阅读理解。
Thousands of people living in the Chinese capital will celebrate the start of the Chinese New Year by
heading for the ski resorts (滑雪场). Never mind that Beijing's dry weather seldom produces. Now it is
cold enough in winter for snow-making machines to make a covering for the hills north to the capital.
And the rapid growth of a pleasure-seeking middle class has formed the basis for this new craze (热潮).
Since Beijing's first ski resort was opened ten years ago, the sport has enjoyed an astonishing increase.
There are now more than a dozen resorts. Clothes markets in the city have added bright colored ski suits
to their winter collections. Mr. Wei, a manager of a newly-opened ski resort in Beijing, sees the growth
of an industry that could soon lead Chinese to head for the ski resorts of Europe. In recent years ski resorts
offering natural snow have opened in China. But many are in faraway areas of the country and can't really
match the equipment and services of some ski resorts in Europe.
Beijing's skiing craze is partly a result of the recent increase in private (私有的) cars. This has led to
the growth of a leisure industry in the capital's suburbs (郊区), which until the late-1990s were unreachable
to ordinary people. According to Mr. Wei, about 40％ of the visitors go to his resort. Some in their own
cars, the rest are bused in by schools, businesses or government offices.
The problem is making money. Starting ski resort requires quite a lot of money: hiring land from the local
government, preparing the hills, buying snow machines, making sure there are enough water and electricity
to run them, and buying ski equipment for hiring out to customers. The ski resort where Mr. Wei works
cost nearly $4m to set up. And, as so often in China when someone comes up with a good idea, many others
rush in and price wars break out. Beijing now offers some of the cheapest ski training classes in the world,
though with most people rather new to the sport, expecting a few more doing the same job.
1. What does this text mainly talk about?
A. Convenience for skiers brought about by private cars
B. Skiing as a new way of enjoying one's spare time
C. Things to be considered when starting a ski resort
D. A sudden increase of ski training classes in Beijing
2. Why are some Chinese likely to go skiing in Europe?
A. To visit more ski areas
B. To ski on natural snow
C. For a large collection of ski suits
D. For better services and equipment
3. The underlined words "leisure industry" in Paragraph 3 refer to _____.
A. transport to ski resorts
B. production of family cars
C. business of providing spare time enjoyments
D. part-time work for people living in the suburbs
4. What is the main problem in running a ski resort?
A. Difficulty in hiring land
B. Lack of business experience
C. ski resorts.
D. Shortage of water and electricity
