A history of long and effortless(毫不費力的，容易的) success can be a dreadful(可怕的) handicap(障礙), but, if properly handled, it may become a driving force(驅動力). 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(無比的) economies of scale. Its scientists were the world’s best, its workers the most skilled. America and Americans were prosperous(繁榮的) beyond the dreams of the Europeans and Asians whose economies the war had destroyed.

It was inevitable(必然的) that this primacy(首位，卓越) should have narrowed(變窄) as other countries grew richer. Just as inevitably, the retreat(後退) from predominance(優勢，卓越) proved painful. By the mid-1980s Americans had found themselves at a loss over their fading(衰退) industrial competitiveness. Some huge American industries, such as consumer electronics, had shrunk(收縮) or vanished(消失) 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(紡織品) were sweeping into the domestic market. America’s machine-tool industry was on the ropes(繩子，on the ropes處於困境). For a while it looked as though the making of semiconductors(半導體), which America had invented(發明) and which sat(sit,坐，就坐) at the heart of the new computer age, was going to be the next casualty(意外事故).

All of this caused a crisis of confidence(信任危機). Americans stopped taking prosperity(成功) for granted(take it for granted,視為理所當然). They began to believe that their way of doing business was failing, and that their incomes would therefore shortly begin to fall as well. The mid-1980s brought one inquiry(質問) after another into the causes of America’s industrial decline(衰落，下降). Their sometimes sensational(聳人聽聞的) findings were filled with warnings about the growing competition from overseas.

How things have changed! In 1995 the United States can look back on five years of solid growth while Japan has been struggling(奮鬥)(美國可以回顧五年的強勁增長,而日本一直在苦苦掙紮). Few Americans attribute(歸屬於,屬性) this solely(單獨的) to such obvious causes as a devalued(貶值) dollar or the turning of the business cycle. Self-doubt(自我懷疑) has yielded(屈服) to blind pride(盲目自信). “American industry has changed its structure, has gone on a diet(飲食), has learnt to be more quick-witted(機智靈敏的),” according to Richard Cavanagh, executive dean(院長) of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. “It makes me proud to be an American just to see how our businesses are improving their productivity,” says Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute, a think-tank(智囊團) in Washington, DC. And William Sahlman of the Harvard Business School believes that people will look back on this period as “a golden age of business management in the United States.”

51. The U.S. achieved its predominance after World War II because ________.

[A] it had made painstaking(艱苦的) efforts towards this goal

[B] its domestic market was eight times larger than before

[C] the war had destroyed the economies of most potential competitors（C）

[D] the unparalleled size of its workforce(勞動力) had given an impetus(動力) to its economy

52. The loss of U.S. predominance in the world economy in the 1980s is manifested(表明) in the fact that the American ________.

[A] TV industry had withdrawn(撤退) to its domestic market

[B] semiconductor industry had been taken over(接管) by foreign enterprises

[C] machine-tool industry had collapsed after suicidal(自我毀滅性的) actions（D）

[D] auto industry had lost part of its domestic market

53. What can be inferred from the passage?

[A] It is human nature to shift between self-doubt and blind pride.

[B] Intense(激烈的) competition may contribute to economic progress.

[C] The revival(復活) of the economy depends on international cooperation.（B）

[D] A long history of success may pave(鋪設) the way for further development.

54. The author seems to believe the revival of the U.S. economy in the 1990s can be attributed to the ________.

[A] turning of the business cycle

[B] restructuring of industry

[C] improved business management（A）

[D] success in education

閱讀理解（2000年統考）