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  3. Surviving the Recession America’s recession began quietly at the end of 2007. Since then it has evolved into a global crisis

Surviving the Recession America’s recession began quietly at the end of 2007. Since then it has evolved into a global crisis

admin2013-08-23  31
问题                         Surviving the Recession
    America’s recession began quietly at the end of 2007. Since then it has evolved into a global crisis. Reasonable people may disagree about whom to blame. Financiers who were not as clever as they thought they were? Regulators falling asleep at work? Consumers who borrowed too much? Politicians who thoughtlessly promoted home-ownership for those who could not afford it? All are guilty; and what a mess they have created.
    Since 2007 America has shed 5 million jobs. More than 15% of the workforce are jobless or underemployed—roughly 25 million workers. The only industries swelling their payrolls are health care, utilities and the federal government. The value of listed shares in American firms collapsed by 57% from its peak in October 2007 to a low in March this year, though it has since bounced back somewhat. Industrial production fell by 12.8% in the year to March, the worst slide since the Second World War. Mark Zandi, an economist at Moody’s Economy, com, predicts that the recession will shrink America’s economy by 3. 5% in total. For most executives, this is the worst business environment they’ve ever seen.
    Times are so tough that even bosses are taking pay cuts. Median(中位数的)pay for chief executives of S&P 500 companies fell 6.8% in 2008. The overthrown business giants of Wall Street took the biggest knock, with average pay cuts of 38% and median bonuses of zero. But there was some pain for everyone: median pay for chief executives of non-financial firms in the S&P 500 fell by 2. 7% .
    Nearly every business has a sad tale to tell. For example, Arne Sorenson, the president of Marriott hotels, likens the crisis to the downturn that hit his business after September 11th, 2001. When the twin towers fell, Americans stopped travelling. Marriott had its worst quarter ever, with revenues per room falling by 25% . This year, without a terrorist attack, the hotel industry is " putting the same numbers on the board" , says Mr Sorenson.
    The hotel bust(不景气), like most busts, was preceded by a breathtaking boom. Although many other big firms resisted the temptation to over-borrow, developers borrowed heavily and built bigger and fancier hotels as if the whole world were planning a holiday in Las Vegas. When the bubble burst, demand collapsed. Hotel owners found themselves with a huge number of empty rooms even as a lot of unnecessary new hotels were ready to open.
    Other industries have suffered even more. Large numbers of builders, property firms and retailers have gone bankrupt. And a disaster has hit Detroit. Last year the American car industry had the capacity to make 17 million vehicles. Sales in 2009 could be barely half of that. The Big Three American carmakers—General Motors, Ford and Chrysler—accumulated ruinous costs over the postwar years, such as gold-plated health plans and pensions for workers who retired as young as 48. All three are desperately restructuring. Only Ford may survive in its current form.
    Hard times breed hard feelings. Few Americans understand what caused the recession. Some are seeking scapegoats(替罪羊). Politicians are happy to take advantage. Bosses have been summoned to Washington to be scolded on live television. The president condemns their greed.
    Extravagance(奢侈)is out
    Businessfolk are bending over backwards to avoid seeming extravagant. Meetings at resorts are suddenly unacceptable. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, cancelled a conference in Las Vegas at the last minute and rebooked it in San Francisco, which cost more but sounded less fun.
    Anyway, the pain will eventually end. American business will regain its shine. Many firms will die, but the survivors will emerge leaner and stronger than before. The financial sector’s share of the economy will shrink, and stay shrunk for years to come. The importance of non-financial firms will accordingly rise, along with their ability to attract the best talent. America will remain the best place on earth to do business, so long as Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress resist the temptation to interfere too much, and so long as organised labour does not overplay its hand.
    The crisis will prove hugely disruptive(破坏性的), however. Bad management techniques will be exposed. Necessity will force the swift adoption of more efficient ones. At the same time, technological innovation(创新)will barely pause for breath, and two big political changes seem likely.
    Mr Obama’s plan to curb carbon dioxide(C02)emissions(排放), though necessary, will be far from cost-free, whatever his sunny speeches on the subject might suggest. The shift to a low-carbon economy will help some firms, hurt others and require every organisation that uses much energy to rethink how it operates. It is harder to predict how Mr Obama’s proposed reforms to the failing health-care system will turn out. If he succeeds in curbing costs—a big if—it would be a huge gain for America. Some businesses will benefit but the vast bulk of the savings will be captured by workers, not their employers.
    In the next couple of years the businesses that thrive will be those that are tight with costs, careful of debt, cautious with cash flow and extremely attentive to what customers want. They will include plenty of names no one has yet heard of.
    Times change, and corporations change with them. In 1955 Time’s Man of the Year was Harlow Curtice, the boss of GM. His firm was leading America towards " a new economic order" , the magazine wrote. Thanks to men like Curtice, "the bonds of scarcity" had been broken and America was rolling "to an all-time high of prosperity". Soon, Americans would need to spend "comparatively little time earning a living".
    Half a century later GM is a typical example of poor management. In March its chief executive was fired by Time’s current Man of the Year, Mr Obama. The government now backs up the domestic car industry, lending it money and overseeing its turnaround plans. With luck, this will be short-lived. But there is a danger that Washington will end up micromanaging not only Detroit but also other parts of the economy. And clever as Mr Obama’s advisers are, history suggests they will be bad at this.
The Big Three American carmakers need restructuring to survive because______.
选项 A、their production capacity has shrunk to less than half of the previous year
B、their technology has fallen behind their competitors’ elsewhere in the world
C、they have borrowed too heavily and accumulated too large amounts of debt
D、they cannot cope with the ruinous costs accumulated over the post-war years
答案D
解析 定位句提到，美国三大汽车制造商——通用汽车、福特和克莱斯勒——在战后的数年内积累了巨额费用，同时下句提及三大汽车制造商都在竭力进行重组，故答案为D)。
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