XDF- PASSAGE 51

rynnchan

*PASSAGE 45
*While there is no blueprint for transforming a largelygovernment-controlled economy into a free one, theexperience of the United Kingdom since 1979 clearlyshows one approach that works: privatization, in which
5) state-owned industries are sold to private companies. By1979, the total borrowings and losses of state-ownedindustries were running at about t3 billion a year. Byselling many of these industries, the government hasdecreased these borrowings and losses, gained over t34
10) billion from the sales, and now receives tax revenues fromthe newly privatized companies. Along with a dramaticallyimproved overall economy, the government has been ableto repay 12.5 percent of the net national debt over atwo-year period.
*
15) In fact, privatization has not only rescued individualindustries and a whole economy headed for disaster, buthas also raised the level of performance in every area. AtBritish Airways and British Gas, for example, productivityper employee has risen by 20 percent. At associated
20) British Ports, labor disruptions common in the 1970's andearly 1980's have now virtually disappeared. At BritishTelecom, there is no longer a waiting list—as there alwayswas before privatization—to have a telephone installed.Part of this improved productivity has come about
25) because the employees of privatized industries were giventhe opportunity to buy shares in their own companies. Theyresponded enthusiastically to the offer of shares; at BritishAerospace, 89 percent of the eligible work force boughtshares; at Associated British Ports, 90 percent; and at
30) British Telecom, 92 percent. When people have a personalstake in something, they think about it, care about it, workto make it prosper. At the National Freight Consortium,the new employee-owners grew so concerned about theircompany's profits that during wage negotiations they
35) actually pressed their union to lower its wage demands.Some economists have suggested that giving away freeshares would provide a needed acceleration of the privati-zation process. Yet they miss Thomas Paine's point that"what we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly." In
40) order for the far-ranging benefits of individual ownershipto be achieved by owners, companies, and countries,employees and other individuals must make their owndecisions to buy, and they must commit some of their ownresources to the choice.

6. Which of the following can be inferred from the passageabout the privatization process in the United Kingdom?
(A) It depends to a potentially dangerous degree onindividual ownership of shares.
(B) It conforms in its most general outlines to ThomasPalne's prescription for business ownership.
(C) It was originally conceived to include some givingaway of free shares.
(D) It has been successful, even though privatization hasfailed in other countries.
(E) It is taking place more slowly than some economistssuggest is necessary.

E

7. The quotation in line 39 is most probably used to
(A) counter a position that the author of the passagebelieves is incorrect
(B) state a solution to a problem described in theprevious sentence
(C) show how opponents of the viewpoint of the authorof the passage have supported their arguments
(D) point out a paradox contained in a controversialviewpoint
(E) present a historical maxim to challenge the principleintroduced in the third paragraph

A

哪位指点一下~末段什么意思啊？