak could seriously harm the economies(经济) of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone unless action is taken quickly.”和最后一段“The World Bank President says the most important measure is to act quickly in order to limit economic losses.”可知，文章讲的是埃博拉病毒将会给西非地区带来巨大的经济损失，故选D。

考点：新闻类短文阅读