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  3. "The word ’protection’ is no longer taboo". This short sentence, uttered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy last month, may hav

"The word ’protection’ is no longer taboo". This short sentence, uttered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy last month, may hav

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问题     "The word ’protection’ is no longer taboo". This short sentence, uttered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy last month, may have launched a new era in economic history. Why? For decades, Western leaders have believed that lowering trade barriers and tariffs was a natural good. Doing so, they reasoned, would lead to greater economic efficiency and productivity, which in turn would improve human welfare. Championing free trade thus became a moral, not just an economic cause.
    These leaders, of course, weren’t acting out of unselfishness. They knew their economies were the most competitive, so they’d profit most from liberalization. And developing countries feared that their economies would be swamped by superior Western productivity. Today, however, the tables have turned— though few acknowledge it. The West continues to preach free trade, but practices it less and less. Asian, meanwhile, continues to plead for special protection but practices more and more free trade.
    That’s why Sarkozy’s words were so important: he finally injected some honesty into the trade debates. The truth is that large parts of the West are losing faith in free trade, though few leaders admit it. Some economists are more honest. Paul Krugman is one of the few willing to acknowledge that protectionist arguments are returning. In the short run, there will be winners and losers under free trade. This, of course, is what capitalism is all about. But more and more of these losers will be in the West. Economists in the developed world used to love quoting Joseph Schumpeter, who said that "creative destruction" was an essential part of capitalist growth. But they always assumed that destruction would happen over there. When Western workers began losing jobs, suddenly their leaders began to lose faith in their principles. Things have yet to reverse completely. But there’s clearly a negative trend in a Western theory and practice.
    A little hypocrisy is not in itself a serious problem. The real problem is that Western governments continue to insist that they retain control of the key global economic and financial institutions while drifting away from global liberalization. Look at what’s happening at the IMF (International Monetary Fund). The Europeans have demanded that they keep the post of managing director. But all too often. Western officials put their own interests above everyone else’s when they dominate these global institutions.
    The time has therefore come for the Asians—who are clearly the new winners in today’s global economy—to provide more intellectual leadership in supporting free trade. Sadly, they have yet to do so. Unless Asians speak out, however, there’s a real danger that Adam Smith’s principles, which have brought so much good to the world, could gradually die. And that would leave all of us, worse off, in one way or another.
The author uses "IMF" as an example to illustrate the point that________.
选项 A、European leaders are reluctant to admit they are hypocritical
B、there is an inconsistency between Western theory and practice
C、global institutions are not being led by true globalization advocates
D、European countries’ interests are being ignored by economic leaders
答案C
解析 本题关键词是IMF，问题是作者提及IMF的目的是什么。定位到第四和第五段。根据第四段第二句，真正的问题在于，西方国家在渐渐偏离全球自由贸易的同时，仍坚持继续把持对主要国际经济财政机构的控制权(retain control of the key global economic)，然后作者举出IMF的例子：欧洲人仍要求担任其领导人，但往往西方官员在掌控这些国际机构时，会将自己的国家利益凌驾于其他国家利益之上。由此可见，IMF的例子就是为了证明“与全球自由贸易渐行渐远的西方国家却掌控着国际贸易的重要机构”，因此选项C与原文属于相同含义，为正确选项。选项A来自第四段第一句，作者提到虚伪本身不是一个严重的问题，后面说了真正的问题在哪里。进而提到IMF的例子，可见二者说的不是一个话题，因此选项A曲解文意。选项B其实是对前文所述现象的概括，与后面“真正的问题”无关，而IMF是作者提出真正的问题后的例证，因此选项B属于答非所问。根据第四段第五句，西方国家掌控一些国际机构时，会把自己国家的利益凌驾于其他国家的利益之上(put their own interests above everyone else’s)，而不是选项中的European countries’ interests are being ignored by economic leaders，因此选项D属于正反混淆。第四段：西方在背离自由贸易的同时，仍坚持把持国际经济组织的控制权。第五段：亚洲国家应该更多担负“自由贸易智力领袖”的职责。
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