Among the class of new CEOs at struggling European technology giants, none will be more intriguing to watch in 2003 than Deutsche Telekom"s Kai-Uwe Ricke. He shares almost nothing with his flashy and argumentative predecessor from Sony, Ron Sommer, who had always remained something of an outsider in the notoriously political company. The son of a former Telekom chief, Ricke is a born insider. He inherits huge problems, including a huge debt load from years of splurging, a slow-growth business and a hierarchical company culture dating from when Telekom was an arm of the post office, a monolith with more staff than the German Army. For all Sommer"s talk about the New Economy, he built on the old tradition, controlling the company through a team of feared lieutenants. Sommer hired Ricke away from a competitor in 1998 to run the fast-growing conglomerate"s mobile-phone business. He soon came to see him as a potential successor and promoted him to chief operating officer in 2001. Ricke is emblematic of the next generation of European tech leaders. The challenge they face is to fix mistakes made during the boom years without discarding the enthusiasm and vision that accompanied them. Since taking over in November, Ricke has gotten rid of Sommer"s gang and put the heads of the company"s four main business divisions on Telekom"s management board. By loosening the grip of the CEO"s office on a company with 256,000 employees, he hopes to set the stage for a cultural revolution at Telekom. "I want a new leadership style," he told his top executives on Dec. 12, during a 10-hour sit-down in the "fishbowl", a round, glass-lined meeting room at the Bonn headquarters. "I want to encourage open and controversial discussion, but then I expect swift and speedy decisions." Ricke doesn"t have a lot of time. Telekom reported a loss of C 20.6 billion in the third quarter, the largest ever for a German company. Its stock price has fallen 90 percent from its peak in March 2000. Other, more experienced executives turned down offers to take the job, often because of political meddling in the company, of which the German government still owns about 43 percent. Some disillusioned investors see Ricke as part of the problem. "He shares responsibility for the mistakes of the past, so I have little hope that much will change," says Frank Heise, a fund manager at Union Investment in Frankfurt.
单选题
Ricke attracts great attention because
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】解析：事实细节题。根据题干中的Ricke定位至开篇第一句。该句指出：Ricke是2003年最引人注意的CEO。接下来对此展开进行说明：他与爱炫耀、好争辩的前任Ron Sommer几乎完全不同。答案选项是对句中的shares almost nothing with his predecessor所作的同义转述，故为答案。在提到Riche引人注意后，作者提到的内容是两任CEO几乎完全不同，可见吸引人们注意的是他们截然相反的特点，不仅仅因为他是继任者；是首段末句提到的细节，与引人注目无关。
单选题
The purpose of loosening the grip of the CEO office is to
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析：事实细节题。根据题干中的loosening the grip of the CEO"s office定位至第三段第四句，该句指出：通过减少CEO办公室对员工的控制，他希望为在Telekom进行的企业文化改革做好准备。答案选项是对此内容的同义转述，故为答案。该段第五句提到了I want a new leadership style，这不是文章提到loosening the grip的直接目的；"encourage open and controversial discussion"和"make swift and speedy decisions"同样不是文中提到的这一变化的直接原因。
单选题
Why does the author say "Ricke doesn"t have a lot of time"?
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】解析：语义理解题，根据题干中的Ricke doesn"t have a lot of time定位至末段首句。在该句之后，作者提到一些具体细节：该公司报告称第三季度亏损206亿欧元，是德国公司有史以来最大的损失。股票价格与2000年3月份最高值时相比下跌了90%。由此可见，首句的意思是说Telekom公司的问题非常严重，刻不容缓，需要Ricke迅速找到解决办法。文中没有谈及Ricke的继任者问题；末段第四句指出：许多有经验的管理者拒绝接受在Telekom工作的邀请，从前面内容可以推断，这是由于公司问题严重所致，没有提到与Ricke本人的联系；倒数第二句指出：Some disillusioned investors see Ricke as part of the problem．此处并没有说怀疑Ricke的能力。
单选题
In the author"s opinion, the future of Telekom company probably is