经济类文章精选：Fast-food succession

2 Fast-food succession

　　Another change at the top

　　CHARLIE BELL became chief executive of McDonald's in April. Within a month doctors told him that he had colorectal cancer. After stockmarket hours on November 22nd, the fast-food firm said he had resigned; it would need a third boss in under a year. Yet when the market opened, its share price barely dipped then edged higher. After all, McDonald's had, again, shown how to act swiftly and decisively in appointing a new boss.

　　Mr Bell himself got the top job when Jim Cantalupo died of a heart attack hours before he was due to address a convention of McDonald's franchisees². Mr Cantalupo was a McDonald's veteran brought out of retirement³ in January 2003 to help remodel⁴ the firm after sales began falling because of dirty restaurants, indifferent service and growing concern about junk food. He devised a recovery plan, backed by massive marketing⁵, and promoted Mr Bell to chief operating officer. When Mr Cantalupo died, a rapidly convened⁶ board confirmed Mr Bell, a 44-year-old Australian already widely seen as his heir apparent, in the top job. The convention got its promised chief executive's address, from the firm's first non-American leader.

　　Yet within weeks executives had to think about what to do if Mr Bell became too ill to continue. Perhaps Mr Bell had the same thing on his mind: he usually introduced Jim Skinner, the 60-year-old vice-chairman, to visitors as the "steady hand at the wheel". Now Mr Skinner (pictured), an expert on the firm's overseas operations, becomes chief executive, and Mike Roberts, head of its American operations, joins the board as chief operating officer.

　　Is Mr Roberts now the new heir apparent? Maybe. McDonald's has brought in supposedly healthier choices such as salads and toasted sandwiches worldwide and, instead of relying for most of its growth on opening new restaurants, has turned to upgrading its 31,000 existing ones. America has done best at this; under Mr Roberts, like-for-like sales there were up by 7.5% in October on a year earlier.

　　The new team's task is to keep the revitalisation plan on course, especially overseas, where some American brands are said to face political hostility⁷ from consumers. This is a big challenge. Is an in-house succession the best way to tackle it? Mr Skinner and Mr Roberts are both company veterans, having joined in the 1970s. Some recent academic studies find that the planned succession of a new boss groomed⁹ from within, such as Mr Bell and now (arguably) Mr Roberts, produces better results than looking hastily, or outside, for one. McDonald's smooth handling of its serial¹⁰ misfortunes at the top certainly seems to prove the point. Even so, everyone at McDonald's must be hoping that it will be a long time before the firm faces yet another such emergency.

　　Economist¹¹; 11/27/2004, Vol. 373 Issue 8403, p64-65, 2p, 1c

　　注(1)：本文选自Economist；11/27/2004, p64-65, 2p, 1c；

　　注(2)：本文习题命题模仿2000年真题text 1第1题(1)，1995年真题text 1第2题(2)，2002年真题text 2第2题(3)，1998年真题text 2第2题(4)和1999年真题text 1第4题(5)；

　　1.The main reason for the constant change at the top of McDonald is ________.

　　[A] the board’s interference

　　[B] the falling sales

　　[C] the health problems of the chief executives

　　[D] the constant change of its share price

　　2.Which of the following was NOT a cause of the falling sales of McDonald?

　　[A] the change of the chief executive

　　[B] people’s concern about junk food

　　[C] dirty restaurant

　　[D] indifferent service

　　3.The phrase “heir apparent” (Line 7, Paragraph 2) in the article most probably

　　means____________.

　　[A] someone who has the same ideas, aims and style with a person

　　[B] someone who has the unalienable right to receive the family title

　　[C] someone who is appointed as a heir of a person

　　[D] someone who is likely to take over a person’s position when that person leaves

　　4.In terms of succession at the top, McDonald_________.

　　[A] has had to made rather hasty decisions

　　[B] prefers to appoint a new boss from within

　　[C] acts in a quick and unreasonable¹² way

　　[D] surprises all the people with its decisions

　　5.Toward McDonald’s reaction to emergencies at the top, the writer’s attitude can be said to be___________.

　　[A] indifferent

　　[B] doubtful

　　[C] objective

　　[D] praiseful

　　答案：C A D B D

　　篇章剖析

　　本篇文章介绍了麦当劳高层人事接替的情况，是一篇说明文。第一段介绍了查里·贝尔辞去麦当劳首席执行官一事；第二段追溯了他如何成为麦当劳首席执行官；第三段介绍了麦当劳现任首席执行官如何接任；第四段分析了下一位可能的继任者；最后一段对这种内部接任的方式进行了总结。

　　词汇注释

　　colorectal: [9kEJlE`rektEl] adj. [解]结肠直肠的

　　franchisee¹: [9frAntFaI`zi:] n. 总经销商, 有代销权的人或团体

　　veteran: [5vetErEn] n. 老资格；老手

　　heirs apparent: 有继承权的人；公认的继任者

　　like-for-like: 同类的

　　revitalization: [ri:9vaItLlaI`zeIFLn] n. 振兴；复兴

　　in-house: [in5haus] adj. 内部的

　　groom⁸: [^ru:m] v. 培训；培植

　　难句突破

　　1. Mr Cantalupo was a McDonald's veteran brought out of retirement in January 2003 to help remodel the firm after sales began falling because of dirty restaurants, indifferent service and growing concern about junk food.

　　主体句式：Mr. Canalupo was a McDonald’s veteran.

　　结构分析：这是一个复杂句，表语veteran后面有一个过去分词短语brought out of retirement作后置定语，这个定语还带有自己的两个状语，一个是不定式短语做目的状语，另外一个是after引导的时间状语从句，这个从句中还有一个because of引导的原因状语。bring sb. out of retirement的意思是“将某人从退休状态召回”。

　　句子译文：坎塔卢波在麦当劳工作过多年，在公司因为餐厅环境不卫生，服务态度差，以及人们对“垃圾食品”的不断质疑导致业绩下降之后，2003年他被从退休中召回，帮助公司进行改革。

　　2. Even so, everyone at McDonald's must be hoping that it will be a long time before the firm faces yet another such emergency.

　　主体句式：everyone must be hoping that…

　　结构分析：这个句子中包含一个由that引导的宾语从句和由before引导的状语从句。这个句子的难点在before这个词的理解上。通常before可以译为“才”。例如：It had been two days before I realized the problem. (过了两天我才意识到这个问题。)

　　句子译文：即便如此，相信麦当劳上下一定还是希望不要在近期内又面临这类紧急情况。

　　题目分析

　　1. 答案为C，属事实细节题。文章第一段提及Charlie Bell辞职的原因是他患了直肠癌；接着又在第二段说他升任总裁是因为他的前任在准备讲演时因为心脏病突发而去世。这样，麦当劳在一年内就不得不寻找第三位总裁。可见麦当劳高层频繁更换人员的原因是这些总裁的健康问题。

　　2. 答案为A，属事实细节题。可参见文章第二段第四行because of…后面的部分。

　　3. 答案为D，属猜词题。根据上下文，Charlie Bell被Jim Cantalupo提拔为首席运营官之后，被广泛视为是他的heir apparent，接着作者在第四段发问，现任的首席运营官会不会是现任总裁的heir apparent呢？显然，这个词组的意思应该是“接替某人职位”的人。

　　4. 答案为B，属推理判断题。根据文章，三位总裁都是在麦当劳内部管理人才，而且下一位继任者也已经内定，这种内部选定继任者的办法帮助麦当劳在一连串不幸事件发生后能够平稳交接。可见麦当劳更愿意从内部任命新老板。

　　5. 答案为D，属推理判断题。作者在第一段末评论麦当劳的行动时说道：“麦当劳又一次显示了其在任命新老板方面的快速决断能力。”在文末对麦当劳的内部接任方式进行总结时，作者引用某些学术研究的成果，认为这种方式的效果更好，并以“麦当劳在高层发生一连串的不幸事件后能够平静地交接似乎清楚地证明了这一点。”来加以说明。可见作者对于麦当劳处理类似发生在高层的突发事件的反应是持赞扬态度的。

　　参考译文

　　查里·贝尔四月成为麦当劳的首席执行官。不到一个月，医生就告诉他他患了直肠癌。在11月22日的股市交易结束之后，这家快餐公司宣布他已经辞职；该公司将需要这一年内的第三位老板。然而，当股市开张时，该公司的股价只是略有下降，很快又再次上扬。麦当劳又一次显示了其在任命新老板方面的快速决断能力。

　　贝尔先生本人是在吉姆·坎塔卢波(Jim Cantalupo)死于心脏病突发之后得到这一高层职位的。当时坎塔卢波正准备在几个小时之后的麦当劳特许经销商会议上致词。坎塔卢波在麦当劳工作过多年，在公司因为餐厅环境不卫生，服务态度差，以及人们对“垃圾食品”的不断质疑导致业绩下降之后，2003年他被从退休中召回，帮助公司进行改革。他制定了一项在大规模营销基础上的振兴计划，并且将贝尔先生提拔为首席运营官。坎塔卢波先生去世后，董事会很快开会确定任命贝尔先生，这位早就被公认为其继任者的44岁澳大利亚人担任这一首席职位。这次会议从该公司的第一位非美国籍的领导人那里得到了其许诺的公司首席执行官的讲演。

　　然而，在短短几周之内，公司高层就不得不思考如果贝尔先生病重无法继续工作该怎么办的问题。也许贝尔先生也在考虑同样的问题：他向来访者介绍60岁的副总裁吉姆·斯金纳时总是称他为“掌舵高手”。现在公司海外经营专家斯金纳先生(见图)成了公司首席执行官，主管公司美国经营业务的麦克·罗伯茨则加入董事会成为首席运营官。

　　罗伯茨先生是不是新的继任者呢？也许。麦当劳改变了主要依靠开新店发展企业的方法，而在全球推出了被认为更加健康的食品，比如沙拉和烤三明治，并且开始改进现有的31000家连锁快餐店的经营。美国在这方面做得最好；在罗伯茨先生的努力下，美国麦当劳十月的同类销售额比一年前增长了7%。

　　新团队的任务就是保持其振兴计划不变，尤其是海外部分，据说在海外某些美国品牌面对着来自消费者的政治敌意。这是一个巨大的挑战。这种内部接任的方式是不是迎接这种挑战的最佳方式呢？斯金纳先生和罗伯茨先生都是1970年代就加入公司的资深管理人员。最近的一些学术研究发现，内定的新老板，比如贝尔先生和现在(还未最终宣布)的罗伯茨先生，按计划接任会比草率任命一个新老板或者从外部聘请新老板效果更好。麦当劳在高层发生一连串的不幸事件后能够平静地交接似乎清楚地证明了这一点。即便如此，相信麦当劳上下一定还是希望不要在近期内又面临这类紧急情况。