The Rivalry of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola In more than a century of hand-to-hand combat in shops, supermarket aisles, restaura

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问题                 The Rivalry of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola
    In more than a century of hand-to-hand combat in shops, supermarket aisles, restaurants and bars around the world, Coca-Cola has nearly always been in the lead and Pepsi in second place. When Warren Buffett, Coke’s long-time investor, told the board that he had visited a pizza parlour in Omaha, Nebraska, with his grandson only to discover it served nothing but Pepsi, Coke’s bosses acted swiftly to remove their arch-rival from the menu and replace it with Coke.
    If only the Atlanta-based company had moved as determinedly in response to changing consumer tastes, it might have avoided a humiliating reversal in fortunes. On December 12th PepsiCo overtook Coca-Cola in market capitalisation for the first time. With PepsiCo’s share price having risen by 14% this year, its stock market value reached $ 98.4 billion, compared with $97.9 billion for Coca-Cola, which has seen its shares decline by 1.2% in the same period.
    Pepsi is powered not by its traditional fizzy drinks—sales of those are flat—but such products as Gatorade, a sport, s drink that has seen sales grow by more than 30 % . Gatorade also represents a broader diversification by PepsiCo away from a reliance on sugary colas and into other products. PepsiCo now reportedly gets around 20% of its revenue from soft drinks, unlike Coca-Cola , where they account for some 80 % .
    Many of the brands that PepsiCo has been acquiring and promoting appeal to consumers’ concerns about their health. PepsiCo’s latest advertising programme promotes a new "Smart Spot" symbol, which allows people to identify healthier products. The spots are being attached to Gatorade and other PepsiCo brands such as Tropicana orange juice, Aquafina water, baked Lay’s crisps and Quaker Granola Bars.
    Coca-Cola will now try to regain the crown. Having endured various troubles and two chief executives since the death in 1997 of Roberto Goizueta, a much-admired boss, Coke brought a veteran, Neville Isdell, out of retirement last year to reinvigorate the company. Mr. Isdell knows a thing or two about being in second place. In the 1980s he took Coke from the number two spot in the Philippines to move ahead of Pepsi.
    Mr. Isdell has Coke’s own sports drink, Powerade, in his portfolio but he could have had Gatorade. Five years ago another fizzy drink (champagne) was on ice, to celebrate Coca-Cola’s $15.8 billion take over of Quaker Oats, then owner of Gatorade. This takeover was supposed to lead Coke into what looked to be a hot new market for health drinks. But the "Sage of Omaha", as Mr.Buffett is known, blocked the deal, in part because it would have diluted the value of Coke’s shares. Pepsi took over Quaker Oats instead—a memory that must leave Mr.Buffett and other Coke shareholders with a bitter taste in their mouths.
The passage suggests that Mr. Isdell______.

选项 A、will take over Gatorade
B、will promote Powerade
C、rejected Mr. Buffett’s decision
D、regrets about his decision

答案B

解析 推理判断题。最后两段都提到Mr.Isdell,由于倒数第二段已经设题,因此本题考点在末段。首句指出:艾斯迪尔先生已经设计了可口可乐公司自己的运动饮料Powerade。破折号后面出现了虚拟语气:他本可以得到“给他力”的。接下来解释了与“给他力”所有者桂格公司的交易没成功的原因:担心降低可口可乐公司的股票份额。由该段第三句:这宗交易(有关“给他力”的交易)被认为可以引领可口可乐进入健康饮料这个炙手可热的新市场。由此可以推断出五年前可口可乐公司错过了一次好机会,既然它现在开发了Powerade,就会大力促销,由此推断出[B]正确。现在“给他力"是百事公司的产品,Powerade还未投放市场,市场反响如何不得而知,排除[A];末段在提到那笔未谈成的交易时提及巴菲特先生,他与艾斯迪尔无关,排除[C];该段末句提到巴菲特和可口可乐的股票持有者们对没有谈成的交易痛心疾首,没有提到艾斯迪尔对自己所做的决定后悔。排除[D].
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