题目

Rice wine has a history of more than 2,000 years as China’s favorite liquor and has been credited with having enhanced the health, among others, of the late Deng Xiaoping. But now native rice wine finds itself competing for market share with western style fruit wine. Both foreign traders and local producers have in recent months observed a remarkable rise in the popularity of wine in China, at least in the country’s more prosperous cities and coastal regions. There are several reasons for this. One has been a sustained effort by the Chinese government to limit the use of staple grains (主食) for things as frivolous as spirits or beer. Another has been a lot of reports filtering out (过滤) via Hong Kong and Taiwan, citing scientific findings about red wine’s good effects on health in general and manliness in particular. Mr. St. Pierre, who imports western wines to China, says that his red wines outsell his whites by 20 to 1, leading him to conclude that Chinese drinkers are indeed choosing their beverages with good health in mind. Mr. St. Pierre is toasting increases in sales of 25% a month. Carl Crook, another importer, recalls that, when he began selling wine in China four years ago, his clients were mainly “well-heeled and desperate expatriates（侨民）”. His company, Montrose, now sells more than 1,000 cases a month and expects sales to double this year, despite taxes and duties which add 121% to the price of imported wines. Its catalogue ranges from cheap Californian wines selling wholesale for 69 Yuan per bottle, to Château Lafitte Rothschild. Domestic producers are also cottoning on to the joys of the grape. A few Chinese wineries are increasingly successful, in both international competitions and the domestic market. China’s largest wine producer, Dynasty, has overcome quality control problems to produce a well-received 1995 Chardonnay. The Huadong Winery in Qingdao (a city still more famous for its beer) has also yielded a successful Chardonnay. Local bottling of foreign wines, local production, and if they materialize, long rumored cuts in tariff duties(关税) may soon help bring the joys of wine to greater numbers of Chinese. For the country’s growing class of the newly rich, however, a ridiculously high price tag is all part of the package. In recent years, China’s conspicuous(引人注目的) consumers have made the purchase of overpriced wines one of their favorite ways of showing off wealth, in some cases buying bottles priced at several hundred dollars only to smash them on the floor. There is now a new trend that may strike the world’s wine merchants as an even greater outrage. Some Chinese wine drinkers have decided that a good claret(干红) or Chardonnay goes down more smoothly when mixed with Sprite. 62. Grape wines become more popular than the traditional rice wine in China for all the following reasons EXCEPT that ________. A. rice wine consumes so many grains that its production has been discouraged. B. it is believed that grape wine does more good to health than rice wine. C. drinking grape wine is a symbol of wealth and therefore is a fashion for some people.. D. grape wines are often less expensive and so more people can afford them. 63. The word “frivolous” in Para. 2 probably means ________. A. significant.         B. precious.         C. authentic.       D. unimportant. 64. Mr. St. Pierre and Mr. Carl Crook are cited as examples to show ________. A. market share of importing grape wines is increasing in China. B. well-heeled and desperate expatriates like to drink grape wines. C. Chinese drinkers choose their company’s wine because of their boast. D. domestic producers also realize the joys of the grape wines. 65. Which of the following is an opinion of the author’s? A. Domestic producers do not like their foreign counterparts. B. Local bottling of foreign wines is not encouraged by local government in China. C. The extremely high tariff duties on wine importing still affect the more popular consumption of foreign wines. D. Most people are satisfied with the prices of foreign wines. 66. The author sounds ________ in the last paragraph. A. tolerant                     B. angry                   C. impatient              D. conspicuous 答案：DDACB

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