A) It outsources a large portion of work to its partners.

B) It invests in technology research and development.

C) It receives much support from the government.

D) It expands production by looking for more orders.

5. By “But will things stay that way?”（Line 2, Paragraph 6), the author means_______.

A) Airbus might make more mistakes

B) the markets in Asia-Pacific region might shrink

C) the competitive duopoly by Boeing and Airbus might change

D) Chinese and Indians might become the two companies' strong competitors





篇章剖析


本文是一篇说明文，主要讲述了欧洲空中客车公司在和美国波音公司的竞争中遇到的麻烦和困难。第一段通过巴黎航空展和空客首席执行官的态度来引出话题；第二段描述了空中客车现在面临的具体困境；第三段说明空客在和波音公司之间的竞争中处于下风；第四、五段简要分析了空客不敌波音的一些原因；第六段总结说明了两家公司仍然处于竞争垄断市场的状态。





词汇注释


successive /səkˈsesɪv/ adj. 继承的，连续的

plunge /plʌndʒ/ vi. 投入，跳进，陷入

bloat /bləʊt/ v. （使）膨胀，肿起

auction /ˈɔːkʃn/ vt. 拍卖

roll-out /ˈrəʊˌaʊt/ n. 出场，推出

composite /ˈkɒmpəzɪt/ adj. 合成的，复合的

titanium /tɪˈteɪniəm/ n. 【化】钛

bemoan /bɪˈməʊn/ vt. 哀叹

outsource /ˈaʊtˌsɔːs/ v. 外包

duopoly /djʊːˈɒpəli/ n. 两家卖主垄断市场（的局面）





难句突破


Five years behind the 787, which will enter service next year, the A350 contains a similar share of composite material, but is based on a less advanced structural design that involves hanging CRP panels on a titanium frame.

主体句式：The A350 contains a similar share of composite material.

结构分析：本句开头的短语“Five years behind the 787”是用来形容A350的，“which will enter service next year”作为定语从句修饰“the 787”，增加了句子的难度。后面的but引导一个转折句，句中包含了一个由that引导的定语从句，来修饰design。

句子译文：比明年投入使用的波音787晚五年的A350拥有一种类似的合成材料，但是这种材料所基于的技术不如波音787先进，即A350把CRP板挂在钛框架上。





题目分析


1. D 细节题。文章第二段第一句话说明空中客车公司该年的年度亏损小于去年，公司的状况开始变好，因此D选项正确。A选项的错误原因是，并没有迹象显示公司将会停止亏损。B选项的错误原因在于，尽管文章第一段指出空客在巴黎航空展上表现不错，但是订单的增加并不是从航空展上得到的。C选项的错误原因是文中第二段提到的公司恢复计划能够节约成本，并没有提到会带来很大利润。

2. A 情感态度题。文章第三段最后一句指出，波音公司认为A350可能跟波音787一样轻，但是却不如波音787舒适，而且前者比后者更难维修，这说明波音公司并不看好空客即将推出的A350，或者说，波音公司是带着吹毛求疵的态度看待A350机型的性能，认为其不仅不够完美，而且不及波音787的各项优点。

3. B 细节题。文章第四段中，加洛瓦感叹波音公司每年从政府得到的研发支持和资金是空客的10倍，充足的政府支持是波音能够一直保持行业领先地位的重要因素。因此加洛瓦希望与空客合作的四个国家的政府也能够增加对空客的投资，从而以增强其竞争力。

4. A 细节题。本题的关键是波音公司如何降低成本，而文章第五段介绍了波音公司通过RSP模式将许多工作外包给合作伙伴，从而节约了工作资金，降低了成本，因此答案为A。B和C选项都是波音保持强劲发展势头的原因，但不是降低成本的原因。

5. C 语义题。在“But will things stay that way?”这句话之前，文章表明这两家公司仍然处于竞争垄断市场的状态，后文又继续说明了有可能导致这种局面有所变化的一些因素。这句话处在中间的衔接位置，说明作者认为这种状况不一定能够长期持续下去。





参考译文


无论如何，我们不能说空中客车在这周举办的两年一度的巴黎航空展表现不佳。路易·加洛瓦是这个遇到麻烦的欧洲飞机制造商12个月内的第三任首席执行官。但是他仍然声称：“我可以充满信心地告诉你们，空中客车回来了，完全地回来了。”他之所以发表如此充满信心的讲话，是因为该公司的超级销售员约翰·雷义在航展前及时地拉到了600多架飞机的大规模订单和合同承诺。

尽管空中客车今年会连续第二年亏损——去年该公司的赤字为5.72亿欧元（折合7.18亿美元）——空中客车毫无疑问比12个月前的情况好得多，那个时候由于配线问题导致了A380延迟推出，同时疲软的美元突显了公司的高成本问题。现在公司实施了“Power8”恢复计划，目的在于通过裁员1万人、并把6个工厂拍卖给合作伙伴等措施，从而每年节约20亿欧元。新加坡航空公司将在今年秋天首先把巨型的A380用于商业服务，这比原计划推迟了两年。

在空客A350 XWB和双引擎宽体的波音787的竞争中，加洛瓦先生力图保持积极的姿态。波音787销售已经十分成功，该机型在下个月正式出场之前就已经收到了超过630架的订单。这款机型革命性地使用了一种叫做碳增强塑料（CRP）的合成材料，这使得航空公司都非常振奋。比明年投入使用的波音787晚五年的A350拥有一种类似的合成材料，但是这种材料所基于的技术不如波音787先进，即A350把CRP板挂在钛框架上。波音承认A350有可能和78，一样轻，但同时指出坐在A350上可能不是非常舒适，且这款机型比较难维修。

加洛瓦先生承认紧跟波音的步子对空客来说成本昂贵且风险很大。同时，加洛瓦先生也感叹其对手拥有政府的研发支持优势。他声称波音每年得到的资金为8亿美元，这是空客的10倍。本周早先时候，在与空客的四家合作者（法国、德国、英国和西班牙）的部长会谈中，他要求后者为公司每年提供6亿欧元的资金用于技术研发。但是希望并不大。

目前对于空中客车来说，最重要的是市场保持强劲，而且公司要处理其成本的问题。这可能要求空客进一步去模仿波音的风险分担伙伴（RSP）模式，尽管这也许超出了空客的预期。根据一些预测数据，波音787约80%的工作外包给了RSP，这给波音节约了宝贵的研发时间和工作资金。

本周的一系列事件告诉我们，尽管波音787取得了巨大的成功而空客犯下了一些错误，但这两家竞争公司的垄断地位在过去十年里依旧岿然不动。可是这种情况会一直持续下去吗？这一部分取决于空客是否真的吸取了教训，一部分取决于是否还有别的公司愿意加入这场游戏。波音估计在20年后，36%的市场在亚太地区。目前，中国人、印度人等都非常愿意成为它们的合作伙伴和客户。但是这种局面也是会改变的。





Unit 10


Focus on what you do best. This age-old strategy has worked well for RealNetworks, Microsoft's main competitor in multimedia software for the Internet. Now, the smaller Seattle-based firm is trying a novel way to contain the software giant. On October 29th, it released the underlying recipe, or source-code, of its RealPlayer software and will soon do the same for its other programs——giving away a big chunk of its intellectual property.

This may sound like a desperate echo of 1998, when Netscape, struggling in Microsoft's chokehold, published the source-code of its web browser (an initiative that yielded few real results until this June, when the first serious new version of the open-source browser, Mozilla, was released). Yet RealNetworks is not playing defence. It is trying to encourage the creation of a common multimedia software infrastructure for every kind of file format and device, thus thwarting Microsoft's ambitions in this promising market.

The firm hopes that others in the industry (volunteer programmers, media firms and hardware makers) will take the code, called Helix DNA, improve it and make it run on new devices, such as mobile phones and home stereos, turning RealNetworks' software into an industry standard. Clever licensing terms are supposed to ensure that this standard does not splinter and that the firm still makes money.

Individual developers, universities and other non-profit organisations can modify the software as they please, and even redistribute it for free, so long as they also publish the source-code for their changes. This is a sort of payment in kind, for RealNetworks is then allowed to use these contributions. Firms, on the other hand, must pay royalty fees if they distribute more than 1m copies of the code. They also have to make sure that their software works with other Helix DNA products. The software's development community already has 2,000 members. And several hardware makers back the effort. But there are risks. Afraid of piracy, media groups are suspicious of anything that might be related to hackers (although they also do not want to depend on, and pay for, technology controlled by Microsoft）. The self-created competition could also hurt RealNetworks if customers decide its commercial products, which will be based on the open source-code but with extra features, are not worth paying extra for.

RealNetworks' move is another sign that the software industry is going hybrid. Mixing elements of proprietary software, where the source-code is tightly controlled, with open-source programs enables firms to expand a market, harvest the ideas of others and, they hope, still make money. Even Microsoft is edging this way: it recently announced that partners can now look at——but not modify or reuse——the source-code for Passport, its controversial digital-identity service.

注（1）：本文选自Economist；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为 2004年真题Text 1。

1. What is the RealNetworks' new way of stopping Microsoft?

A) By selling its intellectual property.

B) By doing what it is good at.

C) By releasing the free source-code.

D) By severe competition with Microsoft.

2. Which of the following can be a disadvantage of releasing the source-code?

A) It can bring about self-created competition.

B) It can defeat Microsoft's ambitions in this market.