Coffman and district officials last week agreed on a state emergency plan freeing yp a $9.8 million loan that enabled the payroll (工資單) to be met for 2,700 teachers and staff in time for the holidays.

　　District officials also took $1.7 million from student-activity accounts its 38 schools.

　　At Coffman’s request, the District Attorney has begun investigating the district’s finances. Coffman says he wants to know whether district officials hid the budget shortage until after the November election, when voters approved a $212 million bond issue for schools.

　　In Frederick, students’ parents are buying classroom supplies and offering to pay for groceries and utilities to keep first-year teachers and principals in their jobs.

　　Some $36,000 has been raised in donations from Safeway. A Chevrolet dealership donated $10,000 and forgave the district’s $10,750 bill for renting the driver educating cars. IBM contributed 4,500 packs of paper.

　　“We employ thousands of people in this community,” said Mitch Carson, a hospital chief executive, who helped raise funds. “We have children in the school, and we see how they could be affected.”

　　At Creek High School, three students started a website that displays newspaper articles, district information and an email forum (論壇)。 “Rumors about what’s happening to the district are moving at lighting speed,” said a student. “We wanted to know the truth, and spread that around instead.”

　　1. What has happened to the Vrain School District?

　　A) A huge financial problem has arisen.

　　B) Many schools there are mismanaged.

　　C) Lots of teachers in the district are planning to quit.

　　D) Many administrative personnel have been laid off.

　　2. How did the residents in the Vrain School District respond to the budget shortage?

　　A) They felt somewhat helpless about it.

　　B) They accused those responsible for it.

　　C) They pooled their efforts to help solve it.

　　D) They demanded a through investigation.

　　3. In the view of State Treasurer Mike Coffman, the educational budget shortage is ________.

　　A) unavoidable

　　B) unthinkable

　　C) insolvable

　　D) irreversible

　　4. Why did Coffman request an investigation?

　　A) To see if there was a deliberate cover-up of the problem.

　　B) To find out the extent of the consequences of the case.

　　C) To make sure that the school principals were innocent.

　　D) To stop the voters approving the $212 million bong issue.

　　5. Three high school students started a website in order to ________.

　　A) attract greater public attention to their needs

　　B) appeal to the public for contributions and donations

　　C) expose officials who neglected their duties

　　D) keep people properly informed of the crisis

　　1. A 2. C 3. B 4.A 5. D

　　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 (創(chuàng)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 (標(biāo)識). 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.

　　1. 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

　　2. 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.

　　3. 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

　　4. 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.

　　5. 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

　　1. D 2. D 3. A 4.B 5. C