Ahistory of long and effortless success can be a dreadful handicap, but,if properly handled, it may become a driving force. When theUnited Statesentered just such a glowing periodafter the end of the Second World War, it had a market eight times larger thanany competitor, giving its industries unparalleled economies of scale. Itsscientists were the world's best, its workers the most skilled. America andAmericans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the Europeans and Asianswhose economies the war had destroyed.
It was inevitable that this primacy should have narrowed asother countries grew richer. Just as inevitably, the retreat from predominanceproved painful. By the mid-1980s Americans had found themselves at aloss over their fading industrial competitiveness. Some huge Americanindustries, such as consumer electronics, had shrunk or vanished in the face offoreign competition. By 1987 there was only one American television maker left,Zenith. (Now there is none: Zenith was bought bySouth Korea's LG Electronics inJuly.) Foreign-made cars and textiles were sweeping into the domestic market.America'smachine-tool industry was on the ropes. For a while it looked as though themaking of semiconductors, whichAmericahad invented and which sat at the heart of the new computer age, was going tobe the next casualty.
All of this caused a crisis of confidence. Americans stopped taking prosperity for granted. They began tobelieve that their way of doing business was failing, and that their incomeswould therefore shortly begin to fall as well. The mid-1980s brought oneinquiry after another into the causes ofAmerica's industrial decline. Theirsometimes sensational findings were filled with warnings about thegrowing competition from overseas.
How things have changed! In 1995 theUnited Statescan look back on five years of solid growth whileJapanhas been struggling. Few Americans attribute this solely to suchobvious causes as a devalued dollar or the turning of the business cycle.Self-doubt has yielded to blind pride. "American industry haschanged its structure, has gone on a diet, has learnt to be more quick-witted,"according to Richard Cavanaugh, executive dean of Harvard's KennedySchool of Government. "It makes me proud to be an American just to see howour businesses are improving their productivity," says StephenMoore of the Cato Institute, a think-tank inWashington,D.C.And William Sahlman of theHarvardBusinessSchoolbelieves that people will look back on this period as "a golden age ofbusiness management in theUnited States."
1. The U.S.achieved its predominance after World War Ⅱ because________.
[A] it had made painstaking efforts towards this goal
[B] its domestic market was eight times larger than before
[C] the war had destroyed the economies of most potentialcompetitors
[D] the unparalleled size of its workforce had given an impetusto its economy
2. The loss of U.S.predominance in the world economy in the 1980s is manifested in the factthat the American________.
[A] TV industry had withdrawn to its domestic market
[B] semiconductor industry had been taken over by foreignenterprises
[C] machine-tool industry had collapsed after suicidal actions
[D] auto industry had lost part of its domestic market
3. What can beinferred from the passage?
[A] It is human nature to shift between self-doubt and blind pride.
[B] Intense competition may contribute to economic progress.
[C] The revival of the economy depends on internationalcooperation.
[D] A long history of success may pave the way for furtherdevelopment.
4. The authorseems to believe the revival of the US economy in the 1990s can be attributedto the________.
[A] turning of the business cycle
[B] restructuring of industry
[C] improved business management
[D] success in education
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