A multinational corporation is a corporate enterprise, which though headquartered in one country, conducts its operations through branches that it owns or controls the world. The organizations, mostly based in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan, have become major actors on the international stage, for some of them are wealthier than many of the countries they operate in. The less developed countries often welcome the multinationals because they are a source of investment and jobs. Yet their presence has its drawbacks, for these organizations soon develop immense political and economic influence in the host countries. Development becomes concentrated in a few industries that are oriented to the needs of the outsiders; profits are frequently exported rather than reinvested; and local benefites go mainly to a small ruling group whose interests are tied to those of the foreigners rather than to those of teir own people. The effect is to further increase export dependency and to limit the less developed countries' control of their own economies.

　　It seems that both the modemization and world-system approaches may be valid in certain respects. The modernization model does help us make sense of historical fact of industrialization and of the various internal adjustments that societies undergo during this process. The world-system model reminds us that countries do not develop in isolation. They do so in a context of fierce international political and economic competition, a competition whose outcome favors the stronger parties.

　　Today, the less developed countries are stuggling to achieve in the course of a few years the material advantages that the older industrialized nations have taken generations to gain. The result is oftern a tug-of-war between the forces of modernization and the sentiments of tradition, with serious social disturbance as the result. The responses have taken many different forms:military overthrow by army officers determined to impose social order; fundamentalist religious movements urging a return to absolute moralities and certainties of the past; nationalism as a new ideology to unite the people for the challenge of modernization. And sometimes social change takes place in a way that is not evolutionary, but revolutionary.

　　1. Why do the less developed countries welcome the multinationals?
　　[A] Because multinationals are more developed.
　　[B] Because multinationals bring investment and jobs.
　　[C] Because multinationals conduct their operations through branches.
　　[D] Because multinational are wealthier.

　　2. Which of the following is NOT the problems brought by multinationals?
　　[A] They limit the host country's control of their own economies.
　　[B] Profits are frequently exported rather than reinvested.
　　[C] Various industries develop in the host country.
　　[D] They increase the host country's export dependency.

　　3. Which of the following is most likely to benefit from the fierce international political and ecomomic competition?
　　[A] The host industries.
　　[B] The local people.
　　[C] Those stronger and richer countries.
　　[D] The local ruling group.

　　4. What does the word “tug-of-war” peobably refer to?
　　[A] Serious social disoder.
　　[B] Military overthrow by army officers.
　　[C] Fierce international political and economic competition.
　　[D] Struggle between modernization and the sentiments of tradition.

　　5. What is the root cause of serious social disturbance in less developed countries?
　　[A] Violent social change.
　　[B] Military overthrow.
　　[C] Nationalism.
　　[D] Fundamentalist religious movements.

　　參考答案：1-5 BCCDA

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