单选题 Chairman's Statement
Despite the appearance of a new competitor on the market, the company continued to grow and increase its market share throughout 2000. Partly in response to this new threat, but more importantly, as part of a strategy for growth, several key decisions were taken this year. The most significant new developments included a range of vitamin-rich drinks for children and low calorie diet drinks, which both proved very popular.
The company is still best known for its range of refreshing fruit drinks and, not surprisingly, these were our biggest sellers once more. There were two new additions to the range last year, Squish! and Liquid Sunshine, both of which have a distinctive Caribbean flavour. The first sales figures suggest that our expensive TV advertising campaign was very successful and that these products will soon be as popular as the rest of the fruit drink range.
Growth in the keep-fit and health markets meant our energy drinks did well in 2000. Sales of one brand, Booster were second only to fruit drinks in April. The strength of this particular market also explains the success of our new diet drinks.
There were, however, big differences in the performance of our older products. The company's oldest product, mineral water, continued to enjoy a healthy share of a very profitable mass market. It seems our customers are still happy to stay with the brand despite the increasing number of competitors' products. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of our Ice-T and Chocomania drinks. Sales showed an initial increase in the summer after we re-launched both products but customers soon bought other brands and total annual sales for both product ranges were disappointing.
The company also said goodbye to its own brand of cola, launched in 1998. After two unsuccessful years of trying to break into the huge cola market, 2000 looked like being another poor year. The company finally accepted that it had made a wrong decision and stopped production in September of that year.

单选题 What was the main reason the company decided to launch its new product ranges?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[精析] 本题问的是：公司投放新的系列产品的主要原因是什么。原文第一段中more importantly…之后的一句话对此做了回答，即开始实施增加产品投放的策略，也就是C所答的内容。故选C。
单选题 The new fruit drinks cost a lot of money to
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[精析] 本题问的是：新型的水果饮料花费了很多钱干什么。原文第二段中的our expensive TV advertising campaign… 中的expensive一词说明了新产品投放市场的广告费用很高。与C所说同指一件事。故选C。
单选题 The best selling drinks in April were
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[精析] 本题问的是：四月份销售最好的饮料是什么。第三段的Sales of one brand, Booster, were second only to fruit drinks in April，四月份Booster品障的饮料销售量仅次于水果饮料居第二位。故选B。
单选题 The company's brand of mineral water has a
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[精析] 本题问的是：公司的矿泉水品牌在市场的份额怎样，第四段中mineral water, continued to enioy a healthy share of a very profitable mass market. 公司的矿泉水在十分有利可田的大市场中占有相当大的份额。healthy在此的意思是相当大的；mass market在此与C项中的a large market同义。故选C。
单选题 Sales for Ice-T and Chocomania
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[精析] 本题问的是：Ice-T和Chocomania这两款饮料的销售情况。第四段中…initial increase的意思是：开始时上升，total annual sales for both product ranges were disappointing的意思是：这两种品牌的系列产品全年销售量却令人失望。这两条信息对问题做了回答。故选A。
单选题 When did the company stop producing its own brand cola?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[精析] 本题问的是公司何时停止生产自己的可乐品牌饮料。第五段说的是公司告别了于1998年投放市场的可乐饮料及其原因。最后一句话：The company finally… stopped production in September of that year. 对问题做了回答，其中that year指的是2000年。故选B。