Sandeen Mukerji was on his first visit to Thailand but would leave the “Land of
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Sandeen Mukerjiwas on his first visit to Thailand but would leave the “Land of Smiles” with afrown and an empty pocket.
A stone’s throwfrom the Grand Palace in Bangkok, the 26-year-old Canadian ran into a monk in arobe. The monk told him that the attraction he was hoping to visit had beenclosed.
The monk thenintroduced Mukerji to a jewellery store instead. On the way there, threedifferent people told him that it was the last day of a once-a-year, tax-freejewellery promotion to encourage tourism.
They said thattourists can make a lot of money by buying gems（宝石）in Thailand and selling them once at home.
Two hours later,Mukerji had spent US $ 1 250 on a set of almost worthless jewellery.
“The wholeprocess took me by surprise. They take advantage of your greed,” hesaid.
In fact, Mukerjiis just one of a huge number of tourists who are cheated by the promise ofmaking a fortune. The scam（诡计）brings Thailand more than US $ 10 million each year.
Although touristpolice stations have displayed posters to warn of the scam, many fresh-facedtourists still fall prey to the trick.
The police saythey receive 5～10 complaintsa day. Many more may not realize they have been cheated until they go backhome.
That authoritiessay that the jewellery scam is harmful to Thailand’s image（形象）, but getting rid of the cheatsis hard.
Sanit Miphan,head of the police, said the scam has been running for about 15 years but notone jewellery shop owner has been arrested.
The shopsusually open for two weeks and then close. They reopen and register under a newname. What’s more, overcharging（要价过高）itself is not breaking the law.
Yet, to keep thetourism business alive, the police said they would take action against any shopreceiving more than 10 complaints.
1. Sandeep Mukerjiwas cheated probably because of all the following except that_________.
A. he was young
B. he believedthat the monk wouldn’t cheat others
C. he had moreor less the wish to try his fortune
D. the cheatscam was too skillful to be found out
2. How many peopleat least together cheated Sandeen Mukerji?
A. Two.B. Three.
C. Four.D. Five.
3. Supposeeveryone who was cheated lost as much as Mukerji did, how many visitors toBankok would be cheated each year?
A. About 6000. B. About 8 000.
C. About 10000. D.More than 10 000.
4. Which of thefollowing statements is TRUE?
A. Thai touristpolice are carrying out their task very efficiently.
B. Themanagement of Thai tourist market is very strict.
C. Any shopreceiving complaints will be punished as seriously as possible.
D. It is hardfor the police to crack down the cheats efficiently partly because many cheats’deeds seem not to break the law.
5. The underlinephrase “take advantage of” probably means________.
A. find out B. look through
C. make useof D. are fond of
试题答案
答案：A;D;B;D;C
解析：| 1、从6、7两段可知Mukerji具有想发一笔横财的心理（C项对）。第六段第一句说明，骗子策划周密，令人防不胜防（D项对）。由和尚“当托”，正是利用大众对僧人的信任（B项不错）。所以答案为A。 2、包括和尚，路途中遇到的三个人以及商店老板。 3、Mukerji被骗了1 250美元；泰国每年从旅游者那里骗得的钱共为大约一千万美元。一千万除以一千二百五十，得数刚为8 000。 4、从倒数第2、3段可知，泰国的骗子15年来一直未得到遏制，原因之一就是很多人的行为表面上看去只是价格高低之争，并未触犯法律，所以很难给予制裁。 5、根据后面的“greed（贪婪）”，前面受骗的事实，可推知其意，即“利用”。
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