外刊经贸知识选读（国考真题,江西省每年仅4月份安排考试）

外刊经贸知识选读（国考真题,江西省每年仅4⽉份安排考试）
全国2008年4⽉⾃考外刊经贸知识选读真题
⼀、单项选择题（本⼤题共15⼩题，每⼩题2分，共30分）
在每⼩题列出的四个备选项中只有⼀个可以替代句中划线的单词或词组，请将其代码填写在答题纸相应的位置上。

错选、多选或未选均⽆分。

1. The strong increase in imports last year is attributed to buoyant economic activity as well as to the success of the Government’s trade and foreign investment policies.
A. ascribed
B. described
C. distributed
D. contributed
2. In April 1984, the State Council declared 14 cities along the entire coast plus Hainan Island open to foreign investment.
A. demonstrated
B. informed
C. announced
D. displayed
3. In Shanghai, Tianjin and other urban centers, China is trying —with considerable success —to attract high-technology firms that will modernize its economy.
A. considerate
B. considering
C. great
D. massive
4. Chile has now been growing at an average annual rate of 4.5 percentage points for the past six years.
A. quarterly
B. weekly
C. monthly
D. yearly
5. But it appears that officials are prepared to turn up the temperature on trade —and live with the consequences.
A. consensus
B. results
C. frequencies
D. agreements
6. If the political will to continue moving forward fails, we can anticipate more strains in the marriage contract that ultimately would strike at what we’ve accomplished.
A. activate
D. expect
7. Having argued that criticism of the trade surplus is misconceived, MITI’s paper goes on to predict that the surplus will, of its own accord, gradually diminish in size and relevance.
A. willingly
B. reluctantly
C. accordingly
D. thoroughly
8. Korea, once known as the “Hermit Kingdom”, is plainly on the move.
A. on motion
B. in progress
C. under revolution
D. for evolution
9. Shaikh Fahim has already shown in recent public statements that he is inclined to be forthright about the threat posed by the UAE’s neighbours across the Gulf.
A. forthcoming
B. former
C. upright
D. straightforward
10. Jean-Pierre Soisson, the farm minister, has said France may block the EC’s acceptance of a new farm-trade deal, and thereby wreck the round.
A. boom
B. blink
C. construct
D. obstruct
11. But countertrade is not the exclusive province of debtor nations.
A. creditor
B. borrower
C. purchaser
D. loaner
12. The company is distributing more consumer coupons and giving bottlers bigger discounts.
A. giving out
B. assembling to
C. collecting up
D. gathering upon
13. Hong Kong Eggs and Products Company monopolizes the import of Chinese eggs, both fresh and preserved.
C. dominates
D. mobilizes
14. All other things being equal, a subsequent fall in the dollar might be expected to give a compensating boost to dollar commodity prices.
A. pull
B. push
C. drag
D. draw
15. Values declined in line with platinum and New York advices as miners were encouraged to return to work by management promises of negotiation.
A. in contrast with
B. in terms with
C. in comparison with
D. in agreement with
⼆、将下列词组译成中⽂（本⼤题共10⼩题，每⼩题1 分，共10分）
16. fiscal packages
17. countervailing duty
18. debt service
19. liquid assets
20. good resistance
21. current account
22. cash crops
23. GNP
24. deinflationary policy
25. equivalent value
三、将下列词组译成英⽂（本⼤题共10⼩题，每⼩题1分，共10分）
26. 市场份额
27. 供应短缺
28. 世界银⾏
29. 资本货物
30. ⽣产⼒
31. 国内需求
32. 外汇收⼊
33. 进⼝税
34. 有形贸易收⽀
35. 利润汇款
四、简答题(本⼤题共6⼩题，共18分)
Passage 1
If Europeans aren’t bursting to give the single market a coming-out party, it may simply be that markets aren’t the kinds of things people gush about, as EC commission president Jacques Delors has often noted. The fact that free movement of people —an aspect of the market that will be most evident to the average person —is not yet a reality also plays a role.
Another explanation is that many of the market’s original 282 directives have already been implemented.
“By Jan. 1 we will have passed 95 per cent of what we sought in 1986 to create the single market, and much of that will already have been translated into national law,”says Perissich. “Adjustment to the market has been going on for years and won’t be expected
over-night.”
36. What does the first sentence tell us about Europeans’ attitude toward the single market?
37. What are the reasons why Europeans don’t give the single market a coming-out party?
38. How do you interpret in English the underlined word “translate”in the third paragraph? Please find an appropriate Chinese equivalent for it.
Passage 2
On a conservative estimate the Uruguay round would permanently raise global welfare by more than $100 billion a year, spur economic growth everywhere, and extend competition to hitherto sheltered, and therefore backward, parts of all economies. By any standards, it would be a hugely valuable achievement.
Such opportunities come too rarely to be squandered. Yet this one still may be.
39. What would the Uruguay round bring to the backward parts of economies?
40. Why would an economy be backward once it is “sheltered”?
41. Please rewrite in full the last sentence “Yet this one still may be”.
五、正误判断题（本⼤题共10⼩题，每⼩题2分，共20分）
Passage 1
Today, the Internet is changing the way business transactions are conducted. It is empowering both consumers and businesses by providing expanding markets and choices to not only national, but also international communities. It brings more competition in products and prices and it encourages change and improvement, given its ability to provide information and comparative choices.
Putting up a Website to promote and display products, and attracting online shoppers to look around at the products, however, are only one way of conducting business via the Internet. To realize the true potential of electronic commerce, an effective method of receiving payment for products which are sold or delivered through the Internet is a necessity. This is the focus of current Internet-related research. While it is currently possible to buy things over the Internet, this form of commerce has not yet gained enough popularity. It has great potential.
While nobody is certain what the future will bring, we do know that the Internet recognizes no national borders. Electronic commerce is global in nature, so the Internet can’t help but dramatically increase international business. The ever-changing technology in electronic commerce and the introduction of new hardware, software, and service technology force businesses to quickly adjust their basic business strategies. Companies who want to participate in the worldwide electronic commerce revolution must adapt their electronic service capabilities and products to the requirements of the electronic commerce marketplace.
42. One result of e-commerce is more competition in products and prices.
43. The potential of the Internet goes far beyond displaying and promoting products.
44. Paying for products and receiving payment through the Internet are now very effective.
45. The problem with the Internet is that it does not recognize international money.
46. The Internet cannot greatly help international business.
Passage 2
The global economy is becoming more integrated than ever before. A half-century of emphasis on free trade by major industrial countries has resulted in the freer flow of goods, services, and capital among nations. As a result, companies both large and small now
view the world, rather than a single country, as their marketplace. Also, companies have dispersed their manufacturing, marketing, and research facilities to those locations around the globe where cost and skill conditions are most favorable. This trend is now so pervasive in industries such as automobiles, aerospace, and electronics that it is becoming increasingly irrelevant to talk about “American products”or “Japanese products”.
Consider what happens when an American consumer buys a car. The engine is produced in France, the storage battery in Japan, the seat belt in Austria, and the body is assembled in Germany. Is it a “German product”? Obviously not —but neither is it a “French product”, a “Japanese product”, or an “Austrian product”. Like an increasing number of the products we buy today, it is an international product.
The increasing integration of the global economy has had many consequences. First, the volume of world trade grows at a faster rate than the volume of world output.
Second, foreign direct investment is playing an ever increasing role in the global economy as companies of all sizes invest in overseas operations.
A third consequence is that imports are penetrating deeper into the world’s largest economies. The growth of imports is a natural by-product of the growth of world trade and the trend toward the manufacture of component parts, or even entire products, overseas before shipping them back home for final sale.
Finally, the growth of world trade, foreign direct investment, and imports implies that companies around the globe are finding their home markets under attack from foreign competitors. This is true in Japan, where Kodak has taken market share in the photographic film industry away from Fuji and in the United States, where Japanese auto makers have captured market share from GM, Ford and Chrysler.
47. Major industrial countries have stressed the necessity of free trade since 50 years ago.
48. Big companies rather than small ones view the world as their marketplace.
49. With the increasing integration of the global economy, it’s harder to tell whether a certain product is made in a single country.
50. The entire products manufactured overseas are mainly sold overseas.
51. The example of Kodak indicates the result of economic integration.
六、翻译题（本⼤题12分）
52.For South Korea as a whole, that seems as much a prophecy as an ambition. Like Japan in the 1960s, the country is poised for an assault on the world’s export markets. Its surging $81 billion economy is churning out a flood of increasingly sophisticated products, from shoes, toys and telephones to video recorders and microprocessors. Korea’s mighty conglomerates dominate Middle East construction, and they command key shares of the world’s shipbuilding, textile and steel industries.
全国⾃考2008年7⽉外刊经贸知识选读试题
⼀、单项选择题(本⼤题共15⼩题，每⼩题2分，共30分)
在每⼩题列出的四个备选项中只有⼀个可替代句中划线的单词或词组，请将其代码填写在题后的括号内。

错选、多选或未选均⽆分。

1.Economic problems were exacerbated by three bad harvests with the result that national income and the volume of foreign trade contracted during 1960—196
2.( )
A. exaggerated
B. celebrated
C. worsened
D. facilitated
2.The following year, a tax law for joint venture was promulgated.( )
A. announced
B. prolonged
C. transformed
D. upgraded
3.Growing ties between China’s traders and their partners in Taiwan and Hong Kong are creating an unofficial but formidable “greater China”trade bloc.( )
A. formal
B. powerful
C. fundamental
D. rational
4.The index of nonoil primary commodity prices in nominal dollar terms declines for the third consecutive year, and the index in real terms hits an all-time low.( )
A. communicative
B. intensive
C. selective
D. successive
5.This push to expand U.S. manufacturing exports is considered essential politically to fulfill the President’s promise.( )
A. promotion
B. purpose
C. pressure
D. pull
6.One of the central justifications for the single market was its ability to create greater prosperity, but it is making its debut just as Europe traverses one of its roughest economic storms in years.
( )
A. goes through
B. goes off
C. goes down
D. goes on
7.Japan’s government is deeply opposed to a new policy geared to “quantifiable results”for some products. ( )
A. generated to
B. suitable for
C. followed by
D. acquainted with
8.The Japanese will not be able to keep a lid on their high-tech know-how forever. Sooner or later they will begin to lose their edge.( )
A. hope
B. heart
C. advantage
D. disadvantage
9.The most visible result of this buoyant market in both centers is a plethora of new multi-storey commercial and residential buildings.( )
A. positive`
B. active
C. passive
D. negative
10.The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is providing at least $120 million to spur investment in three Central American nations that are signatories to a free-trade agreement with the United States.( )
A. restrict
B. restrain
C. support
D. stimulate
11.The Northrop Corporation of the United States located a purchaser for Swiss elevators in Egypt. ( )
A. seller
B. distributor
C. broker
D. buyer
12.Pepsi is concentrating on distributing Slice through bottlers who have no conflict.( )
A. contracting
B. distributing
C. focusing
D. promoting
13.Chinese eggs dominate the fresh egg market with more than an 80-per cent share.( )
A. control
B. concentrate
C. constrain
D. comply
14.For most people involved in the production and trading of “soft”or agricultural commodities, this is proving to be a grim decade.( )
A. communities
B. products
C. commands
D. districts
15.But a recovery was made on the back of sterling’s weaker trend against the dollar.( )
A. supporting
B. surrounding
C. influencing
D. following
⼆、将下列词组译成中⽂（本⼤题共10⼩题，每⼩题1 分，共10分）
16. invisible account
17. SEZ
18. soft commodity
19. per capita income
20. trade sanctions
21. strategic stockpile
22. managed trade
23. brain trust
24. carbon tax
25. intellectual property
三、将下列词组译成英⽂（本⼤题共10⼩题，每⼩题1分，共10分）
26. 试销市场
27. 外汇收⼊
28. 中央银⾏
29. 消费品
30. ⾼技术
31. 国内需求
32. 特别提款权
33. 强硬政策
34. 产地证明书
35. 补偿协议
四、简答题(本⼤题共6⼩题，每⼩题3分，共18分)
Passage 1
Already though, China’s commercial strength is starting to worry competitors. Last year China’s trade surplus surged, buoyed by exports of toys, textiles and consumer electronics. Its trade surplus with the United States hit a record $18 billion. Only Japan’s was larger. With the U.S. Congress due to consider the renewal of China’s most-favored nation trade status in June, officials in Beijing fear the trade imbalance could surpass human rights as a source of U.S. opposition to preferred status for China. “The trade surplus itself will be the No. 1 problem this year,”says one Chinese official. “After Japan, we’ll be first in line for retaliation.”
36. What is the meaning of the underlined word “though”? And why is it used here?
37. Why would trade surplus be a problem?
38. For what reason(s) or on what excuse will we be “first in line for retaliation”?
Passage 2
Yet in its current dour mood, Europe risks almost overlooking the revolutionary step forward it has taken in creating the world’s largest and wealthiest barrier—free market?and on a continent where, for centuries, economic battles have led to some of history’s bloodiest wars. Moreover, a failure to reinforce the single market by pushing forward with European integration could lead to an unraveling of what the internal market program has achieved, some observers say.
39. What do “dour”and “revolutionary”mean in the first sentence?
40. What did the writer worry about for Western Europe?
41. What did some observers think might cause the failure of the internal market program?
五、正误判断题（本⼤题共10⼩题，每⼩题2分，共20分）
正确的在题后括号内写“T”，错误的写“F”。

Passage 1
What causes a person to choose one store or one product over another? We know that a person weighs both positive and negative benefits of a product offer, but what elements are being evaluated? Let us look at a typical consumer situation. This story emphasized the necessity for viewing product offers broadly. It also serves as an introduction to packaging, branding, and customer service as product elements.
Chuck Peterson went out to his car one cold day and found that the battery was dead. Chuck went back to his house and began
immediately to search for a good place to buy a new battery (it was Saturday, so he had time). Chuck remembered seeing battery ads in the sports section of the newspaper, and so he took out his old papers and went through the ads. He found that several stores were having sales and was pleased, because one of his concerns was getting a good price.
Since Chuck’s car was inoperative, he did not feel like going too far to get a new battery (although his neighbor offered to drive him wherever he wanted to go). Another concern, therefore, was finding a convenient store.
Many different batteries were advertised in the paper at widely ranging prices. Chuck decided to stick to brand names with which he was familiar because he felt he would be able to get better service on a brand name item. Chuck decided to go to the local Sears store and get a battery that was on sale. He asked his neighbor to help him get his car started with booster cables and drove down to the Sears store nearest him. On the way he passed several gas stations and other stores that sold batteries.
What can we learn from this example? First, notice that Chuck did not go to the nearest convenient place to buy batteries (local gas stations). Why not? Somehow Chuck had gotten the impression that gas stations had higher prices for their batteries. He also was not sure what brands the local stations carried. From Chuck’s case, we learn that people will often pass up one store to get the same or similar items at other stores if the closer stores do not advertise what brands they carry, do not create an image of good value, or do not seem interested in the buyer’s business.
42. Convenience shops are not necessary as customers always trust brand names.( )
43. It is difficult to judge what elements influence a buyer’s decision.( )
44. As the batteries advertised in the newspapers had similar prices, Chuck thought it wise to buy brand name battery.( )
45. Since Chuck’s car wasn’t working, his neighbor voluntarily offered to drive him to the Sears store nearest his house.( )
46. Chuck might have gone to the nearest gas station if he had seen it advertising brand names on sale.( )
Passage 2
Doing business in another country may be extremely tricky. For example, merely asking the right question is sometimes crucial. In one reported case, a paper-manufacturing firm neglected to inspect some wooded land for sale in Sicily prior to its purchase. Only after the company had bought the land, built a plant, and hired a labor force did it realize that the trees were
only knee-high and not suitable for making paper. The plant had to import logs.
Numerous problems result from the failure to adapt packaging for different cultures. Sometimes only the color of the package needs to be altered to enhance a product’s sales. White, for instance, symbolizes death in much of Asia; green represents danger or disease in Malaysia. Obviously, use of these colors in these countries might produce negative reactions to products.
Some product names travel poorly. American Motor’s Matador car might conjure up images of strength and power in America, but in Puerto Rico its name means “Killer”, an unfavorable connotation in a place with a high traffic fatality rate. When the gasoline company Esso realized that its name means “stalled car”in Japan, it understood why it had had difficulties in that
market.
However, some company names have travelled well. Kodak may be one of the most famous examples. A research team deliberately developed this name after searching for a word that was pronounceable everywhere but had no specific meaning anywhere.
Many international advertising errors are due to faulty translations. The best translations embody the general theme and concept of the original ad campaign but do not attempt to be precise duplicates of the original slogan. Pepsi Co. learned this lesson when it reportedly discovered that its slogan “Come alive with Pepsi”was literally translated into German as “Come alive out of the grave with Pepsi”. And in Asia, it was translated as “Bring your ancestors back from the dead.”General Motors encountered problems in Belgium, where “Body by Fisher”was translated as “Corpse by Fisher”.
Proper market research may reduce or eliminate most international business mistakes. Market researchers can uncover needs for product adaptation, potential name problems, promotional requirements, and proper market strategies. Good research techniques may even uncover potential translation problems.
47. International companies run the risk of failure if they overlook differences between countries.( )
48. The paper—manufacturing firm met with enormous difficulty in Sicily because it hired an inefficient labor force. ( )
49. Matador is a poor name because it has an unfavorable connotation in Puerto Rico, while Kodak is a good name because it has a favorable connotation in any language.( )
50. “Come alive out of the grave with Pepsi”is a proper translation of “Come alive with Pepsi”.( )
51. By doing proper market research, most business mistakes could have been avoided.( )
六、翻译题（本⼤题12分）
52.In the most recent talks about farm trade, America has shown a new willingness to compromise on details, doubtless reflecting George Bush’s need for an economic success to boast of in his election campaign. Whatever the motive a spirit of compromise makes sense for America, since it stands to gain a lot more from a successful round than any other country. But the EC continues to hesitate—because of France. French farmers are violently opposed to the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) that Europe’s governments agreed to last May.
全国2009年4⽉⾃学考试外刊经贸知识选读试题
⼀、单项选择题（本⼤题共15⼩题，每⼩题2分，共30分）
在每⼩题列出的四个备选项中只有⼀个可以替代句中划线的单词或词组，请将其代码填写在答题纸相应的位置上。

错选、多选或未选均⽆分。

1. While exports are reasonably robust, domestic consumption remains moribund —a sign of the country’s common anxiety about the future.
A. stagnant
B. moving
C. dynamic
D. motivated
2. If that happens, the backlash from Mr. Obama’s supporters could be fearful.
A. support
B. backing
C. deduction
D. opposition
3. The concept that we can turn this around right now is patently ridiculous.
A. patiently
B. rightly
C. pervasively
D. obviously
4. To move the Japanese government, Washington must move an entire nation.
A. remove
B. touch
C. influence
D. change
5. Even during buoyant economic growth, unemployment remains as high as 10%.
A. slow
B. vigorous
C. floating
D. slackening
6. The consumers welcomed the slash in meat prices.
A. remarkable drop
B. obvious division
C. vigorous growth
D. apparent rise
7. In 1991, for the second year in a row, the economies of low income and middle-income countries virtually stagnated.
A. repeatedly
B. successively
C. respectively
D. successfully
8. A number of economics and political blogs have recently caught onto the political futures market craze, particularly focusing on Intrade (the popular site where people can bet on, among other things, the presidential elections).
A. indefinite time
B. near future
C. prospective time
D. commodities transacted at a future date
9. Small manufacturers serving niche markets and wealthy customers are proving recession proof.
A. mainstream markets
B. large-scale markets
C. targetable markets
D. current markets
10. You can also segment your targets by size of business based on number of employees or total sales.
A. divide
B. seek
C. shoot
D. narrow
11. Falling sales in Thailand were offset by good returns in other markets.
A. influenced
B. balanced
C. offended
D. bargained
12. The new trade agreement has facilitated economic growth.
A. made easier
B. made slower
C. made more difficult
D. made more complicated
13. It is an area in which ABC Company reigns supreme.
A. rapidest
B. most famous
C. highest in rank or position
D. deepest
14. Speculators profited handsomely since the price fluctuated from the 1990s.
A. was stable
B. was flexible
C. was volatile
D. was regular
15. The property will be sold to pay off their creditors.
A. owners
B. borrowers
C. loaners
D. believers
⼆、将下列英语单词或词组译成中⽂（本⼤题共10⼩题，每⼩题1分，共10分）
16. vested interests
17. wholesaler
18. a hermit nation
19. buzzword
20. insolvency
21. take title
22. market regulation
23. public tender
24. countervailing duty
25. consortium
三、将下列汉语词组译成英⽂（本⼤题共10⼩题，每⼩题1分，共10分）
26．反通胀政策
27．贸易制裁
28．产地证明书
29. 市场动⼒
30. 转让⼈
31. 现货市场
32. 经常项⽬
33. 收盘价
34．出⼝配额制
35．服务贸易
四、简答题（本⼤题共6⼩题，每⼩题3分，共18分）
Passage 1
For South Korea as a whole, that seems as much a prophecy as an ambition. Like Japan in the 1960s, the country is poised for an assault on the world’s export markets. Its surging $81 billion economy is churning out a flood of increasingly sophisticated products, from shoes, toys and telephones to video recorders and microprocessors. Korea’s mighty conglomerates dominate Midd le East construction, and they command key shares of the world’s shipbuilding, textile and steel industries. Their affiliates, joint ventures and subsidiaries girdle the globe, stretching from Australia, Indonesia and India to Norway, Spain and Gabon, Hyundai and Daewoo, with annual sales of $10 billion and $6 billion respectively, are pushing into the U.S auto market, riveting the attention of American and Japanese manufacturers. Another colossus, the $9 billion Samsung, has started marketing a “supertech”256K computer chip-encouraging some Koreans to speak confidently of the day when they will become the world’s second largest manufacturer of basic electronic components, outstripping America and running just behind Japan.
36. Please rewrite the first sentence of the passage in plainer words, having the central ideas clarified.
37. Is the clause introduced by the underlined “when” an adverbial clause or an attributive one?
38. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “outstripping” in the last sentence?
Passage 2
Computerized data storage and electronic mail were to have heralded the paperless office. But, contrary to expectations, paper consumption throughout the world shows no sign of abating. In fact, consumption, especially of printing and writing papers, continues to increase. World demand for paper and board is now expected to grow faster than the general economic
growth in the next 15 years. Strong demand will be underpinned by the growing industrialization of South-East Asia, the reemergence of paper packaging, greater use of facsimile machines and photocopies, and the popularity of direct-mail advertising. It is possible that by 2007, world paper and board demand will reach 455 million tons, compared with 241 million tons in 1991.
The pulp and paper industry has not been badly affected by the electronic technologies that promised a paperless society. But what has radically altered the industry’s structure is pressure from another front-a more environmentally conscious society driving an irreversible move towards cleaner industrial production. The environmental consequences of antiquated pulp mill practices and technologies had marked this industry as one in need of reform. Graphic descriptions of deformed fish and thinning populations, particularly in the Baltic Sea where old pulp mills had discharged untreated effluent for 100 years, have disturbed the international community.
Until the 1950s, it was common for pulp mills and other industries to discharge untreated effluent into rivers and seas. The environmental effects were at the time either not understood, or regarded as an acceptable cost of economic prosperity in an increasingly import-oriented world economy. But greater environmental awareness has spurred a fundamental change in attitude in the community, in movement and in industry itself.
Since the early 1980s, most of the world-scale pulp mills in the Scandinavia and North America have modernized their operations, outlaying substantial amounts to improve production methods. Changes in mill design and processes have been aimed at minimizing the environmental effects of effluent discharge while at the same time producing pulp with the whiteness and strength demanded by the international market. The environmental impetus is taking this industry even further, with the focus now on developing processes that may even eliminate waste-water discharges. But the ghost of the old mills continues face a flood of environment-related legislation. In Germany, companies are now being held responsible for the waste they create.
39. What has the pulp and paper industry been greatly affected by these days?
40. In the past, what was the probable price that the environmental effects of pulp mill practices had to pay?
41. Why have some paper mills recently modernized their mill design?
五、正误判断题。

（本⼤题共10⼩题，每⼩题2分，共20分）
如果正确，请写“T”，如果错误，请写“F”。

Passage 1
The International Monetary Fund recently forecast that East Asia is set to continue its economic boom for the next few years. Yet
Sony announced that it will no longer export television sets from Japan because it cannot price them competitively.
Listen to Sony. Even in a growing market such as Asia, costs count. And for many businesses, Asia is beginning to cost too much.
East Asia’s economic miracle is best summed up as the biggest price undercut in history. The region grew because it was the cheapest source for the low-technology consumer goods that the West craved. Hong Kong and South Korea did not invent new or more efficient manufacturing techniques; they simply bought market share with low wages.
But the same market force that led buyers from America and Europe to Taiwan and Japan 30 years ago is now working against Asian nations as they try to upgrade their industries. Years ago, an Asian factory turning out shirts was competing against huge, unionized factories in North Carolina and Manchester. Today, a shirt-maker in south China has to compete with 100 other guys in his own country, 20 factories in India, 5 in the Philippines and reinvigorated and highly efficient new plants in the U.S and Europe.
Sony, Hewlett-Packard and Ford need a competitive business environment that is based on more than cheap pairs of hands. In much of East Asia, inadequate roads, seaports and airports, telecommunications and other infrastructure, high rents, shortage of managers and skilled technicians, corruption and, above all, government interference are now the deciding factors when multinational corporations choose to keep production in North America or Europe rather than switch it to Asia. Every day, I see costs placing Asian nations at a disadvantage compared with their “cheaper” Western competitors. In shipping, for instance, terminal expenses in Japan and Hong Kong are two or three times higher than those of the U.S.A.’s busiest West coast ports. To truck a container 100 miles down from southern China to Hong Kong costs more than to ship the same container from the United States or Europe to Hong Kong.
42. The author suggests that businesses should pay more attention to Sony’s decision for the simple reason that Sony’s idea。