资料：（一）

Insurance is the sharing of risks, Nearly everyone is exposed to risk of some sort. The house owner, for example, knows that his property can be damaged by fire, the ship owner knows that his vessel may be lost at sea；the breadwinner knows that he may die at an early age and leave his family the poorer. On the other hand, not every house is damaged by fire nor every vessel lost at sea. If these persons each put a small sum of money into a pool, there will be enough to meet the needs of the few who do suffer loss, In other words, the losses of the few are met from the contributions of the money. This is the basis of insurance, Those who pay the contribution are known as “insured”and those who administer the pool of contributions as ”insurers”.

Not all risks can be covered by insurance. Broadly speaking, the ordinary risks of business and speculation cannot be covered. The risk that buyers will not buy goods at the prices offered is not of a kind that can be statistically estimated, and risks can only be insured against if they can be so estimated.

The legal basis of all insurance is the “policy”. This is a printed form of contract. It states that in return for the regular payment by the insured of a certain sum of money, called the “premium”, which is usually paid every year, the insurer will pay a sum of money or compensation for loss, if the risk actually happens. The wording of policies, particularly in marine insurance, often seems very old-fashioned, but there is a sound reason of this. Over a large number of years, many law cases have been brought to clear up the meanings of doubtful phrases in policies. The law courts have given these phrases a definite and indisputable meaning, and to avoid future disputes the phrases have continued to be used in polices even when they have passed out of normal use in speech.

Old-fashioned wording is sometimes used in insurance policies because______.

• A.law courts have decided not to use fashionable words
• B.it is widely accepted by all the insured
• C.it enables ordinary people to understand it easily
• D.the meaning of such wording has been agreed upon