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六级干货》》 作文 |阅读 |翻译 |听力
Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.
Yet with economies in free fail, managers also need up-to-date
information about what ishappening to their businesses, so that they can change
course rapidly if necessary. Cisco, anAmerican network-equipment giant, has
invested over many years in the technology needed togenerate such data .Frank
Caideroni, the firm's CFO, says that every day its senior executivescan track
exactly what orders are coming in from sales teams around the world, and
identifyemerging trends in each region and market segment. And at the end of
each month, the firmcan get reliable financial results within four hours of
closing its books. Most firms have to waitdays or even weeks for such
certainty.
Admittedly, Cisco's financial results have not made happy reading recently
because, incommon with many other large technology companies, it has seen demand
for its productsdecline in the downturn. In early February it announced that its
fiscal second-quarterrevenues of $ 9.1 billion were 7.5% lower than the same
period in 2008 and that its profit hadfallen by 27%, to $1.5 billion.
In response to hard times, Cisco plans to cut $1 billion of costs this year
by, among otherthings, making use of its own video-conferencing and other
communications technologies toreduce the amount its executives travel. It is
also using these facilities to relay information fromemployees on the ground to
its senior managers, and to get instructions from Cisco's leadersback out to its
67,000 staff. A rapid exchange of information and instructions is
especiallyvaluable if the company wants to alter course in stormy times.
If everybody in a company can rapidly grasp what they have to do and how it
is changing,they are more likely to get the job done. But some firms are
reluctant to share their goals withthe wider world. Unilever, a big Anglo-Dutch
consumer-goods group, has decided againstissuing a 2009 financial forecast to
investors, arguing that it is difficult to predict what is goingto happen, given
the dangerous state of the world economy. "We're not just going to
providenumbers for the sake of it," explains James Allison, the company's head
of investor relations.
Other companies that have decided not to provide annual earnings estimates
for 2009include Costco, a big American retailer, and Union Pacific, an American
railway company.
Some firms, such as Intel, seem to have chosen to take things quarter by
quarter. Thegiant chipmaker(芯片制造商) said in January that it would not issue an
official forecast for thefirst quarter of 2009 after its fourth-quarter 2008
profit decreased by 90%. Several retailchains have also stopped providing
monthly sales estimates because they cannot see what thefuture holds. Retailers,
chipmakers and firms in many other industries may have a long waitbefore the
economic fog finally lifts.
61. What can we learn about Cisco from the passage?
A) It will keep a record of the orders from sales teams.
B) It cuts $1 billion cost by solely relying on its own technologies.
C) Unlike other technology companies, its financial reports are
encouraging.
D) Only employees can use the video-conferencing to pass information.
62. According to the author, the staff can perform better by__________.
A) getting instructions from their senior managers
B) seizing what to do at hand and what to do next
C) having a financial forecast as a goal
D) sharing their goals with others
63. What is important in the unstable time ff a company wants to change
strategies?
A) To issue company's financial reports faster.
B) To obtain the up-to-date information of company's business.
C) To predict what is going to happen in the future.
D) To wait until the economic fog finally lifts.
64. The reason Unilever plans not to issue financial forecast in 2009 lies
in__________.
A) its reluctance to share its goal with others
B) its rapid grasp of changes in the markets
C) the unstable economic situation
D) its reduction in the cost of prediction
65. What can we know about the giant chipmaker, Intel in the passage?
A) It did not issue first-quarter forecast for great decrease in
January.
B) Inters chain store used to report sales estimates by year.
C) Only retailers and chipmakers are greatly influenced.
D) Intel's profit was greatly decreased in 2008's last quarter.
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