Regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on Friday and seized its deposits(存款) in the largest U.S. banking failure since the 2008 financial crisis and the second-largest ever. Regulators announced the takeover after what was effectively a run on the bank. Worried that SVB wouldn’t be able to meet redemption(赎回) requests, depositors rushed to withdraw their money. It was a collapse that sent shock waves across the banking industry, harming shares of other smaller and regional lenders.

▲1._________              

Based in Santa Clara, Calif., SVB’s clients included venture capital firms and startups, and it became a big player in the tech sector, successfully competing with bigger-name banks. According to Jared Shaw, a senior analyst, SVB were able to provide all the products and services any of these advanced tech companies, would need.” But it remained little known outside of tech circles — until this week.

▲2. _________             

Silicon Valley’s business boomed as tech companies did well during the COVID pandemic, and SVB had about $174 billion in deposits. But in recent months, many of SVB’s clients had been withdrawing money at a time when the tech sector as a whole has been suffering. SVB said earlier this week, that in order to make good on(兑现) those withdrawals, it had to sell part of its bond holdings at a loss of $1.8 billion. As the Federal Reserve(美联邦储备系统) has greatly raised interest rates, and SVB noted it wanted to cut down its bond portfolio(债券投资组合) to avoid further losses. But that spooked the bank’s clients, who got worried about SVB’s capacity of normal growth and development, and then began to withdraw even more money from the bank — a textbook definition of a bank run.

▲3. _________             

The run on the bank caused concerns about the banking sector as a whole. On Thursday, shares of all kinds of lenders, including the big banks, fell. People feared that other lenders, especially smaller and regional ones, would suffer the similar problem and would struggle to meet the redemptions.

1.Why did SVB depositors rush to withdraw their money?

A They found some better regional lenders.

B SVB adopted sudden cut in interest rates.

C SVB sent shock waves across the banking industry.

D They feared they’d never get their money back.

解析：选D。D 细节理解题。根据第一段的“Worried that SVB wouldn’t be able to meet redemption requests, depositors rushed to withdraw their money. ”可知，由于担心硅谷银行无法满足储户的赎回要求，储户们纷纷提款。故选D。

2.What does the underlined word “spooked” probably mean?

A Encouraged.

B Frightened.

C Absorbed.

D Accused.

解析：选B。2.B词义猜测题。划线词所在句前文提到，硅谷银行为了兑现储户取款，不得不以18亿美元的损失出售其持有的部分债券；另外，它想甩卖其债券投资组合以减少进一步损失。结合划线部分后面的“who got worried about SVB’s capacity of normal growth and development, and then began to withdraw even more money from the bank”可知，储户们担心硅谷银行的生存能力，然后开始从银行提取更多的资金。由此可知，前文提到的决定吓坏了该银行的客户。故选B。

3.Which is the right order for ▲1, ▲2, and ▲3? ①What does this mean for other banks? ②Why is the bank in trouble now? ③What was Silicon Valley Bank?

A ①②③

B ①③②

C ③②①

D ②③①

解析：选C。C段落大意题。第二段主要介绍了硅谷银行的相关情况；第三段分析了美国硅谷银行倒闭的原因；第四段主要介绍了硅谷银行的倒闭可能对其他银行造成的影响。故选C。

4.In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A Entertainment.

B Finance.

C Fashion.

D Culture.

解析：选B。B推理判断题。本文围绕美国硅谷银行的突然倒闭展开，简要描述了硅谷银行破产关闭的原因及影响，是属于金融方面的内容。故选B。