The world is going through the biggest wave of mergers and acquisitions ever witnessed. The process sweeps from hyperactive America to Europe and reaches the emerging countries with unsurpassed might. Many in these countries are looking at this process and worrying: Won't the wave of business concentration turn into an uncontrollable anti-competitive force?
世界正在经历一场前所未有的巨大并购浪潮，它席卷了最为活跃的美国，影响到欧洲国家，一直深入潜力无限的新兴国家（并以不可比拟的威力影响到正在崛起的国家）。新兴国家的许多人们目睹着这一转变，忧心不已——商业集中化的浪潮（企业合并的浪潮）是否会沦为不受控制的反商业竞争势力呢？
mergers and acquisitions 合并和收购
hyperactive 极度活跃的
with unsurpassed might 以不可比拟的威力
business concentration 指的是“企业合并的浪潮”
uncontrollable anti-competitive force 一股不可遏制的反竞争力量
There's no question that the big are getting bigger and more powerful. Multinational corporations accounted for less than 20% of international trade in 1982. Today the figure is more than 25% and growing rapidly. International affiliates account for a fast-growing segment of production in economies that open up and welcome foreign investment. In Argentina, for instance, after the reforms of the early 1990s, multinationals went from 43% to almost 70% of the industrial production of the 200 largest firms. This phenomenon has created serious concerns over the role of smaller economic firms, of national businessmen and over the ultimate stability of the world economy.
毫无疑问，大企业在变大变强。1982年，跨国公司的贸易额不到国际贸易总额的20%，而今，这一比例超过了25%，而且还在迅速增加。在一个开放并欢迎海外投资的经济体中（在那些对外开放并鼓励外资经济的国家中），国际子公司扮演了迅速发展的生产部门的角色（国际分公司在国民生产中成为一个快速增长的部门）。例如，在阿根廷，上世纪90年代的改革后，在200家最大的企业中，跨国企业的工业产值从43%几乎增到了70%。这一现象使国内经销商（民族企业家）忧虑不已，同时也加剧了在经济活动中扮演小角色的小型企业以及关于全球经济稳定的担忧。
International affiliates 国际分公司
concern of 谁的担忧
concern over 关于……的担忧
I believe that the most important forces behind the massive M&A wave are the same that underlie the globalization process: falling transportation and communication costs, lower trade and investment barriers and enlarged markets that require enlarged operations capable of meeting customers' demands. All these are beneficial, not detrimental, to consumers. As productivity grows, the world's wealth increases.
我认为合并与收购大浪潮背后深藏原因与全球化进程的相同（推动这股巨大并购浪潮的最主要力量，也是推动全球化进程的力量）——交通通讯成本的减少，贸易投资壁垒的降低，市场扩张要求企业扩张，以此满足消费者需求（市场扩张和为了满足市场需求而进行的扩大生产）。所有这些对消费者而言都有益无害的。随着生产力的发展，世界财富也在增加。
underlie 构成……的基础
detrimental 有害的
Examples of benefits or costs of the current concentration wave are scanty.Yet it is hard to imagine that the merger of a few oil firms today could re-create the same threats to competition that were feared nearly a century ago in the US, when the Standard Oil trust was broken up.The mergers of telecom companies, such as World Com, hardly seem to bring higher prices for consumers or a reduction in the pace of technical progress.On the contrary, the price of communications is coming down fast. In cars, too, concentration is increasing-witness Daimler and Chrysler, Renault and Nissan-but it does not appear that consumers are being hurt.
少有例子证明当今商业集中浪潮利弊。但还是难以想象，今天一小部分石油公司的合并会重新创造出同样的威胁，而这种威胁正是大约一个世纪前，当美国标准石油托拉斯瓦解时人们所担心的（那时由于人们对该公司的这种担心而导致了它最终的解散）。诸如世界通讯公司的电信公司的合并，几乎没有增加消费者的消费成本，也没有因此放缓科技进步的步伐。恰恰相反，通讯的成本迅速下降。汽车行业亦是如此，商业集中化程度加深（合并也在增加）——例如戴姆勒与克莱斯勒、雷诺和尼桑的合并，但消费者的利益似乎并没有受到损害。
