全国公共英语等级考试五级 g2

　　[00:00.00]You will hear a talk about World Trade Organization.
[00:05.09]As you listen,you must answer Questions 35--44
[00:11.76]by writing NO MORE THAN THREE words in the space provided on the right.
[00:19.30]You will hear the talk TWICE.
[00:23.54]You now have 60 seconds to read Questions 25--44.
[00:30.77]As you probably know,the World Trade Organization,
[00:36.83]which is generally referred to as WTO,
[00:42.19]was established on January 1,1995.
[00:48.54]Its offices are located in Geneva.
[00:53.08]In order to understand the functions of WTO better,
[00:58.64]we should also learn something about GATT,the WTO's predecessor¹,
[01:06.09]GATT stands for "the General Agreement on  Tariffs³ and Trade."
[01:13.25]It was established on a provisional basis after the Second World War,
[01:20.01]following the establishment of other institutions
[01:25.05]dedicated to international economic cooperation
[01:30.80]--such as those now known as the World Bank
[01:35.56]and the International Monetary⁴ Fund.
[01:40.21]The original 23 GATT countries
[01:44.96]were among over 50 which agreed to a draft Charter
[01:51.31]for an International Trade Organization.
[01:56.35]It was a new,specialized agencyof the United Nations.
[02:02.91]The Charter of the ITO
[02:07.45]was intended to provide not only world trade disciplines,
[02:13.90]but also contained rules relating to employment,
[02:20.07]commodity agreements,restrictive business practices,
[02:26.52]international investment and services.
[02:31.17]In an effort to give a boost to trade liberalization
[02:36.92]after the Second World War and to begin to correct protectionist measures
[02:44.08]that remained in place from the early 1930s,
[02:49.61]tariff² negotiations⁵ were opened among the 23 founding
[02:56.07]ITO "contracting parties" in 1946.
[03:02.91]This first round of negotiations resulted in 45,000
[03:10.25]tariff concessions⁶ affecting $ 10 billion of world trade.
[03:17.72]It was then about 10% of the world trade.
[03:23.15]It was agreed that these concessions should be protected by early acceptance
[03:31.12]of some of the trade rules in the draft ITO Charter
[03:36.97]These tariff concessions and rules
[03:41.52]came to be known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,
[03:48.18]and came into force January 1948.
[03:54.32]Although the full ITO Charter
[03:59.28]was agreed to at a UN Conference on Trade and Employment
[04:05.34]in Havana in March 1948,
[04:10.78]ratification⁷ in national legislatures proved to be impossible in some cases.
[04:19.42]When the US government announced in 1950
[04:25.06]that it would not seek congressional ratification of the Havana Charter,
[04:32.51]the concept of the International Trade Organization
[04:38.86]was effectively finished.
[04:42.80]Despite its provisional nature,the GATT remained,
[04:48.76]and it became the only instrument governing international trade
[04:55.50]from 1948 to the establishment of the WTO.
[05:02.26]Throughout the period,further efforts to reduce tariffs,
[05:07.91]improve international trade
[05:12.06]and move closer to an international trade body continued;
[05:18.33]the negotiations took place in a series of eight "trade rounds,"
[05:25.28]some of which took several years to reach agreement.
[05:30.74]The final round (Uruguay) concluded with the Marrakesh Agreement,
[05:37.97]signed April 15,1994,
[05:43.64]which established the World Trade Organization as of January 1,1995.
[05:53.10]Now you may wonder how GATT differs from WTO.
[05:59.63]First of all,GATT was a set of rules;the WTO is an institution.
[06:08.27]Secondly,GATT was conceived of as a provisional measure,
[06:14.83]while WTO is a permanent commitment for its participant
[06:21.28]Also,GATT rules applied⁸ to trade in manufactured goods,
[06:28.02]but the WTO covers manufactured good,
[06:33.38]services and trade related aspects of intellectual property.
[06:39.93]What is more,GATT was a patchwork⁹ of agreements
[06:45.29]among various members of the trading community;
[06:50.64]the WTO applies to every partner in the membership.
[06:57.20]Finally,WTO dispute settlement system
[07:03.84]is faster and less susceptible¹⁰ to slowdowns than the GATT system,
[07:10.79]and it is expected that the implementation¹¹ of WTO dispute rulings
[07:18.41]will be more easily achieved.
[07:22.96]Although the WTO came into existence January 1,1995,
[07:31.21]the GATT of 1947 continued to exist until the end of December 1995
[07:40.36]in order to give GATT member countries time to join the WTO
[07:48.01]and ensure an orderly transfer between the institutions of GATT and WTO.
[07:56.47]GATT 1994,the updated rules of the old GATT
[08:03.32]are enshrined in the WTO Agreement,
[08:08.28]principally in the areas of international trade in goods,
[08:14.32]Out of a potential membership of 152 countries and territories,
[08:21.68]76 governments became members of the WTO on its first day.
[08:30.04]By October 1996,123 governments had accepted the Marrakesh Agreement
[08:39.68]and membership in the WTO.
[08:44.64]Not only does the WTO have a potentially larger membership than GATT
[08:51.98]which had 128 by the end of 1994,
[08:58.44]it also has a much broader scope in terms of the commercial activity
[09:05.38]and trade policies to which it applies.
[09:09.93]As noted,the GATT applied only to trade in merchandise goods;
[09:17.09]The WTO covers trade in good,
[09:22.23]services and"trade in ideas" or intellectual property.
[09:29.08]Some people describe the WTO as the "free-trade" institution.
[09:36.24]They are wrong,because the WTO permits tariffs and,
[09:42.79]in limited circumstances,other forms of protection.
[09:48.93]It is more accurate to say that it is a system of rules
[09:54.68]dedicated to open,fair and undistorted competition.
[10:02.23]Previous GATT rules,
[10:05.78]which laid down the basis on which governments could impose
[10:11.42]compensating duties on these two forms of 'unfair competition,
[10:18.08]were extended and clarified in WTO agreements.
[10:24.82]Now you are going to hear the talk a second time.
[10:31.46]You now have 100 seconds to check your answers to Questions 35--44.

1 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

2 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

3 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

4 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

5 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

6 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

7 ratification   

n.批准，认可

参考例句：

• The treaty is awaiting ratification.条约正等待批准。
• The treaty is subject to ratification.此条约经批准后才能生效。

8 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

9 patchwork   

n.混杂物；拼缝物

参考例句：

• That proposal is nothing else other than a patchwork.那个建议只是一个大杂烩而已。
• She patched new cloth to the old coat,so It'seemed mere patchwork. 她把新布初到那件旧上衣上，所以那件衣服看上去就象拼凑起来的东西。

10 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

11 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。