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Unit 5


No one can accuse Howard Schultz of inaction since he returned as chief executive of Starbucks, the firm he built into a multinational only to watch it stumble under his successor. Barely a month has gone by over the past year without the firm announcing some new initiative or other. The latest came on February 17th in New York, when Mr Schultz unveiled Via, an instant coffee which, he claims, tastes just as good as Java brewed in the shop by one of the firm’s baristas.

Mr Schultz hopes to win a share of the $17 billion or so the world spends on instant coffee—a product which, he sniffs, has not improved in decades. Starbucks itself has spent 20 years pursuing the holy grail of an instant coffee that tastes as good as the fresh stuff. Don Valencia, the firm’s first head of research and development, who created the blended and frozen frappuccino drinks that earn Starbucks $2 billion a year, could never find a way to scale up an instant formula he had developed at home. When Mr Schultz returned as chief executive, he noticed that there had been some technological advances, allowing finer grinding, for example. So he asked the R&D team to repeat the recently deceased Valencia’s experiments, and found that “we had broken the code”. The name Via is a hat-tip to Valencia—though during development it was known as Jaws (just add water, stir).

Starbucks says it has patents that should prevent competitors from quickly replicating Via, which will go on sale in some American stores next month. The opportunity may, however, be biggest in other countries: in Britain over 80% of coffee sold is instant, compared with just 10% in America.

Assuming Starbucks drinkers decide that Via tastes good, the company will have to get the price right. At first, it will come in packets of 12 or 3 individual servings, for 83 and 98 cents a cup respectively. That is much more than other instants, but much less than a cup of coffee at one of Starbucks’ stores. The risk is that the firm’s existing customers may abandon counter service and start making their own cup of instant. That would encourage them to visit Starbucks less often, a trend that is already gathering pace with the recession. For the first time in Starbucks’ history, same-store sales have fallen.

Mr Schultz has had to accelerate the store-closure programme that he had started in order to correct the over-expansion which prompted his return to the helm. To keep customers coming to remaining outlets, he might experiment with discounts such as cheap “combination meals” of a drink and food. He also wants a visit to a Starbucks shop to be a “uniquely uplifting experience”. Improving the smell in stores by changing the cheese used in breakfast sandwiches was a start. But ensuring that staff are enthusiastic will be especially difficult when jobs are disappearing. Mr Schultz remains hostile to unions, but has decided to maintain the firm’s popular health benefits, while cutting his own pay.

Will all this be enough? So far, investors seem sceptical: Starbucks’ share price remains barely a quarter of its all-time high in 2006.

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1. The reason why the author maintains that Howard Schultz should not be blamed of inaction is most probably because ______.

A) he would not allow his successor to destroy Starbucks

B) Starbucks spent the entire last year developing the new instant coffee

C) the new instant coffee is of the same quality as that brewed in the shop

D) he launched the new instant coffee after his return

2. The word “hat-tip” £¨Line 8, Paragraph 2£© most probably means ______.

A) reward

B) achievement

C) surprise

D) tribute

3. The risk of launching the instant coffee Via is that______.

A) it can be quickly imitated by market competitors

B) customers may patronize Starbucks store less

C) it may fail to cater to customers’ taste

D) the high price will prohibit people from mass purchase

4. According to the text, which of the following was a common practice in Starbucks before?

A) Starbucks hired baristas to guarantee the quality of the coffee brewed.

B) Starbucks was a major player in the market of instant coffee.

C) Starbucks provided “combination meals” with fair discounts.

D) In Starbucks, employees had a high pressure of losing job.

5. The author’s attitude towards Schultz’s new measures seems to be ______.

A) biased

B) critical

C) objective

D) pessimistic





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Unit 6


Stock prices tumbled on Wall Street and across much of the rest of the world yesterday. They were driven sharply lower by worries over slowing economic growth in the United States and worsening borrowing conditions that could make everything from huge corporate buyouts to buying a new home more difficult. Major stock market gauges—including the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poors 500-stock index—were down more than 2 percent.

It was the worst one-day decline on Wall Street since markets plunged worldwide in late February after an investing scare in Shanghai, and it occurred amid the biggest volume of trading on the New York Stock Exchange in five years. Losses were comparable throughout Europe, and larger in many developing countries. The preconditions for a shock are in place, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moodys Economy. com. Until very recently investors were very nonchalant about risks.

Stock markets have been volatile in recent weeks. Continued strong profits for many companies and an economic boom in Asia have helped push oil prices higher. Meanwhile, however, there are various signs of weakness in the American economy and new difficulties in borrowing for many homeowners and companies that are highly leveraged or have poor credit.

The plunge came a day after the private equity firm buying Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler said it would complete the transaction for the automaker despite an inability to borrow the money in credit markets, as had been planned. Banks will hold those loans, as they will for a similar deal involving Alliance Boots, a British pharmacy chain. Shares of DaimlerChrysler fell $4.11, to $88.91. There is fear, but not a fear of recession, said Bill Gross, chief investment officer of the Pacific Investment Management Company, known as Pimco, a large bond management firm. “The fear is directed toward the question of who will be willing to lend $200 billion to provide takeout financing for previously announced private equity deals.”

Yesterday, the Dow industrials plunged 311.50 points, or 2.3 percent, to 13,473.57, while the S. & P. 500 dropped 35.43 points, or 2.3 percent, to 1,482.66. The Nasdaq composite index was down 48.83 points, or 1.8 percent, to 2,599.34. The S. & P. is still up 4.5 percent for the year, while the Dow is 8.1 percent higher. But the S. & P. has fallen 4.5 percent since reaching a record last week. In the last hour or so of trading, the major Wall Street indexes recovered about a third of their steepest losses for the day. Losses of more than 2 percent were recorded in Spain, France and Germany, while Britain, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil fell more than 3 percent. Asian markets fell less yesterday, closing before the worst selling began, but opened down sharply on Friday.

×¢£¨1£©£º±¾ÎÄÑ¡×ÔThe New York Times£»

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1. The passage is mainly_______.

A) a review of the current condition of the American and world stock market

B) an introduction of the development of the global stock market

C) a survey of the history and possible results of the stock deal of DaimlerChrysler

D) about the ups and downs of stock prices in world’s major stock markets

2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A) Currently it is more difficult for Americans to borrow money from banks for house purchase.

B) The losses from stock markets are similar in U.S. and some developing countries.

C) Investors were worried about the potential risks in stock market before yesterday.

D) Economic boom in Asia prevents its stock market from falling.

3. If you were an investor, you might be able to earn money if _______.

A) you held the shares of DaimlerChrysler

B) you purchased new shares when the stock market opened yesterday

C) you bought and sold shares at the last one or two hours before closing

D) you didn’t trade any shares yesterday

4. We can infer from the text that _______.

A) the Chrysler transaction will turn to be a failure because of the vibration of stock market

B) the banks hold the loans because the Chrysler case is of exactly the same nature as that of Alliance Boots

C) Bill Gross thinks the fear is from the possibility that the huge amount of money involved in the Chrysler deal may worsen the situation of stock market

D) the difficulty of borrowing leads to the shrinking prices of shares of DaimlerChrysler

5. The writer’s attitude towards the current stock market is_______.

A) biased

B) objective

C) pessimistic

D) optimistic





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The plunge came a day after the private equity firm buying Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler said it would complete the transaction for the automaker despite an inability to borrow the money in credit markets, as had been planned.

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