In recent years, railroads have been combining with each other, merging into supersystems, causing heightened concerns about monopoly. As recently as 1995, the top four railroads accounted for under 70 percent of the total ton-miles moved by rails. Next year, after a series of mergers is completed, just four railroads will control well over 90 percent of all the freight moved by major rail carriers。
　　 Supporters of the new supersystems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial cost reductions and better coordinated service. Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks. But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat。
　　 The vast consolidation within the rail industry means that most shippers are served by only one rail company. Railroads typically charge such“captive”shippers 20 to 30 percent more than they do when another railroad is competing for the business. Shippers who feel they are being overcharged have the right to appeal to the federal government's Surface Transportation Board for rate relief, but the process is expensive, time consuming, and will work only in truly extreme cases。
　　 Railroads justify rate discrimination against captive shippers on the grounds that in the long run it reduces everyone's cost. If railroads charged all customers the same average rate, they argue, shippers who have the option of switching to trucks or other forms of transportation would do so, leaving remaining customers to shoulder the cost of keeping up the line. It's a theory to which many economists subscribe, but in practice it often leaves railroads in the position of determining which companies will flourish and which will fail. “Do we really want railroads to be the arbiters of who wins and who loses in the marketplace?” asks Martin Bercovici, a Washington lawyer who frequently represents shippers。
　　 Many captive shippers also worry they will soon be hit with a round of huge rate increases. The railroad industry as a whole, despite its brightening fortunes, still does not earn enough to cover the cost of the capital it must invest to keep up with its surging traffic. Yet railroads continue to borrow billions to acquire one another, with Wall Street cheering them on. Consider the $10.2 billion bid by Norfolk Southern and CSX to acquire Conrail this year. Conrail's net railway operating income in 1996 was just $427 million, less than half of the carrying costs of the transaction. Who's going to pay for the rest of the bill? Many captive shippers fear that they will, as Norfolk Southern and CSX increase their grip on the market。
　　 31. According to those who support mergers, railway monopoly is unlikely because
　　 [A] cost reduction is based on competition。
　　 [B] services call for cross-trade coordination。
　　 [C] outside competitors will continue to exist。
　　 [D] shippers will have the railway by the throat。
　　 32. What is many captive shippers' attitude towards the consolidation in the rail industry?
　　 [A] Indifferent。
　　 [B] Supportive。
　　 [C] Indignant。
　　 [D] Apprehensive。
　　 33. It can be inferred from paragraph 3 that
　　 [A] shippers will be charged less without a rival railroad。
　　 [B] there will soon be only one railroad company nationwide。
　　 [C] overcharged shippers are unlikely to appeal for rate relief。
　　 [D] a government board ensures fair play in railway business。
　　 34. The word “arbiters” (Line 7, Paragraph 4) most probably refers to those
　　 [A] who work as coordinators。
　　 [B] who function as judges。
　　 [C] who supervise transactions。
　　 [D] who determine the price。
　　 35. According to the text, the cost increase in the rail industry is mainly caused by
　　 [A] the continuing acquisition。
　　 [B] the growing traffic。
　　 [C] the cheering Wall Street。
　　 [D] the shrinking market。

　 名師解析
　　 31. According to those who support mergers, railway monopoly is unlikely because
　　 在那些支持鐵路公司合并的人看來(lái)，壟斷之所以不可能發(fā)生，是因?yàn)?br />　　 [A] cost reduction is based on competition. 成本的降低源于競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。
　　 [B] services call for cross-trade coordination. 服務(wù)需要跨行業(yè)協(xié)調(diào)。
　　 [C] outside competitors will continue to exist. 外部競(jìng)爭(zhēng)者將繼續(xù)存在。
　　 [D] shippers will have the railway by the throat. 托運(yùn)商將掐住鐵路公司的咽喉。
　　【答案】 C
　　【考點(diǎn)】 事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)題。
　　【分析】 題目問(wèn)的是支持并購(gòu)的人為什么認(rèn)為鐵路行業(yè)內(nèi)不會(huì)形成壟斷。根據(jù)題干關(guān)鍵詞 “支持者，合并，不可能”可以定位到第二段。支持者認(rèn)為“Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks�！币馑际恰耙�?yàn)橐�和卡車�?jìng)爭(zhēng)，所以不存在壟斷的可能”。所以[C]比較符合文章的意思。[A]不對(duì)，文章說(shuō)支持者認(rèn)為合并能降低成本，而不是競(jìng)爭(zhēng)降低成本。[B]不對(duì)是因?yàn)槲闹兄皇钦f(shuō)可以更好協(xié)調(diào)服務(wù)，而不是跨行業(yè)。[D]把主語(yǔ)和賓語(yǔ)弄反了，而且也不是支持者的觀點(diǎn)，所以也是錯(cuò)誤的。
　　 32. What is many captive shippers’ attitude towards the consolidation in the rail industry?
　　 許多受控制的托運(yùn)商對(duì)鐵路行業(yè)合并的態(tài)度是
　　 [A] Indifferent. 冷淡的。 [B] Supportive. 支持的。
　　 [C] Indignant. 義憤的。 [D] Apprehensive. 擔(dān)心的。
　　【答案】 D
　　【考點(diǎn)】 態(tài)度題。
　　【分析】 本題問(wèn)的不是作者的態(tài)度，而是貨主的態(tài)度，要求考生根據(jù)文中所提供的線索做判斷。通過(guò)題干關(guān)鍵詞“shipper，attitude”來(lái)定位，如：“But many shippers complain that.。.”(第二段)，“Many captive shipper also worry.。.”(第五段)，“Many captive shippers fear that.。.”(第五段)，我們可以判斷出貨主的態(tài)度是“憂慮的”，對(duì)未來(lái)的狀況“憂心忡忡”。所以[D]是正確的。
　　 33. It can be inferred from paragraph 3 that 從第三段中我們可以推斷出
　　 [A] shippers will be charged less without a rival railroad。
　　 如果沒(méi)有其他鐵路公司的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，托運(yùn)商被收取的費(fèi)用將會(huì)少一些。
　　 [B] there will soon be only one railroad company nationwide。
　　 很快全國(guó)就會(huì)只剩下一家鐵路公司。
　　 [C] overcharged shippers are unlikely to appeal for rate relief。
　　 被多收費(fèi)的托運(yùn)商不大可能會(huì)申訴減免費(fèi)用。
　　 [D] a government board ensures fair play in railway business。
　　 政府部門保證鐵路行業(yè)的公平競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。
　　【答案】 C
　　【考點(diǎn)】 推斷題。
　　【分析】 [A]正好與原文意思相反。從第三段第二句中，我們得知“鐵路公司合并后，鐵路公司向貨主們收取的費(fèi)用比以前有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的時(shí)候高20%至30%”，所以費(fèi)用不是少一些，而是多一些。[B]缺乏依據(jù)，因?yàn)槲闹姓f(shuō)絕大多數(shù)托運(yùn)商將由一家公司服務(wù)，但是這不意味著只剩下一家公司，所以也是不對(duì)的。[C]是正確的，因?yàn)槲恼吕镎f(shuō)到，“貨主們?nèi)绻�認(rèn)為鐵路公司收費(fèi)過(guò)高，可以向聯(lián)邦政府的機(jī)構(gòu)申請(qǐng)降低費(fèi)率。但是因?yàn)樯暝V的過(guò)程耗時(shí)費(fèi)錢，而且只有在極端的情況下才會(huì)這么做”。由此，我們可以推斷出他們不大可能提出申訴。[D]說(shuō)“政府能保證鐵路行業(yè)內(nèi)的公平競(jìng)爭(zhēng)”，這種說(shuō)法缺乏依據(jù)。文中提及“水陸運(yùn)輸委員會(huì)”可以調(diào)節(jié)運(yùn)輸費(fèi)率，但是這和公平競(jìng)爭(zhēng)還是不同的。
　　 34. The word “arbiters” (Line 7, Paragraph 4) most probably refers to those
　　 單詞“arbiters”(第四段第七行)很有可能指的是那些
　　 [A] who work as coordinators. 擔(dān)任協(xié)調(diào)員的人。
　　 [B] who function as judges. 行使法官職能的人。
　　 [C] who supervise transactions. 作監(jiān)督交易工作的人。
　　 [D] who determine the price. 決定價(jià)格的人。
　　【答案】 B
　　【考點(diǎn)】 詞義題。
　　【分析】 詞義題一般在文中都可以找到答案，要么上文，要么下文�！癮rbiter”的意思是“仲裁者”，屬于超綱詞匯。出題人考的就是看考生能否通過(guò)上下文猜測(cè)到這個(gè)單詞的含義。首先定位在第四段的比較后一句“Do we really want railroads to be the arbiters of who wins and who loses in the marketplace?”，其實(shí)它要表述的內(nèi)容已在前一句出現(xiàn)了�！癐t’s a theory to which many economists subscribe, but in practice it often leaves railroads in the position of determining which companies will flourish and which will fail”。由此，我們可以猜測(cè)出“arbiter”指的是“those who are in the position of determining something”，或者“someone who can determine who wins and who loses in the marketplace”， 就可得出答案[B]。[D]項(xiàng)雖有“determine”一詞，但是意思不對(duì)。文中說(shuō)的鐵路決定了托運(yùn)商的命運(yùn)，就好比是商場(chǎng)中的裁判，能決定誰(shuí)贏誰(shuí)輸。[D]項(xiàng)僅僅提到?jīng)Q定價(jià)格，無(wú)法完整的表達(dá)出這個(gè)單詞的意思。
　　 35. According to the text, the cost increase in the rail industry is mainly caused by
　　 根據(jù)本文，鐵路行業(yè)的成本增加的主要原因是
　　 [A] the continuing acquisition. 不斷的收購(gòu)。
　　 [B] the growing traffic. 逐漸增長(zhǎng)的運(yùn)輸量。
　　 [C] the cheering Wall Street. 歡呼的華爾街。
　　 [D] the shrinking market. 逐漸縮小的市場(chǎng)。
　　【答案】 A
　　【考點(diǎn)】 事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)題。
　　【分析】 本題的出題思路主要是，通過(guò)確認(rèn)鐵路成本提高的主要原因來(lái)考查考生對(duì)文中因果關(guān)系的把握。通過(guò)關(guān)鍵詞“cost increase，cause”來(lái)定位。發(fā)現(xiàn)比較后一段第一句話里面提到“許多‘受制’客戶還擔(dān)心他們很快將遭遇一輪新的費(fèi)率大漲價(jià)。目前的鐵路公司所賺的錢不足以支付固定投資的費(fèi)用，但是即使這樣，鐵路公司為了并購(gòu)還在借很多的資金。所以，鐵路的經(jīng)營(yíng)成本提高”。[A]是正確的。至于[B]，文中提到“鐵路公司還沒(méi)有足夠的錢去增加投資，以滿足快速發(fā)展的交通的需要”，但是，這并不是引起成本提高的主要原因，文章的重點(diǎn)并不在此。[C]、[D]毫無(wú)依據(jù)，都是錯(cuò)誤的。

　　難句解析：
　　1. But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat。
　　【結(jié)構(gòu)分析】 本句是一個(gè)復(fù)合句，“complain”后面接兩個(gè)賓語(yǔ)從句，第一個(gè)賓語(yǔ)從句的主干是“trucking is too costly”，而“for”引導(dǎo)的是一個(gè)表示對(duì)象的狀語(yǔ)�！皌he railroads therefore have them by the throat”是另外一個(gè)賓語(yǔ)分句，可以翻譯成：鐵路公司就會(huì)“掐住他們的脖子”。
　　2. Shippers who feel they are being overcharged have the right to appeal to the federal government’s Surface Transportation Board for rate relief, but the process is expensive, time consuming, and will work only in truly extreme cases。
　　【結(jié)構(gòu)分析】 本句由“but”連接的并列句。第一個(gè)分句的主干是“shippers have the right…”�！皊hipper”的后邊跟了一個(gè)“who”引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句。第二個(gè)分句的主語(yǔ)是“the process”，雙謂語(yǔ)：一個(gè)是系表結(jié)構(gòu)，另外一個(gè)是“will work”。
　　3. It’s theory to which many economists subscribe, but in practice it often leaves railroads in the position of determining which companies will flourish and which will fail。
　　【結(jié)構(gòu)分析】 本句是由“but”連接的兩個(gè)分句。第一個(gè)分句的主干部分是“It’s theory”，后邊緊跟了一個(gè)“which”引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句�！癰ut”后邊的分句的主語(yǔ)是“it”，謂語(yǔ)是“l(fā)eaves”。“determining”的后邊接了兩個(gè)并列的賓語(yǔ)從句：“which companies will flourish and which will fail”。
　　全文翻譯：
　　近年來(lái)，鐵路公司一直在彼此聯(lián)合，合并成超大型集團(tuán)，引起人們對(duì)壟斷的極大關(guān)注。近至1995年，比較大的四家鐵路公司占有整個(gè)鐵路運(yùn)輸業(yè)務(wù)量的近70%。到明年，一系列兼并活動(dòng)完成之后，四家鐵路公司將控制90%以上的鐵路運(yùn)輸業(yè)務(wù)。
　　支持組建超大型鐵路集團(tuán)的人聲稱，兼并將使得成本大幅降低，服務(wù)項(xiàng)目更好協(xié)調(diào)。他們認(rèn)為，由于公路運(yùn)輸?shù)募ち腋?jìng)爭(zhēng)，壟斷的威脅已經(jīng)沒(méi)有了。但是許多托運(yùn)商抱怨說(shuō)，對(duì)于諸如煤炭、化學(xué)制品和糧食這樣依賴長(zhǎng)途運(yùn)輸?shù)拇笞谏唐穪?lái)說(shuō)，公路運(yùn)輸花費(fèi)太大，這樣鐵路公司就會(huì)“掐住他們的脖子”(制約住他們)。
　　鐵路運(yùn)輸業(yè)內(nèi)的大規(guī)模聯(lián)合意味著多數(shù)客戶將不得不依賴一家公司的服務(wù)。通常，鐵路公司對(duì)這些“受制的”客戶的收費(fèi)要比存在另一鐵路公司競(jìng)爭(zhēng)業(yè)務(wù)時(shí)多20%—30%。如果托運(yùn)人認(rèn)為收費(fèi)過(guò)高，他們有權(quán)上訴到聯(lián)邦政府的“水陸運(yùn)輸委員會(huì)”以爭(zhēng)取價(jià)格下調(diào)，但是這個(gè)過(guò)程既耗財(cái)又耗時(shí)，并且只有在真正極端特殊的情況下才有作用。
　　鐵路公司對(duì)“受制”客戶的收費(fèi)進(jìn)行區(qū)別對(duì)待的依據(jù)是，從長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)來(lái)看，這樣做會(huì)降低所有人的成本。他們認(rèn)為，如果鐵路公司向所有客戶收取同樣的平均價(jià)格的話，那么那些可以使用公路運(yùn)輸或其他交通工具的客戶將會(huì)轉(zhuǎn)移，使剩下的客戶來(lái)承擔(dān)鐵路正常運(yùn)作的開(kāi)銷。這種理論得到了多數(shù)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家的認(rèn)同，但在實(shí)際操作中，它使鐵路公司獲得了一個(gè)決定誰(shuí)成誰(shuí)敗的權(quán)利�！拔覀兪欠裾娴南胱岃F路公司成為在市場(chǎng)上決定誰(shuí)敗誰(shuí)榮的裁決者呢?”馬丁·貝科維奇問(wèn)道。他是一位常常代表鐵路客戶的華盛頓律師。
　　許多“受制”客戶還擔(dān)心他們很快將遭遇一輪新的費(fèi)率大漲價(jià)。從整體來(lái)說(shuō)，雖然鐵路行業(yè)有炫目的資產(chǎn)，但它的收入仍然不足以支付為滿足不斷增長(zhǎng)的運(yùn)輸需要而進(jìn)行的固定資產(chǎn)投資。然而鐵路公司仍然繼續(xù)貸款數(shù)十億美元來(lái)進(jìn)行收購(gòu)，而華爾街也鼓勵(lì)它們這樣做。請(qǐng)想一想今年南諾弗克公司和CSX公司為兼并康雷爾公司所花的102億美元吧�？道谞柟���1996年鐵路運(yùn)營(yíng)純收入為4.27億美元，這還不足這宗交易運(yùn)作成本的一半。誰(shuí)來(lái)支付其余的費(fèi)用?許多“被控”客戶擔(dān)心像南諾弗克和CSX公司一樣，聯(lián)合鐵路公司也將加強(qiáng)對(duì)市場(chǎng)的控制。