2003年考研英语阅读理解PartAText3Text3.PDFVIP

新东方《考研英语历年真题详解及复习指南》 2003 年考研英语阅读理解 Part A Text 3 Text 3 ①In recent years, railroads have been combining with each other, merging into supersystems, causing heightened concerns about monopoly. ②As recently as 1995, the top four railroads accounted for under 70 percent of the total ton-miles moved by rails. ③Next year, after a series of mergers is completed, just four railroads will control well over 90 percent of all the freight moved by major rail carriers. ①Supporters of the new supersystems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial cost reductions and better coordinated service. ②Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks. ③But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat. ①The vast consolidation within the rail industry means that most shippers are served by only one rail company. ②Railroads typically charge such “captive” shippers 20 to 30 percent more than they do when another railroad is competing for the business. ③Shippers who feel they are being overcharged have the right to appeal to the federal government’s Surface Transportation Board for rate relief, but the process is expensive, time-consuming, and will work only in truly extreme cases. ①Railroads justify rate discrimination against captive shippers on the grounds that in the long run it reduces everyone’s cost. ②If railroads charged all customers the same average rate, they argue, shippers who have the option of switching to trucks or other forms of transportation would do so, leaving remaining customers to shoulder the cost of keeping up the line. ③It’s a theory to which many e