2011年英语四级考试阅读练习(第一篇)1

　　Passage One

　　Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

　　Just five one-hundredths of an inch thick, light golden in color and with a perfect “saddle curl,” the Lay’s potato chip seems an unlikely weapon for global domination. But its maker. Frito-Lay. Thinks otherwise. “Potato chips are a snack food for the world,” said Salman Amin, the company’s head of global marketing. Amin believes there is no corner of the world that can resist the charms of a Frito-Lay potato chip.

　　Frito-Lay is the biggest snack maker in America, owned by PepsiCo. And accounts for over half of the parent company’s $3 billion annual profits. But the U.S. snack food market is largely saturated, and to grow, the company has to look overseas.

　　Its strategy rests on two beliefs: first a global product offers economies of scale with which local brands cannot compete. And second, consumers in the 21st century are drawn to “global” as a concept. “Global” does not mean products that are consciously identified as American, but ones than consumes-especially young people-see as part of a modem, innovative (创新的) world in which people are linked across cultures by shared beliefs and tastes. Potato chips are an American invention, but most Chinese, for instance, do not know than Frito-Lay is an American company. Instead, Riskey, the company’s research and development head, would hope they associate the brand with the new world of global communications and business.

　　With brand perception a crucial factor, Riskey ordered a redesign of the Frito-Lay logo (标识). The logo, along with the company’s long-held marketing image of the “irresistibility” of its chips, would help facilitate the company’s global expansion.

　　The executives acknowledge that they try to swing national eating habits to a food created in America, but they deny that amounts to economic imperialism. Rater, they see Frito-Lay as spreading the benefits of free enterprise across the world. “We’re making products in those countries, we’re adapting them to the tastes of those countries, building businesses and employing people and changing lives,” said Steve Reinemund, PepsiCo’s chief executive.

　　21. It is the belief of Frito-Lay’s head of global marking that ________.

　　A) potato chips can hardly be used as a weapon to dominate the world market

　　B) their company must find new ways to promote domestic sales

　　C) the light golden color enhances the charm of their company’s potato chips

　　D) people the world over enjoy eating their company’s potato chips

　　22. What do we learn about Frito-Lay from Paragraph 2?

　　A) Its products use to be popular among overseas consumers.

　　B) Its expansion has caused fierce competition in the snack marker.

　　C) It gives half of its annual profits to its parent company.

　　D) It needs to turn to the word market for development.

　　23. One of the assumptions on which Frito-Lay bases its development strategy is that ________.

　　A) consumers worldwide today are attracted by global brands

　　B) local brands cannot compete successfully with American brands

　　C) products suiting Chinese consumers’ needs bring more profits

　　D) products identified as American will have promising market value

　　24. Why did Riskey have the Frito-Lay logo redesigned?

　　A) To suit changing tastes of young consumers.

　　B) To promote the company’s strategy of globalization.

　　C) To change the company’s long-held marketing image.

　　D) To compete with other American chip producers.

　　25. Frito-Lay’s executives claim that the promoting of American food in the international market ________.

　　A) won’t affect the eating habits of the local people

　　B) will lead to economic imperialism

　　C) will be in the interest of the local people

　　D) won’t spoil the taste of their chips

    21. D 22. D 23. A 24.B 25. C