单选题 · For each question (13-18), mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer
Sheet.
{{B}}BRITISH COMPANIES CROSS THE ATLANTIC{{/B}}
Next month a
large group of British business people are going to America on a venture which
may generate export earnings for their companies' shareholders in years to come.
A long list of sponsors will support the initiative, which will involve a
&3-million media campaign and a fortnight of events and exhibitions. The
ultimate goal is to persuade more Americans that British companies have
something to interest them. While there have been plenty of
trade initiatives in the past, the difference this time round is that
considerable thinking and planning have gone into trying to work nut just what
it is that Americans look for in British products. Instead of exclusively
promoting the major corporations, this time there is more emphasis on supporting
the smaller, more unusual, niche businesses. Fresh in the
memories of ail those concerned is the knowledge that America has been the end
of many a large and apparently successful business. For Carringtons, a retail
group much respected by European customers and investors, America turned out to
be a commercial disaster and the belief that they could even show some of the
great American stores a retailing trick or two was hopelessly
over-optimistic. Polly Brown, another very British brand that
rode high for years on good profits and huge city confidence, also found that
conquering America, in commercial and retailing terms, was not as easy as it had
imagined. When it positioned itself in the US as a niche, luxury brand, selling
shirts that were priced at $40 in the UK for $125 in the States, the strategy
seemed to work But once its management decided it should take on the middle
market, this success rapidly drained away. It was a disastrous mistake and the
high cost of the failed American expansion plans played a large role in its
declining fortunes in the mid-nineties. Sarah Scott, managing
director of Smythson, the upmarket stationer, has had to think long and hard
about what it takes to succeed in America and she takes it very seriously
indeed. 'Many British firms are quite patronising about the US,' she says. 'They
think that we're so much more sophisticated than the
Americans. They obviously haven't noticed Ralph Lauren, an American who
has been much more skilled at tapping into an idealised Englishness than any
English company. Also, many companies don't bother to study the market properly
and think that because something's successful in the UK, it's bound to be
successful over there. You have to look at what you can bring them that they
haven't already got. On the whole, American companies are brilliant at the mass,
middle market and people who've tried to take them on at this level have found
it very difficult.' This time round it is just possible that
changing tastes are running in Britain's favour. The enthusiasm for massive,
centralised retail chains has decreased. People want things with some sort of
individuality; they are fed up with the banal, middle-of-the-road taste that
America does so well. They are now looking for the small, the precious, the
'real thing', and this is precisely what many of the companies participating in
the initiative do best.
单选题
The main reason that the British business people are going to
America is to
A. encourage American consumers to buy their products.
B. analyse how American companies attract media coverage.
C. look for financial backing from American investors and banks.
D. investigate how British and American companies could form
partnerships.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】
单选题
In the writer's opinion, the proposed venture will be different
to previous ones because
A. fewer British business leaders will be making the trip.
B. less well-known companies will be better represented.
C. the larger companies have decided they will not be participating.
D. it involves research into how British companies market
themselves.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】
单选题
The writer states that Carringtons was wrong to
A. be cautious about trading in America.
B. borrow money from its European investors.
C. assume it was superior to American rivals.
D. ignore the advice of its American managers.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】
单选题
According to the writer, Polly Brown's mistake occurred when it
A. continued to trade despite making a loss.
B. attempted to attract a different type of customer.
C. tried to break into too many markets at the same time.
D. expected American consumers to pay British prices for goods.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】
单选题
Sarah Scott states that British companies hoping to succeed in
America should
A. focus on a gap in the market.
B. be less concerned with their image.
C. concentrate on selling products in the mid-price range.
D. carry out research into the pricing policies of American
companies.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】
单选题
The writer suggests that success in America depends upon
A. adopting a more American approach to marketing.
B. persuading the mid-range consumer to pay for quality.
C. copying the strategies of American companies.
D. building a reputation as a supplier of unique goods.