考研英语--2000-阅读及翻译.pdfVIP

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 worlds 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.　 一段长时间并且不费力而成功的历史可能成为 一种可怕的不利因素，但若处理得当，这种不利因 素也有可能转化为一种积极的 动力。二战结束后， 美国恰好进入了这样的一个辉煌时期，当时，它拥 有比任何竞争者大 8 倍的市场，这使其工业经济具 有前所未有的规模经济。美国的科学家是世上最优 秀的，它的工人是最富于技术的。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达 到的。 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 Koreas LG Electronics in July.) Foreign-made cars and textiles were sweeping into the domestic market. Americas machine-tool industry was on the ropes. 2. 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. 随着其他国家日益强盛，美国的这一优势地位 逐 下降是不可