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.

　　51. According to those who support mergers railway monopoly is unlikely because

　　[A] cost reduction is based on competition.

　　[B] services call for cross-trade coordination.

　　[C] outside competitors will continue to exist.

　　[D] shippers will have the railway by the throat.

　　[答案] C

　　[解题思路]

　　本题的对应信息为第二段，其中该段第二句话说“Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks”(他们认为，在卡车运输的激烈竞争面前，垄断的威胁已经不复存在)。因此，支持铁路公司合并的人们认为来自卡车运输的竞争会阻止铁路垄断的形成，因此只有C选项符合题意，其中“outside competition”指的就是“competition from trucks”。对于A选项，尽管该段第一句提到了“Supporters of the new super systems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial cost reductions and better coordinated service”(组建超大型铁路集团的支持者们认为，兼并将带来成本的大幅降低，提高协调服务)，但并没有提到成本降低与竞争的关系。B选项的“cross-trade coordination”在原文没有提及。D选项针对的是该段最后一句“But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat”(但许多客户却抱怨说，对于依赖长途运输的大宗商品如煤炭、化学制品和粮食来说，由于公路运输花费太大，因此铁路公司“卡住了他们的脖子”)，但却恰恰颠倒了原句的主语和宾语，具有很强的干扰性。

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