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Today there is widespread agreement that multinational corporations will have an important effect on international relations and world economy. But there is little agreement on exactly what that effect will be. There are two groups ofthose who see them as benevolent and those who see them as evil.
Among those who see multinational corporations as benevolent, many emphasize their importance in helping reduce the gap between rich countries and poor ones. These business giants are referred to as "engines of development", because it is claimed that they do more to improve the economic life in less developed countries than all govemmental foreign aid programs have ever done. By setting up factories abroad, they provide jobs; by equipping these factories with the latest machines and equipment, they make available the most modem technology. 1 In fact, they do better on their own. It may have been necessary in the midnineteen century for Admiral Perry to threaten the Japanese with naval bombardment if they did not allow western countries to trade with them. Such threats would make no sense today. 2 .
The leaders of multinational corporations see patriotism as old-fashioned, the nation-state obsolete, and war in pursuit of national glory downright foolish. They believe that the multinational corporation is "a modem concept evolved to meet the requirements of modem age", while the nation-state is "still rooted in archaic concepts unsympathetic to the need of our complex world." 3 . "I think," an official of General Electric once said, "getting General Electric everywhere in the world is the biggest thing we can do for world peace."
These proponents of the multinational corporations come by and large from the business world. There are, however, many critics among academic students of multinational corporations who regard them as a sinister force. They have produced detailed studies to prove that the benefits of multinational corporations are mostly illusory. To the claim that multinational corporations provide jobs, they point out that this is at the cost of jobs in other countries. To the claim that multinational corporations transfer technology, they reply: a) often the equipment shipped overseas is out of date; b) their technology is often unsuitable for many of the less developed countries where labor is plentiful and therefore cheap. 4 . Therefore, they maintain that instead of being the "engines of development ", the multinational corporations are actually "engines of impoverishment".
These critics do not deny that consumption of the products of these corporations has risen in countries around the world. 5 . Therefore, although these corporations may breakdown national frontiers they strengthen class distinctions, widening the gap between the rich and the poor, creating greater social injustice and instability.
A. The long, expensive American war in Vietnam did not bring new opportunities in Southeast Asia for the multinational corporations. The decision of the Nixon administration to improve relations with China was more profitable to them.
B. The fact that both American teenagers and Mexican peasants are drinking Coca Cola does not mean that the life of the Mexican peasants is getting better due to the multinational corporations.
C. They therefore characterize themselves as hard-headed people who are helping to bring about a more cooperative system or world order by breaking down national, geographical, political, economic and ideological barriers.
D. One study actually showed that multinational corporations do not invest capital from wealthy countries, but prefer to finance their operations from the local economy. In other words, they are simply transferring wealth from poorer countries to richer ones.
E. According to these critics, states will soon realize that they have lost their control over issues such as taxation, employment and even the stability of their own currency.
F. But they point out that this so-called "Global Shopping Center" is available only to a very small portion of the local population.
G. Because goods are now produced within the less developed countries, there is less need for them to import from abroad, and their balance of payments will improve. Multinational corporations today do not need their countries to provide military force to open foreign countries to their investment, products and sales.
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G[解析] 本段的中心意思是有些人认为跨国公司缩短了贫富国之间的差距。选项中C、D和G可以进入考虑的范围，但C主要指的是......

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