试题出自试卷《辽宁工程技术大学2007年博士入学考试试题（秋季）》

The banking revolution in America is as much about attitudes and assumptions as about size and structure. For centuries, Americans have distrusted banks. In the 1830s, Andrew Jackson denounced and destroyed the Second Bank of the United States, which existed “to make the rich richer” at the expense of farmers, mechanics and laborers”. In the 1930s, banks were blamed for helping cause the Depression. The wonder, then, is that the latest wave of bank mergers—the largest ever—has inspired little more than a bewildered and, perhaps, irritated shrug from the public.
As banks grow bigger, they seem less fearsome. Why? The answer is that banks have shrunk in power even as they have expanded in size. Traditionally, banking has been a simple business. Deposits come through one door, loans go out through another. Profits derive from the “spread” between interest rates on deposits and loans. If savers and borrowers cannot go elsewhere, banks are powerful. And if there are other choices, banks are less powerful. And so it is.
We inhabit an age of superabundant credit and its purveyors. A century ago, matter were different. Small depositors could choose from only one or several local banks; getting a loan meant winning the good graces of the neighborhood banker. Even big corporations depended on a few big banks or investment houses.
John Reed or Huge McColl—the heads of Citicorp and Nations Bank—are not controlled through stock and positions on corporate boards—a third of U.S. railroads and 70% of the steel industry. A railroad executive once cheerfully confessed his dependence on Morgan’s capital: “If Mr. Morgan were to order me tomorrow to China or Siberia...I would go.”
No bankers today inspired such awe or fear. Time, technology and government restrictions weakened bank power. In the 1920s, auto companies popularized car loans. National credit cards originated in 1950 with the Dinners Club card. In 1933, the Glass pensions and the stock market competed for consumer savings. As a result, banks command a shrinking share of the nation’s wealth: 20 percent of assets of financial institutions in 1997, down from 50 percent in 1950.
1. Traditionally, Americans’ altitude towards banks is one of _____.
2. Why are John Reed and Hugh McColl not as well-known as J. P. Morgan?
3. The word “spread” in Para. 2 most probably means _____.
4. Which of the following statements is true?
5. What does the author mainly talk about in the passage?