2000年考研英语阅读真题单词解析（考研1号读者原创）.doc

2000年考研英语阅读真题单词解析（考研1号读者原创） 2000年Text 1 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 times larger than any competitor, giving its industries unparalleled economies of scale. Its scientists were the world’s 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. effortless adj 容易的 不费力气的 dreadful adj 可怕的 糟糕透的 令人不快的 handicap n 障碍 不利条件 不利因素 vt 妨碍 阻碍 使不利 handled adj 有把手的 有把柄的 v 使用 负责 触摸 指挥（handle） driving force 驱动力 competitor n 竞争者 对手 unparalleled adj 无比的 无双的 空前未有的 economies of scale 规模经济 scale n 规模 比例 刻度 vt 测量 攀登 prosperous adj 繁荣的 姓王的 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 shrunk 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 Korea’s LG Electronics in July.) Foreign-made cars and textiles were sweeping into the domestic market. America’s machine-tool industry was on the ropes. For 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. inevitable adj 必然的 不可避免的 primacy n 首位 卓越 retreat vi 撤退 退避 predominance n 优势 主导地位 predominant adj 占优势的 主要的 突出的 competitiveness n 竞争力 at a loss 困惑 不知所措 consumer electronic 电子消费产品 shrunk v 收缩（shrink的过去分词） vanished v (vanish的过去