2010年教育部考試中心考研英語(yǔ)模擬試題
----閱讀理解部分匯編
六、索尼公司的管理問(wèn)題
In the late 1980s, Akio Morita, the co-founder of Sony Corp. , embarked on the most costly shopping expedition of his long career. A visionary who believed that Sony’s future lay in the convergence of hardware and “content” such as music and film, Morita eventually set his sights on Columbia Pictures Entertainment, with its two studios and a vast library of movie titles and television series. In September, 1989, after months of on-again, off-again negotiations, Sony agreed to pay the inflated asking price of $3.2 billion and assume $1.6 billion in debt.
What was the rationale for such a decision? According to John Nathan’s Sony: The Private Life, it was motivated only by senior executives’ desire to please the company patriarch. Even Morita, then Sony’s chairman and CEO, believed that Columbia’s price tag, originally $35 per share, was exorbitant. In a closed-door meeting in August, 1989, details of which have never been fully revealed, he told his seven top aides, who made up the decision-making executive committee, that he was abandoning the idea of the acquisition.
That would have been the end of it had Morita not voiced regret over dinner that evening with the committee members. “It’s too bad,” he lamented, “I’ve always dreamed of owning a Hollywood studio.” The next day, the group reconvened and promptly decided that Sony would purchase Columbia after all. In the weeks that followed, Sony upped its bid from an initial $15 to $27 a share and, by late September, made a deal that was ridiculed by industry experts. In 1994, mismanagement forced Sony to write off $2.7 billion and assume a loss of $510 million for its Hollywood experiment.
Sony: The Private Life is filled with such insiders’ tales, making it the most vivid and detailed account in English of the personalities who built the $50 billion-plus consumer-electronics giant. Nathan, a professor of Japanese cultural studies at the University of California, got access to dozens of executives who had contributed to or witnessed Sony’s development since its 1946 founding in war-devastated Tokyo. Nathan offers, however, only limited analysis of Sony, the corporation. And he tends to go over well-trodden ground: how Sony established itself in the U.S. and how it developed famous products or devices. Much of this has appeared before in articles and, to a lesser extent, in books.
This is not to say that Nathan’s book has no point of view. The company’s underlying problem, as illustrated in the Columbia case, is that the environment in which the Sony Corporation has historically conducted its affairs is less public than personal, less rational than sentimental. In conclusion, Nathan says that, under the current leadership of President Nobuyuki Idei, Sony is emerging as a rational company. Moreover, Idei and his practical-minded managers are intent on reinventing Sony as an Internet company. From now on, says Nathan, “personal relationships are not likely again to figure decisively.” But how will this Sony fare? Nathan admits that a dazzling future is far from guaranteed.
1. Which of the following is true of Sony’s acquisition of Columbia Pictures?
[A] It was motivated by Morita’s desire to project an image of success.
[B] Sony’s top executives were quite convinced of its benefits for the company.
[C] Entertainment industry insiders believed it was the failure of Hollywood.
[D] It was the expensive expansion from electronics into entertainment.
2. The word “patriarch” (line 2, paragraph 2) most probably means_____.
[A] founder [B] monarch [C] elder [D] forerunner
3. It can be inferred from the last two paragraphs that_____.
[A] Sony: The Private Life is the biography of Akio Morita
[B] Sony’s Japanese leaders have been too practical-minded
[C] this management problem of Sony cannot be rectified overnight
[D] Nathan did not write about how Sony established itself as the electronics giant
4. Nathan’s attitude towards Morita seems to be of_____.
[A] strong distaste [B] implicit criticism [C] enthusiastic support [D] reserved consent
5. The best title for the passage may be_____.
[A] Sony’s Shopping Expedition [B] Sony: the Private Life
[C] Who Drove Sony to Ground [D] Sony: Management by Impulse
答案:1.D 2.A 3.C 4.B 5.D
核心詞匯和超綱詞匯
(1)embark (v.) 上船，裝船;~ on/upon sth.從事，著手，開(kāi)始(新的或艱難的事情)
(2)expedition(n.)遠(yuǎn)征，探險(xiǎn);探險(xiǎn)隊(duì);發(fā)出，派遣
(3)visionary(n.)空想家，夢(mèng)想者，好幻想的人 vision(n.)幻想，幻影
(4)convergence(n.)集中，收斂converge(v.)聚合，集中于一點(diǎn)
(5)library(n.)系列叢書(shū)(或磁帶等)，文庫(kù)，如a ~ of children’s classics兒童文學(xué)名著系列叢書(shū)
(6)on-again, off-again一上一下，遭遇到種種波折
(7)asking price賣(mài)主的開(kāi)叫價(jià)，賣(mài)出價(jià)
(8)rationale(n)(解釋某個(gè)特別決定、行動(dòng)、信仰的)基本原理，根本原因，理論依據(jù)
(9)exorbitant(a.)過(guò)度的，過(guò)高的，昂貴的
(10)lament(v.)悔恨，悲嘆，哀悼
(11)reconvene(v.)重新集合，重新召集convene(v.)召集, 集合
(12)tread(v.)trod trodden踩，踐踏;行走
(13)ground(n.)(興趣、知識(shí)和思想的)范圍、領(lǐng)域，如We have to go over the same~(我們得討論同樣的話題)。
(14)fare(n.)費(fèi)用，旅客，食物(v.)過(guò)日子，遭遇，受招待How did you~in London?(你在倫敦過(guò)得怎樣?)
全文翻譯
在20世紀(jì)80年代后期，索尼公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人盛田昭夫開(kāi)始了他長(zhǎng)期事業(yè)生涯中最昂貴的購(gòu)物旅行。夢(mèng)想家盛田昭夫相信索尼公司的未來(lái)在于硬件和音樂(lè)、電影這樣的“內(nèi)容”相結(jié)合，于是最終將目光投向哥倫比亞電影公司及其兩個(gè)工作室和大量電影字母和電視劇集的文庫(kù)。1989年9月，經(jīng)過(guò)幾個(gè)月幾經(jīng)波折的談判，索尼公司同意支付飛漲的賣(mài)出價(jià)32億美元從而承擔(dān)16億美元的債務(wù)。
這個(gè)決定的理論依據(jù)是什么?根據(jù)約翰內(nèi)森所著《索尼公司的私人生活》，這個(gè)決定是出于高級(jí)行政人員要取悅公司創(chuàng)始人的愿望。甚至那時(shí)擔(dān)任索尼公司主席和首席執(zhí)行管的盛田昭夫也認(rèn)為哥倫比亞的標(biāo)價(jià)(開(kāi)始是35美元一股)太昂貴。在1989年8月召開(kāi)的一次從未完全公開(kāi)的閉門(mén)會(huì)議中，他告訴組成具有決策權(quán)的執(zhí)行委員會(huì)的七位高級(jí)助手，他將放棄收購(gòu)的想法。
那天晚上用餐時(shí)如果盛田昭夫沒(méi)有向委員會(huì)成員表示遺憾的話這件事情本應(yīng)就這么結(jié)束了。他哀嘆，“太糟了，我一直想擁有一個(gè)好萊塢工作室”。第二天，這個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)重新召開(kāi)會(huì)議并倉(cāng)促?zèng)Q定索尼公司將最終購(gòu)買(mǎi)哥倫比亞。在接下來(lái)的幾周內(nèi)，索尼公司將其標(biāo)價(jià)從開(kāi)始的15美元一股上升到27美元。到了九月末，成交了一筆為業(yè)界專(zhuān)家嘲笑的交易。1994年，管理不善迫使索尼公司為它的好萊塢實(shí)驗(yàn)注銷(xiāo)掉27億美元資產(chǎn)和5.1億美元的損失。
《索尼公司的私人生活》充滿(mǎn)了這樣的內(nèi)幕故事，因此成為對(duì)建立價(jià)值500億美元的消費(fèi)者電子產(chǎn)品巨頭的名人們最生動(dòng)詳細(xì)的描述。內(nèi)森是加利福尼亞大學(xué)日本文化研究的教授，接觸到很多作過(guò)貢獻(xiàn)或目睹索尼公司自1946年在受戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)破壞的東京建立以來(lái)的發(fā)展的行政人員。然而，內(nèi)森只提供了對(duì)索尼公司的有限的分析，他總是重復(fù)老掉牙的話題：索尼公司如何在美國(guó)建立起來(lái)的，如何發(fā)展的產(chǎn)品和設(shè)備。這些內(nèi)容很多以前在文章中出現(xiàn)，但較少出現(xiàn)在書(shū)中。
這并不是說(shuō)內(nèi)森的書(shū)沒(méi)有觀點(diǎn)。正如哥倫比亞事件所說(shuō)明的，公司的潛在問(wèn)題是“索尼公司歷史事件發(fā)生的環(huán)境較個(gè)人化而非公開(kāi)化，較感性而非理性”。 總之，內(nèi)森說(shuō)，在現(xiàn)任主席出井伸之的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下，索尼公司正成為一個(gè)理性的公司。而且，出井伸之和他追求實(shí)際的經(jīng)理們專(zhuān)心把索尼公司重新改造為一家因特網(wǎng)公司。內(nèi)森說(shuō)，“從現(xiàn)在開(kāi)始，個(gè)人關(guān)系不可能再起決定作用”。但是這個(gè)索尼公司將經(jīng)營(yíng)得如何?內(nèi)森承認(rèn)，美好的未來(lái)遠(yuǎn)不能得到保證。
----閱讀理解部分匯編
六、索尼公司的管理問(wèn)題
In the late 1980s, Akio Morita, the co-founder of Sony Corp. , embarked on the most costly shopping expedition of his long career. A visionary who believed that Sony’s future lay in the convergence of hardware and “content” such as music and film, Morita eventually set his sights on Columbia Pictures Entertainment, with its two studios and a vast library of movie titles and television series. In September, 1989, after months of on-again, off-again negotiations, Sony agreed to pay the inflated asking price of $3.2 billion and assume $1.6 billion in debt.
What was the rationale for such a decision? According to John Nathan’s Sony: The Private Life, it was motivated only by senior executives’ desire to please the company patriarch. Even Morita, then Sony’s chairman and CEO, believed that Columbia’s price tag, originally $35 per share, was exorbitant. In a closed-door meeting in August, 1989, details of which have never been fully revealed, he told his seven top aides, who made up the decision-making executive committee, that he was abandoning the idea of the acquisition.
That would have been the end of it had Morita not voiced regret over dinner that evening with the committee members. “It’s too bad,” he lamented, “I’ve always dreamed of owning a Hollywood studio.” The next day, the group reconvened and promptly decided that Sony would purchase Columbia after all. In the weeks that followed, Sony upped its bid from an initial $15 to $27 a share and, by late September, made a deal that was ridiculed by industry experts. In 1994, mismanagement forced Sony to write off $2.7 billion and assume a loss of $510 million for its Hollywood experiment.
Sony: The Private Life is filled with such insiders’ tales, making it the most vivid and detailed account in English of the personalities who built the $50 billion-plus consumer-electronics giant. Nathan, a professor of Japanese cultural studies at the University of California, got access to dozens of executives who had contributed to or witnessed Sony’s development since its 1946 founding in war-devastated Tokyo. Nathan offers, however, only limited analysis of Sony, the corporation. And he tends to go over well-trodden ground: how Sony established itself in the U.S. and how it developed famous products or devices. Much of this has appeared before in articles and, to a lesser extent, in books.
This is not to say that Nathan’s book has no point of view. The company’s underlying problem, as illustrated in the Columbia case, is that the environment in which the Sony Corporation has historically conducted its affairs is less public than personal, less rational than sentimental. In conclusion, Nathan says that, under the current leadership of President Nobuyuki Idei, Sony is emerging as a rational company. Moreover, Idei and his practical-minded managers are intent on reinventing Sony as an Internet company. From now on, says Nathan, “personal relationships are not likely again to figure decisively.” But how will this Sony fare? Nathan admits that a dazzling future is far from guaranteed.
1. Which of the following is true of Sony’s acquisition of Columbia Pictures?
[A] It was motivated by Morita’s desire to project an image of success.
[B] Sony’s top executives were quite convinced of its benefits for the company.
[C] Entertainment industry insiders believed it was the failure of Hollywood.
[D] It was the expensive expansion from electronics into entertainment.
2. The word “patriarch” (line 2, paragraph 2) most probably means_____.
[A] founder [B] monarch [C] elder [D] forerunner
3. It can be inferred from the last two paragraphs that_____.
[A] Sony: The Private Life is the biography of Akio Morita
[B] Sony’s Japanese leaders have been too practical-minded
[C] this management problem of Sony cannot be rectified overnight
[D] Nathan did not write about how Sony established itself as the electronics giant
4. Nathan’s attitude towards Morita seems to be of_____.
[A] strong distaste [B] implicit criticism [C] enthusiastic support [D] reserved consent
5. The best title for the passage may be_____.
[A] Sony’s Shopping Expedition [B] Sony: the Private Life
[C] Who Drove Sony to Ground [D] Sony: Management by Impulse
答案:1.D 2.A 3.C 4.B 5.D
核心詞匯和超綱詞匯
(1)embark (v.) 上船，裝船;~ on/upon sth.從事，著手，開(kāi)始(新的或艱難的事情)
(2)expedition(n.)遠(yuǎn)征，探險(xiǎn);探險(xiǎn)隊(duì);發(fā)出，派遣
(3)visionary(n.)空想家，夢(mèng)想者，好幻想的人 vision(n.)幻想，幻影
(4)convergence(n.)集中，收斂converge(v.)聚合，集中于一點(diǎn)
(5)library(n.)系列叢書(shū)(或磁帶等)，文庫(kù)，如a ~ of children’s classics兒童文學(xué)名著系列叢書(shū)
(6)on-again, off-again一上一下，遭遇到種種波折
(7)asking price賣(mài)主的開(kāi)叫價(jià)，賣(mài)出價(jià)
(8)rationale(n)(解釋某個(gè)特別決定、行動(dòng)、信仰的)基本原理，根本原因，理論依據(jù)
(9)exorbitant(a.)過(guò)度的，過(guò)高的，昂貴的
(10)lament(v.)悔恨，悲嘆，哀悼
(11)reconvene(v.)重新集合，重新召集convene(v.)召集, 集合
(12)tread(v.)trod trodden踩，踐踏;行走
(13)ground(n.)(興趣、知識(shí)和思想的)范圍、領(lǐng)域，如We have to go over the same~(我們得討論同樣的話題)。
(14)fare(n.)費(fèi)用，旅客，食物(v.)過(guò)日子，遭遇，受招待How did you~in London?(你在倫敦過(guò)得怎樣?)
全文翻譯
在20世紀(jì)80年代后期，索尼公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人盛田昭夫開(kāi)始了他長(zhǎng)期事業(yè)生涯中最昂貴的購(gòu)物旅行。夢(mèng)想家盛田昭夫相信索尼公司的未來(lái)在于硬件和音樂(lè)、電影這樣的“內(nèi)容”相結(jié)合，于是最終將目光投向哥倫比亞電影公司及其兩個(gè)工作室和大量電影字母和電視劇集的文庫(kù)。1989年9月，經(jīng)過(guò)幾個(gè)月幾經(jīng)波折的談判，索尼公司同意支付飛漲的賣(mài)出價(jià)32億美元從而承擔(dān)16億美元的債務(wù)。
這個(gè)決定的理論依據(jù)是什么?根據(jù)約翰內(nèi)森所著《索尼公司的私人生活》，這個(gè)決定是出于高級(jí)行政人員要取悅公司創(chuàng)始人的愿望。甚至那時(shí)擔(dān)任索尼公司主席和首席執(zhí)行管的盛田昭夫也認(rèn)為哥倫比亞的標(biāo)價(jià)(開(kāi)始是35美元一股)太昂貴。在1989年8月召開(kāi)的一次從未完全公開(kāi)的閉門(mén)會(huì)議中，他告訴組成具有決策權(quán)的執(zhí)行委員會(huì)的七位高級(jí)助手，他將放棄收購(gòu)的想法。
那天晚上用餐時(shí)如果盛田昭夫沒(méi)有向委員會(huì)成員表示遺憾的話這件事情本應(yīng)就這么結(jié)束了。他哀嘆，“太糟了，我一直想擁有一個(gè)好萊塢工作室”。第二天，這個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)重新召開(kāi)會(huì)議并倉(cāng)促?zèng)Q定索尼公司將最終購(gòu)買(mǎi)哥倫比亞。在接下來(lái)的幾周內(nèi)，索尼公司將其標(biāo)價(jià)從開(kāi)始的15美元一股上升到27美元。到了九月末，成交了一筆為業(yè)界專(zhuān)家嘲笑的交易。1994年，管理不善迫使索尼公司為它的好萊塢實(shí)驗(yàn)注銷(xiāo)掉27億美元資產(chǎn)和5.1億美元的損失。
《索尼公司的私人生活》充滿(mǎn)了這樣的內(nèi)幕故事，因此成為對(duì)建立價(jià)值500億美元的消費(fèi)者電子產(chǎn)品巨頭的名人們最生動(dòng)詳細(xì)的描述。內(nèi)森是加利福尼亞大學(xué)日本文化研究的教授，接觸到很多作過(guò)貢獻(xiàn)或目睹索尼公司自1946年在受戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)破壞的東京建立以來(lái)的發(fā)展的行政人員。然而，內(nèi)森只提供了對(duì)索尼公司的有限的分析，他總是重復(fù)老掉牙的話題：索尼公司如何在美國(guó)建立起來(lái)的，如何發(fā)展的產(chǎn)品和設(shè)備。這些內(nèi)容很多以前在文章中出現(xiàn)，但較少出現(xiàn)在書(shū)中。
這并不是說(shuō)內(nèi)森的書(shū)沒(méi)有觀點(diǎn)。正如哥倫比亞事件所說(shuō)明的，公司的潛在問(wèn)題是“索尼公司歷史事件發(fā)生的環(huán)境較個(gè)人化而非公開(kāi)化，較感性而非理性”。 總之，內(nèi)森說(shuō)，在現(xiàn)任主席出井伸之的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下，索尼公司正成為一個(gè)理性的公司。而且，出井伸之和他追求實(shí)際的經(jīng)理們專(zhuān)心把索尼公司重新改造為一家因特網(wǎng)公司。內(nèi)森說(shuō)，“從現(xiàn)在開(kāi)始，個(gè)人關(guān)系不可能再起決定作用”。但是這個(gè)索尼公司將經(jīng)營(yíng)得如何?內(nèi)森承認(rèn)，美好的未來(lái)遠(yuǎn)不能得到保證。