[Reading Comprehension]
试题详情
文章:
| Line | Arboria is floundering in the global marketplace, |
| incurring devastating losses in market position and | |
| profits. The problem is not Arboria's products, but | |
| Arboria's trade policy. Arboria faces the prospect | |
| (5) | of continuing economic loss until Arborian business |
| and political leaders recognize the fundamental | |
| differences between Arborian and foreign economic | |
| systems. Today the key trade issue is not free trade | |
| versus protectionism but diminishing trade versus | |
| (10) | expanding trade. |
| Arboria is operating with an obsolete trade policy, | |
| an artifact of the mid-1940s when Arboria and | |
| Whorfland dominated the global economy, tariffs | |
| were the principal obstacle to trade, and Arborian | |
| (15) | supremacy was uncontested in virtually all industries. |
| In the intervening decades, economic circumstances | |
| have shifted radically. Arborian trade policy has not. | |
| Today, Arboria's trade policy seems paralyzed | |
| by the relentless conflict between proponents of | |
| (20) | “free” and “fair” trade. The free traders argue that |
| Arborian markets should be open, and the movement | |
| of goods and services across national borders | |
| unrestrained. The fair traders assert that access to | |
| Arborian markets should be restricted until Arborian | |
| (25) | businesses are granted equal access to foreign |
| markets. They contend that free trade is impossible | |
| while other nations erect barriers to Arborian exports. | |
| Both are correct: fair trade requires equal access | |
| and equal access leads to free trade. But both sides | |
| (30) | base their positions on the same two outdated |
| premises: | |
| 1. Global commerce is conducted under the terms of | |
| the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) | |
| and dominated by Arboria and similar economic | |
| (35) | systems abroad. |
| 2. Multilateral negotiations are the most effective way | |
| to resolve pressing trade issues. | |
| Both assumptions are wrong. The 40-year-old GATT | |
| now covers less than 7 percent of global commerce. | |
| (40) | World trade is no longer dominated by the free- |
| trade economies; nearly 75 percent is conducted | |
| by economic systems operating with principles at | |
| odds with those of Arboria. Forging a multilateral | |
| trade policy consensus among so many diverse | |
| (45) | economic systems has become virtually impossible. |
| And while multilateral talks drag on, Arboria misses | |
| opportunities for trade expansion. |
题目:
The author implies that the main obstacle to a truly effective Arborian trade policy is the
选项:
A、weak position that Arboria currently holds in the global marketplace
B、inability of Arborian leaders to recognize that foreign economic systems are based on principles fundamentally different from their own
C、dominance of the supporters of free trade in the conflict between free-trade and fair-trade advocates
D、apparent inability of Arborian industries to produce goods that are competitive in the world market
E、protectionism that characterizes the foreign trade policies of so many of Arboria's trade partners
答案:
B





