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As Americas digest the news of another gun atrocity, a mall shooting in Nebraska on December 5th, they cannot be blamed for thinking that guns are in too ready supply. But an article in the latest Economic Journal suggests that the demand for illegal guns, at least, is not met as easily as people might fear. Sudhir Venkatesh, now of Columbia University, has talked to 132 gang-members, 77 prostitutes, 116 gun-owning youths, 23 gun-dealers and numerous other denizens of Chicago's Grand Boulevard and Washington Park neighbourhoods. He did not find many satisfied customers.

Chicago has unusually tough restrictions on legal handguns. Even so the black market is surprisingly “thin”, attracting relatively few buyers and sellers. The authors reckon that the 48,000 residents of the two neighbourhoods buy perhaps 1,400 guns a year, compared with at least 200,000 cocaine purchases. Underground brokers sell guns for $150-350, a mark-up of perhaps 200% over the legal price. They also demand a fee of $30-50 for orchestrating the deal. Even then, 30-40% of the transactions fall through because the seller cannot secure a gun, gets cold feet or cannot agree on a location for the deal.

Buyers also find it hard to verify the quality of the merchandise. They often know little about the weapons they covet. “Tony”, who owns a .38 calibre handgun, learnt how to use his weapon by fiddling with it. He even put a stone in it. “Did it fire?” Mr Venkatesh asked. “I'm not sure. I think it did,” Tony said.

Fortunately for Tony and his peers, their rivals and the victims of crime cannot tell if their guns work any better than they can. Often, showing the “bulge” is enough to gain the respect of rival gangs. In robberies brandishing the weapon will usually do. Storekeepers do not wait for proof that it works.

Markets can overcome thinness, the paper says; they can also overcome illegality. But they cannot overcome both. A thin market must rely on advertising or a centralised exchange: eBay, for example, has dedicated pages matching sellers of imitation pearl pins or Annette Funicello bears to the few, scattered buyers that can be found. But such solutions are too cumbersome and conspicuous for an underground market. The drugs market, by contrast, slips through the law's fingers because of the natural density of drug transactions. Dealers can always find customers on their doorstep, and buyers can reassure themselves about suppliers through repeated custom. There are no fixed and formal institutions that the police could easily throttle.

Indeed, the authors argue that the gun market may be threadbare partly because the drug market is so plump. Gang-leaders are wary of gun-dealing because the extra police scrutiny that guns attract would jeopardise their earnings from coke and dope. Even Chicago's gang-leaders have to worry about the effect of crime on commerce.

1.Some of the gun transactins are unsuccessful mainly because_____.

[A] it is not profitable as the underground price of gun far exceeds legal price

[B] Chicago has surprisingly tough restrictions on the ownership and business of guns

[C] the dealers are unable to guarntee whether the deal is really going to happen or not

[D] it is hard to testify the quality of the guns in actual situations

2.Compared with the gun market, the drug market can be “fat” mainly because_____.

[A] it hardly attracts the police’s attention due to the flexibility of the business

[B] the drug dealings are taking place in higher frequency

[C] there are no fixed and formal spots for drug dealing

[D] drug is affordable to a larger number of people

3. The word “cumbersome” (Line 4, Pargraph 5) most probably means_____.

[A] transparent

[B] troubling

[C] horrible

[D] sutpid

4. The reason why the authors argue that the gun market may be threadbare partly because the drug market is so plump is _____.

[A] that the drug transaction is more prefitable thatn gun-dealing.

[B] that the police are more dedicated to the gun-dealing than to the drug-dealing.

[C] that the gang-leaders are suppressing the gun-dealing in order to maintain their profit from drug

[D] that the gang-leaders are worried about the effect of crime on commerce.

5. Towards the future of gun-dealing, the author’s attitude is _____.

[A] pessimistic

[B] optimistic

[C] desperate

[D] sorrowful 

文章剖析：

这篇文章主要介绍了目前美国枪支黑市的情况。第一段由美国人将枪杀案多的原因归罪于枪支比较容易获得这个观点引出一个Sudhir经调查后的驳论；第二段讲述强制黑市交易量情况；第三段、第四段讲述买枪支的人的情况；第五段、第六段和毒品交易比较，得出目前枪支交易惨淡的另一方面原因。

词汇注释：

mark-up n. (价格中)标高的金额; 涨价幅度        orchestrate v. 使…协调地结合在一起

fall throught v. 失败                                                cold feet v. 临阵畏缩

covet v. 觊觎，垂涎                                             calibre n. 口径

bulge n. 突起                                                         brandish v. 挥舞

cubersome adj. 讨厌的, 麻烦的, 笨重的           throttle v. 压制，扼杀

threadbare adj. 破旧的，磨薄的                         denizen n. 居民

难句突破：

(1)   Fortunately for Tony and his peers, their rivals and the victims of crime cannot tell if their guns work any better than they can.

[主体句式] Their rivals and the victims cannot tell…

[结构分析] 这是一个简单句，前面的介词短语做句子的状语, any better than they can后面省略了tell，也是做句子的状语。

[句子译文]幸运的是，对于托尼还有和他一样的人，他们的敌人还有那些受害人也比他们强不了多少，并不知道他们的枪能不能用。

(2)   A thin market must rely on advertising or a centralised exchange: eBay, for example, has dedicated pages matching sellers of imitation pearl pins or Annette Funicello bears to the few, scattered buyers that can be found.

[主体句式] A thin market must rely on…: eBay has dedicated…

[结构分析]这是一个简单句，后面用来解释整个句子的从句中，matching…组成的现在分词短语做前面pages的定语，而后面有一个that引导的定语从句修饰buyers。

[句子译文] 一个狭窄的市场要依赖于广告或是统一的交换。比如易趣专门设出几页让那些卖假珍珠针饰的商家或Annette Funicello熊的商家和所能找到的极少的、分布在各地的买家进行配对。

题目分析：

[答案]B

[难度系数] ☆☆☆☆

[分析] 细节题。文章第五段提到枪支交易因为其复杂性很难改变其惨淡的现状，而相反地，毒品交易因为其本身density of drug transactions（毒品交易密度）的原因可以逃避法律，接着下面就具体作了解释，比如交易很容易达成，而且其交易地点不固定，警察不能轻易压制。而且主要原因就是由于其交易量本身比较大，因此B为正确选项，其中选项中的frequency可以视为density的统一词。A和C选项都是导致了毒品交易频繁的原因，但是B选项却是题干的直接原因。D选项在原文中没有根据。

[答案]B

[难度系数] ☆☆☆

[分析]猜词题。该词所在的句子意思是“但是，对于一个地下市场来说，这样的解决办法又麻烦又显眼”。前文中提到“一个狭窄的市场要依赖于广告或是统一的交易。比如易趣专门设出几页让那些卖假珍珠针饰的商家或Annette Funicello熊的商家和所能找到的极少的、分布在各地的买家进行配对”，显然这是很麻烦的。考生可以将四个选项分别代入原文，其余三个选项都不能符合题意。答案为B。

[答案]C

[难度系数] ☆

[分析]推理题。文章最后一段指出，研究者认为枪支市场惨淡的部分原因在于毒品市场交易的兴旺，接着下面就具体作了解释。匪徒头子对于枪支交易非常警觉，因为他们害怕枪支会使得警察增加调查，这样就会危及其毒品交易的收入。那么可以看出，研究者这样认为就是看到不法分子的这种举措，因此，答案C最为符合题意。

[答案]A

[难度系数] ☆☆☆

[分析]态度题。这篇文章主要分析了目前美国枪支交易的情况，因为种种原因处于比较惨淡的状态，而从作者分析来看，对于未来的情况也不是很看好，尤其和毒品交易相比较。因此，作者对其未来持悲观态度。因此正确答案为A选项。C和D选项的表述语气过于强烈，不符合原文的含义。

参考译文：

当美国还因另外一则枪杀案，12月5日内部达斯加州一家商场的枪击案余悸未消时，一点都不能责怪他们认为原因是枪支太容易得到了。但是在最新的《经济期刊》上发表的一篇文章认为至少非法枪支需求并没有人们想象得那么容易就被满足了。Sudhir Venkatesh目前在哥伦比亚大学供职，他和132名歹徒、77名妓女、116名拥有枪支的年轻人、23名枪支经销商以及许多其他在芝加哥大林荫大道及华盛顿公园附近的居民交谈过，他并未发现有多少满意的顾客。

芝加哥在合法手枪方面有严格的固定，即便如此，黑市还是异常惨淡,相对而言几乎没有多少买的人和卖的人被吸引到这里。研究者承认在这两个区48000个居民中间每年只销售1400支枪，而购买可卡因的却有至少20万。地下代理人销售枪支的价格为150美元到350美元，这要比合法价格高出200%。而且，他们还要多要30到50美元的协调费用。即便如此，30%到40%的交易还是流产了，因为销售者或是没能拿到枪，或是临阵畏缩，或是不能就交易地点达成一致。

买枪的人发现要证实自己货物的质量也比较困难。他们对自己想要的枪支的情况知之甚少。“托尼”有一把口径为38的枪，他只能是自己把玩才能弄清楚怎么使用。他甚至还把一颗石头放在里面。“它能开火吗？” Venkatesh问他。“我不知道。我像应该是的。”托尼回答说。

幸运的是，对于托尼还有和他一样的人，他们的敌人还有那些受害人也比他们强不了多少，并不知道他们的枪能不能用。一般地，只要露出“凸起”的部分就可以让那些敌对的歹徒尊重，在抢劫中只要挥舞一下武器就够了。店主不会等着证明看能不能有效果。

文章提到，市场可以克服经营惨淡, 也可以克服非法问题。但是不能同时克服两个问题。一个狭窄的市场要依赖于广告或是统一的交易。比如易趣专门设出几页让那些卖假珍珠针饰的商家或Annette Funicello熊的商家和所能找到的极少的、分布在各地的买家进行配对。但是，对于一个地下市场来说，这样的解决办法又麻烦又显眼。而毒品市场可以钻法律的空子，因为毒品交易的自然频繁程度。卖主在他们门口就能找到顾客，而买家经过老主顾也能相信供应商。而且因为没有固定、正式的地方，警察要扼杀起来也比较困难。

实际上，研究者认为枪支市场这样惨淡部分原因就在于毒品市场过于兴旺。匪徒头子对枪支交易十分警惕，因为枪支引起警察额外的审查会危及他们从毒品上获得的收入。甚至芝加哥的匪徒头子也得担忧经济犯罪的影响。