首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Napoleon was wrong when he dismissed the British as a nation of shopkeepers (and hence unfit to defeat France in war). Compared
Napoleon was wrong when he dismissed the British as a nation of shopkeepers (and hence unfit to defeat France in war). Compared
admin
2017-03-15
48
问题
Napoleon was wrong when he dismissed the British as a nation of shopkeepers (and hence unfit to defeat France in war). Compared with France, Britain in the 1790s already had a bigger manufacturing base, a higher income per head and hence a tax base wide enough to pay for 22 years of conflict that led to the emperor’s Waterloo. Indeed, the demand for ships and munitions, created by the long war against France, boosted British industry.
Two centuries later, however, the little Corsican may have a point. This week ICI, the company that once symbolised British industry, became the target of a takeover bid from Akzo Nobel, a Dutch competitor. Meanwhile, Britain’s Tesco supermarket group is boldly expanding into America and other foreign markets in a bid to overtake France’s Carrefour (sorry, Monsieur l’Empereur) to become the world’s second-biggest retailer behind Wal-Mart. Britain has a much more open economy than America, measured by foreign trade or capital flows. Indeed, there could be no greater testimony to its health than the unsentimental ability to let one-time national champions float quietly off into another’s embrace.
Imperial Chemical Industries was born on the liner Aquitania in the mid-Atlantic when four British chemical barons of the 1920s agreed to combine forces. But the company started coming apart in the 1990s. It balked at buying Glaxo to become a world-class drugs company. Funking as predator, it became prey itself. Prodded by the threat of a hostile break-up bid from Lord Hanson, a corporate raider at the height of his powers, ICI floated off its drugs division, now AstraZeneca.
As it moved upmarket, ICI became progressively less imperial, less chemical and less industrial. It paid too much for Unilever’s specialty chemicals business and struggled to pay down the debt it incurred by selling its commodity petrochemicals operations at just the wrong point in the cycle. Its giant petrochemicals complex on Teesside—once the very symbol of British manufacturing strength—was sold to some Americans and now belongs to a Saudi company.
Such sell-offs go almost without comment now in Britain. When investors from Dubai snapped up P&O, another commercial relic of the British empire, Britons shrugged, even as nationalistic opposition in America forced the Arab buyers to find someone more trustworthy to take on the ports it owned there. German and French firms have snapped up British water and electricity companies, and London’s airports belong to a Spanish construction company. First the Dutch, then the Indians walked off with Britain’s steel industry. The Chinese bought Rover, the rump of Britain’s car industry, and shipped its machine tools back home.
It may only be a matter of time before BT (conveniently, no longer called British Telecom) becomes the first "national" telecoms incumbent in foreign hands; its mobile arm has already been taken by Spain’s Telefonica. Likewise BAE Systems (no longer British Aerospace) sees its future in America, perhaps in the belly of a beast named Boeing, Northrop Grumman or Lockheed Martin.
In most countries that would count as a litany of failure. But just as Britain led the world into industrialisation, so now Britain is leading it out. Today you can still find a few British engineers and scientists making jet engines and pharmaceuticals—and doing rather well at it. But many more are cooking up algorithms for hedge funds and investment banks—where in many cases they add more value. The economy has boomed these past 15 years, as manufacturing has been left behind and London has become the world’s leading international financial centre. Britain’s deficit in manufactured goods is hitting record highs. But so are the capital inflows.
All those foreign investors have brought a lot, too. Nissan’s car factory in Sunderland, for instance, is one of its finest anywhere. If foreigners think they can manage British factories or finances better than the natives can, they are welcome.
Based on the passage, which of the following CANNOT be concluded?
选项
A、The author is a dissenter to the sell-offs.
B、The Britons are all against the sell-offs.
C、Many traditional and even critical areas are open for foreign companies.
D、The British people have again become what Napoleon called " a nation of shopkeepers".
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/T5SO777K
本试题收录于:
NAETI高级口译笔试题库外语翻译证书(NAETI)分类
0
NAETI高级口译笔试
外语翻译证书(NAETI)
相关试题推荐
WhenFacebooksaiditwouldstartadatingserviceinColombiainSeptember,ErikaRamossignedup.Single,35,livinginBo
Insteadoflearningto________truthontheirown,thestudentsaretoldwhattobelieve.
EveryyearBerryBros&Rudd,Britain’soldestwinemerchant,issuesapocket-sizedpricelist.Readingoldcopiesmakesamateur
Conversely,aEuropeweakenanddividebytheworld’smostpowerfulcountrywouldexacerbateproblemsfarbeyondtheEU’sborder
下面你将听到一段有关中美贸易关系的讲话。在冷战结束后的新形势下,两国要不要及如何发展双边关系,是中美两国面临的重大课题。“永久正常贸易关系”的通过表明,在美国,支持发展中美关系的力量占了上风,美国政府、国会、工商企业界和公众的主流都支持以建设性的
海洋是全球生命支持系统的一个不可缺少的组成部分。海洋不仅是自然资源的宝库,同时也是我们人类居住环境的重要调节器。中国政府高度重视海洋的开发和保护,不断加强海洋综合管理,促进海洋产业的协调发展。中国已经形成了具有区域特征的多学科的海洋科学体系。国家
下面你将听到的是一段有关美国银行在亚洲拓展金融业务的讲话。Ifyouthoughtmultimediawassomethingtobeenjoyedintheprivacyofyourhome,thinkagain
在一个通过电话和电脑的快速交流时代,面对面的见面方式显得浪费时间和精力,但是,他们仍然是做事情的重要组成部分。关键词汇:via:通过;face-to-face:面对面。如果能把"Inanageoffastcommunicationviatel
在1986年,世界上大约有4千万台电脑,到2006年,数字已经上升到8亿,在20年中增长了20倍。关键词汇:twenty-fold:20倍;decade:20年。这句话的翻译难点是数字的记录,考生还是把数字记成40million:40m,800millio
随机试题
汽轮机保护项目主要有哪些?
足月新生儿,出生时Apgar评分1分钟1分,5分钟2分,生后4小时出现惊厥,反应较差,肌张力较低。首先应考虑的疾病为
3,7,47,2207,()。
建设项目的()必须对建设项目产生的污染和对环境的影响作出评价,规定防治措施,经项目主管部门预审并依照规定的程序报环境保护行政主管部门批准。
丙公司采用计划成本法对原材料进行日常核算。2015年12月初结存材料的计划成本为2000万元,材料成本差异账户贷方余额为30万元;本月入库材料的计划成本为10000万元,材料成本差异账户借方发生额为60万元;另有月末按计划成本暂估入账的材料200万元;本月
下列属于国家融资项目的是()。
民警王某休假期间着便装乘公共汽车回故乡,在车上恰遇两名歹徒持刀对乘客实施抢劫,王某见状与歹徒搏斗。后在乘客的协助下将歹徒制服,王某负伤。下列说法正确的是()。
祖孙3人的年龄加在一起正好是100岁,爷爷过的年数恰好等于孙子过的月数,儿子过的星期数等于孙子过的天数。那么祖孙三人的年龄各是多少?()
已知A=,A*是A的伴随矩阵,若r(A*)=1.则a=()
Whichofthefollowingexampleshowsthatthepenaltyissuitableforthecrime?Thosewhosuspect"shamingpunishments"argue
最新回复
(
0
)