单选题   McDonald's is having a bit of an identity crisis. Recently, the burger giant announced a 5.2% drop in profits for the first three months of this year and a l.7% decrease in same store sales in the US. President and CEO Don Thompson emphasized that McDonald's would be focusing on its core products, like its Big Mac, Egg McMuffin, and its famous French fries.
    Thompson's back-to-basics vow comes in response to the sort of menu creep the chain experienced last year, when it rolled out a seemingly endless stream of limited time offers, like its Mighty Wings, a steak and egg burrito (蛋卷饼), a steak breakfast sandwich and so on.
    It's vital that McDonald's craft a consistent message, so customers' expectations are met when they choose to eat there. When McDonald's first got off the ground in the 1940s, it had a nine-item menu made up of hamburger, cheeseburger, soft drinks, milk, coffee, potato chips, and a slice of pie. It built its iconic(标志性的) reputation on guaranteeing that these food and beverage items would have the same great taste no matter the McDonald's location at which they were served.
    Just as crucial, too much menu diversification, which McDonald's has suffered from lately, leads to longer customer wait times in an industry built on speed.
    'What McDonald's workers do inside those four walls is really impressive. Everyone has their time and place, and their entire job is done in two or three steps,' says Howard Penney, managing director at Hedgeye Risk Management. Adding more processes that come with a bigger menu, specifically the smoothie(奶昔) and espresso machines, has disrupted McDonald's restaurants' time and motion, he says. It takes a lot longer to make a smoothie than it does to pour a fountain Coke.
    'Everything they've done to become all things to all people has slowed service,' Penney says.
    Going back to its roots could be just what McDonald's needs. After all, it seems like a long shot for the fast food giant to become the next Chipotle or Panera since, as Penney puts lt, 'the core McDonald's customer is not looking for a wrap with a cucumber in it'.
单选题     How will McDonald's deal with the identity crisis it is facing? ______
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】根据题干中的identity crisis定位到原文第一段。该段首句中提到，麦当劳正在遭遇一次身份危机。随后在该段第三句中指出，董事长兼执行总裁唐·汤普森强调说，麦当劳将专注于自己的核心产品。由此可以推知，面对此次身份危机，麦当劳将回归到其核心产品上来，故选B。 [参考译文] 麦当劳正在遭遇一次身份危机。近期，这个汉堡巨头宣布今年前三个月的利润下降了5.2%，美国同店销售额减少了1.7%。董事长兼执行总裁唐·汤普森强调说，麦当劳将专注于自己的核心产品，如巨无霸、烟熏蛋汉堡和其著名的炸薯条。 汤普森宣告回归本源是为了回应麦当劳在去年经历的菜品种类大泛滥。在去年，麦当劳无穷尽似地推出了各种限时菜单，比如麦辣鸡翅、牛肉蛋卷饼、牛肉早餐三明治等。 麦当劳要精确传达出一致的信息，这一点至关重要。因为只有这样，才能满足客户选择在麦当劳用餐时的期待。在20世纪40年代麦当劳创立初期，其菜单上共有九个菜品，包括汉堡、芝士汉堡、饮料、牛奶、咖啡、炸薯片和派。不论麦当劳的连锁店开在哪里，始终能够保证菜单上的食物和饮料有相同的美味，在这个基础上，麦当劳树立起了一个标志性的声誉。 同样至关重要的是，让麦当劳近期损失不少的菜单过度多样化导致客户等待的时间延长。然而，速度是快餐业的立足之本。 风险管理公司Hedgeye的执行董事霍华德·彭尼说：“麦当劳员工在后厨的工作真的令人印象深刻。每个人都有自己的时间和地点，他们的所有工作都在两三步之内完成。”他表示，随着菜单项目增多，员工的程序也会随之增加，尤其是操作奶昔设备和浓缩咖啡机等，这影响了麦当劳餐厅的时间和效率。做一份奶昔的时间比装一杯可乐的时间要长得多。 彭尼说：“他们包揽一切，力图对每一个人都做到面面俱到，结果却降低了服务速度。” 回归本源才是麦当劳需要做的事情。毕竟，正如彭尼所说，麦当劳要变成下一家Chipotle(一家墨西哥风味快速便餐店)或Panera(一家冷饮休闲西餐厅)，成功的机会似乎不大。“麦当劳的核心客户不会喜欢包着黄瓜的卷饼。”
单选题     What did McDonald's do last year? ______
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】根据题干中的last year定位到原文第二段。该段中提到，汤普森宣告回归本源是为了回应麦当劳在去年经历的菜品种类大泛滥。在去年，麦当劳无穷尽似地推出了各种限时菜单。原文中并未提及“调整产品价格”相关的内容，故排除C项。B项中的“减少供应品种”和D项中的“几乎没有丰富菜单上的菜品”显然不符合原文。A项表述与原文相符，该项中的too many对应原文中的seemly lendless of，故选A。
单选题     What was the result of McDonald's menu diversification?
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】根据题干中的menu diversification定位到原文第四段。该段中指出，同样至关重要的是，让麦当劳近期损失不少的菜单过度多样化导致客户等待的时间延长。由此可知D项表述正确，故选D。
单选题     What slowed McDonald's service according to Penney? ______
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】根据题干中的slowed McDonald's service定位到原文第六段。该段中直接引用Penney的话指出，他们包揽一切，力图对每一个人都做到面面俱到，结果却降低了服务速度。言外之意是不可能满足所有人的需求，麦当劳的这个行为本身就是不合理的。由此可知，A项表述正确，B项表述只是原因的一个微小的方面，C、D两项并未在原文中提及，故排除。
单选题     What can be inferred from the last paragraph? ______
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】根据题干中的the last paragraph定位到原文最后一段。该段中指出，回归本源才是麦当劳需要做的事情。毕竟，正如彭尼所说，麦当劳要变成下一家Chipotle或Panera，成功的机会似乎不大。由此可知，作者及彭尼都不看好麦当劳发展成其他餐厅的风格，因而A、B两项表述错误。D项中的“产品创新”并未在原文中提及，可排除。C项中的麦当劳应该始终保持其原来的样子与该段首句相符，故选C。