阅读理解
Hostile takeovers are never polite. One fight in America, however, has become particularly ugly. In December a huge stock market-traded hospital company, Community Health Systems, announced that it wanted to buy another, Tenet Healthcare, for $ 3.3 billion. The bid soon became a quarrel. In the saga's most recent chapter, Tenet filed a lawsuit accusing Community of overbilling government and private health-insurance schemes.
Although this bid battle has become unusually hateful, it is in line with a broader trend of consolidation in the huge but fragmented business of providing hospital care. In 2009 America's hospitals soaked up one-third of all national health-care spending, or $759 billion, roughly equivalent to the entire GDP of the Netherlands. In the long term an aging population will produce more invalids and thus more business. In 2014 the "Obamacare" health reforms will bring 32m newly insured patients. The less good news is that the health reforms also bring new regulations and intense pressure to contain costs. This is strengthening the argument for consolidation among hospital operators.
Mergers are nothing new in the industry. In 1979 only 31% of America's hospitals were part of a larger hospital system. By 2001 more than half were. The rationale for joining a larger chain is simple. It means better access to capital for renovation and expansion, better management and—most important—more power when negotiating treatment prices with health insurers.
Now, the health reforms are piling on the pressure to merge. Obamacare requires hospitals to invest heavily in technology, even as the government cuts payments for treatments. Hospitals will increasingly have to demonstrate the quality of their services. Small hospitals may struggle to meet such demands; bigger groups will be better equipped. Besides, now is a good time to be doing deals, says Gary Lieberman of Wells Fargo. Credit markets have offered favorable terms to hospital groups raising money. And thanks to the downturn there has been ample supply of not-for-profit hospitals for sale. Community's bid for Tenet is the biggest deal now in the works.
Big hospital operators must still cope with Obamacare's new requirements. And in some cases, growing larger brings its own challenges. Nonetheless, the hospital-merger wave still has far to go. HCA, despite being the industry's leader, controls less than 5% of the market. There are many more deals to come, the only question is how quickly.
Although this bid battle has become unusually hateful, it is in line with a broader trend of consolidation in the huge but fragmented business of providing hospital care. In 2009 America's hospitals soaked up one-third of all national health-care spending, or $759 billion, roughly equivalent to the entire GDP of the Netherlands. In the long term an aging population will produce more invalids and thus more business. In 2014 the "Obamacare" health reforms will bring 32m newly insured patients. The less good news is that the health reforms also bring new regulations and intense pressure to contain costs. This is strengthening the argument for consolidation among hospital operators.
Mergers are nothing new in the industry. In 1979 only 31% of America's hospitals were part of a larger hospital system. By 2001 more than half were. The rationale for joining a larger chain is simple. It means better access to capital for renovation and expansion, better management and—most important—more power when negotiating treatment prices with health insurers.
Now, the health reforms are piling on the pressure to merge. Obamacare requires hospitals to invest heavily in technology, even as the government cuts payments for treatments. Hospitals will increasingly have to demonstrate the quality of their services. Small hospitals may struggle to meet such demands; bigger groups will be better equipped. Besides, now is a good time to be doing deals, says Gary Lieberman of Wells Fargo. Credit markets have offered favorable terms to hospital groups raising money. And thanks to the downturn there has been ample supply of not-for-profit hospitals for sale. Community's bid for Tenet is the biggest deal now in the works.
Big hospital operators must still cope with Obamacare's new requirements. And in some cases, growing larger brings its own challenges. Nonetheless, the hospital-merger wave still has far to go. HCA, despite being the industry's leader, controls less than 5% of the market. There are many more deals to come, the only question is how quickly.
单选题
11.The first sentence of the passage aims to suggest that______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】推断题。第一段开门见山地指出恶意并购从来都不会温文尔雅地进行。接下来作者利用美国的两个医疗公司并购的实例证明有些带有矛盾的公司并购引起的官司。所以，本题的正确答案应该为C项。
单选题
12.We can infer from the second paragraph that hospital company mergers______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】推断题。这段主要介绍美国医疗公司并购虽然引起了许多争端，但是公司并购也是发展趋势，主要原因有巨大的资金投入、老龄人口增多带来病人和业务更多、奥巴马的医疗改革方案会增加享受医疗保险的病人增多以及改革新规定和控制医疗成本的压力等等。因此，本题的正确答案应该为D项。
单选题
13.One reason why so many hospital companies seek for mergers is that______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】细节题。该题对应文章的第三段，主要介绍医疗公司并购可以带来的好处包括：更容易获得改革和扩展的资金、提高管理、与医疗保险公司协商治疗价格时更有影响力。所以，本题的正确答案是C项。
单选题
14.Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】细节题。B项“医疗公司将更加重视技术投资”与原文第四段第二句话有相关性，奥巴马医疗改革要求技术方面投入大量资金。故B项为正确答案。
单选题
15.Which of the folloyving could best summarize the passage?
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】主旨题。通过每个段落的首尾句，考生可发现作者重点在介绍美国医疗公司的并购问题，因此，D项“目前美国医院的并购趋势正在蔓延”是原文的正确总结，为正确答案。