Over the past few decades, more and more countries have opened up the markets, increasingly transforming the world economy into one free-flowing global market. The question is：Is economic globalization 1 for all?
According to the World Bank, one of its chief supporters, economic globalization has helped reduce 2 in a large number of developing countries. It quotes one study that shows increased wealth 3 to improved education and longer life in twenty-four developing countries as a result of integration (融合) of local economies into the world economy. Home to some three billion people, these twenty-four countries have seen incomes 4 at an average rate of five percent—compared to two percent in developed countries.
Those who 5 globalization claim that economies in developing countries will benefit from new opportunities for small and home-based businesses. 6, small farmers in Brazil who produce nuts that would originally have sold only in 7 open-air markets can now promote their goods worldwide by the Internet.
Critics take a different view, believing that economic globalization is actually 8 the gap between the rich and poor. A study carried out by the U.N.-sponsored World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization shows that only a few developing countries have actually 9 from integration into the world economy and that the poor, the uneducated, unskilled workers, and native peoples have been left behind. 10, they maintain that globalization may eventually threaten emerging businesses. For example, Indian craftsmen who currently seem to benefit from globalization because they are able to 11 their products may soon face fierce competition that could put them out of 12. When large-scale manufacturers start to produce the same goods, or when superstores like Wal-Mart move in, these small businesses will not be able to 13 and will be crowded out.
One thing is certain about globalization—there is no 14. Advances in technology combined with more open policies have already created an interconnected world. The 15 now is finding a way to create a kind of globalization that works for the benefit of all. (347 words)
