四、簡(jiǎn)答題（本大題共6小題，每小題3分，共18分）

Having spent years fattening up its leading companies, South Korea is now forcing them to slim down. On Jan. 18^th the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that the country’ s top 30 chaebols would do as the government had asked and concentrate on their core businesses. The ten largest chaebols were allowed to name three sectors each, the next 20 to name two sectors.

The government claims it has three clear aims: to encourage competition and foster small businesses; to wrest power from the old industrial dynasties and hand it over to professional managers; and, above all, to stem the “octopus-like growth” of the chaebols into unrelated areas.

36. In what way did the government require the chaebols to slim down?

37. What does “octopus-like growth”mean here?

38. Among the three aims of the government order, which is the most important?

In the first half of the 1980s, it was conventional wisdom to say that the exceptional strength of the dollar was partly responsible for—and helped to offset—the increasing weakness of dollar�瞕enominated commodity prices. All other things being equal, so the argument went, a subsequent fall in the dollar might be expected to give a compensating boost to dollar commodity prices.

39. What do “all other things” mainly refer to?

40. What was the “fall in the dollar” subsequent to?

41. Why should the “boost” have been a compensating one?