专四专八考试

【单选题】TheAmerican model has seldom looked so tarnisheD、America’s unemployment rate is 10%. Soup kitchens are doing a flourishing business in New York and other great cities.Companies that were once a byword for swashbuckling entrepreneurialism have bitten the dust.
But in one respect at leastAmerica remains a beacon for the rest of the world, its treatment of corporate bankruptcy. This may sound ludicrous.America’s excessive appetite for risk helped plunge the world into recession.AndAmerica’s consumers are defaulting on their debts at astronomical rates—and expecting the rest of society to pick up the bills for their profligacy.But countries that want to avoid unnecessary corporate carnage would nevertheless be foolish to ignore theAmerican example.
America’s enlightened attitude to corporate bankruptcy is designed to put economic resources back to productive use as quickly as possible. This means distinguishing between potentially viable companies and terminally ill ones. The potentially viable can file for "Chapter 11", which lets them restructure under court supervision. The terminally ill can file for "Chapter 7", which focuses on liquidating their assets and distributing them among creditors. It also means putting pressure on the courts to deal with bankruptcy as quickly as possible.Chrysler and General Motors were both in the hands of "new owners" within 45 days of filing for bankruptcy. It also means treating bankrupts relatively leniently, not as sinners to be flagellated but rather as unfortunates who should be given a second chance.
America’s generosity to capitalism’s losers has served it remarkably well. It has not only prevented companies such as UnitedAirlines and General Motors from going into premature liquidation, throwing thousands of people out of work. It has also helped provideAmerica with its entrepreneurial edge.Bankruptcy is an occupational hazard for entrepreneurs; even those with plenty of business experience under their belts fail much more often than they succeeD、America’s leniency towards bankrupts encourages novices to start their own businesses and allows people who have failed to start again.
The good news is that a growing number of countries are followingAmerica’s leaD、Britain has introduced a succession ofEnterpriseActs since 2002 that are designed to make it easier for failed entrepreneurs to start new businesses. The credit crunch has speeded up the price of reform. The WorldBank’s annual "DoingBusiness" report provides a wealth of examples of improvements. Many governments are trying to shake up their lethargic legal systems in order to speed up bankruptcy proceedings. The reforms also touch upon the more fundamental question of trying to save viable businesses from premature liquidation.Dozens of countries are trying to give companies more opportunities to reorganise before they finally reach for the revolver. France and Germany were among the first to do this.But the idea has also spread toEasternEurope andAsia and may even be reaching the bankruptcy-averse Muslim world (last year ten MiddleEastern and NorthAfrican countries signed a joint declaration on planned reforms).
Moving towards a more enlightened treatment of bankruptcy will not be easy, particularly for poor countries with inefficient legal systems and retributive attitudes to debt. The WorldBank reports that the majority of reforms have taken place in rich countries, since 2004, 59% of them have improved their systems compared with 33% of poorer countries inEastAsia, 22% in LatinAmerica, 16% in the MiddleEast and 13% in SouthAsi
A、And poorer countries have an enormous distance to travel. In rich countries, bankruptcy proceedings take less than two years on average. In SouthAsia they take an average of four- and-a-half years. In many countries—Turkey is a notorious example—legal fees can eat up almost all the value of a business.
It beats flagellation.

网考网参考答案：B
网考网解析：
推断题。按照题目顺序从第五段开始继续浏览。该段首句提出个人看法“The good news is that a growing number of countries are following America’s lead．”，之后具体说明其他国家如何参照美国企业破产模式进 行本同政策改革。第六段首句指出“Moving towards a more enlightened treatment of bankruptcy will not be easy，particularly for poor countries with inefficient legal systems and retributive attitudes to debt”，这说明作者认为，影响贫穷国家的企业破产改革的两个因素是法律体系和对待债务的态度。由于作者极力赞扬美同的企业破产政策，可以推断，如果贫穷国家改变对待债务的态度，作者会认为是一件好事。故[B]为答案。 第五段在提出主题句“The good news is that a growing number of countries are following America’s lead．” 之后，提到了很多国家改革本国企业破产程序的例子，其中提到法国、德国。但这些只是支持主题句的细节，并没有表达富裕国家要为贫穷国家树立榜样之意，排除[A]；同理，也没有提及欧洲国家要带头保护企业，排除[C]；第六段提到影响贫穷国家企业破产程序改革的问题之一是政治体系问题，没有涉及经济体系，排除[D]。 document.getElementById("warp").style.display="none"; document.getElementById("content").style.display="block"; 查看试题解析出处>>