歷年考研英語(yǔ)閱讀理解2001年04

[00:03.83]2001 Passage4 [00:06.05]The world is going through the biggest wave of mergers [00:08.96]and acquisitions ever witnessed. [00:11.59]The process sweeps from hyperactive America to Europe [00:15.52]and reaches the emerging countries with unsurpassed might. [00:20.45]Many in these countries are looking at [00:22.57]this process and worrying: [00:25.00]"Won't the wave of business concentration turn into [00:28.42]an uncontrollable anti-competitive force?" [00:32.85]There's no question that the big are getting bigger [00:36.08]and more powerful. [00:37.89]Multinational corporations accounted for less than [00:41.22]20% of international trade in 1982. [00:46.56]Today the figure is more than 25% and growing rapidly. [00:52.61]International affiliates account for [00:55.24]a fast-growing segment of production in economies [00:58.35]that open up and welcome foreign investment. [01:02.90]In Argentina, for instance, [01:05.10]after the reforms of the early 1990s, [01:08.33]multinationals went from 43% to almost 70% [01:13.27]of the industrial production of the 200 largest firms. [01:18.52]This phenomenon has created serious concerns [01:22.05]over the role of smaller economic firms, [01:25.40]of national businessmen and over the ultimate stability [01:29.42]of the world economy. [01:31.97]I believe that the most important forces behind [01:34.69]the massive M&A wave are the same [01:37.62]that underlie the globalization process: [01:40.85]falling transportation and communication costs, [01:44.43]lower trade and investment barriers [01:47.15]and enlarged markets that require enlarged [01:50.37]operations capable of meeting customers' demands. [01:55.03]All these are beneficial, not detrimental, to consumers. [01:59.44]As productivity grows, the world's wealth increases. [02:03.87]Examples of benefits or costs of [02:06.59]the current concentration wave are scanty. [02:09.72]Yet it is hard to imagine that the merger of [02:12.64]a few oil firms today [02:14.76]could re-create the same threats to competition [02:17.88]that were feared nearly a century ago in the U.S., [02:21.52]when the Standard Oil trust was broken up. [02:25.15]The mergers of telecom companies, [02:27.57]such as WorldCom, [02:29.08]hardly seem to bring higher prices for consumers [02:32.41]or a reduction in the pace of technical progress. [02:36.54]On the contrary, the price of communications [02:39.47]is coming down fast. [02:41.79]In cars, too, concentration is increasing [02:45.62]--witness Daimler and Chrysler, [02:48.44]Renault and Nissan--but it does not appear [02:51.77]that consumers are being hurt. [02:54.70]Yet the fact remains [02:56.11]that the merger movement must be watched. [02:58.83]A few weeks ago, Alan Greenspan warned against [03:01.95]the megamergers in the banking industry. [03:04.79]Who is going to supervise, [03:06.81]regulate and operate as lender of last resort with [03:11.04]the gigantic banks that are being created? [03:14.56]Won't multinationals shift production [03:16.79]from one place to another [03:19.01]when a nation gets too strict [03:20.72]about infringements to fair competition? [03:24.09]And should one country take upon itself [03:26.70]the role of "defending competition" on issues [03:29.32]that affect many other nations, [03:31.85]as in the U.S. vs. Microsoft case?

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