Many captive shippers also worry they will soon be his with a round of huge rate increases. The railroad industry as a whole, despite its brightening fortuning fortunes. still does not earn enough to cover the cost of the capital it must invest to keep up with its surging traffic. Yet railroads continue to borrow billions to acquire one another, with Wall Street cheering them on. Consider the .2 billion bid by Norfolk Southern and CSX to acquire Conrail this year. Conrail's net railway operating income in 1996 was just million, less than half of the carrying costs of the transaction. Who's going to pay for the rest of the bill? Many captive shippers fear that they will, as Norfolk Southern and CSX increase their grip on the market.

　　54.The word “arbiters”(line 7,paragraph 4)most probably refers to those

　　[A] who work as coordinators.

　　[B] who function as judges.

　　[C] who supervise transactions.

　　[D] who determine the price.

　　[答案] B

　　[解题思路]

　　本题的对应信息为第四段的最后一句话““Do we really want railroads to be the arbiters of who wins and who loses in the marketplace?” asks Martin Bercovici, a Washington lawyer who frequently represents shipper”(“我们是否真的想让铁路公司成为在市场上决定谁败谁荣的裁决者呢？”马丁•贝科维奇问道，他是一位常常代表铁路客户的华盛顿律师)。其中可以看出arbiter的功能在于决定who wins and who loses，自然就是一个类似于法官的裁判角色，因此B为正确答案。实际上arbiter这个词的意思是“仲裁者”。A选项的意思是“协调员”，这种人不能起到决定输赢的作用，只进行协调，因而是错误选型。而C、D选项“交易监督员”和“价格决定者”更是与原句无关，可以排除。

　　[题目译文]

　　“arbiters”(第四段第七行)这个词的意思可能指那些 。

　　[A] 做协调工作的人

　　[B] 起法官作用的人

　　[C] 监督交易的人

　　[D] 决定价格的人

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