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09雅思阅读实战训练(九)

2012-2-18 08:22| 发布者: as2113712| 查看: 196| 评论: 0

摘要: 09雅思阅读实战训练(九)   How a Frenchman is reviving McDonald‘s in Europe   A. When Denis Hennequin took over as the European boss of McDonald‘s in January 2004, the world‘s biggest restaur ...
 

  How a Frenchman is reviving McDonald‘s in Europe

  A. When Denis Hennequin took over as the European boss of McDonald‘s in January 2004, the world‘s biggest restaurant chain was showing signs of recovery in America and Australia, but sales in Europe were sluggish or declining. One exception was France, where Mr Hennequin had done a sterling job as head of the group‘s French subsidiary to sell more Big Macs to his compatriots. His task was to replicate this success in all 41 of the European countries where anti-globalisers‘ favourite enemy operates.

  B.So far Mr Hennequin is doing well. Last year European sales increased by 5.8% and the number of customers by 3.4%, the best annual results in nearly 15 years. Europe accounted for 36% of the group‘s profits and for 28% of its sales. December was an especially good month as customers took to seasonal menu offerings in France and Britain, and to a promotion in Germany based on the game of Monopoly.

  C.Mr Hennequin‘s recipe for revival is to be more open about his company‘s operations, to be “locally relevant”, and to improve the experience of visiting his 6,400 restaurants. McDonald‘s is blamed for making people fat, exploiting workers, treating animals cruelly, polluting the environment and simply for being American. Mr Hennequin says he wants to engage in a dialogue with the public to address these concerns.

  D.He introduced “open door” visitor days in each country which became hugely popular. In Poland alone some 50,000 visitors came to McDonald‘s through the visitors‘ programme last year. The Nutrition Information Initiative, launched last year, put detailed labels on McDonald‘s packaging with data on calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates and salt content. The details are also printed on tray-liners.

  E.Mr Hennequin also wants people to know that “McJobs”, the low-paid menial jobs at McDonald‘s restaurants, are much better than people think. But some of his efforts have backfired: last year he sparked a controversy with the introduction of a “McPassport” that allows McDonald‘s employees to work anywhere in the European Union. Politicians accused the firm of a ploy to make cheap labour from eastern Europe more easily available to McDonald‘s managers across the continent.

  F.To stay in touch with local needs and preferences, McDonald‘s employs local bosses as much as possible. A Russian is running McDonald‘s in Russia, though a Serb is in charge of Germany. The group buys mainly from local suppliers. Four-fifths of its supplies in France come from local farmers, for example. And it hires celebrities such as Heidi Klum, a German model, as local brand ambassadors.

  G.In his previous job Mr Hennequin established a “design studio” in France to spruce up his company‘s drab restaurants and adapt the interior to local tastes. The studio is now masterminding improvements everywhere in Europe. He also set up a “food studio”, where cooks devise new recipes in response to local trends.

  H.Given France‘s reputation as the most anti-American country in Europe, it seems odd that McDonald‘s revival in Europe is being led by a Frenchman, using ideas cooked up in the French market. But France is in fact the company‘s most profitable market after America. The market where McDonald‘s is weakest in Europe is not France, but Britain.

  I.“Fixing Britain should be his priority,” says David Palmer, a restaurant analyst at UBS. Almost two-thirds of the 1,214 McDonald‘s restaurants in Britain are company-owned, compared with 40% in Europe and 15% in America. The company suffers from the volatility of sales at its own restaurants, but can rely on steady income from franchisees. So it should sell as many underperforming outlets as possible, says Mr Palmer.

  J.M.Mark Wiltamuth, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, estimates that European company-owned restaurants‘ margins will increase slightly to 16.4% in 2007. This is still less than in the late 1990s and below America‘s 18-19% today. But it is much better than before Mr Hennequin‘s reign. He is already being tipped as the first European candidate for the group‘s top job in Illinois. Nobody would call that a McJob.

  Questions 1-6

  Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 1?

  Write your answer in Boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

  TRUE if the statement reflects the claims of the writer

  FALSE if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

  NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

  1. McDonald was showing the sign of recovery in all European countries except France after Denis Hennequin took office as the boss of Euro-markets.

  2. Starting from last year, detailed labels are put on McDonald’s packaging and detailed information is also printed on tray-liners.

  3. France is said to be the most anti-American country in Europe, but the ideas of the “open door” visiting days and “McPassport” are invented in the French market.

  4. Britain possesses the weakest McDonald market among European countries and approximately 1214 McDonald’s restaurants are company-owned.

  5. According to David Palmer, a restaurant analyst at UBS, David Hennequin should treat the problem about McDonald in Britain as the most important thing.

  6. David Palmer suggested that the management of McDonalod in Italy should sell as many its outlets which lose money in business as possible for revival

  Questions 7-10

  Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 7-10 on your answe sheet.

  7. The word “sterling” in line 3 of Paragraph A means__________.

  A. difficult

  B. menial

  C. terrible

  D. excellent

  8. Which of the following statements on the accusation of MacDonald is NOT TRUE?

  A. It tends to make people fat.

  B. Its operations are very vague.

  C. It tends to exploit workers.

  D. It tends to treat animals cruelly.

  9. Which of the following measures taken by Denis Hennequin produced undesired result?

  A. “Food Studio” scheme.

  B. “Open Door” visitor days.

  C. The “McPassport” scheme.

  D. The Nutrition Information Initiative.

  10. What did Denis Hennequin do so as to respond to local trends?

  A. set up a “Food Studio” .

  B. established a “Design Studio”.

  C. hired celebrities as local brand ambassadors.

  D. employed local bosses as much as possible.

  Questions 11-14

  Complete each of the following statements with words or number taken from Reading Passage 1.

  Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

  Write your answers in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.

  11. After January 2004, McDonald was making improvement following a period of slump in America and Australia, but sales in Europe were ………………………….

  12. Business of McDonald in France and Britain was particularly good in December since customers took to ……………………………..

  13. Compared with other countries, France is McDonald’s ………………………. next to America.

  14. ……………………. of McDonald’s restaurants in America are companied–owned and the figure is much lower than that in Britain.

  Part II

  Notes to Reading Passage 1

  1.sterling高质量的

  e.g. He has many sterling qualities. 他身上有许多优秀的品质。

  2. menial 不体面的, 乏味的

  3. spruce up打扮整齐、漂亮、装饰

  4. mastermind指挥、谋划(一个计划或活动)

  e.g. The police know who masterminded the robbery.警察知道是谁策划了那次抢劫。

  5. underperform表现不佳表现出低于标准的工作水平、企业出现亏本

  Part III

  Keys and explanations to the Questions 1-14

  1. FALSE

  See the second sentence in Paragraph A “One exception was France, where Mr Hennequin had done a sterling job as head of the group‘s French subsidiary to sell more Big Macs to his compatriots. His task was to replicate this success in all 41 of the European countries…”.

  2. TRUE

  See the last sentence in Paragraph D “The Nutrition Information Initiative, launched last year, put detailed labels on McDonald‘s packaging with data on calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates and salt content. The details are also printed on tray-liners.”

  3. NOT GIVEN

  See Paragraph D, E and H “Given France‘s reputation as the most anti-American country in Europe, it seems odd that McDonald‘s revival in Europe is being led by a Frenchman, using ideas cooked up in the French market.”.

  4. FALSE

  See the last sentence of Paragraph H and first sentence of Paragraph L “The market where McDonald‘s is weakest in Europe is not France, but Britain…Almost two-thirds of the 1,214 McDonald‘s restaurants in Britain are company-owned…”

  5. TRUE

  See the first sentence of Paragraph I “Fixing Britain should be his priority,” says David Palmer, a restaurant analyst at UBS”.

  6. NOT GIVEN

  See the last sentence of Paragraph I “So it should sell as many underperforming outlets as possible, says Mr Palmer”.

  7. D

  See the first sentence of Paragraph A “One exception was France, where Mr Hennequin had done a sterling job as head of the group‘s French subsidiary to sell more Big Macs to his compatriots”.

  8. B

  See the second sentence of Paragraph D “McDonald‘s is blamed for making people fat, exploiting workers, treating animals cruelly, polluting the environment”

  9. C

  See the second sentence of Paragraph E “But some of his efforts have backfired: last year he sparked a controversy with the introduction of a “McPassport” that allows McDonald‘s employees to work anywhere in the European Union..”

  10. A

  See the last sentence of Paragraph G “He also set up a “food studio”, where cooks devise new recipes in response to local trends”.

  11. sluggish or declining

  See the first sentence of Paragraph A “When Denis Hennequin took over as the European boss of McDonald‘s in January 2004, the world‘s biggest restaurant chain was showing signs of recovery in America and Australia, but sales in Europe were sluggish or declining.”

  12. seasonal menu offerings

  See the last sentence of Paragraph B “December was an especially good month as customers took to seasonal menu offerings in France and Britain, and to a promotion in Germany based on the game of Monopoly”.

  13. most profitable market

  See the second sentence of Paragraph H “But France is in fact the company‘s most profitable market after America”.

  14. 15%

  See the second sentence of Paragraph I “Almost two-thirds of the 1,214 McDonald‘s restaurants in Britain are company-owned, compared with 40% in Europe and 15% in America”.

 
09雅思阅读实战训练(九) 的延伸阅读——雅思阅读备考技巧与方法,两全其美网校城编辑与你总结分析


  雅思阅读的题型一直是考生比较关注的问题,分析认为主要有以下两个原因:

  1. 有相对简单和相对费时的题型;

  2.每个考生都有自己擅长的和较害怕的题型。具体来说:对于词汇不足的考生可能最害怕段落标题匹配题及摘要归纳填空题;对于词汇量较大的考生来说,是非无判断题,段落标题匹配题和摘要归纳填空题可能是比较简单的。选择题和其它匹配题是相对来说比较费时的,所以大部分考生都很害怕这类题型。

  那么,面对上面所提到的这些情况,考生应该在题型方面怎样备考呢?

  首先,专家认为考生必须从心理上准备迎接所有的题型,在备考中要尽可能喜欢所有题型。有的考生会一次次地祈祷:“希望这次考试不要有选择题或段落细节信息定位题!”这样做,其实是无形中给自己制造了负面的影响。考试题型不是我们所能预料和控制的,一旦有了上述心理,很有可能一看到题型就慌了,一开始就没有一个好的状态。还有一部份考生喜欢跟着考题回忆和机经走,看到上次考了什么题就在备考中只关注那些题型。考题回忆和机经可以看看,但只能做参考,考生千万不要被它们所左右。否则就是自己给自己制造障碍。

  其次,考生必须对各类题型的题型特点和答题注意事项了如指掌。雅思阅读考试时间之短,文章之学术性,题量之大,题型之多等特点决定了考生势必会感觉时间不够。考生要在有限的时间内答完所有的题并尽可能地保证较高的正确率确实不是一件容易的事情。考生除了要有一定的词汇量和阅读速度之外,常见的雅思阅读技巧和解题策略是必须的。而解题策略很多时候是建立在考生熟悉题型特点的基础之上的。比如说,考生拿到一篇文章绝不是从第1题接到13题,而是应该分析各组题型的特点和难易,由易到难。同样,考生也可以根据3篇各自的题型来初步判断哪一篇的题型可能对自己比较有利,那篇可能较难,以便能灵活地采取合适的策略。

  最后,专家建议考生在考前进行练习时,不要光做套题,而应该偶尔穿插一些专题的练习,重点练习自己没什么把握的题型。注意练习时时间的掌控是很重要的,不要给自己30分钟完成6道是非无,那样不能达到训练的目的,不能保证良好的效果。


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