19．The next morning Alex was waiting in the FMA president's suite when Jerome Patterton arrived．Alex filled him in quickly on the Jax report．Then he said，"I want you to give an order to the trust department to sell every share of Supranational we're holding．"
"I won't!"Patterton's voice rose．"Who do you think you are，giving orders-----""I'll tell you who I am，Jerome．I'm the guy who warned the board against in-depth involvement with SuNatCo．I fought against heavy trust department buying of the stock，but no one-----including you-----would listen．Now Supranational is caving in．"Alex leaned across the desk and slammed a fist down hard．"Don't you understand？Supranational can bring this bank down with it．"
Patterton was shaken．"But is SuNatCo in real trouble？Are you sure？"
"If I weren't，do you think I'd be here？I'm giving you a chance to salvage something at least．"He pointed to his wristwatch．"It's an hour since the New York stock market opened．Jerome，get on the phone and give that order!"Muscles around the bank president's mouth twitched nervously．Never decisive，strong influence often swayed him．He hesitated，then picked up the telephone．
"Get me Mitchell in the trust department…Mitch？This is Jerome．Listen carefully．I want you to give a sell order immediately on all the Supranational stock we hold…Yes，sell every share．"Patterton listened，then said impatiently，"Yes，I know what it'll do to the market．And I know it's irregular．"His eyes sought Alex's for reassurance．The hand holding the telephone trembled as he said，"There's no time to hold meetings．So do it!Yes，I accept responsibility．"
He hung up and reached for a glass of water．"The stock is already down．Our selling will depress it more．We'll be taking a big beating．"
"It's our clients-----people who trusted us-----who will take the beating．And they'd have taken a bigger one still，if we'd waited．Even now we're not out of the woods．A week from now the SEC may disallow those sales．They may rule we had inside knowledge that Supranational was about to be bankrupt，which we should have reported and which would have halted trading in the stock．
41．Alex filled him in quickly on the Jax report．The sentence means：C
A．He filled his name on the Jax report quickly．
B．Alex signed his name to the Jax report quickly．
C．He offered the FMA president the Jax report smartly．
D．He prepared the Jax report for Patterton to sign smartly．
42．From the context we can infer thatD．
A．SuNatCo would bring the stock market down if it sold all the Supranational stock they held．
B．The president was stubborn and would never listen to others．
C．Alex will take the place of Patterton in the future．
D．the clients would take a bigger beating than the bank
43．The New York stock market is the place whereB．
A．the old stock can be bought and sold
B．shares can be bought and sold
C．paper stock can be bought and sold
D．some of the stock can be taken without being paid for
44．In the sentence"Even now we're not out the woods．"The phrase"out of the woods"meansA．
A．free from danger B．short of wood
C．running out of wood D．set free
45．In the writer's opinion，the president isD．
A．good leader of the U．S．A
B．a good manager of a company
C．headmaster
D．banker，an indecisive sort of person．
分析 本文屬于說明文閱讀，作者通過這篇文章主要向我們描述了紐約股市即將崩盤，Alex蠱惑優柔寡斷的銀行行長 Jerome Patterton 為了利益售賣股票，盡管那會使得他們的顧客承擔更大的損失．
解答 41．C．句意推斷題．根據文章第一段Then he said，"I want you to give an order to the trust department to sell every share of Supranational we're holding．"可知他先提供了Jax的報告再說明了來意，可推測句意為他巧妙地向他提供了Jax報告；故選C．
42．D．推理判斷題．根據文章最后一段"It's our clients-----people who trusted us-----who will take the beating．And they'd have taken a bigger one still"可知客戶會受到比銀行更大的打擊；故選D．
43．B．推理判斷題．根據文章第四段""It's an hour since the New York stock market opened"可推測紐約股市是可以購買和出售的消息；故選B．
44．A．句意推斷題．根據文章最后一段"It's our clients-----people who trusted us-----who will take the beating．And they'd have taken a bigger one still，if we'd waited"可知與客戶承受更大的損失不同的是，如果我們等待的話，雖然不能走出困境，但情況會不同；故選A．
45．D．細節理解題．根據文章第四段"Never decisive，strong influence often swayed him．He hesitated，then picked up the telephone"可知銀行行長是個十分優柔寡斷的人；故選D．
點評 考察學生的細節理解和推理判斷能力，做細節理解題時一定要找到文章中的原句，和題干進行比較，再做出正確的選擇．在做推理判斷題不要以個人的主觀想象代替文章的事實，要根據文章事實進行合乎邏輯的推理判斷．
