2020考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇：Unit 1

Unit 1

The very loans that are supposed to help seniors stay in their homes are in many cases pushing them out.

Reverse mortgages, which allow homeowners 62 and older to borrow money against the value of their homes and not pay it back until they move out or die, have long been fraught with problems. But federal and state regulators are documenting new instances of abuse as smaller mortgage brokers, including former subprime lenders, flood the market after the recent exit of big banks and as defaults on the loans hit record rates.

Some lenders are aggressively pitching loans to seniors who cannot afford the fees associated with them, not to mention the property taxes and maintenance. Others are wooing seniors with promises that the loans are free money that can be used to finance long-coveted cruises, without clearly explaining the risks. Some widows are facing eviction after they say they were pressured to keep their name off the deed without being told that they could be left facing foreclosure after their husbands died.

Now, as the vast baby boomer generation heads for retirement and more seniors grapple with dwindling savings, the newly minted Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is working on new rules that could mean better disclosure for consumers and stricter supervision of lenders. More than 775,000 of such loans are outstanding, according to the federal government.

Concerns about the multibillion-dollar reverse mortgage market echo those raised in the lead-up to the financial crisis when consumers were marketed loans—often carrying hidden risks—that they could not afford.

“There are many of the same red flags, including explosive growth and the fact that these loans are often peddled aggressively without regard to suitability,” said Lori Swanson, the Minnesota attorney general, who is working on reforming the reverse mortgage market.

注(1)：本文選自The New York Times;

注(2)：本文習(xí)題命題模仿對象：第1題模仿2011年真題(二)Text 1第2題;第2題模仿2009年真題Text 2第4題;第3、4題模仿2010年真題Text 2第3、2題;第5題模仿2011年真題(二)Text 3第5題。

1. What can we learn about mortgage loans from the first two paragraphs?

A) The loans help seniors stay in their homes.

B) The loans are actually expelling seniors.

C) The reverse mortgage only welcomes seniors 62 and older.

D) Seniors can apply for reverse mortgage freely.

2. The problem of reverse mortgage refers to ______.

A) some lenders are pleased to lend money to seniors

B) the borrowers cannot pay back the money as expected

C) federal and state regulators are documenting new instances of abuse

D) former subprime lenders go bankrupt

3. The word “foreclosure”(Line 5, Paragraph 3) most probably implies ______.

A) the widows were pressured to lose their names

B) the seniors couldn’t enjoy their cruises finally

C) the widows may be evicted from their houses

D) the widows had misunderstood the reverse mortgage

4. Which of the following is true about the new rules from CFPB?

A) The rules are good for lenders while adverse to borrowers.

B) The baby boomer phenomenon helps seniors to save money.

C) Consumers can better understand reverse mortgage.

D) The rules will be stricter for consumers.

5. The “red flags” of reverse mortgage don’t include ______.

A) explosive growth

B) never considering suitability

C) leading to financial crisis

D) the reform of reverse mortgage market

篇章剖析

本文主要講述了反向抵押貸款帶來的消極影響。第一、二段簡單介紹了施行反向抵押貸款的本意及出現(xiàn)的重重問題;第三段具體列舉了反向抵押貸款存在的問題;第四段指出當(dāng)前消極影響日益嚴(yán)重，為此相關(guān)機(jī)構(gòu)采取了一些措施來進(jìn)行緩解;第五、六段更進(jìn)一步說明反向抵押貸款的危害，并引用權(quán)威人士的話指出該借貸方式存在問題，需要改革。

詞匯注釋

mortgage /?m??g?d?/ n. 抵押

fraught /fr??t/ adj. 充滿(令人不快之事)的;擔(dān)心的，憂慮的

subprime lender 次貸方，次級抵押貸款的貸款方

default /d??f??lt/ n. 不還債;違約;缺席

pitch /p?t?/ v. 投擲;傾斜;搭帳篷

woo /wu?/ v. 爭取…的支持;追求;懇求

long-coveted /?l??-?k?v?t?d/ adj. 覬覦已久的，長期垂涎的

eviction /??v?k?n/ n. 逐出，趕出;收回

grapple /?ɡræpl/ v. 努力克服;抓住;與…格斗

dwindle /?dw?ndl/ v. 減少;變小

outstanding /a?t?stænd??/ adj. 未償付的;顯著的;未解決的

peddle /?pedl/ v. 叫賣;兜售;散播

難句突破

Now, as the vast baby boomer generation heads for retirement and more seniors grapple with dwindling savings, the newly minted Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is working on new rules that could mean better disclosure for consumers and stricter supervision of lenders.

主體句式：As..., the CFPB is working on new rules...

結(jié)構(gòu)分析：本句是一個(gè)復(fù)雜句，as引導(dǎo)原因狀語從句，其后主句的主干為the CFPB is working on new rules，并用that引導(dǎo)的定語從句修飾new rules。其中，that在定語從句中充當(dāng)主語。

句子譯文：目前，隨著大量嬰兒潮時(shí)代出生的人步入退休階段，更多的老年人正在努力解決積蓄減少這一困境。新成立的消費(fèi)者金融保護(hù)局開始著手制定新的政策，這一舉措可能意味著消費(fèi)者會擁有更好的知情權(quán)，借貸方面臨更為嚴(yán)格的監(jiān)管。

題目分析

1. B 細(xì)節(jié)題。第一段開門見山地指出，在許多情況下，貸款(即指下文的反向抵押貸款)使得老人居無定所，因此A選項(xiàng)不正確。C、D兩項(xiàng)中，“only”和“freely”措辭太絕對，與文章內(nèi)容不符，故排除。只有B項(xiàng)符合題意。

2. B 細(xì)節(jié)題。題目要求找出反向抵押貸款所遇到的問題，故可將本題答案初步定位至文章的二、三段。根據(jù)還貸拖欠情況屢創(chuàng)新高和貸款方把錢貸給那些無法支付相關(guān)費(fèi)用的老人可知，反向抵押貸款最大的問題是借貸者無法按預(yù)期還貸，B項(xiàng)正確。A、C、D項(xiàng)雖然說法上無太大錯(cuò)誤，但明顯答非所問，故正確答案為B。

3. C 語義題。對生單詞應(yīng)根據(jù)其在句子中的成分和上下文語境來進(jìn)行推理。由生詞所處句子的句意可知，該問題是孤寡婦人在丈夫死后所要面對的。根據(jù)上文推理可知，該問題是指房產(chǎn)問題，那么她們需要面對的應(yīng)該是房產(chǎn)所有權(quán)的喪失。只有C選項(xiàng)符合題意，A、B、D項(xiàng)均與原文不符。

4. C 推理題。第四段指出，隨著大量嬰兒潮時(shí)代出生的人步入退休階段，更多的老年人正在努力解決積蓄減少這一困境，新成立的消費(fèi)者金融保護(hù)局開始著手制定新的政策，這一舉措可能意味著消費(fèi)者會擁有更好的知情權(quán)，借貸方面臨更為嚴(yán)格的監(jiān)管。由此可知A、B、D項(xiàng)均理解有誤，只有C選項(xiàng)符合題意。

5. D 語義題。“red flags”不僅可以表示“紅旗”，還可以指“危險(xiǎn)信號”，由上下文可知，此處即為“危險(xiǎn)信號”。根據(jù)最后兩段可知，A、B、C選項(xiàng)中的爆炸性增長、未考慮是否合適和引發(fā)經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)，都是反向抵押貸款給市場帶來的危險(xiǎn)信號，均不符合題意。只有D項(xiàng)不屬于危險(xiǎn)信號，符合題意。

參考譯文

那種原本可以確保老年人居有定所的貸款，在很多情況下，卻使得他們居無定所。

反向抵押貸款允許62歲及62歲以上的屋主以房子作抵押從銀行貸款，直到他們搬離或者逝世后再償還。這種方式一直問題重重。然而，隨著一些業(yè)務(wù)規(guī)模較小的抵押代理人，包括之前的一些次貸方，在大銀行近期退出后涌入市場，并且還貸拖欠情況屢創(chuàng)新高，聯(lián)邦政府和各州調(diào)控機(jī)構(gòu)正在記載新的濫用案例。

一些貸款方竟然大膽地把錢貸給那些無力支付貸款相關(guān)費(fèi)用，更不用提支付財(cái)產(chǎn)稅和維護(hù)費(fèi)的老年人。另一些人則在爭取老年客戶時(shí)并未清晰地解釋其中的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，只向他們承諾：貸款是免費(fèi)的，可以用來支付他們夢寐以求的出游。一些孤寡婦人稱，當(dāng)初她們是被迫讓自己的名字不出現(xiàn)在契約上的，但卻并未被告知，如果她們的丈夫離世，她們將喪失抵押品贖回權(quán)，現(xiàn)在她們卻面臨著被強(qiáng)行驅(qū)逐出自己的房子的困境。

目前，隨著大量嬰兒潮時(shí)代出生的人步入退休階段，更多的老年人正在努力解決積蓄減少這一困境。新成立的消費(fèi)者金融保護(hù)局開始著手制定新的政策，這一舉措可能意味著消費(fèi)者會擁有更好的知情權(quán)，借貸方面臨更為嚴(yán)格的監(jiān)管。據(jù)聯(lián)邦政府透露，有超過77.5萬此類貸款尚未償還。

對于這個(gè)價(jià)值數(shù)十億美元的反向抵押貸款市場的擔(dān)憂讓人們聯(lián)想起在經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)的前奏時(shí)期人們產(chǎn)生的擔(dān)憂，那時(shí)消費(fèi)者們根本無力償還貸款，而且這些貸款常常帶有潛在的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。

“有很多這樣的危險(xiǎn)信號，包括爆炸性增長，包括積極地兜售這些借貸卻并未考慮過是否合適。”明尼蘇達(dá)州的首席檢察官洛里·斯旺森這樣說。他正致力于反向抵押貸款市場的改革。