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  3. The romantic image of the trusty postman, delivering letters to the farthest

The romantic image of the trusty postman, delivering letters to the farthest

游客2023-12-16  8
问题     The romantic image of the trusty postman, delivering letters to the farthest-flung corners of the land, makes the reform of postal services a sensitive subject. This is especially true when the impetus for reform comes from the European Union. This month the European Parliament starts work on a directive, drawn up by the European Conmrission, to remove the last monopolies in postal markets by 2009—the final stage in a slow and laborious liberalisation that began in 1992. Directives in 1997 and 2002 chipped away at the centuries’ old monopolies enjoyed by national operators, and the proposed new law will open the whole market to competition by abolishing the" reserved area"on mail weighing less than 50 grams. But although the legislative wheels are in motion, some countries are as skeptical as ever.
    The commission says it has deliberately pursued postal liberalisation at a slower pace than other market openings. This is partly due to its technical complexity. Unlike in telecoms, post has no physical network to share. Many countries had to create independent regulators from scratch in order to monitor market access and prices. The size of the heavily unionised postal industry also prompted caution. It employs some 5 million people directly and indirectly, and its turnover is roughly 1% of Europe’s combined GDP.
    But arguably the biggest drag on liberalisation is old-fashioned resistance to open markets, plus a dash of reverence for letter writing. One opponent of the 2009 deadline talks of "a noble industry that we want to protect" and lauds the virtues of pen and paper. All postal operators recognise, however, that the epistolary habit has taken a hit from the Internet. With deadening pragmatism, the commission says liberalisation will improve quality and choice and reduce state subsidies.
    Countries that have already opened their markets, such as Sweden and Britain, agree. Since Sweden’s Posten AB was privatised in 1993, prices for business customers have fallen by 30%, though they have risen for consumers. The postal network has been extended, with new outlets in supermarkets and longer opening hours. Proponents of reform argue that Sweden, which has one of the lowest population densities in the EU, disproves the argument that rural countries cannot both have open markets and provide a standard service for everyone.
    But France, Spain, Italy and other countries worry that abolishing the "reserved area" will damage this universal-service obligation. Last month Franois Loos, France’s industry minister, said 2009 was "an indicative date" for competition rather than a firm deadline. A spokesman for PostEurop, a lobby group representing European postal operators, says several countries would prefer a deadline of 2012 at the earliest, with the who]ly implausible argument that more time is needed to researeh the impact of liberalisation.
    The commission knows a delaying tactic when it sees one. Operators have had years to prepare for liber alisation. But some countries, such as Greece and Luxembourg, seem to want to protect their national monopolies at any eost. The attitudes of central European countries are more difficult to predict. Their governments supported the liberal services directive, which favoured their mobile, comparatively cheap workforces, but have expressed doubts about opening protected home markets to competition.
    Incumbents may have less to fear from competition than they think, however.  In countries with open markets, the former monopolists have remained dominant. In Britain the Royal Mail has 96.5% of the mar ket; in Sweden Posten AB has 91.5%. Regulators do not expect big changes in either country. Indeed, some advocates of liberalisation worry that open postal markets will fail to attraet new entrants and that elimi- nating the reserved area will not guarantee competition.
    The debate over market opening is an opportunity to find out what people really want from their postal services and a chance to rethink how they work, says Michael Critelli, the boss of Pitney Bowes, a company that makes postal equipment and software. Some people might, for example, choose to have domestic mail delivered to their offices on weekdays, he suggests.  But such innovations will happen only if national governments can be discouraged from stamping the commission’s proposals "return to sender". [br] The phrase "chipped away at" in the first paragraph probably means
选项 A、appealed.
B、repealed.
C、aggravated.
D、consolidated.
答案 B
解析 语义题。开篇首句提到文章主题“邮政业改革”。第三句指出改革的具体内容：本月欧洲议会开始启动欧洲委员会起草的一项指令，期望到2009年废除邮政市场的所有垄断。之后对改革做出具体阐释：这标志着始于1992年、经年累月的自由化进程进入了尾声。由此可以判断，本题所在句子中提到的1997年和2002年颁布的指令应该是对“国有运营商享有了数百 年之久的垄断权”不利，这与后面的“这次新发布的指令提出要立法取消重量在50克以内邮件的专营领域(reserved area)…相呼应，符合逻辑关系。四个选项中只有repeal意为“废除”，与will open the whole market to eompetition by abolishing the“reserved area”…中的abolish为同义词，故为选项。appeal意为“上诉，求助，呼吁”，与上下文不相关，这里是利用与答案词形相近构成干扰，排除[A]。aggravate意为“加重”，consolidate意为“巩固”，这两个词与上下文语义矛盾，排除。
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