舒尔茨先生希望在全球约170亿美元的速溶咖啡市场上攻下一席之地。他对速溶咖啡这种产品在过去的几十年里一点儿都没改进嗤之以鼻。星巴克耗时20年，一直在锲而不舍地研发顶级的速溶咖啡，使其味道与新磨的咖啡一样好。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。当舒尔茨先生重返星巴克担任首席执行官时，他注意到公司在技术上有了一些进步，例如更精细的研磨技术。因此，他要求研发团队重做不久前逝世的巴伦西亚的实验，结果发现“我们终于破译了密码”。他把这款速溶咖啡命名为Via，以向巴伦西亚（Valencia）致敬，虽然在开发过程中该产品被称为Jaws，是英文just add water, stir (只需加水，搅拌）的缩写。

星巴克表示已经为Via申请了专利，以防止竞争者迅速仿制。Via将于下个月在美国的一些星巴克店开始出售。不过，其他国家的市场机会可能最大：英国80%以上的在售咖啡是速溶的，相比之下，美国速溶咖啡只占10%。

假设星巴克的顾客认为Via好喝，公司还必须为该产品制定合理的价格。首先，它会分为12袋或3袋装，分别为83美分和98美分一杯。这个价格比其他速溶咖啡贵很多，但却远远低于在任何一家星巴克门店的花费。其市场的风险在于，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，而经济危机以来光顾星巴克的客人已经在不断减少。这是在星巴克历史上首次同店销售额下降。

舒尔茨先生已经不得不加快实施他提出的关店计划，以纠正过度的扩张，这也是促使他重返星巴克掌舵的原因。对于剩下的店铺，为了保持客源，他可能会尝试打折优惠，如超值的饮料和食物的“组合套餐”。他还希望顾客来星巴克时能获得一种“独特的、令人振奋的体验”。更换三明治早餐里的奶酪以改善店里的味道，这就是一个开始。然而当工作岗位不断减少时，要确保员工的工作热情就变得尤其困难。虽然舒尔茨先生仍然反对工会，但他决定保持该公司员工的医疗福利，同时降低自己的工资。

所有这些举措够吗？迄今为止，投资者似乎一直持怀疑态度：星巴克目前的股价仍然只是2006年最高价位的四分之一。





Unit 6


Stock prices tumbled on Wall Street and across much of the rest of the world yesterday. They were driven sharply lower by worries over slowing economic growth in the United States and worsening borrowing conditions that could make everything from huge corporate buyouts to buying a new home more difficult. Major stock market gauges——including the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard ＆ Poors 500-stock index——were down more than 2 percent.

It was the worst one-day decline on Wall Street since markets plunged worldwide in late February after an investing scare in Shanghai, and it occurred amid the biggest volume of trading on the New York Stock Exchange in five years. Losses were comparable throughout Europe, and larger in many developing countries. The preconditions for a shock are in place, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moodys Economy. com. Until very recently investors were very nonchalant about risks.

Stock markets have been volatile in recent weeks. Continued strong profits for many companies and an economic boom in Asia have helped push oil prices higher. Meanwhile, however, there are various signs of weakness in the American economy and new difficulties in borrowing for many homeowners and companies that are highly leveraged or have poor credit.

The plunge came a day after the private equity firm buying Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler said it would complete the transaction for the automaker despite an inability to borrow the money in credit markets, as had been planned. Banks will hold those loans, as they will for a similar deal involving Alliance Boots, a British pharmacy chain. Shares of DaimlerChrysler fell $4.11, to $88.91. There is fear, but not a fear of recession, said Bill Gross, chief investment officer of the Pacific Investment Management Company, known as Pimco, a large bond management firm. “The fear is directed toward the question of who will be willing to lend $200 billion to provide takeout financing for previously announced private equity deals.”

Yesterday, the Dow industrials plunged 311.50 points, or 2.3 percent, to 13,473.57, while the S. ＆ P. 500 dropped 35.43 points, or 2.3 percent, to 1,482.66. The Nasdaq composite index was down 48.83 points, or 1.8 percent, to 2,599.34. The S. ＆ P. is still up 4.5 percent for the year, while the Dow is 8.1 percent higher. But the S. ＆ P. has fallen 4.5 percent since reaching a record last week. In the last hour or so of trading, the major Wall Street indexes recovered about a third of their steepest losses for the day. Losses of more than 2 percent were recorded in Spain, France and Germany, while Britain, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil fell more than 3 percent. Asian markets fell less yesterday, closing before the worst selling began, but opened down sharply on Friday.

注（1）：本文选自The New York Times；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1、2题分别模仿2014年真题Text 2第5题和2010年真题Text 2第2题，第3题模仿2014年真题Text 4第2题，第4题模仿2015年真题Text 4第2题，第5题模仿2013年真题Text 2第5题。

1. The passage is mainly_______.

A) a review of the current condition of the American and world stock market

B) an introduction of the development of the global stock market

C) a survey of the history and possible results of the stock deal of DaimlerChrysler

D) about the ups and downs of stock prices in world's major stock markets

2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A) Currently it is more difficult for Americans to borrow money from banks for house purchase.

B) The losses from stock markets are similar in U.S. and some developing countries.

C) Investors were worried about the potential risks in stock market before yesterday.

D) Economic boom in Asia prevents its stock market from falling.

3. If you were an investor, you might be able to earn money if_______.

A) you held the shares of DaimlerChrysler

B) you purchased new shares when the stock market opened yesterday

C) you bought and sold shares at the last one or two hours before closing

D) you didn't trade any shares yesterday

4. We can infer from the text that_______.

A) the Chrysler transaction will turn to be a failure because of the vibration of stock market

B) the banks hold the loans because the Chrysler case is of exactly the same nature as that of Alliance Boots

C) Bill Gross thinks the fear is from the possibility that the huge amount of money involved in the Chrysler deal may worsen the situation of stock market

D) the difficulty of borrowing leads to the shrinking prices of shares of DaimlerChrysler

5. The writer's attitude towards the current stock market is_______.

A) biased

B) objective

C) pessimistic

D) optimistic





篇章剖析


本篇文章是一篇说明文，介绍了美国股市昨日下跌的情况。第一段开门见山地说明了股市大跌的事实及其原因，第二、三段则进一步展开说明了股市最近的状况，影响股市的各种负面因素等。第四段用了一个具体的市场交易事例来说明股市不稳定导致的后果，并引用了经济专业分析师的评论。最后两段综述了美国股市几大指数以及世界各地股市的涨跌情况，引用了大量的数据。





词汇注释


tumble /ˈtʌmbl/ vi. 暴跌，骤降；倒塌，坍塌

buyout /ˈbaɪˌaʊt/ n. 全部买下

gauge /geɪdʒ/ n. 标准，尺度；计量器

index /ɪndeks/ n. 指数

plunge /plʌndʒ/ vi. 投入，跳进，陷入

scare /skɜə/ n. 惊恐，恐慌，恐惧

precondition /ˌprɪːkənˈdɪʃn/ n. 前提，先决条件

nonchalant /ˈnɒnʃələnt/ adj. 不关心的，若无其事的

volatile /ˈvɒlətaɪl/ adj. 可变的，不稳定的

boom /buːm/ n. 繁荣，迅速发展；激增

transaction /trænˈzækʃn/ n. 交易，业务

pharmacy /ˈfɑːməsi/ n. 配药学，制药学

recession /rɪˈseʃn/ n. 经济衰退，不景气

takeout /ˈteɪkˌaʊt/ n. 资产外带





难句突破


The plunge came a day after the private equity firm buying Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler said it would complete the transaction for the automaker despite an inability to borrow the money in credit markets, as had been planned.

主体句式：The plunge came a day after the…firm…said…

结构分析：这是一个复杂句，主句为The plunge came，但a day after后面的结构比较复杂。首先，buying Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler是用来修饰the private equity firm，因此后面这个长句的基本结构就是the firm said。said后面跟的是一个间接引语，主体是it would complete the transaction for the automaker，之后的despite表示一个转折的意思，而as had been planned是用来形容borrow the money in credit markets的。

句子译文：股市大跌的前一日，从戴姆勒-克莱斯勒购买克莱斯勒企业债的这家私有证券公司声称，尽管现在从信贷市场借钱的进程不像原计划那么顺利，但其仍将与这家汽车制造公司完成这笔交易。





题目分析


1. A 主旨题。判断文章主旨要从文章整体来把握。文章第一段就指出美国股市昨日大幅下跌，接下来的几段都在介绍下跌的状况、原因、相关因素，并且详细介绍了各个股票指数的一系列数据，最后一段又描述了世界其他地区的股市情况，可见全文都是在说明美国和世界股市的现状。因此正确答案为A。B选项的错误原因在于本文并没有介绍世界股票市场的发展历程，只是聚焦其近期的发展状况。C选项的错误原因在于关于戴姆勒-克莱斯勒案例的讨论并不是文章的主要内容和目的。D选项的意思是世界主要股票市场股票价格的起伏状况，虽然与文章内容比较贴近，但是概括过于泛泛，不如A选项精确。