Unit 5


No one can accuse Howard Schultz of inaction since he returned as chief executive of Starbucks, the firm he built into a multinational only to watch it stumble under his successor. Barely a month has gone by over the past year without the firm announcing some new initiative or other. The latest came on February 17th in New York, when Mr Schultz unveiled Via, an instant coffee which, he claims, tastes just as good as Java brewed in the shop by one of the firm's baristas.

Mr Schultz hopes to win a share of the $17 billion or so the world spends on instant coffee——a product which, he sniffs, has not improved in decades. Starbucks itself has spent 20 years pursuing the holy grail of an instant coffee that tastes as good as the fresh stuff. Don Valencia, the firm's first head of research and development, who created the blended and frozen frappuccino drinks that earn Starbucks $2 billion a year, could never find a way to scale up an instant formula he had developed at home. When Mr Schultz returned as chief executive, he noticed that there had been some technological advances, allowing finer grinding, for example. So he asked the R＆D team to repeat the recently deceased Valencia's experiments, and found that “we had broken the code”. The name Via is a hat-tip to Valencia——though during development it was known as Jaws (just add water, stir).

Starbucks says it has patents that should prevent competitors from quickly replicating Via, which will go on sale in some American stores next month. The opportunity may, however, be biggest in other countries: in Britain over 80% of coffee sold is instant, compared with just 10% in America.

Assuming Starbucks drinkers decide that Via tastes good, the company will have to get the price right. At first, it will come in packets of 12 or 3 individual servings, for 83 and 98 cents a cup respectively. That is much more than other instants, but much less than a cup of coffee at one of Starbucks' stores. The risk is that the firm's existing customers may abandon counter service and start making their own cup of instant. That would encourage them to visit Starbucks less often, a trend that is already gathering pace with the recession. For the first time in Starbucks' history, same-store sales have fallen.

Mr Schultz has had to accelerate the store-closure programme that he had started in order to correct the over-expansion which prompted his return to the helm. To keep customers coming to remaining outlets, he might experiment with discounts such as cheap “combination meals”of a drink and food. He also wants a visit to a Starbucks shop to be a “uniquely uplifting experience”. Improving the smell in stores by changing the cheese used in breakfast sandwiches was a start. But ensuring that staff are enthusiastic will be especially difficult when jobs are disappearing. Mr Schultz remains hostile to unions, but has decided to maintain the firm's popular health benefits, while cutting his own pay.

Will all this be enough? So far, investors seem sceptical: Starbucks' share price remains barely a quarter of its all-time high in 2006.

注（1）：本文选自Economist；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1题模仿2006年真题Text 1第4题，第2题模仿2006年真题Text 1

1. The reason why the author maintains that Howard Schultz should not be blamed of inaction is most probably because______.

A) he would not allow his successor to destroy Starbucks

B) Starbucks spent the entire last year developing the new instant coffee

C) the new instant coffee is of the same quality as that brewed in the shop

D) he launched the new instant coffee after his return

2. The word “hat-tip”（Line 8, Paragraph 2) most probably means______.

A) reward

B) achievement

C) surprise

D) tribute

3. The risk of launching the instant coffee Via is that______.

A) it can be quickly imitated by market competitors

B) customers may patronize Starbucks store less

C) it may fail to cater to customers' taste

D) the high price will prohibit people from mass purchase

4. According to the text, which of the following was a common practice in Starbucks before?

A) Starbucks hired baristas to guarantee the quality of the coffee brewed.

B) Starbucks was a major player in the market of instant coffee.

C) Starbucks provided “combination meals”with fair discounts.

D) In Starbucks, employees had a high pressure of losing job.

5. The author's attitude towards Schultz's new measures seems to be______.

A) biased

B) critical

C) objective

D) pessimistic





篇章剖析


本篇文章主要介绍星巴克创始人霍华德·舒尔茨重返公司担任首席执行官，通过推出一款速溶咖啡产品以及采取其他一系列措施，意图重振公司雄风。第一段开宗明义，指出舒尔茨一回到工作岗位就积极行动，推出一款速溶咖啡；第二段详细介绍了这款速溶咖啡研发以及命名的过程；第三、四段从正反两方面分析了这款咖啡的市场前景；第五段介绍了舒尔茨采取的其他措施；最后一段则指出，投资者们对这一系列新举措的效果持不太乐观的态度。





词汇注释


inaction /ɪnˈækʃn/ n. 无作为，无行动，不采取措施

multinational /ˌmʌltiˈnæʃnəl/ n. 跨国公司

stumble /ˈstʌmbl/ v. 绊脚；蹒跚而行

brew /bruː/ v. 煮（咖啡）；泡（茶）

barista /bəˈrɪstə/ n. 咖啡师

sniff /snɪf/ v. 嗤之以鼻

grail /greɪl/ n. 努力追求的理想目标

grind /graɪnd/ v. 磨碎，碾碎 ；把…磨成粉

decease /dɪˈsiːs/ v. 死亡，亡故

serving /ˈsɜːvɪŋ/ n. （食物或饮料的）一份

helm /helm/ n. 舵；掌管

hostile /ˈhɒstaɪl/ adj. 怀有敌意的，不友善的





难句突破


Don Valencia, the firm's first head of research and development, who created the blended and frozen frappuccino drinks that earn Starbucks $2 billion a year, could never find a way to scale up an instant formula he had developed at home.

Don Valencia…could never find a way to…

本句是一个复合句，主句为Don Valencia could never find a way to scale up an instant formula。句中的the firm's first head of research and development为主语的同位语，用来补充说明主语Don Valencia的身份。同位语后面是一个由who 引导的定语从句，用来修饰主语；此定语从句中又包含了一个定语从句that earn Starbucks $2 billion a year，用来修饰the blended and frozen frappuccino drinks。句末的he had developed at home是一个省略了关系代词which/that的定语从句，用来修饰an instant formula。

星巴克公司研发部的首席研发负责人唐·巴伦西亚曾研发出了混合冷冻的星冰乐咖啡，这款咖啡每年为星巴克赚得20亿美元。他在家中研发出一个速溶咖啡配方，却一直无法找到将其规模化生产的方法。





题目分析


1. D 细节题。第一段开门见山地指出人们不应该指责舒尔茨无所作为，并在接下来的两句话里说明了原因。在星巴克陷入困境的情况下，舒尔茨重返公司并推出了一款速溶咖啡，行动非常迅速，因此D正确。A的内容文章中没有明确提到。B的内容错误，文章第二段介绍了新产品的研发过程，第二句话提到了星巴克耗时20年研发顶级速溶咖啡。C是一个细节信息，是舒尔茨对新产品的评价，但并不符合题意。

2. D 语义题。这款速溶咖啡的名称Via是由研发人的名字Valencia的首字母和末尾两个字母组成的，同时结合上一句中“recently deceased Valencia”（刚刚过世的巴伦西亚），可以推出这样命名是为了向Valencia致敬。选项D中tribute意为“（尤指对死者的）致敬”，因此该选项是正确答案。A选项reward意为“奖励”；B选项achievement意为“成果”；C选项surprise意为“惊喜”，均不符合句意。

3. B 细节题。文章第四段讨论了星巴克推出速溶咖啡的风险，其中第三句明确提出the risk是指“公司现有的顾客可能会放弃柜台服务，转而自己冲泡速溶咖啡。这将使他们去星巴克门店消费的次数减少”，B选项中“patronize”这个词的意思是“光顾”，即使不知道这个词的意思也可以通过排除法得出正确答案。文章第三段提到，星巴克申请了专利，以防止竞争者迅速仿制，因此A不正确。文中未明确表示消费者是否喜欢这种速溶咖啡的口味，只是assume (假设）消费者认为好喝，因此C不正确。第四段虽然也提到了这款速溶咖啡价格较同类产品更贵，但由于其价格低于在门店消费的价格，也无法说这就是其风险，因此D不正确。

4. A 推理题。这题要求推断选项中哪个是星巴克以前的做法，可以通过排除法找到正确答案。文章提到星巴克第一次推出速溶咖啡，因此该公司以前并不涉足这块市场，可以排除B。第五段指出舒尔茨的新举措包括了各种打折优惠，这说明星巴克以前并不这么做，可以排除C。第五段也指出由于舒尔茨目前正加快关闭部分门店，以纠正过去过度的扩张，因此员工们面临失去工作的压力，这并不是星巴克的长期做法，因此D也可以排除。从文章第一段最后一句话可以看出，由咖啡师做出香醇的咖啡是星巴克的传统做法和特色。

5. C 情感态度题。本文大部分内容都在谈论舒尔茨重返星巴克之后采取的各种新措施。在文章最后一段，作者指出投资者们对这些措施抱着怀疑的态度。但这是作者对投资者态度的客观陈述，并不代表作者自己的观点。





参考译文


没有任何人可以指责重返星巴克担任首席执行官的霍华德·舒尔茨无所作为，星巴克曾在他的经营管理下被缔造成跨国集团，然而却在他的继任者手中变得举步维艰。过去的一年里，星巴克没有推出什么新举措，而今年刚刚过了一个月，舒尔茨便于2月17日在纽约推出新的产品——一款速溶咖啡Via。舒尔茨声称，Via的味道与星巴克咖啡师在店里调配的Java咖啡一样香醇。