2015考研英语阅读集中练：The Oppenheimers

考研英语阅读水平的提高重在练习，多练才能够增加词汇量，提升对语法语义的把握，才能够更容易的理解和总结文章中心主旨。正所谓熟能生巧，就是这个道理。十一刚过，后续复习任务依然很重，新东方在线小编希望考生能够继续努力，多读多练。下面分享英语阅读集中练篇章，望考生认真阅读。

2015考研英语阅读集中练：The Oppenheimers

　　The Oppenheimers have been in the diamond business for more than a century, includingover 80 years with De Beers.

　　Nicky's grandfather Ernest settled in South Africa in 1902, having been posted to thediamond-boom town of Kimberley at the age of 22 as an agent for a London-based firm ofgem traders.

　　By 1917 he had set up his own mining company, Anglo American.

　　A few years later he won control of De Beers, a diamond miner that had been founded in1880 by Cecil Rhodes, a British-born colonialist.

　　By the time Rhodes died in 1902, De Beers controlled 90% of the world's diamondproduction.

　　Rhodes's immense fortune still pays for people like Bill Clinton to study at Oxford.

　　Since 1929, when Sir Ernest (knighted for war services in 1921) took over as chairman, theOppenheimers have led De Beers almost without interruption, massaging the price ofdiamonds by hoarding them and occasionally selling part of the firm's stockpile.

　　The family has wielded political influence, too, mostly bankrolling liberal causes.

　　Both Ernest and his son Harry served in South Africa's parliament: Ernest for 14 years in therun-up to the second world war, and Harry for nine years as a member of the anti-apartheidopposition.

　　Of late, however, the family's influence has waned.

　　Some wonder whether Nicky and his son Jonathan have the same drive and acumen as theirswashbuckling forebears.

　　And Anglo American, the firm their family founded (and in which it now has a stake of 2%),moved its headquarters to London in 1999.

　　Nicky Oppenheimer insists that the family will stay connected with South Africa: they are stillbased in Johannesburg.

　　What will the Oppenheimers do with their new pile of cash?

　　The deal will take months to complete, so they have time to ponder.

　　Under its terms, they are barred from dabbling in diamonds for two years. But otherpossibilities abound.

　　The family has two investment arms. One, called Stockdale Street Capital, invests largely inmedium-sized firms in South Africa.

　　The other, Tana Africa Capital, is a joint venture with Singapore's sovereign-wealth fund,Temasek, and invests in the rest of Africa.

　　Among other things, it holds a stake in a Nigerian firm that sells powdered milk, and it plansto build up five to ten substantial firms over the next decade.

　　At the moment, Tana is focused on fast-moving consumer goods and agriculture, and to alesser extent on building materials, health and education.

温馨提示：10月10日，本周五是考研正式报名开始，希望广大应往届考生提前做好准备。

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