2017年武汉大学考博英语真题1

Reading Comprehension 1

Mr Gordon is right that the second industrial revolution involved never-to-be-repeated changes.But that does not mean that driverless cars count for nothing.Messrs Erixon and Weigel are also right to worry about the West's dismal recent record in producing new companies.But many old firms are not run by bureaucrats and have reinvented themselves many times over:General Electric must be on at least its ninth life.And the impact of giant new firms born in the past 20 years such as Uber,Google and Facebook should not be underestimated:they have all the Schumpeterian characteristics the authors admire.

On the pessimists'side the strongest argument relies not on closely watching corporate and investor behavior.but rather on macro-level statistics on productivity.The figures from recent years are truly dismal.Karim Foda,of the Brookings Institution,calculates that labor productivity in the rich world is growing at its slowest rate since Total factor productivity(which tries to measure innovation)has grown at just 0.1%in advanced economies since 2004,well below its historical average.

Optimists have two retorts.The first is that there must be something wrong with the figures.One possibility is that they fail to count the huge consumer surplus given away free of charge on the internet.But this is unconvincing.The official figures may well be understating the impact of the internet revolution,just as they downplayed the impact of electricity and cars in the past,but they are not understating it enough to explain the recent decline in productivity growth.

Another,second line of argument that the productivity revolution has only just begun is more persuasive.Over the past decade many IT companies may have focused on things that were more"fun than fundamental"in Paul Krugman's phrase.But Silicon Valley's best companies are certainly focusing on things that change the material world.

Uber and Airbnb are bringing dramatic improvements to two large industries that have been more or less stuck for decades.Morgan Stanley estimates that driverless cars could result in$507 billion a year of productivity gains in America,mainly from people being able to stare at their laptops instead of at the road.

1．What has led to the pessimistic opinion concerning the world's economy?

A．It is based on macro-level statistics on productivity.

B．It is based on close observation on corporate and investor behavior.

C．It is due to the fact that many old firms are not run by bureaucrats.

D．It is due to the fact that not enough new firms have been created.

2．The first argument on the optimists'side is unconvincing because the official figures ________.

A．are both wrong and unconvincing

B．downplay the internet revolution

C．fail to include the consumer surplus

D．can't explain the decline in productivity growth

3．What is true about the IT companies in Silicon Valley?

A．They have only focused on the fun part of life.

B．They have made a difference in the real world.

C．They have more persuasive productivity.

D．They have only just begun to develop.

4．How can driverless cars benefit American industries?

A．Driverless cars have revived two large American industries.

B．The sale of driverless cars can reach hundreds of billion dollars.

C．Thanks to them people free from driving can do more creative work.

D．Driverless cars have stimulated the development of Uber and Airbnb.

【参考翻译】

戈登说的没错，第二次工业革命包含了无法重复的变化。但这并不意味着无人驾驶汽车一无是处。埃里克松和魏格尔对西方最近在创建新公司方面糟糕的记录的担忧也是正确的。但是，许多老公司并不是由官僚们管理的，并且已经多次自我改造:通用电气至少已经进入第九个生命了。过去20年里诞生的Uber、谷歌和Facebook等新兴巨头的影响不应被低估:它们拥有作者所推崇的熊彼特式特征。

在悲观主义者看来，最有力的论据不在于密切关注企业和投资者的行为。而是在生产率的宏观统计数据上。近年来的数据确实令人沮丧。布鲁金斯学会(Brookings Institution)的卡利姆•福达(Karim Foda)估计，自2004年以来，发达经济体的全要素生产率(旨在衡量创新)仅增长0.1%，远低于历史平均水平以来，发达的劳动生产率增速最慢。

乐观者有两个反驳。首先，数据肯定有问题。一种可能是，他们没有计算出互联网上免费赠送的巨大消费者剩余。但这并不令人信服。数据很可能低估了互联网革命的影响，就像他们过去低估了电力和汽车的影响一样，但他们低估的程度不足以解释最近生产率增长的下降。

生产率革命才刚刚开始的第二种说法更具说服力。在过去的十年里，许多IT公司可能把重点放在了保罗•克鲁格曼(Paul Krugman)所说的更“有趣而非根本”的事情上。但硅谷最好的公司肯定专注于改变物质世界的事情。

优步(Uber)和Airbnb正在给两个或多或少停滞了几十年的大行业带来戏剧性的改善。摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)估计，无人驾驶汽车每年可能为美国带来5,070亿美元的生产率增长，主要是因为人们可以盯着笔记本电脑而不是在路上看。

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