U.S. airlines could slash 70,000 more jobs if there were war..

第1题

SECTION BPASSAGESDirections: In this section, you will hear several passages. Listen to th

SECTION B PASSAGES

Directions: In this section, you will hear several passages. Listen to the passages carefully and then answer the questions that follow.

听力原文： Few people expect luxury while flying, but these days, even the basics seem to be in bad shape. It's not uncommon to find your tray table broken, the in-flight entertainment system not working and your seat cushion worn—all of which can make you think, how old is this plane anyway？

The reality for many U. S. air travelers is that most of their journeys take place on planes that have been in service for a decade or more. The average age of the fleet of the seven large U. S. passenger airlines is about 14 years old, according to The Airline Monitor. It found American and Delta/Northwest had the oldest fleets, at about 16 years on average". As of the end of 2008, a small percentage of the merged Delta/North west's planes dated back to the late 1960s.

U.S. fleets are among the oldest in the world, said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst. "I'm not really sure that people should read that much into that," Aboulafia said. "From a safety standpoint, a lot of the older planes were built tougher and with proper maintenance, there's no reason why a plane can't stay safe for 25 to 30 years. "13 "It's also important to remember that a plane may be 20 years old, but its engines and other major systems could have been recently manufactured or upgraded", said Aboulafia. "There's less pressure on the airlines to upgrade the interior, unless it's a safety issue or a redesign that will save money".

According to the passage, the average age of the fleet of Delta/Northwest is______.

A．10 years

B．14 years

C．16 years

D．20 years

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第2题

Penny-pinching consumers and fierce price wars are bad news for the travel industry. Bad,

that is, for everyone except the booming online travel giants. Consider the sharp rebound of such online players as Travelocity and Expedia. While they suffered in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, with bookings off as much as 70%0 in the weeks that followed, business has snapped back. "The speed with which those businesses bounced back surprised even the people most bullish about the sector," says Mitchell J. Rubin, a money manager at New York-based Baron Capital, an investor in online travel stocks.

The travel industry's pain is often the online industry's gain, as suppliers push more discounted airline seats and hotel rooms to win back customers. And many of those deals are available only online. At the same time, online agencies rely primarily on leisure travelers, where traffic has rebounded more quickly than on the business side.

The two biggest players, Travelocity. Com Inc. and Expedia Inc, are locked in combat for the top spot. Both sold some $3 billion worth of travel last year, though Expedia topped Travelocity in the fourth quarter in gross bookings. And thanks in part to a greater emphasis on wholesale deals with suppliers, Expedia is more profitable. For the quarter ended in December, Expedia posted its first net profit, $5.2 million, even with noncash and nonrecurring charges, compared with Travelocity's $25 million loss.

The airlines' latest cost-cutting moves may only spur the online stampede. Major carriers are eliminating travel agent commissions in the U.S. That could lead to growing service charges for consumers at traditional agencies, driving still more travelers to the Web. Jupiter Media Metrix is predicting that online travel sales in the U.S. will jump 29%, to $31 billion this year, and to $50 billion by 2005. About half of that is from airlines' and other suppliers' own Web sites, but that still leaves plenty of room for the online agents.

This growing market is drawing plenty of competition and new players. Hotel and car rental franchiser Cendant Corp. snapped up Cheap Tickets last October. Barry Diller's USA Networks Inc. bought a controlling stake in Expedia. And a group of hotels, including Hilton Hotels and Hyatt Corp., are launching their own business this summer to market hotel rooms on the Net.

Is the field too crowded？ Analysts and online agencies aren't worried, figuring that there's plenty of new business to go around. But, for now, the clear winners are consumers, who can count on finding better service and better deals online.

We can learn from the beginning that the competition in the travel industry revolves chiefly around

A．suppliers markets.

B．price battles.

C．travel stocks.

D．online services.

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第3题

根据材料请回答下列各 Why Are Airlines Withholding Seats？ A few months ago I booked a fligh

t for two and then went to select seats on the airlines site. Based on thedestination and time of year, I was surprised to find only two adjacent seats were available without paying apremium (额外费用). But I was even more surprised a few weeks later, when we boarded the aircraft and a flightattendant announced that only 30% of seats were occupied, so we should all feel free to stretch out. So how could a flight that looked nearly full a month earlier wind up with seven out of ten seats empty？ Thats a question only the airlines can answer, and theyre not eager to provide many details. Are some carriers intentionally holding back seat assignments, in the hope well all pay for "premium" seats？ Its a fair question, and the evidence is intriguing. Behind the screen indeed An awful lot goes on behind airline and travel booking screens, and much of it is strictly off-limits toconsumers. What we do know is that for decades now airlines have become masters of what the industry calls yieldmanagement, offering millions of combinations of fares based on advance purchase patterns and other bookingtrends, so nearly everyone pays a different price based on when they buy. But now that paying extra for your seatselection has become common practice, securing your reservation is just half the battle. Some industry experts have connected the dots. "Theyre trying to get people to buy premium seats," saysGeorge Hobica, USATODAY.coms Fly Guy columnist and the founder of Airfarewatchdog.com. "They want toincrease revenue. And were getting more complaints about it. "He notes that it "really annoys" passengers whowant to sit together, particularly when traveling with small children. Hes echoed by Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition(联盟) : "With yield management, consumers are aware and they know that airlines are constantly changing prices on seats. But if this is true, it isunethical--theyre grossly misleading us. The thing that I find so offensive is conveying to me that I have nooptions, but if I wait a week or two then I do have options. " According to the airlines, the reason for ancillary (附加的) revenue is unbundling (分类计价) ticket prices, sopassengers who desire a given service-say checking a bag or ordering a soft drink-pay for it; while those whodont are spared the cost. But as Mitchell notes, "Theres another twist to this. The airlines are saying fees are foroptional services. Well, seats arent optional! " Of course, securing a good seat isnt an issue if youre in first class or youre an elite member of a frequentflyer program. But what about the rest of us？ As Ive pointed out repeatedly in recent columns, were faced withrecord-high load factors, the highest for the U.S. airline industry since World War II. But even with the averagepercentage of occupied seats for domestic flights at 82.7%, its still an average-some flights will be fuller butothers will not, particularly weeks in advance. Yet searching for seats keeps getting harder and harder. Seats for sale Hobica cites the major airlines as the prime culprits (起因), but he also notes even low-cost carders can makesecuring seats difficult. On the flip side, he credits JetBlue and Virgin America for providing customers with clearpolicies. And then there is British Airways, which allows passengers in economy and business classes to selectseats only 24 hours in advance. I asked an airline representative if seeing fewer free seats is a trend, and theresponse was: "Thats going to vary because there are so many variables. " I decided to check on seat availability at Delta.com. I inquired about economy-class availability for two seatson a busy route-Atlanta to Chicago--and conducted an apples-to-apples search for the same morning departureseven days in advance, and again 14 days in advance. For the flight one week out, a total of only eight seats wereavailable, one preferred and seven standard, but only one set of two seats together. For the flight two weeks out, atotal of 29 seats were available, consisting of 20 preferred and only nine standard, and still with only one settogether. Remarkable how even twice the booking time still produced so few "free" seats, separately or together,yet there were plenty of seats that could be bought for the right price. I contacted Delta and a spokesman said the price for preferred economy varies "depending on a number ofdifferent factors," so customers need to compare the costs on a flight-by-flight basis. The preferred seats arereserved primarily for Medallion (大勋章) members, and become available without additional charge 24 hoursprior to departure. When asked if Delta has received complaints about a dearth of free seats, he stated, "Overall, our seat program has been received very well." But my findings dovetailed (吻合) with recent complaints filed with Airfarewatchdog: ·When (my husband) tried to get a seat assignment on the first flight there was just one "complimentary(免费的) seat" (near the back in the middle) available.., the other available seats had to be purchased for$69. On the connecting flight there were no "complimentary seats" at all! Is this legal？ He bought andpaid for a ticket on these flights and now he is supposed to "buy" a seat! · (After) paying for the flight, a message popped up and said that I could only get a seat assignment when Ichecked in. In order to get a confirmed seat, I had to pay $129 extra! Unless I pay, without a confirmedseat, I am the first one to be bumped from the flight if they are overbooked. How do they get away withthis？ · Does checking in online at the 24-hour mark before the flight give me a number in line or let me selectseats then？ Or do we all rush the gate with our boarding passes (and no seat assignment) in order to getthe seat assignment？ How to respond？ So what can you do？ Its a tough proposition. Usually I would offer strategies for countering such airlineinitiatives, but in this case the options are limited. Thats why some believe the U.S. Department of Transportationshould investigate these practices. As Mitchell says, "The airlines are holding all the cards with this one. There is a sore need for transparency on this. When people are confused, they make bad decisions. " That said, consider the following: · When budget your airfares, make sure you consider not just baggage fees but the added cost of seatselection-for all travelers and in both directions. · If possible, book early, when there should be more seats available, and check in early too. Why .thequalifier "should"？ Because if availability is artificially manipulated, its hard to be certain. · Book airlines that offer more transparent seat-selection policies. Of course, this is not an issue withSouthwest and other carriers that offer "open seating" policies. · Finally, the last resort is what Hobica calls "horse trading": negotiating seat swaps with other passengers.But this has become a risky and undesirable option with flights so full, overhead bins (行李仓) so crammedand fellow passengers who may have paid for premium seats in advance. The author was even more surprised when_________ A) he couldnt find two adjacent seats when booking a flight B) he had to pay a premium to get two adjacent seats C) he found that more than half of the seats were empty D) he could not stretch out on the plane

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第4题

听力原文： About 100 people are now known to have died in what have been described as the w

orst storms ever to hit the eastern U.S. this century. The hurricane-force winds first struck the Gulf of Mexico, and have now spread across the Canadian border, continuing to bring record snowfalls, severe flooding and causing millions of dollars of damage. All major airports have now reopened and airlines are beginning to cope with the backlog of thousands of stranded passengers. The storm also paralyzed areas of Cuba where several people were killed and property and crops destroyed.

Where did the storms first strike？

A．The eastern U.S.

B．The Gulf of Mexico.

C．The Canadian border.

D．Some areas in Cuba.

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第5题

听力原文： Higher air fares looked more likely Friday as American Airlines, Northwest Airli

nes and JetBlue Airways went along with competitors' increases that the companies said were necessary to offset rising fuel prices. Airline stocks skidded after a three-week surge pushed the price of crude oil near a record of $67 a barrel during the day, taking jet fuel prices along with it. Airlines have already raised prices several times this year. The latest round of increases began Wednesday night with United Airlines, a unit of UAL Corp. , Delta Air Lines Inc. and Continental Airlines Inc. They were followed Thursday by U.S. Airways Group Inc.

What was the price of a barrel of crude oil on Friday？

A．$67.

B．$57.

C．$65.

D．$76.

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第6题

What could you win if you fly with Singapore Airlines within the period mentioned？You coul

What could you win if you fly with Singapore Airlines within the period mentioned？

You could win ____________________ every day, plus a chance to win great prizes.

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第7题

Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by c

Part A

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)

Penny-pinching consumers and fierce price wars are bad news for the travel industry. Bad, that is, for everyone except the booming on line travel giants. Consider the sharp rebound of such on-line players as Travelocity and Expedia. While they suffered in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks, with bookings off as much as 70% in the weeks that followed, business has snapped back. "The speed with which those businesses bounced back surprised even the people most bullish about the sector," says Mitchell J. Rubin, a money manager at New York-based Baron Capital, an investor in on-line travel stocks.

The travel industry's pain is often the on-line industry's gain, as suppliers push more discounted airline seats and hotel rooms to win back customers. And many of those deals are available only on dine. At the same time, on-line agencies rely primarily on leisure travelers, where traffic has rebounded more quickly than on the business side.

The two biggest players, Travelocity Com. Inc. and Expedia Inc., are locked in combat for the top spot. Both sold some $3 billion worth of travel last year, though Expedia topped Travelocity in the fourth quarter in gross bookings. And thanks in part to a greater emphasis on wholesale deals with suppliers, Expedia is more profitable. For the quarter ended in December, Expedia posted its first net profit, $5.2 million, even with noncash and nonrecurring charges, compared with Travelocity's $25 million loss.

The airlines' latest cost cutting moves may only spur the on-line stampede. Major carriers are eliminating travel agent commissions in the U.S. That could lead to growing service charges for consumers at traditional agencies, driving still more travelers to the Web. Jupiter Media Metrix is predicting that on line travel sales in the U.S. will jump 29%0, to $31 billion this year, and to $50 billion by 2005. About half of that is from airlines' and other suppliers' own Web sites, but that still leaves plenty of room for the online agents.

This growing market is drawing plenty of competition and new players. Hotel and car rental franchiser Cendant Corp. snapped up Cheap Tickets last October. Barry Diller's U.S.A Networks Inc. bought a controlling stake in Expedia. And a group of hotels, including Hilton Hotels and Hyatt Corp., are launching their own business this summer to market hotel rooms on the Net.

Is the field too crowded？ Analysts and on-line agencies aren't worried, figuring that there's plenty of new business to go around. But, for now, the clear winners are consumers, who can count on finding better services and better deals on line.

We can learn from the beginning that the competition in the travel industry revolves chiefly around

A．suppliers markets.

B．price battles.

C．travel stocks.

D．on line services.

点击查看答案

第8题

Right now, Prince Charles is probably wishing he had hit the slopes after all. Britain's P

rince of Wales decided last year to begin reducing his carbon footprint—the amount of carbon dioxide created by his activities—by cutting down on his flights abroad, including an annual skiing vacation in Switzerland. Though we should all be in the position to make such sacrifices, Charles didn't win plaudits for his holiday martyrdom. Instead British green groups, seconded by Environment Secretary David Miliband, spanked the Prince for deciding to fly to the U.S. on Jan. 27 to pick up a prestigious environmental award, arguing that the carbon emissions created by his travel canceled out his green cred.

It's too easy to mock His Royal Highness; in England it's practically the national sport. But his critics may be onto something. Jets are uniquely polluting, and the carbon they emit at high altitudes appears to have a greater warming effect than the same amount of carbon released on the ground by cars or factories. On an individual level, a single long-haul flight can emit more carbon per passenger than months of SUV driving. Though air travel is responsible for only 1.6% of total greenhouse gas emissions, in many countries it's the fastest-growing single source—and with annual airline passengers worldwide predicted to double to 9 billion by 2025, that growth is unlikely to abate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) put it bluntly last year: "The growth in aviation and the need to address climate change cannot be reconciled."

One of the biggest problems, as the IPCC points out, is that the carbon emitted by air travel currently has "no technofix". As messy a source of pollution as electricity generation and ground transportation are, technologies do exist that could drastically cut carbon from power plants and cars. Not so for planes: the same aircraft models will almost certainly be flying on the same kerosene fuel for decades.

Admittedly, the airline industry has improved efficiency over the past 40 years, with technological upgrades more than doubling efficiency. There are tweaks in aircraft operations that could nip carbon emissions even further. Virgin Atlantic airlines tycoon Richard Branson, who pledged $ 3 billion in the fight against climate change, advocates having planes towed on the ground rather than taxiing, which he has said could cut a yet unspecified portion of fuel on long flights. Emissions trading for the air industry could help as well, with airlines given carbon caps and then being required to purchase credits from other industries if they exceed their limits. But there's nothing on the horizon for aircraft with the carbon-cutting potential of hydrogen engines or solar energy. "It's not like having leaky home windows you can fix with double glazing," says Leo Murray, a spokesman for the green group Plane Stupid, which led the criticism of Prince Charles.

Nor is there any replacement for long-haul air travel itself. I can take a train from Boston to Washington, but until we can figure out how to travel via fireplace, Harry Potter-style, the only way I'm getting from Tokyo to New York City is in aircraft that may emit more than 5,200 lbs. (about 2,400 kg) of carbon per passenger, round-trip, according to one estimate. On an individual level, you can try to make your flight carbon neutral by donating to, say, a forestry project that will soak up the greenhouse gases you have created. An increasing number of airlines and travel agents do offer such options. The London-based CarbonNeutral Company reports that requests for carbon offsetting from individual travelers have jumped over the past six months. But the still tiny number of neutralized flights can hardly compensate for the rapid increases in global air travel.

So is grounding ourselves the only answer？ That seems to be the conclusion of environmentalists in Britain, who also went afte

A．the critics feel it an easy task to criticize Britain's Prince Charles

B．the critics belong to British green groups

C．the critics are right in pointing out the critical issue in environmental pollution

D．the critics know that long-haul flights emit more carbon dioxide than car driving

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第9题

Reading Comprehension （2)Fly with Singapores Airlines to Australia and you could win free

Reading Comprehension (2)

Fly with Singapores Airlines to Australia and you could win free tickets. There is a winner every day from January 1st to April 30th 2005

Lucky Promotion (促销)

Fly between January 1 st and April 30 2005, and you could win free ticket daily, plus a chance to win one of the 2 Great Prizes:

First Prize: One pair of Firs Class return tickets on Singapore Airlines to any of our destinations(目的地) in Australia, 5-star hotel and US $ 5, 000 cash.

Second Prize: One pair of Business Class return tickets on Singapore Airlines to any of our destinations in Australia , 5 nights' accommodation in a 5-star hotel and US $ 3, 000 cash.

Plan your holiday to Australia on Singapore Airlines now and try your luck for the good chance!

For more information, contact the Singapore Airlines office at your place or visit our websites at www. singaporeair. com or www. australia. com.

How long does the Lucky Promotion last？From January 1st to______ , 2005.

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第10题

Cheaper imports could help to control inflation in the U.S.A．YB．NC．NG

Cheaper imports could help to control inflation in the U.S.

A．Y

B．N

C．NG

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U.S. airlines could slash 70,000 more jobs if there were war with Iraq and the U.S. govern