单选题
A history of long and effortless success can be a
dreadful handicap, but, if properly handled, it may become a driving force. When
the United States entered just such a glowing period after the end of the Second
World War, it had a market eight ties larger than any competitor, giving its
industries unparalleled economies of scale. Its scientists were the worlds best,
its workers the most skilled. America and Americans were prosperous beyond the
dreams of the Europeans and Asians whose economies the war had
destroyed. It was inevitable that this primacy should have
narrowed as other countries grew richer. Just as inevitably, the retreat from
predominance proved painful. By the mid-1980s Americans had found themselves at
a loss over their fading industrial competitiveness. Some huge American
industries, such as consumer electronics, had shrank or vanished in the face of
foreign competition. By 1987 there was only one American television maker left,
Zenith. Now there is none: Zenith was bought by South Koreas LG Electronics in
July. Foreign-made cars and textiles were sweeping into the domestic market
Americas machine-tool industry was on the ropes. For a while it looked as though
the making of semiconductors, which America had 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 another into the causes of Americas industrial
decline. Their sometimes sensational findings were filled with warnings about
the growing 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 its structure, has gone
on a diet, has learnt to be more quick-witted," according to Richard
Cavanagh, executive dean of Harvards Kennedy School of Government, "It makes me
proud to be an American just to see how our businesses are improving their
productivity, says Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute, a think-tank in
Washington, DC. And William Sahlman of the Harvard Business school believes that
people will look back on this period as "a golden age of business management in
the United States."
单选题
The U.S. achieved its predominance after World War Ⅱ because ______.
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 potential competitors
D. the unparalleled size of its workforce had given an impetus to its
economy
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】第一段的末尾“America and Americans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the Europeans and Asians whose economies the war had destroyed”可以得出[C]是美国在战后达到繁荣的原因。
单选题
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
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】文章中提到“Foreign-made...on the ropes”即国外制造的汽车和纺织品横扫国内市场，美国的机器制造业已经危在旦夕。由此可知，汽车制造业已经失去了部分的国内市场，故应选[D]。
单选题
What does the phrase" on the ropes" ( L7, Para2 ) mean?
A. For sale.
B. Be defeated completely.
C. Lose reputations.
D. The end of one's glory.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】这是一道细节题，考查对短语在特定语境中的理解。解析见上题。故应选[D]。
单选题
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
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】文章在最后一段提到“Few Americans attribute this solely to such obvious causes as a devalued dollar or the turning of the business cycle”’。说明作者认为应当将其归结于美元的贬值或者是机警的周期循环。所以[A]为正确选项。
单选题
Most Americans think that solid growth in 1990s can be attributed to
the fact that _____.
A. American industries have optimized structure to meet new demands
B. US businesses have improved productivity
C. US businesses enjoy better management than their overseas rivals