考研英语阅读理解2000年真题解析_新浪教育

考研英语阅读理解2000年真题解析

http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/08/19 13:19 双博士丛书

　　A history of long and effortless success can be a dreadful handicap, but, if properly handled, it may become a driving force. When theUnited States entered just such a glowing period after the end of Second World War, it had a market eighttimes larger than any competitor, giving its industries unparalleled economies of scale. Its scientists were the world's best, its workers the most skilled. America and Americans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the Eu

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ropeans and Asians whose economies the war had destroyed.

　　It was inevitable that this primacy should have narrowed as other countries grewricher. Just as inevitably, the retreat from predominance proved painful. By the mid1980s Americans had found themselves at a loss over their fading industrialcompetitiveness. Some huge American industries, such as consumer electronics, had shrunk or vanished in the face of foreign competition. By 1987 there was onlyone American television maker left, Zenith. (Now there is none: Zenith was bought by South Korea's LG Electronics in July.) Foreignmade cars and textiles were sweepingsintosthe domestic market. America's machinetool industry was on theropes. For a while it looked as though the making of semiconductors, which America had invented and which sat at the heart of the new computer age, was going to be the next casualty.

　　All of this caused a crisis of confidence. Americans stopped taking prosperity for granted. They began to believe that their way of doing business was failing, and that their incomes would therefore shortly begin to fall as well. The mid1980s brought one inquiry after anothersintosthe causes of America's industrial decline. Their sometimes sensational findings were filled with warnings about thegrowing competition from overseas.

　　How things have changed! In 1995 the United States can look back on five years of solid growth while Japan has been struggling. Few Americans attribute this solely to such obvious causes as a devalued dollar or the turning of the business cycle. Selfdoubt has yielded to blind pride.“American industry has changed itsstructure, has gone on a diet, has learnt to be more quickwitted,”according to Richard Cavanagh, executive dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

　　“It makes me proud to be an American just to see how our businesses are improvingtheir productivity,”says Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute, a thinktank inWashington, D.C. And William Sahlman of the Harvard Business School believes thatpeople will look back on this period as“a golden age of business management in the United States.”

　　51.The U.S. achieved its predominance after World WarⅡbecause .

　　A. it had made painstaking efforts towards this goal

　　B. its domestic market was eight times larger than before

　　C. the war had destroyed the economies of most potentialcompetitors

　　D. the unparalleled size of its workforce had given an impetus to its economy

　　52.The loss of U.S. predominance in the world economy in the 1980s is manifested in the fact that the American .

　　A. TV industry had withdrawn to its domestic market

　　B. semiconductor industry had been taken over by foreign enterprises

　　C. machinetool industry had collapsed after suicidal actions

　　D. auto industry had lost part of its domestic market

　　53.What can be inferred from the passage?

　　A. It is human nature to shift between selfdoubt and blind pride.

　　B. Intense competition may contribute to economic progress.

　　C. The revival of the economy depends on international cooperation.

　　D. A long history of success may pave the way for further development.

　　54.The author seems to believe the revival of the U.S. economy in the 1990s can be attributed to the .

　　A. turning of the business cycle

　　B. restructuring of industry

　　C. improved business management

　　D. success in education

　　51. C细节理解题。本题属以...because提

　　问方式，答案见文中第二段倒数第四句。A美国为达到这一目标付出了艰苦的努力，文章中没有提到这样的内容。B美国国内市场比其战前市场增加了八倍，与文章内容不符。文章说的是美国市场比它的竞争者大八倍。文章第一段的结尾是答对本题的关键：America and Americans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the Europeans and Asians whose economies the war had destroyed.由此可见，美国和美国人的繁荣主要是因为欧洲和亚洲的经济在战争中遭到了严重的破坏。D美国巨大的劳动力资源对推动经济起到了很大作用，文章中没有相关内容。

　　52. D细节推断题。问题问的是美国经济在20世纪80年代失去了主导地位主要表现在什么方面。有很多考生选择了A，但是美国电视工业撤回了国内市场并不是80年代的事情，根据文章内容，美国的Zenith公司是最近才被韩国的LG收购的。C机器工具工业在经历了自杀性行为之后全面崩溃，文章中并没有提到。America's machinetool industry was on the ropes.意为“处于令人心惊胆战的状况中。”只有选项D，汽车工业已经失去了国内的一部分市场，是最符合原意的表述：Foreignmade cars and textiles were sweepingsintosthe domestic market.

　　53. B推理判断题。外国企业大举进入、挤占美国的国内市场，美国经济优势丧失(第二段)。在这种情况下，美国开始反思美国经济衰退的各种原因(第三段)。经过一番反思和对衰退原因的分析论证，美国经济开始复苏并于20世纪90年代初有了稳步的发展(第三段)。由此我们可以推断，美国的经济是在竞争的压力下才得到发展的。故本题应选择B“激烈的竞争促进了经济的发展”。作者在文中的第四段第二、四句中写道：“当1995年美国人回首过去5年经济稳步增长时，几乎没有几个美国人将经济的增长仅仅归因于一些诸如美元贬值或经济发的周期性等一些显而易见的因素。自我怀疑已经让位于盲目自大。”由此可见，这里说的自我怀疑和盲目自大是美国人的特点，并非人类普遍共有的特点。因此A“在自我怀疑和盲目自大之间左右摇摆是人的本性”不是本题的答案。yield to(=give way to)“给……让步，让路”。作者在文中并未谈及美国通过与其他国家合作从而促进其经济发展的问题，因而C“经济的复苏取决于国际间的合作”也不是正确的选择。作者在第一段第一句中这样写道：“长期的、未经努力而成功的历史也许会成为一个可怕的羁绊，但如果处理得当，它也许会成为一个动力。”D“长期成功的历史也许能为进一步的发展铺平道路”与这一句的意思不符。

　　54. A细节理解题。作者在第四段第三句中写道：“几乎没有几个美国人将经济的增长仅仅归因于美元贬值或经济发展的周期性等一些显而易见的因素。”作者似乎认为，美国的经济之所以能够复苏，其中的部分原因是美元贬值或经济具有周期性发展的特点。故本题应选择A“经济的周期性发展”。B“调整产业结构”、C“提高企业管理水平”、D“教育成就”并非作者的观点，而是作者在论证美国人盲目自大的心态时所列举的各种言论。

　　译文

　　拥有一段不需努力而成功的历史有可能成为一种可怕的不利条件，但如果处理得恰到好处，也许会成为一种动力。二战结束后，美国恰恰进入了这样一段辉煌的岁月，其市场是任何竞争者的八倍，这为其工业经济提供了前所未有的规模。美国科学家是世界上一流的，其工人也是技术最娴熟的。美国国富民强是那些经济被战争摧毁的欧亚诸国做梦也未想到的。

　　随着其他国家的日益强盛，(美国)这种世界之首的位置不可避免地将逐渐下降。优势逐渐失去的感觉令人痛苦也在所难免。到20世纪80年代中期，美国人对日渐衰退的工业竞争能力感到不知所措。面对国外的竞争，一些诸如消费电子产品之类的大工业已经萎缩或渐渐消失。到1987年，只剩下Zenith一家电视制造商。(现在一家也没有了：Zenith于当年7月被韩国LG电器公司收购。)外国制造的轿车和纺织品正在神气十足地涌入国内市场。美国机床工业处于困境之中。美国发明的对计算机举足轻重的半导体制造业，有段时期也似乎要濒临崩溃。

　　所有这一切引发了一种信任危机。美国人不再把繁荣看成是理所当然的事。他们开始相信自己缺乏经营之道，他们相信他们的收入不久也会下降。20世纪80年代中期，对美国工业下滑的原因进行了一次又一次的调查。惊人的发现不时地告诫他们，海外的竞争实力越来越强大。

　　情况变化多快呀!1995年当日本还在奋力拼搏的时候，美国就可以回顾这五年的稳固发展的历程了。几乎没有一个美国人把这一巨变完全归功于美元贬值及商业周期的循环这些显而易见的原因。人们不再自我怀疑，取而代之的是盲目的自大。用哈佛大学肯尼迪管理学院行政院长理查德-卡佛纳的话说：“美国工业改变了结构，消除了臃肿，学会了明智。”华盛顿特区的智囊团——卡托研究院的斯蒂芬-莫尔说：“看到我们的企业在提高生产率，作为一个美国人我感到自豪。”哈佛商学院的威廉-萨尔曼认为人们将会把这段时间作为美国企业管理的黄金时代来回顾。

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