It was inevitable that this primacy should have narrowed as other countries grew richer. Just as inevitably, the retreat from predominance proved painful. By the mid-1980s Americans had found themselves at a loss over their fading industrial competitiveness. Some huge American industries, such as consumer electronics, had shrunk or vanished in the face of foreign competition. By 1987 there was only one American television maker left, Zenith. (Now there is none: Zenith was bought by South Korea‘s LG Electronics in July.) Foreign-made cars and textiles were sweeping into the domestic market. America’s machine-tool industry was on the ropes. For a while it looked as though the making of semiconductors, which America had which sat at the heart of the new computer age, was going to be the next casualty.
52. The loss of US predominance in the world economy in the 1980s is manifested in the fact that the American________.
[A] TV industry had withdrawn to its domestic market
[B] semiconductor industry had been taken over by foreign enterprises
[C] machine-tool industry had collapsed after suicidal actions
[D] auto industry had lost part of its domestic market
首先我们审题,根据题干中的1980s(数字),我们可以定位到原文第二段。然后逐一看选项A“电视工业萎缩回到了国内市场(即:该工业失去了国际市场)。” “根据第二段,到80年代中期,面对其工业竞争力的日益衰退,美国人感到无计可施(at a loss),美国某些大的行业——如电子消费品——在园际竞争的压力下,面临萎缩或消亡的威胁。到1987年为止,美国仅存的电视制造商只有Zenith一家了(现在已荡然无存:Zenith于7月份——指文章写作年代的7月份——被韩国LG电子有限公司收购了)。这里并没有直接提到美国电视失去国际市场,事实上,它连国内市场也保不住了。因此A选项错误。B“半导体行业被外国公司接管。” 第二段最后一句提到,在一段时间内,半导体制造业看上去好像要成为下一个受害者。“看上去好像”的潜台词就是“事实上并不是如此”,因此B与原文意思相反。C“机械制造业自取灭亡”,第二段提到了机械制造业“岌岌可危”。这显然也是说它正在失去国内外市场,并未提到它的灭亡是由其自身原因造成的。on the ropes解释为“岌岌可危”并不解释为“自杀”。而第二段第六句提到,进口车和纺织品涌进(美国)国内市场。由此可知:D “汽车制造业失去了部分国内市场”与原文意思一致。选项D为正确答案。