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1、【精品文档】如有侵权，请联系网站删除，仅供学习与交流考研英语真题报刊阅读100篇.精品文档.Online booksellers face highercosts for shipping abroadTHE Postal Service is taking the “ship” out of shipping, and thousands of small online booksellers are bracing for trouble. The post office said last month that as of mid-May, it would no longer tran
2、sport goods internationally via cargo ships for individual customers. These so-called surface deliveries have been the crucial method by which booksellers have sold books to foreign markets because the cost is about one-third that of air mail. Analysts said A would not be affected by the change; int
3、ernational book shipments represent a small fraction of its business, and because, like other high-volume businesses, it can qualify for discounts on foreign shipments. But many thousands of smaller used-and rare-book merchants say they will suffer, since they rely on foreign demand.“If postage cost
4、s as much, if not more, than the book, itll be hard to sell books,” said Rob Stuart, owner of FrenchboroB, a seller of rare and antique books in Frenchboro, Maine.“And maybe 25 percent or more of my books sell internationally.”In announcing the changes last month, the post office said demand for int
5、ernational air-mail delivery was increasing at the expense of sea-borne services, which account for just 2.7 percent of foreign deliveries.“As a result, efficient international surface delivery networks have diminished and costs have dramatically increased,” the Postal Service said.Mr. Stuart called
6、 the changes “a brutal reality” that put him in a difficult position, since his entire town may feel the effects. His company has shipped enough rare and antique books to sustain mail deliveries for the 75 residents of Frenchboro, an island about eight miles off Maines northeast coast. Now Mr. Stuar
7、t, who is also a town selectman, said the islands mail deliveries could be threatened, and he may also be forced to lay off a part-time worker. Yvonne Yoerger, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service, said customers arent yet aware of other options. She said “customized agreements” for surface mail are
8、 being developed for higher-volume shippers that will be enhanced over the next several months to address the needs of small businesses. “The Postal Service has a longstanding commitment to small businesses and is working to accommodate customers needs as the international mail changes take effect,”
9、 Ms. Yoerger said. Philip Bevis, chief executive of Arundel Books, which sells online and in its Seattle store, said he did not believe such customized agreements would extend to small booksellers like him. “I think the Postal Service dangled that to defuse any pushback,” Mr. Bevis said. “If they we
10、re really serious about this, they wouldve pushed back the cancellation of surface mail until they could incorporate these other standards.” Because small booksellers typically list their inventories with multiple Web sites, like Amazon, AbeB and A, the new shipping costs will be felt, to varying de
11、grees, up the industrys food chain until those customized agreements are final. The falling dollarTHE dollars tumble this week was attended by predictable shrieks from the markets; but as it fell to a 20-month low of $1.32 against the euro, the only real surprise was that it had not slipped sooner.
12、Indeed, there are good reasons to expect its slide to continue, dragging it below the record low of $1.36 against the euro that it hit in December 2004.The recent decline was triggered by nasty news about the American economy. New figures this week suggested that the housing markets troubles are hav
13、ing a wider impact on the economy. Consumer confidence and durable-goods orders both fell more sharply than expected. In contrast, German business confidence has risen to a 15-year high. There are also mounting concerns that central banks in China and elsewhere, which have been piling up dollars ass
14、iduously for years, may start selling.Yet cyclical factors only partly explain why the dollar has been strong. At bottom, its attractiveness is based more on structural factorsor, more accurately, on an illusion about structural differences between the American and European economies.The main reason
15、 for the dollars strength has been the widespread belief that the American economy vastly outperformed the worlds other richcountry economies in recent years. But the figures do not support the hype. Sure, Americas GDP growth has been faster than Europes, but that is mostly because its population ha
16、s grown more quickly too. Dig deeper and the difference shrinks. Official figures of productivity growth, which should in theory be an important factor driving currency movements, exaggerate Americas lead. If the two are measured on a comparable basis, productivity growth over the past decade has be
17、en almost the same in the euro area as it has in America. Even more important, the latest figures suggest that, whereas productivity growth is now slowing in America, it is accelerating in the euro zone.So, contrary to popular perceptions, Americas economy has not significantly outperformed Europes
18、in recent years. And to achieve this not-much-better-than parity, America has had to pump itself full of steroids. Since 2000 its structural budget deficit (after adjusting for the impact of the economic cycle) has widened sharply, while American households saving rate has plunged, causing the curre
19、nt-account deficit to swell. Over the same period, the euro-area economies saw no fiscal stimulus and household saving barely budged.Americas growth, thus, has been driven by consumer spending. That spending, supported by dwindling saving and increased borrowing, is clearly unsustainable; and the co
20、nsequent economic and financial imbalances must inevitably unwind. As that happens, the country could face a prolonged period of slower growth.As for Europe, the old continent is hobbled by inflexible product and labour markets. But that, paradoxically, is an advantage: it means the place has a lot
21、of scope for improvement. Some European countries are beginning to contemplate (and, to a limited extent, undertake) economic reforms. If they push ahead, their growth could actually speed up over the coming years. Once investors spot this, they are likely to conclude that the euro is a better bet t
22、han the dollar.Democrats and global warmingA RECENT sketch on “Saturday Night Live” suggested how the world would be if Al Gore had won the presidency in 2000. “In the last six years we have been able to stop global warming,” intoned Mr Gore. “No one could have predicted the negative results of this
23、. Glaciers that once were melting are now on the attack.”Nerdy environmentalism is Mr Gores forte. He would have ridden that hobby-horse in the 2000 campaign, according to Joe Klein in “Politics Lost”, if his political consultants had not muzzled him. Now, almost alone, he has brought his favourite
24、issue back into the political spotlight. His film about the horrors of global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth”, opened this week in Los Angeles and New York.With it comes inevitable talk of another try at the presidency. Mr Gore consistently waves that away. But other prominent Democrats are raising
25、 their voices for the cause. This week Senator Hillary Clinton urged action on global warming in a big speech on energy policy in Washington, DC. Notably, she praised Mr Gore (now a potential rival for 2008, whatever he says) as a “committed visionary on global warming for more than two decades”. La
26、st week, her husband Bill told graduates at the University of Texass publicaffairs school in Austinas temperatures outside soared to 34Cthat “Climate change is more remote than terror, but a more profound threat.”Do voters care? Although a Gallup poll this spring found that 67% of respondents though
27、t the quality of the environment was “getting worse” (a fairly steady rise from 54% in 2002), climate change is hardly in the class of Iraq or health care. And it is still rare for politicians to mention it on the stump. Bill Ritter, the Democratic nominee for governor in Colorado, notes that global
28、 warming is a worry for the ski industry in his statebut says his audiences care more about the quality of their water or their air. Most midwestern politicians nowadays cannot talk enough about alternative fuels, but they link them to the economy (and national security) rather than climate change,
29、hoping for a boost for local corn or soyabean farmers.A few bad hurricanes may change that indifference. The 2006 season begins next week, and federal meteorologists predict it will be particularly nasty. Although conservatives have vigorously disputed the link between global warming and last years
30、dreadful storms, another Katrina could push people over the edge. Gregg Easterbrook of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank, says that politicians also need a new tack. Instead of dwelling on gloom and doom, they should appeal to American optimism, emphasising that the problem can probably be sol
31、ved after all, and cheaper and faster than anyone thinks.And what about conservatives? George Bush has recently conceded that America is “addicted to oil”, but he still argues about the causes of global warming. (“He may be the last person in America who refuses to accept the science on this,” sighs
32、 Jay Inslee, a congressman from Washington state.) John McCain, another possible presidential contender in 2008, has been out in front. He has sponsored legislation (with Joe Lieberman, a Democrat) for cap-and-trade emissions of greenhouse gases, and declared in a recent speech in Phoenix that “Clim
33、ate change is real and is having a major impact on our way of life.”Seychelles: A president in paradiseBEST known as a destination for honeymooners in search of perfect white beaches and swaying palms, the Seychelles islands rarely make any sort of headlines. Few tourists would even have noticed the
34、 presidential election on July 30th, in which James Michel, leader of the Seychelles Peoples Progressive Front, was returned with 54% of the ballot. For Mr. Michel, it was the first time he had faced the islands-62,000-odd voters, having been promoted from vice-president two years ago by his predece
35、ssor, Albert Ren, who had ruled the islands for 27 years since taking power in a coup in 1977.To the casual eye, Seychelles seems both fortunate and wellgoverned. The 115 islands, most of them uninhabited, cover a mere 445 square kilometers (175 square miles) of the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar
36、, and enjoy several advantages over most of the rest of Africa. The weather is never extreme. There is no malaria. The islanders have free education and health care. Their multiracial society is pretty harmonious. With GDP at around $8,000 a head, there is almost no discernible poverty.But this stan
37、dard of living has come at a cost: the IMF says its public debt is too high and may be unsustainable. Mr. Michels main opposition, the Seychelles National Party, which scored 46% in the elections, claims that Seychelles, per person, is the worlds most indebted country; with some $590m of external de
38、bt for just 82,000 people, it is certainly one of them. A black market in foreign currency already exists as speculation persists that the government, unable to meet its obligations, may be forced to devalue. Basic consumer goods sometimes run out. If, as the IMF predicts, GDP falls by over 1% this
39、year, Mr. Michel may find his next five years in power more testing than he had hoped.The country needs more ways of making money. In the cold war, it was easy. The Seychelles played each side off against the other, remaining a member of the Commonwealth as well as the Non-Aligned Movement and takin
40、g military aid from the Soviet Union while leasing a satellite tracking station to the Americans. Since those streams of revenue dried up, the main Seychellois streams of revenue have been from tourismleasing land to foreign hoteliersand from tuna: the government earns about $200m a year from sellin
41、g tuna-fishing licenses to Spain, France and South Korea.But conflict in the Middle East has brought Seychelles an unexpected bonus: Western warships stop off in the islands, which offer rest and recreation. The soldiers and sailors scubadive, sail and drink Seybrew, the local beerand pay for it all in hard currency.