①A history of long and effortless success can be a dreadful handicap, but, if properly handled, it may become a driving force.②When the United States entered just such a glowing period after the end of the Second World War, it had a market eight times larger than any competitor，giving its industries unparalleled economies of scale.③Its scientists were the worlds best；its workers the most skilled.④1America and Americans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the Europeans and Asians whose economies the war had destroyed.

        ①It was inevitable that this primacy should have narrowed as other countries grew richer.②Just as inevitably, the retreat from predominance proved painful.③By the mid-1980s Americans had found themselves at a loss over their fading industrial competitiveness.④Some huge American industries, such as consumer electronics, had shrunk or vanished in the face of foreign competition.⑤By 1987 there was only one American television maker left, Zenith.⑥(Now there is none: Zenith was bought by South Korea's LG Electronics in July.)⑦(12) Foreign-made cars and textiles were sweeping into the domestic market. America's machine-tool industry was on the ropes.③For 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.

       ①All of this caused a crisis of confidence.② Americans stopped taking prosperity for granted.③They began to believe that their way of doing business was failing, and that their incomes would therefore shortly begin to fall as well.④The mid-1980s brought one inquiry afteranother into the causes of America's industrial decline.⑤ Their sometimes sensational findings were filled with warnings about the growing competition from overseas.

         ①How things have changed!②In 1995 the United States can look back on five years of solid growth while Japan has been struggling.③(14) Few Americans attribute this solely to such obvious causes as a devalued dollar or the turning of the business cycle.④Self-doubt has yieldedto blind pride.⑤"American industry has changed its structure, has gone on a diet, has learnt to be more quick-witted,"according to Richard Cavanaugh, executive dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.⑥"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.⑦ 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."

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一、文章结构分析

          本文题材涉及美国经济。全文通过描述二战后到90年代美国经济发展所经历的“兴旺

——衰退一—复兴”三个阶段，论证了作者在文章首句阐明的观点。考生应根据时间发展顺序这一论述主线来把握文章的脉络。

           第一段首句：阐述作者的观点。第一段②句至段木：描述二战后美国毫不费力就取得了经济霸主地位及其原因。

           第二至三段：描述80年代美国经济霸主地位的丧失及其影响。第二段使用举例论证法加以证明。第三段分析影响，即美国作出了反思和调整。

            第四段：描述90年代美国经济的复苏及随之而来的盲目乐观情绪。该段最后引用一些专家的话来证明这种盲目乐观的存在。

11.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

11.二战后美国取得霸主地位是由于。

[A]它为实现这一目标付出了艰辛的努力

[B]其国内市场比以前大八倍

[C]战争摧毁了大多数潜在竞争对手的经济

[D]空前规模的劳动力促进了其经济的发展

12.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

12.20世纪80年代美国丧失了世界经济霸主地位，可以被事实证明。

[A]电视产业已萎缩到国内市场

[B]半导体行业已被外国公司接管

[C]机床制造业已自取灭亡了

[D]汽车工业失去了部分国内市场

13.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]Along history of success may pave the way for further development.

13.从文章中可以推出什么？

[A]在自我怀疑与盲目骄傲之间来回转变是人的本性。

[B]激烈竞争有可能促进经济发展。

[C]经济复苏取决于国际合作。

[D]持续成功的历史可能为进一步的发展铺平道路。

14.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

14.作者似乎认为美国20世纪90年代的经济复苏可以被归结为。

[A]经济的周期性变化

[B]产业改组

[C]企业管理的改善

[D]教育的成功

二、核心词汇与超纲词汇

①.at a loss困惑，不知所措

例：I'm at a loss what to do next.我对下一步做什么心里没谱。

②.casualty n.

1.[C]（事故或战斗中的）伤亡人员

*2.[C]（某特定事件或情况造成的）受害者，损坏物

例：Small shops have been a casualty of the recession.小商店在经济萧条中深受其害。

3.[U]急救室，急诊室

③.fade 

vi.*1.to gradually disappear 逐渐消失

例：Her beauty has faded a little.她的美貌已有点失色。

2.to become weaker physically（身体）变得虚弱（尤指因此导致重病或死亡）

vt.&vi.（使）褪色；（使）失去光泽

例：The sun had faded the curtains.太阳把窗帘晒得褪了色。

④.glowing a.

1.发红光的，白热的

2.热烈赞扬的，热情洋溢的，

例：a glowing account/report热情洋溢的叙述/报道

*3.光明的，辉煌的；

glow v.发热，发光，发红 n.光亮，光辉

⑤.handicap

vt.give or be a disadvantage to sb/sth对（某人、某物）设置不利条件；被施加不利条件例：

be handicapped by a lack of education 因文化水平低而吃亏

n.[c]

1.（由于受到损坏而产生的身体或智力上的）残障，残疾

*2.障碍，不利条件

例：Illiteracy is a serious handicap in life.不能读写是生活中的严重障碍。

3.（比赛或竞赛中加给强手的）不利条件（以示公平）

例：She had a handicap of 7 in golf.她在高尔夫球比赛中让了7杆。

⑥.on the ropes炭炭可危，即将灭亡，处于困境

⑦.predominance n.优势，主导地位；

predominant a.占优势的；主要的；突出的（predominance  over）

⑧.quick-witted a.机敏的，富于机智的

⑨.retreat 

n./vi.

1.[U]（承诺的）撤回，（立场的）改变，放弃

例：a retreat from hard-line policies放弃强硬政策

*2.[C，U]a movement away from a place or an enemy because of danger or defeat 撤退，退却，撤离

例：Napoleon's retreat from Moscow拿破仑从莫斯科的撤退

3.[C]（对某个环境的）逃避，躲避，隐退

⑩.shrink 

vt.&vi.

1.（使）（衣物）缩水

*2.（使）（数量、体积或价值）变小，减少，缩小

例：The number of students has shrunk from 120 to 70.学生人数已从120减至70人。

vi.（尤指因恐惧而）退缩，畏缩

例：I will not shrink from my duties.我不会逃避责任。

⑩①.take for granted 认为是理所当然的

1.take it for granted（that…）认为……是理所当然

*2.take sb/sth for granted（因习以为常）对……不重视，（因视为当然而）不把……当回事例：We take having an endless supply of clean water for granted.我们想当然地认为洁净水的供应无穷无尽而不予以珍惜。

⑩②.think-tank n.智囊团，思想库

⑩③.yield to

1. to stop resisting屈服，让步

例：He reluctantly yielded to their demands.他不情愿地屈从于他们的要求。

*2.to be replaced by 被……取代

例：Barges yielded to road vehicles for transporting goods.在货物运输方面，驳船让位给了公路车辆。

三、阅读答案：C D B A

四、全文翻译：

       一段毫不费力就可以获得持久成功的历史可能成为一种可怕的障碍，但若处理得当，它也有可能转化为一种推动力。（句式1）二战结束后，美国恰好进入了这样的一段辉煌时期，当时，它拥有比任何竞争者大八倍的市场，使其产业经济达到了前所未有的规模。（句式2）它已拥有世界上最优秀的科学家和技术最娴熟的工人。美国的国富民强是那些经济遭到战争破坏的欧亚诸国做梦也无法想像的。

       随着其他国家日益强盛，美国的这一领先优势逐渐缩小，这是不可避免的。领先优势的丧失同样不可避免地令人感到痛苦。到了80年代中期，面对其日益衰退的产业竞争力，美国人感到不知所措。面对国外竞争，一些大型的美国产业，如消费电子业，已经萎缩或倒闭。到1987年，美国只剩下Zenith这一家电视生产商（现在一家也没有了：Zenith已于7月被韩国LG电器公司收购）。外国制造的汽车和纺织品正在大举进入美国国内市场。美国的机床产业也发炭可危。半导体是美国人发明的，并在计算机新时代处于核心地位，但有一段时间，半导体制造业似乎将要成为下一个“受害者”。（句式3）

       所有这一切引发了一场信心危机。美国不再视繁荣为理所当然之事。他们开始相信自己的商业经营方式不灵了，也相信不久他们的收入会因此而下降。80年代中期，人们不断地探究美国产业衰退的原因。偶尔一些耸人听闻的发现中充满着对海外竞争压力日益增长的警告之词。

       情况变化尤为神速！1995年，当日本还在奋力挣扎的时候，美国却可以对五年的稳固发展作一回顾了。很少有美国人将此仅仅归因于美元贬值或经济的周期循环这些显而易见的原因。于是，自我怀疑被盲目乐观所取代。用哈佛大学肯尼迪管理学院行政院长理查德·卡佛纳的话说就是：“美国产业已经调整了其结构，进行了精简，反应也更敏捷了”。（句式4）华盛顿特区的智囊团——卡托研究院的史蒂芬·莫尔也说：“我们的企业正在提高生产率，作为一个美国人，我感到自豪。”哈佛商学院的威廉·萨尔曼相信人们回顾这段时期时，将把它视为“美国企业管理的黄金时代”。