单选题
Although Coca-Cola Co. spent nearly $ 2 billion last
year advertising its various brands around the globe, it saw its share of the
critical U. S. cola market decline. Meanwhile, Pepsi Co. is riding a sizzling
Britney Spears-led ad campaign to a bigger share, and has launched an audacious
assault on Coke's long-held sponsorships. The cola fight-is heating up, and
Pepsi is landing most of the punches. Pepsi's share of the U.
S. carbonated soft-drink market rose to 31.65% last year, Beverage Digest
reports. Coke brands, including Diet Coke and Sprite, still lead easily with a
43.7%share -- but that's down four-tenths of a point. Both companies' flagship
colas, which together account for 1 of 3 sodas sold in the U. S. , lost share
last year. But Coke's lost more, and Pepsi scored big with new flavors Code Red
and Lemon Twist. Pepsi Co. recently emharrassed its bigger
rival by snatching away the National Football League sponsorship, which had been
Coke's for 22 years. Coke dismisses the NFL setback as less important than the
individual sponsorships it retains with two-thirds of the league's teams. "We're
still an NFL sponsor," asserts Jeff Dunn, head of Coke in the Americas. He
insists that the "passion point" for consumers is local teams. He says the cost
of the league sponsorship had escalated beyond its value. Beneath Coke's outward
calm, executives are angry over the NFL loss. Now, some on Coke's board are said
to be upset that Pepsi outdid Coke's management. This sets up a marketing brawl
later this year as Coke tries to tie itself to NFL from the bottom up, team by
team, and Pepsi tries to do the same thing from the top down, leveraging its
deal with the league. Coke has hardly been sitting on its
thumbs. Last year it brought out Diet Coke with lemon, and the company is now
gearing up to launch Vanilla Coke. Yet if Wall Street is the judge of who's
winning, there's no contest. Pepsi shares are trading near the all-time
high and have almost doubled during Coke's long depression. Pepsi rates a strong
buy from twice as many analysts. The news is not better for Coke among
advertising experts. "There's nothing great going on ever there," says
marketing consultant A1 Ries in Atlanta. He gives Pepsi far better marks for
"effectively using visuals like Britney Spears to reinforce Pepsi's image that
it is for the young generation," and for companies that sell very similar sugar
water, image is everything.
单选题
The passage is mainly about ______.
A. the successful strategies for the sugar water industry
单选题
By saying that "Coke has hardly been sitting on its thumbs", the author
means that ______.
A. it is impossible for Coke to be indifferent to the situation
B. it is difficult for Coke to get out of the failures and reverse the
situation
C. Coke can't be the best forever and it is losing its shares to Pepsi
D. Coke has realized that it should learn from others to improve
itself
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 本题主要考查对sitting。no its thumbs这个短语意思的理解；根据下文的 Last year it brought out Diet Coke with lemon，and the company is now gearing up to launch Vanilla Coke．可知，去年公司推出了柠檬味的减肥可乐， 目前公司正推出香草味的可乐。由此可知，可口可乐公司不会坐视事态的发展。因此A项“可口可乐公司不可能对形势漠不关心”与原文的意思吻合。
单选题
According to Al Ries, Pepsi is so successful because it ______.
A. would like to spend billions of money on the promotion of its
products
B. has twice as many advertising experts to turn to for consultation
C. is always changing its image to cater to the taste of the young
people
D. can make effective use of famous stars popular with the young
people