考研英語真題閱讀理解試題及名師解析(九)

The world is going through the biggest wave of mergers and acquisitions ever witnessed. The process sweeps from hyperactive America to Europe and reaches the emerging countries with unsurpassed might. Many in these countries are looking at this process and worrying: “Won't the wave of business concentration turn into an uncontrollable anti-competitive force?"

There's no question that the big are getting bigger and more powerful. Multinational corporations accounted for less than 20% of international trade in 1982. Today the figure is more than 25% and growing rapidly. International affiliates account for a fast-growing segment of production in economies that open up and welcome foreign investment. In Argentina, for instance, after the reforms of the early 1990s, multinationals went from 43% to almost 70% of the industrial production of the 200 largest firms. This phenomenon has created serious concerns over the role of smaller economic firms, of national businessmen and over the ultimate stability of the world economy。

I believe that the most important forces behind the massive M&A wave are the same that underlie the globalization process: falling transportation and communication costs, lower trade and investment barriers and enlarged markets that require enlarged operations capable of meeting customers' demands. All these are beneficial, not detrimental, to consumers. As productivity grows, the world's wealth increases。

Examples of benefits or costs of the current concentration wave are scanty. Yet it is hard to imagine that the merger of a few oil firms today could re-create the same threats to competition that were feared nearly a century ago in the U.S., when the Standard Oil trust was broken up. The mergers of telecom companies, such as WorldCom, hardly seem to bring higher prices for consumers or a reduction in the pace of technical progress. On the contrary, the price of communications is coming down fast. In cars, too, concentration is increasing—witness Daimler and Chrysler, Renault and Nissan—but it does not appear that consumers are being hurt。

Yet the fact remains that the merger movement must be watched. A few weeks ago, Alan Greenspan warned against the megamergers in the banking industry. Who is going to supervise, regulate and operate as lender of last resort with the gigantic banks that are being created? Won't multinationals shift production from one place to another when a nation gets too strict about infringements to fair competition? And should one country take upon itself the role of “defending competition" on issues that affect many other nations, as in the U.S. vs. Microsoft case?

33. What is the typical trend of businesses today?

[A]To take in more foreign funds

[B]To invest more abroad

[C]To combine and become bigger

[D]To trade with more countries

34. According to the author, one of the driving forces behind M&A wave is _________。

[A]the greater customer demands

[B]a surplus supply for the market

[C]a growing productivity

[D]the increase of the world's wealth

35. From paragraph 4 we can infer that _________。

[A]the increasing concentration is certain to hurt consumers

[B]WorldCom serves as a good example of both benefits and costs

[C]the costs of the globalization process are enormous

[D]the Standard Oil trust might have threatened competition

36. Toward the new business wave, the writer's attitude can be said to be _________。

[A]optimistic

[B]objective

[C]pessimistic

[D]biased

名師解析

33. What is the typical trend of businesses today?  今天的商業(yè)典型的發(fā)展趨勢是什么？

[A]To take in more foreign funds  吸收更多外資

[B]To invest more abroad  進行更多對外投資

[C]To combine and become bigger  合并做強

[D]To trade with more countries  與更多國家貿(mào)易

【答案】 C

【考點】 事實細節(jié)題。

【分析】 文章第一段中說“世界正在經(jīng)歷一場前所未有的最大的的并購浪潮。這個浪潮從異�；钴S的美國開始，橫掃歐洲，并以不可比擬的威力影響到正在崛起的國家”，因此可以判斷正確答案是[C]。

34. According to the author, one of the driving forces behind M&A wave is _______。

根據(jù)本文作者，在合并浪潮背后的一個驅(qū)動力是______。

[A]the greater customer demands  更大的消費需求

[B]a surplus supply for the market   對市場的剩余供給

[C]a growing productivity  日益增長的生產(chǎn)率

[D]the increase of the world’s wealth  世界財富的增長

【答案】 A

【考點】 事實細節(jié)題。

【分析】 根據(jù)“合并浪潮的推動力”可以定位到第三段。在作者看來，“日趨下降的運輸與通訊費用，較低的貿(mào)易與投資壁壘，以及市場的擴大和為滿足市場需求而進行的擴大生產(chǎn)，是推動這股巨大的并購浪潮的最主要的力量，也是推動全球化進程的力量”。將四個選項對比這三個因素，只有[A]包括了根據(jù)顧客的需要擴大市場這個因素。

35. From paragraph 4 we can infer that _____。

從第四段中我們可以推斷出_____。

[A] the increasing concentration is certain to hurt consumers

日益增長的集中肯定會損害消費者的利益

[B] WorldCom serves as a good example of both benefits and costs

世通就是一個合并利與弊的好例子

[C] the costs of the globalization process are enormous

全球化進程的成本很高

[D] the Standard Oil trust might have threatened competition

標準石油托拉斯或許已經(jīng)威脅到競爭

【答案】 D

【考點】 推斷題。

【分析】 [A]“日益增長的集中肯定會損害消費者的利益”與原文第四段第一句不符合，因為作者說“這股合并浪潮是帶來益處還是弊端的實例還很少”，因此很難說肯定會帶來損害。[B]提到“世通”，說是一個帶來利益和降低成本的好例子。這句說是“價格沒有隨著合并而提高”，并沒有提到價格降低問題，因此，合并雖然沒有傷害消費者，也沒有給他們帶來利益。[C]本段沒有涉及。[D]可以從文中“很難想像當今的幾個石油公司的合并能夠再次造成像100年前美國標準石油托拉斯對競爭形成的威脅”，這說明當年這個石油公司肯定曾經(jīng)對競爭造成巨大威脅。

36. Toward the new business wave, the writer’s attitude can be said to be _____。

作者看待新的商業(yè)浪潮的態(tài)度可以說是_______。

[A]optimistic 樂觀的      [B]objective 客觀的

[C]pessimistic  悲觀的    [D]biased  歧視的

【答案】 B

【考點】 作者態(tài)度題。

【分析】 本題考查考生是否了解作者的態(tài)度。文中作者提到了“合并”的益處，但是同時也在第四段中提到“我們必須警惕這樣的合并浪潮”。作者是從兩個方面來談?wù)撨@個問題的，因此我們可以判斷作者的態(tài)度應(yīng)該是客觀的。

難句解析：

1. This phenomenon has created serious concerns over the role of smaller economic firms, of national businessmen and over the ultimate stability of the world economy。

【結(jié)構(gòu)分析】 本題的主干是“This phenomenon has created serious concerns”，兩個“over”引導(dǎo)介賓短語，是并列的成分，做“concern”的定語。而“of smaller economic firms”與“of national businessmen”都是第一個“role”的定語。

2. I believe that the most important forces behind the massive M&A wave are the same that underlie the globalization process: falling transportation and communication costs, lower trade and investment barriers and enlarged markets that require enlarged operations capable of meeting customers’ demands。

【結(jié)構(gòu)分析】 本句主句是“I believe ”，“that”引導(dǎo)一個賓語從句，在這個賓語從句中，后面的“that”前面省略了“forces”，這個“that”引導(dǎo)一個定語從句，修飾這個省略的“forces”。冒號后面的部分是“the most important forces”的同位語，其中“markets”后面的“that”引導(dǎo)定語從句修飾“markets”，“capable of meeting customers' demands”是“operations”的定語。

全文翻譯：

世界正在經(jīng)歷一場前所未有的最大的的并購浪潮。這個浪潮從異常活躍的美國開始，橫掃歐洲，并以不可比擬的威力影響到正在崛起的國家。這些國家的許多人面對這個浪潮，倍感憂慮