大全9 (passage 9) Q3

AlienX

Most economists in the United States seem captivated by the spell of
the free market. Consequently, nothing seems good or normal that does
not accord with the requirements of the free market. A price that is
determined by the seller or, for that matter, established by anyone
other than the aggregate of consumers seems pernicious. Accordingly, it
requires a major act of will to think of price-fixing (the
determination of prices by the seller) as both “normal” and having a
valuable economic function. In fact, price-fixing is normal in all
industrialized societies because the industrial system itself provides,
as an effortless consequence of its own development, the price-fixing
that it requires. Modern industrial planning requires and rewards great
size. Hence, a comparatively small number of large firms will be
competing for the same group of consumers. That each large firm will
act with consideration of its own needs and thus avoid selling its
products for more than its competitors charge is commonly recognized by
advocates of free-market economic theories. But each large firm will
also act with full consideration of the needs that it has in common
with the other large firms competing for the same customers. Each large
firm will thus avoid significant price-cutting, because price-cutting
would be prejudicial to the common interest in a stable demand for
products. Most economists do not see price-fixing when it occurs
because they expect it to be brought about by a number of explicit
agreements among large firms; it is not.

    

Moreover, those economists who argue that allowing the free market to
operate without interference is the most efficient method of
establishing prices have not considered the economies of non-socialist
countries other than the United states. These economies employ
intentional price-fixing, usually in an overt fashion. Formal
price-fixing by cartel and informal price-fixing by agreements covering
the members of an industry are commonplace. Were there something
peculiarly efficient about the free market and inefficient about
price-fixing, the countries that have avoided the first and used the
second would have suffered drastically in their economic development.
There is no indication that they have.

    

Socialist industry also works within a framework of controlled prices.
In the early 1970’s, the Soviet Union began to give firms and
industries some of the flexibility in adjusting prices that a more
informal evolution has accorded the capitalist system. Economists in
the United States have hailed the change as a return to the free
market. But Soviet firms are no more subject to prices established by a
free market over which they exercise little influence than are
capitalist firms; rather, Soviet firms have been given the power to fix
prices.

    

The author’s attitude toward “Most economists in the United States” (line 1) can best be described as

A.    spiteful and envious

B.    scornful and denunciatory

C.    critical and condescending

D.    ambivalent but deferential

E.    uncertain but interested

A, D, and E可以排除.
B/C之間我選了B...可是答應是C.
想問一下condescending應該怎translate? 高傲的?
高傲的和輕蔑的(scornful)不是很接近嗎?

vivian0331

AlienX还在准备考试？我记得你已经考过了。