单选题
Quite apart from any awkwardness in the way he handled the hostile bid by rival Oracle for the firm he was running, Craig Conway seems to have been an unpopular CEO of PeopleSoft, a large enterprise-software company. Three managers who reported directly to him were apparently close to resigning in frustration, and the board was unhappy about "mis-statements" he made to analysts. So even though there was no "smoking gun", as the board put it, Mr. Conway was fired on October 1st and replaced by the firm's founder, David Duffield. Mr. Duffield's brief is now to address Mr. Conway's perceived shortcomings and his obsession with fending off the ＄7.7 billion takeover bid from Oracle. At the same time, says Paul Hamerman of Forrester, a research firm, Mr. Conway offered no compelling technological vision for PeopleSoft, and seemed deaf to "quite a noise level of customer complaints". Mr. Conway's firing prompted much speculation that PeopleSoft might now be more prepared to negotiate with Oracle rather than fight it. But PeopleSoft insists that both Mr. Duffield and the board focus on a long-term strategy for the company, not a quick sale. On the same day that Mr. Conway was fired, however, Oracle .scored another victory when America's Justice Department said that it would not appeal against a judge's decision to allow the takeover on antitrust grounds. So, this week, the battle moved to another courtroom, in Delaware, where both companies are registered. In this suit, Oracle is claiming that PeopleSoft is not properly looking after the interests of its shareholders by using a "poison pill" and a "customer assurance programme" to keep Oracle at bay. The poison pill is a very common provision, and one that PeopleSoft has had for almost a decade. It floods the market with new shares if a predator buys more than 20% of PeopleSoft's equity, thus making an acquisition very difficult. The customer-rebate programme, by contrast, was put in place last June. It guarantees that any PeopleSoft client can get a refund for between two and five times its software-licence fee if support for that software is ever cut off. To Oracle, this represents another dirty tactic, since it amounts to a potential liability of more than ＄2 billion. To PeopleSoft, however, it was not only fair but necessary to retain customers, since Oracle said at the time of its bid that it planned to kill PeopleSoft's products and switch clients to its own. The two companies' lawyers are likely to be at it for another few weeks, which could yet, see a higher bid from Oracle.
单选题
According to the passage, Craig Conway
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】本题问根据文章，克雷格·康韦是怎样做的。从第二段中“Mr．Conway…seemed deaf to‘quite a noise level of customer complaints’”可知[C]“对顾客的抱怨充耳不闻”正确。 [A]巧妙地处理甲骨文公司的恶意竞购：文中提到他在此事处理上很笨拙，所以谈不上巧妙。 [B]导致了三位高管辞职：而在首段中“Three managers…were apparently close to resigning…”说明他们毕竟还没有辞职。 [D]技术外行：虽然文章第二段提到“Mr．Conway offered no compelling technological vision for PeopleSoft”，但这仅是在某一问题上的失误，并不能一概而论说他在技术上是外行。
单选题
The phrase "smoking gun" in the first paragraph probably means
单选题
PeopleSoft claims that the Oracle's takeover of PeopleSoft
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】本题问仁科公司宣称甲骨文公司收购仁科软件这一行为怎样。题干中的claim相当于“insist”，故可定位到第二段末句，作者谈到“Mr．Duffield and the board focus on a long-term strategy for the company，not a quick sale．”即达菲尔德先生和董事会关注的是公司的长期战略，而不是很快被收购，也就是说收购“不是首要考虑的事项”。 [A]难以抗拒：这是一种悲观的想法，文中没有谈到。 [C]取决于其合法性：目前来看，这已经合法(只是符合反托拉斯法)。 [D]不明智：甲骨文的收购计划是否明智，仁科公司并没有评论。
单选题
Oracle's current difficulty to take over PeopleSoft is that
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】本题问甲骨文公司目前收购仁科软件公司的困难是什么。文中提到仁科软件利用“毒丸计划”和“顾客保险程序”来遏制甲骨文公司的收购计划。由此可见[B]“仁科软件采用了反收购的战略”正确。 [A]这类商业行为尚不合法：由第三段首句“America's Justice Department said that it would not appeal against a judge's decision to allow the takeover on antitrust grounds”，可知，这种收购行为没有法律障碍。 [C]仁科软件公司要价太高：虽然文末提到甲骨文公司可能会出更多的资金收购，反对也没有用处，但这只是一种分析。文中并没有谈到价格问题，也就是说价格并非决定因素。纵观全文，新的董事会是要“focus on a long-term strategy for the company，not a quick sale”。 [D]康韦先生反对收购：问题不在于康韦是否反对，因为他也已被解职了。