TEXT EIGHTEEN

De Beers is selling because the mine is no longer profitable, despite attempts to turn it around. But Petra reckons the mine still has another 20 years of production in it and plans to extract at least 1m carats a year. The unexploited “Centenary Cut” deposit, which lies under the existing mine, could yield a lot more. This is good news for the mine's 1,000 or so employees and for the town, which has depended on the diamond business since Sir Thomas Cullinan discovered a prospect there in 1898 that contained kimberlite, a rock that can be rich in diamonds. The mine, established in 1903, is one of 30 or so kimberlite diamond mines in the world, and is believed to be still the world's second-most-valuable diamond resource

Petra is a relatively small outfit, listed on London's Alternative Investment Market, that specialises in buying mines that bigger companies see as marginal. Its trick is to extract better returns by rationalising production and processing, and keeping operating costs and overheads down. Petra has already bought two of De Beers's loss-making South African mines—both of which are now profitable—and is finalising the 78.5m rand acquisition of the group's underground operation in Kimberley, which stopped working in 2005.

It already operates four mines in South Africa and has promising exploration in Angola (a joint-venture with BHP Billiton), Sierra Leone and Botswana. Petra expects to produce over 1m carats by 2010—quite a jump from 180,474 carats in the year to June. The company has yet to make a profit, but expects to be making money by the middle of next year.

In the 1990s De Beers decided that it was no longer a good idea to try to monopolise the diamond market. It started focusing on higher returns rather than market share, and has been revamping its mine portfolio, selling off mines that are no longer profitable and investing in more enticing operations, such as its mine off the west coast of South Africa, its Voorspoed operation in the Free State province, and two new mines in Canada.

This has opened the way for a new class of diamond firm that operates in the vast middle ground between the world's handful of large producers and a multitude of much smaller exploration firms. The Cullinan deal should entrench Petra in this middle tier, alongside firms such as Kimberley Diamond and Trans Hex. But even if it does reach its target of 1m carats a year, Petra will still not be able to match the sparkle of the giants. Last year De Beers produced 51m carats from its mines in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania, which amounted to 40% of the world's diamonds by value. 

1. The Cullinan mine was named after_____.

[A] the original name of the town

[B] the name of its first owner

[C] the name of its discoverer

[D] the name of the town’s first colonist

2. Which one of the following statements is TRUE of the Cullinan mine?

[A] The mine is the only business of the town which employs most of the local residents

[B] It can be mined for another 20 years given Petra’s advanced technology

[C] It is the world’s second largest diamond mine with a yearly capacity of 1m carats

[D] Whether the mine will maintain its profitability is yet to know.

3. Petra’s opearting philosophy can be said as _____.

[A] to make profits by reducing the costs

[B] to exploit the surrounding areas of an existing mine

[C] to integrate the resources of all the money-losing small mines

[D] to restructure the mine portfolio and to optimize the process management

4. De Beers has made changes on its development stratege because_____.

[A] it plans to shrink its market share and ends its long-term monopoly

[B] it wants to open the way for the middle tier of diamond market

[C] it switches its attention to making larger profits

[D] it wants to turn around the loss-making mines by cooperating with companies of smaller size.

5. The future of the new class of diamond firm is _____.

[A] promising

[B] dim

[C] unknown

[D] frustrating 

文章剖析：

文章从Petra公司收购矿产为契因，介绍了钻石矿业新兴的一个中间阶层。第一段讲述了Cullinan矿将要转手的消息；第二段介绍了De Beers公司之所以将矿转手的原因；第三段、第四段介绍Petra公司的一些经营方式和情况；第五段讲述De Beers公司的运营调整；第六段介绍了钻石矿业的新阶层。

词汇注释：

chunky adj. 含小而厚的块：                                   consortium n. 财团

kimberlite n. 金伯利岩                                              entrench v. 确立，使处于牢固地位

portfolio n. 组合                                                       enticing adj. 引诱的, 迷人的, 动人心目的

难句突破：

(1)   This is good news for the mine's 1,000 or so employees and for the town, which has depended on the diamond business since Sir Thomas Cullinan discovered a prospect there in 1898 that contained kimberlite, a rock that can be rich in diamonds.

[主体句式] This is good news for …

[结构分析] 这是一个简单句，for后面的宾语比较复杂，which 引导的非限定性定语从句修饰the town，在该从句中有一个since引导的状语从句；在该状语从句中，that 引导的定语从句修饰prospect, a rock…是kimberlite的同位语。

[句子译文] 这对于这个矿的1000名左右的雇工以及这个小镇来说是个好消息，这个小镇从1898年Thomas Cullinan爵士发现该矿含有金伯利岩（可能富含钻石的一种岩石）后，就一直依赖钻石生意存活。

(2) It started focusing on higher returns rather than market share, and has been revamping its mine portfolio, selling off mines that are no longer profitable and investing in more enticing operations, such as its mine off the west coast of South Africa, its Voorspoed operation in the Free State province, and two new mines in Canada.

[主体句式]It started focusing on…, and has been…

[结构分析] 这是一个并列句，由连词and 连接，后半分句结构比较复杂；has been 后面带有三个并列的成分，第二个成分selling off mines后面有that 引导的定语从句，第三个成分中such as 后面都是用来修饰operations的。

[句子译文] 它开始修关心更高的回报率而不是市场份额了，也一直在修改它的矿产组合，卖掉不再盈利的矿产，投资更让人动心的项目，如南非西海岸的矿产、自由州省的Voorspoed项目、加拿大的两处新矿。

题目分析：

[答案] C

[难度系数] ☆☆

[分析] 细节题。该矿的名字为Culliman, 从第一段可以看到它所在的小镇的名字也是这个，但是第二段提到1898年Thomas Cullinan爵士发现了这个矿含有金伯利岩，1903年该矿成立。那么可以推断，这个镇和矿的名字都是以Cullinan爵士、即其第一个发现者的名字命名的。因此，正确答案为C。

[答案]D

[难度系数] ☆☆☆☆

[分析] 细节题。文章第二段之处小镇上的大部分人都依赖于钻石产业，但这并不意味着他们都在矿山工作，因此A选项错误。文章第三段谈到Petra的盈利策略主要是改进流程、降低成本，并没有强调使用先进的技术。选项C，在第二段提到Cullinan目前仍被认为是世界第二大最有价值的钻石矿，但并不一定在规模上也是第二大的，而且年产量1百万克拉指的不是该矿山的年产量，而是Petra公司的计划年产量。选项D，文章没有明确指出该矿山将来究竟是否会赢利，因为不得而知，答案D为正确的陈述。

[答案]A

[难度系数] ☆☆☆☆

[分析]推理题。文章第三段提到Petra专门收购大公司边缘化的矿产，其秘诀就在于通过合理化生产和加工，降低运作和管理费用来获得更好的收益。可以看出，公司运营理念就是通过自己的努力，比如合理化生产、加工，降低费用来盈利，因此，选项A最为符合这一点。

[答案]C

[难度系数] ☆☆☆

[分析] 推理题。文章第五段提到De Beers 认为试图垄断市场已经不是什么很好的策略了，它开始关心更高的利润而不是市场份额了，还采取了一系列的措施来实现这个策略。因此，它改变了自己的发展策略，主要是想要谋取更大的利润，B为正确答案。A是公司改变策略的方式，B不符合原文内容。D选项具有一定的迷惑性，但要注意De Beers知识将一些矿山卖给小公司，这并不意味着它与小公司合作，因此该选项错误。

[答案]C

[难度系数] ☆

[分析]推理题。关于钻石业新出现的中间阶层，文章只是介绍了其刚刚开始发展的情况，但是未来怎么样文章并没有给出明确的看法，因此，答案为C，其余三个选项的态度显然不符合题意。

参考译文：

理查德·伯顿在1969年为伊丽莎白·泰勒又买了一块小而厚的钻石时，他可能对南非小镇Cullinan一无所知。现在Cullinan连同埋在地下的钻石一起都将易主了。11月22日， De Beers，这个从1930年就一直是这个矿的主人的钻石巨头说要以10亿兰特现金的价格卖给Petra Diamonds为首的财团，Petra Diamonds是南非新兴的钻石制造商。现在管理者已经同意了这笔交易，该矿将于明年年中易手。

De Beers要做这笔买卖是因为尽管他采取了好多措施，这个矿不再是那么利润丰厚了。但是Petra 估计该矿还可以生产20年，计划每年最少挖掘100万克拉。而位于该矿下方的未被开采的“百年切割”层，生产力更高。这对于这个矿的1000名左右的雇工以及这个小镇来说是个好消息，这个小镇从1898年Thomas Cullinan爵士发现该矿含有金伯利岩（可能富含钻石的一种岩石）后，就一直依赖钻石生意存活。该矿建立于1903年，是世界上30个左右金伯利岩钻石矿之一，现在仍被认为是世界上最有价值的第二大钻石储藏矿。

Petra是比较小的一个商业组织，现在列于伦敦选择性的投资市场中London's Alternative Investment Market。该组织专门收购大公司认为是不重要的那么矿产，其秘诀在于通过合理化生产和加工、以及降低运作和管理费用来获得更好的收益。Petra已经收购了De Beers两家南非亏损的矿（这两个矿目前都在盈利），目前也即将完成以7850万兰特收购该组织在金伯利地下矿的项目，该矿于2005年停产。

目前它在南非运作有四家矿，在安哥拉、塞拉利昂和博茨瓦纳也有非常好的勘探项目（和BHP Billiton的合资公司）。Petra希望到2010年产量可以超过100万克拉，相比截至六月的这一年产量180，474克拉来说是一个飞跃。公司现在还未赢利，但可望明年年中就可以赚钱了。

20世纪90年代，De Beers认为垄断钻石市场其实不再是个好主意了。它开始关心更高的回报率而不是市场份额了，也一直在修改它的矿产组合，卖掉不再盈利的矿产，投资更让人动心的项目，如南非西海岸的矿产、自由州省的Voorspoed项目、加拿大的两处新矿。

这就为钻石行业的一个新阶层开辟了道路，这个阶层处于世界上少数的大生产商和众多小勘探公司之间那片广阔的区域。Cullinan这笔交易确立了Petra的这个中间阶层的地位，类似的公司还有金伯利钻石和Trans Hex。不过即使达到年产量100万克拉，Petra还是不及那些钻石巨头一毛。去年，De Beers在其博茨瓦纳、纳米比亚、南非和坦桑尼亚矿的产量为5100万克拉，从价值估算占到世界钻石的40% 。