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  3. Walmart is at an "inflection point". Those words are truer now than when Bill Simon, the head of its American operation, uttered

Walmart is at an "inflection point". Those words are truer now than when Bill Simon, the head of its American operation, uttered

admin2018-03-01  31
问题     Walmart is at an "inflection point". Those words are truer now than when Bill Simon, the head of its American operation, uttered them last October. He was talking about Walmart’s plan for the first time to open more small and medium-sized stores in 2014 than giant "supercentres", and all that would mean. Now another big change looms. On February 1st the company gets a new chief executive, Doug McMillon, until now the head of its international business.
    In some respects Mr. McMillon looks like a natural choice to manage a huge beast that inspires loathing and loyalty in equal measure. A native of Arkansas, Walmart’s home state, he started out in one of the company’s warehouses, rose as a specialist in merchandising (deciding how goods are displayed and sold in stores) and was head of the Sam’s Club unit, stores where members buy in bulk.
    Genial and approachable, Mr. McMillon may cure the corporate problem that afflicts Walmart when it talks to its 2. 2m employees, to its giant customer base (90% of Americans shop there at least once a year) and to critics who say it pays miserly wages and sucks life out of town centres. On January 15th the National Labour Relations Board accused Walmart of sacking and disciplining workers who went on strike in 2012. Walmart says it acted lawfully and claims to promote 160,000 people a year; Mr. McMillon’s box-shifting calluses make such claims a bit more convincing.
    Yet the international business, which he has led since 2009, is not thriving. This year it is expected to account for 28% of sales but it has just achieved 19% of operating income. Walmart has reduced costs in China and Brazil after expanding too fast. Confusing policies on foreign investment in retailing have hampered Walmart’s push into India. Walmart is co-operating with investigations into allegations that executives in Mexico bribed officials; the inquiries have been broadened to the company’s operations in India, Brazil and China. Mr. McMillon is not to blame for these setbacks, many of which date from before he took over, but neither has he brought about a turnaround.
The underlined phrase "inflection point" (Para. 1, Line 1) is closest to ______.
选项 A、flash point
B、turning point
C、starting point
D、finishing point
答案B
解析 根据“Walmart is at an‘inflection point’”我们很难猜测inflection point一词的意思，而下文的“Those words…and all that would mean”都是细节信息，也没有什么词可以定义inflection point，但是再往下我们会看到这么一句：Now another big change looms．其中出现了一个关键名词change，而且强调another change(另一个改变)，可见上文提到的“inflection point”对应“change(改变，转变)”。四个选项分别是：A“燃点”，B“转折点”，C“起点”，D“终点”。其中与“change(改变，转变)”接近的是“turning point(转折点)”，故得出turning point=change=inflection point，B项为答案。
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