1 . Emerging (新兴的) economies struggled to grow through the 2010s and pessimism hangs over them now. People wonder how they will pay debts rung up during the Covid-19 pandemic and how they can grow rapidly as they did in the past.
The freshest answer is the fast-spreading digital revolution (革命). Emerging nations are adopting cutting-edge technology at a lower and lower cost, allowing them to fuel domestic demand and overcome traditional barriers to growth. Over the past decade, the number of smartphone owners has skyrocketed worldwide. The world’s emerging markets have already demonstrated the transformative effects of digital technology, which has saved the economy with old industries slowing sharply.
The digital revolution is as advanced in emerging economies as in developed ones. Among the top 30 nations by tax income from digital services as a share of GDP, 16 are in the emerging world. Since 2017, digital tax income has been growing in emerging countries at an average annual pace of 26%, compared with 11% in the developed ones.
How can it be that poorer nations are adopting digital technologies faster than the rich? One explanation is habit and its absence. In societies with plentiful physical stores and services, customers are often comfortable with and slow to abandon the providers they have. Nations lacking in schools, hospitals and banks will jump at the first digital option that comes along and quickly bridge these gaps by establishing online services.
Since 2010, the cost of starting a business has held steady in developed countries while falling sharply in emerging countries, from 66% to just 27% of the average annual income. Businessmen can now launch businesses affordably, organizing much of what they need on a smartphone.
It’s early days, too. Tech revolutions usually last a long time. Innovations like the car and the steam engine were still transforming economies half a century later. While the pandemic is weakening globalization, the age of rapid digitization has just begun. This offers many developing economies a revolutionary new path to catching up with the living standards of the developed world.
1. Where are people more willing to accept digital services?| A．In developed societies. |
| B．In overpopulated nations. |
| C．In economies with poor online services. |
| D．In countries short of basic public facilities. |
| A．They can pay less tax. |
| B．They make stable profits. |
| C．They do business at lower costs. |
| D．They enjoy a bigger share of the market. |
| A．To prove old inventions will finally go out of style. |
| B．To indicate digitization will have a long-term impact. |
| C．To explain innovations will take a long time to be adopted. |
| D．To imply developing countries will overtake developed ones. |
| A．The Global Economy Is Looking Up |
| B．Emerging Economies Struggle in the Pandemic |
| C．Digital Tech Saves the Declining Emerging Markets |
| D．Digital Service Is Progressing Slowly in Rich Countries |
2 . Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposal to allow restaurants to sell drinks to go with reasonable limitations was met with great enthusiasm all across New York. But New York's liquor (酒) stores have already begun a campaign of misinformation in an effort to block this.
Their basic argument is that the governor's proposal will result in an increase in underage sales, drunken driving, or any other public health problems. However, they throw these statements around without offering any support for their claims — because there is none.
While the liquor stores frequently claim that the laws have been unchanged since the abolishment (废除) of Prohibition in 1934, in just the past 20 years the rules governing liquor stores have been changed, permitting the use of online third-party delivery services and allowing stores to open on Sundays. Restaurant advocates didn't oppose these expanded privileges because they didn't have a significant impact on restaurant sales.
What hasn't changed of the law since Prohibition is the restriction on new liquor store licenses that give liquor stores a geographic territorial monopoly (垄断) to protect them from competition. Under typical circumstances, the State Liquor Authority will only issue a new liquor store license if the nearby stores report steadily increasing sales. However anti-competitive and outdated this restriction may be, it does serve as a protection against their concerns — in the very unlikely event they come to pass.
Economically, the pandemic has been a major help to the liquor store business. Before the pandemic, liquor stores sold 76% of all liquor in New York State and now they sell nearly 85%. And remember, during this period, restaurants were allowed drinks-to-go sales, showing their false claims of economic collapse are not grounded in reality or experience. The sales shift from restaurants to liquor stores over the past two years demonstrates clearly that restaurants have lost sales to liquor stores — we just want to stop the bleeding. While the restaurant industry rebounded for a part of 2021, employment still remains more than 20% below pre-pandemic levels.
1. Why did liquor stores oppose the proposal according to the author?| A．Threat to public health. | B．Boost of underage sales. |
| C．Concerns about their sales. | D．Limitations to drinks to go. |
| A．Liquor stores are in a dog-eat-dog world. |
| B．Prohibition makes liquor stores dead in the water. |
| C．The number of liquor stores is under control. |
| D．What liquor stores worry about is reasonable. |
| A．Restaurants. | B．Governors. |
| C．New Yorkers. | D．Liquor stores. |
| A．Let restaurants sell drinks to go. |
| B．Defend liquor stores privileges. |
| C．Liquor industry is losing money. |
| D．Restaurants are racing with liquor stores. |
