第二个论据:其他资本主义国家也搞卖方定价Moreover, those economists who argue that allowing the free market to operate without interference is the most efficient method of establishing prices have not considered the economies of non-socialist countries*6 other than the United states. (以下讲资本主义国家的共同特点)These economies employ intentional*6E有意识的,故意的 price-fixing, usually in an overt fashion*6E公开的方式. Formal price-fixing by cartel and informal price-fixing by agreements covering the members of an industry are commonplace. Were there(虚拟语气,=if there were不得不看) something peculiarly efficient about(=applicable to) the free market and inefficient about price-fixing, the countries that have avoided the first and used the second would have suffered drastically in their economic development. There is no indication that they have. (虚拟语气用了一种欲擒故纵的反证法,经常用于阅读和写作中)
第三个论据:社会主义也有卖方定价Socialist industry also works within a framework of controlled prices. In the early 1970’s*7, the Soviet Union began to give firms and industries some of the flexibility*7D in adjusting prices that(定语从句,修饰flexibility) a more informal evolution has accorded(给,=given) the capitalist system. (把苏联和资本主义作类比)Economists in the United States have hailed the change as a return to the free market(老观点). But(转折,回归新观点,说明前一句还不能说明问题,下面的内容才是重要的) Soviet firms are no more subject to prices established by a free market over which they exercise little influence than两者都不 are capitalist firms; rather, Soviet firms have been given the power to fix prices.
1. The primary purpose of the passage is to主题题
(A) refute the theory that the free market plays a useful role in the development of industrialized societies
(B) suggest methods by which economists and members of the government of the United States can recognize and combat price-fixing by large firms
(C) show that in industrialized societies price-fixing and the operation of the free market are not only compatible but also mutually beneficial
(D) explain the various ways in which industrialized societies can fix prices in order to stabilize the free market(E)
(E) argue that price-fixing*1E, in one form or another, is an inevitable part of and benefit to the economy of any industrialized society*1E主题句同义变换
2. The passage provides information that would answer which of the following questions about price-fixing?信息题(有定位)
I. What are some of the ways in which prices can be fixed?Cartel,苏联政府给企业灵活性来定价,等等
II. For what products没提到过 is price-fixing likely to be more profitable that the operation of the free market?
III. Is price-fixing more common没比过 in socialist industrialized societies or in non-socialist industrialized societies?
(A) I only
(B) III only
(C) I and II only
(D) II and III only(A)
(E) I, II, and III
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