考研英語：歷年真題閱讀要點之1994-Text 1

　　The American economic system is organized around a basically private-enterprise, market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most.

　　private-enterprise“民營企業(yè)的”;market-oriented“以市場為導向的”;in which引導定語從句，即“在這樣的經(jīng)濟環(huán)境中”;largely“主要地，在很大程度上”。

　　Private businessmen, striving to make profits, produce these goods and services in competition with other businessmen; and the profit motive, operating under competitive pressures, largely determines how these goods and services are produced.

　　striving to make profits現(xiàn)在分詞起到補充說明的作用;strive to do努力做某事;make profits“賺錢”;in competition with“與...競爭”;under competitive pressures“在競爭壓力下”;相關表達：compete動詞形式，competitor“競爭者，對手”，fierce market competition“激烈的市場競爭”。

　　Thus, in the American economic system it is the demand of individual consumers, coupled with the desire of businessmen to maximize profits and the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes, that together determine what shall be produced and how resources are used to produce it.

　　強調(diào)句型it is... that...;coupled with相當于and;maximize“使最大化”;resources“資源”，natural resources“自然資源”。

　　An important factor in a market-oriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers.

　　factor“因素”;mechanisim“機制”;by which引導定語從句，即“通過這樣的機制”，means/ method/ manner等表示“方式”的詞后出現(xiàn)定語從句，也用by which來引導;respond to“響應，回應”，也可以用介詞短語in response to。

　　If the product is in short supply relative to the demand, the price will be bid up and some consumers will be eliminated from the market. If, on the other hand, producing more of a commodity results in reducing its cost, this will tend to increase the supply offered by seller-producers, which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product. Thus, price is the regulating mechanism in the American economic system.

　　be in short supply“供應不足”;relative to“相對于”;bid up“抬價”;eliminate“清除，淘汰”;on the other hand“另一方面”，往往應用于寫作;commodity“商品”;result in“導致”;this指代逗號前的這種情況;tend to do“傾向于做某事”;in turn“反過來”;permit“允許”。thus“因此”，閱讀中，應該重點關注總結性提示詞。

　　In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights, including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.

　　concept“概念”;embrace“包含”，也可以表示“擁抱”;make a contract with“與...簽訂合同”。