英文寫作翻譯頻道為大家整理的2000年考研英語(yǔ)閱讀翻譯解析，供大家參考:)
A history of long and effortless success can be a dreadful handicap, but, if properly handled, it may become a driving force. When the United States entered just such a glowing period after the end of the Second World War, it had a market eight times larger than any competitor, giving its industries unparalleled economies of scale. Its scientists were the world’s best, its workers the most skilled. America and Americans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the Europeans and Asians whose economies the war had destroyed.
長(zhǎng)期輕而易舉的成功歷史可能是一種可怕的障礙，但若處理得當(dāng)，這種障礙也有可能轉(zhuǎn)化為一種積極的推動(dòng)力。二戰(zhàn)結(jié)束后，美國(guó)恰好進(jìn)入了這樣的一段輝煌時(shí)期，當(dāng)時(shí)，它擁有比任何競(jìng)爭(zhēng)者大8倍的市場(chǎng)，這使其工業(yè)經(jīng)濟(jì)規(guī)模發(fā)展到前所未有的狀態(tài)。美國(guó)的科學(xué)家是世上秀的，它的工人是技術(shù)的。美國(guó)的繁榮是那些經(jīng)濟(jì)遭到戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)破壞的歐亞各國(guó)做夢(mèng)也無(wú)法達(dá)到的。
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 invented and which sat at the heart of the new computer age, was going to be the next casualty.
隨著其他國(guó)家日益強(qiáng)盛，美國(guó)的這一優(yōu)勢(shì)地位逐漸下降是不可避免的。從優(yōu)勢(shì)地位上退出的痛苦也同樣是在所難免的。到了20世紀(jì)80年代中期，面對(duì)其日益衰退的工業(yè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力，美國(guó)人感到不知所措。面對(duì)國(guó)外競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，一些像消費(fèi)電子產(chǎn)業(yè)之類的大型美國(guó)工業(yè)已經(jīng)萎縮或漸漸消失。到1987年，美國(guó)只剩下Zenith一家電視生產(chǎn)商。（現(xiàn)在一家也沒(méi)有了：Zenith于在7月被韓國(guó)LG電器公司收購(gòu)。）外國(guó)制造的汽車和紡織品當(dāng)時(shí)正大舉涌入國(guó)內(nèi)市場(chǎng)。美國(guó)的機(jī)床工業(yè)當(dāng)時(shí)危在旦夕。有一段時(shí)間，半導(dǎo)體制造業(yè)似乎要成為下一個(gè)受害者，雖然美國(guó)是半導(dǎo)體的發(fā)明者，而且半導(dǎo)體處于新計(jì)算機(jī)時(shí)代的核心位置。
All of this caused a crisis of confidence. Americans stopped taking prosperity for granted. They began to believe that their way of doing business was failing, and that their incomes would therefore shortly begin to fall as well. The mid-1980s brought