The world is goingthrough the biggest wave of mergers and acquisitions ever witnessed. Theprocess sweeps from hyperactive America to Europe and reaches the emergingcountries with unsurpassed might. Many in these countries are looking at thisprocess and worrying: “Won't the wave of business concentration turn into an uncontrollableanti-competitive force?"
There's no question that the big are getting bigger and morepowerful. Multinational corporations accounted for less than 20% ofinternational trade in 1982. Today the figure is more than 25% and growingrapidly. International affiliates account for a fast-growing segment ofproduction in economies that open up and welcome foreign investment. InArgentina, for instance, after the reforms of the early 1990s, multinationalswent from 43% to almost 70% of the industrial production of the 200 largestfirms. This phenomenon has created serious concerns over the role of smallereconomic firms, of national businessmen and over the ultimate stability of theworld economy。
I believe that the most important forces behind the massive M&Awave are the same that underlie the globalization process: fallingtransportation and communication costs, lower trade and investment barriers andenlarged markets that require enlarged operations capable of meeting customers'demands. All these are beneficial, not detrimental, to consumers. Asproductivity grows, the world's wealth increases。
Examples of benefits or costs of the current concentration wave arescanty. Yet it is hard to imagine that the merger of a few oil firms todaycould re-create the same threats to competition that were feared nearly acentury ago in the U.S., when the Standard Oil trust was broken up. The mergersof telecom companies, such as WorldCom, hardly seem to bring higher prices forconsumers or a reduction in the pace of technical progress. On the contrary,the price of communications is coming down fast. In cars, too, concentration isincreasing—witness Daimler and Chrysler, Renault and Nissan—but it doesnot appear that consumers are being hurt。
Yet the fact remains that the merger movement must be watched. Afew weeks ago, Alan Greenspan warned against the megamergers in the bankingindustry. Who is going to supervise, regulate and operate as lender of lastresort with the gigantic banks that are being created? Won't multinationalsshift production from one place to another when a nation gets too strict aboutinfringements to fair competition? And should one country take upon itself therole of“defending competition" on issues that affect many othernations, as in the U.S. vs. Microsoft case?
1. 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
2. According to the author, one of the driving forces behindM&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
3. 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
4. Toward the new business wave, the writer's attitude can be saidto be _________。
[A]optimistic
[B]objective
[C]pessimistic
[D]biased
名師解析
1. 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“世界正在經歷一場前所未有的的的并購浪潮。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]。
2. According to the author, one of the driving forces behindM&A wave is _______。
根據(jù)本文作者，在合并浪潮背后的一個驅動力是______。
[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，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。
3. 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對競爭造成巨大威脅。
4. Toward the new business wave, the writer’s attitudecan 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論這個問題的，因此我們可以判斷作者的態(tài)度應該是客觀的。
難句解析：
1. This phenomenon has created serious concerns over the role ofsmaller economic firms, of national businessmen and over the ultimate stabilityof the world economy。
【結構分析】本題的主干是“This phenomenon has created serious concerns”，兩個“over”引導介賓短語，是并列的成分，做“concern”的定語。而“of smaller economic firms”與“of nationalbusinessmen”都是第一個“role”的定語。
2. I believe that the most important forces behind the massiveM&A wave are the same that underlie the globalization process: fallingtransportation and communication costs, lower trade and investment barriers andenlarged markets that require enlarged operations capable of meeting customers’ demands。
【結構分析】本句主句是“I believe ”，“that”引導一個賓語從句，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”引導定語從句修飾“markets”，“capable ofmeeting customers' demands”是“operations”的定語。
全文翻譯：
世界正在經歷一場前所未有的的的并購浪潮。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。這些國家的許多人面對這個浪潮，倍感憂慮：“商業(yè)集中的浪潮會不會演變成一股無法控制的反競爭的力量?”
無疑，大企業(yè)正在變得更大、更強。1982年，跨國公司占國際貿易不到20%的份額。而如今，這個數(shù)字已經超過25%，并且還在迅速上升。在那些對外開放并鼓勵外資的經濟體中，國際分公司在生產中也正占據(jù)一個越來越大的份額。比如，在阿根廷，經過90年代初的改革之后，跨國公司在200家大型企業(yè)的工業(yè)生產中從43%增加到幾乎70%。這個現(xiàn)象使人們開始重視小型企業(yè)和民族資本的作用以及世界經濟的最終穩(wěn)定。
我認為，日趨下降的運輸與通訊費用，較低的貿易與投資壁壘，以及市場的擴大和為滿足市場需求而進行的擴大生產，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。所有這些對消費者來說都是有益而無害的。隨著生產力的提高，世界的財富也在增長。
這股合并浪潮是帶來益處還是弊端的實例還很少。但是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，人們當時很害怕這家公司，結果導致了它最終的解散。像世通這樣的通訊公司的合并似乎不會抬高消費價格，或者減緩技術進步的速度，與之相反的是通信的價格的快速下降。汽車行業(yè)的合并也同樣在增加——瞧瞧戴姆勒與克萊斯勒，雷諾與尼桑的合并——但看起來消費者并未受到傷害。
但是有一個事實，那就是合并必須受到密切關注。就在幾星期以前，格林斯潘對銀行業(yè)的大規(guī)模合并發(fā)出了警告。正在創(chuàng)建的這樣的巨大的銀行一旦出現(xiàn)，誰來充當最終的借貸者，誰來發(fā)揮監(jiān)督、規(guī)范和運作的作用呢?當一個國家對破壞公平競爭的行為的處理過于嚴厲時，跨國公司會不會把它們的生產從一地轉到另一地呢?在那些將會影響許多其他國家的問題上，一個國家是否應該發(fā)揮“保護競爭”的作用，就如同美國政府對微軟公司案例那樣?
