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《考研英语阅读理解100篇 基础版》第1章 经济类 Unit 9

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2019年01月05日

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Whatever else,Airbus cannot be accused of failing to put on a brave face at this week's Paris Air Show,held every two years.Louis Gallois is the troubled European airframe-maker's third chief executive within 12 months.But still he declared:“I can tell you with full confidence that Airbus is back and fully back.” Supporting his confident public message was an extraordinary flow of orders and commitments for over 600 aircraft accumulated in time for the show by the firm's super-salesman,John Leahy. 
Although it is heading for a second successive loss—last year it plunged572m ($718m) into the red—Airbus is undoubtedly in better shape than it was 12 months ago when wiring problems delayed the A380 and the weak dollar exposed the firm's bloated cost base.It has begun the“Power8” recovery plan,intended to save2 billion annually by cutting 10,000 jobs and auctioning off six factories to partners.And the giant A380 will begin commercial service with Singapore Airlines in the autumn,although being two years late. 
In the contest between the twin-engined wide-body Boeing 787 and the A350 XWB,Mr Gallois struggles to be as positive.The 787 is already a sales phenomenon,with over 630 firm orders even before the plane's roll-out next month.The airlines are excited by its revolutionary use of a composite material called carbon-reinforced plastic(CRP).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. Boeing acknowledges that the A350 may be as light as the 787,but argues that it will be a less pleasant plane to fly in and a more difficult one to maintain. 
Mr Gallois admits that following Boeing's approach would have been too expensive and risky for Airbus.At the same time Mr Gallois bemoaned the advantage his rival has in government-supported research and development.Boeing,he claims,receives about $800m a year—ten times as much as Airbus.Earlier in the week,during meetings with ministers representing the four Airbus partners(France,Germany,Britain and Spain),he asked them to fund half the company's planned600m-a-year investment in research and technology.He is not hopeful. 
But for the moment what matters most for Airbus is that the market stays strong and that it gets to grips with its costs.This may require going further in imitating Boeing's risk-sharing partner(RSP)model than Airbus seems willing to contemplate.According to some estimates,about 80% of the work on the 787 is outsourced to RSPs,saving Boeing both precious development time and working capital. 
What this week has shown is that for all the success of the 787 and the mistakes of Airbus,the competitive duopoly of the past decade is still firmly in place.But will things stay that way? That depends partly on whether Airbus really has learnt its lessons and partly on who else wants to get into the game.Boeing reckons that in 20 years,36% of the market will be in the Asia-Pacific region.For the time being,the Chinese,the Indians and others are happy to be partners and customers.But that could change. 
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 3。 
1.How can Louis Gallois be confident that Airbus is“fully back”? 
A) Because under his leadership there is a sign that the company will soon stop losing money. 
B) Because Airbus put on a good show in Paris in which it received a large number of orders. 
C) Because Airbus launches its recovery plan that would surely bring a great amount of profit. 
D) Because the company is in better situation as it succeeded in slowing down the annual loss. 
2.How does Boeing feel about the coming A350 by Airbus? 
A) Critical. 
B) Indifferent. 
C) Optimistic. 
D) Supportive. 
3.According to Mr Gallois,how can Airbus catch up with Boeing? 
A) By mastering advanced technology that can compete with or excel Boeing. 
B) By receiving more financial and other kinds of support from the partner governments. 
C) By adopting the RSP model so as to cut costs and improve the efficiency of its working process. 
D) By reducing cost through its recovery plan and relevant policies. 
4.What is Boeing's strategy of cutting cost? 
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 

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787 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。 
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