首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
(1)Darkening economic clouds, oil at $114 a barrel, cut-throat competition and disappearing credit lines are confronting airline
(1)Darkening economic clouds, oil at $114 a barrel, cut-throat competition and disappearing credit lines are confronting airline
admin
2021-08-05
72
问题
(1)Darkening economic clouds, oil at $114 a barrel, cut-throat competition and disappearing credit lines are confronting airlines with their biggest crisis since the dark days after September 11th 2001. It is a measure of the panic sweeping the industry that Delta and Northwest said they would push ahead with their $3.6 billion merger to create the world’s biggest airline by traffic. Previously both firms had said that gaining agreement with their 11,000 unionized pilots over pay and conditions was an essential pre-condition to the deal. Yet even though Northwest’s pilots remain bitterly opposed, due mainly to unresolved seniority issues, the two airlines have decided to take the risk of a potentially long-drawn-out and fractious integration of their operations because they calculate that a merger is their best chance of survival as the industry’s woes deepen.
(2)In the past few weeks, four smaller airlines in America—Aloha, Skybus, ATA and Frontier—have filed for bankruptcy. Maxjet, an all business-class transatlantic airline, went bust in December; its rival Silverjet is desperately looking for a buyer. Oasis Hong Kong, a pioneer of low-cost long-haul services, abruptly collapsed on April 9th. Alitalia may experience a similar fate unless a takeover by Air France-KLM, sabotaged by unions and Italy’s newly elected Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, can be revived. Nothing links these airlines, which span every conceivable business model in aviation, other than their inability to cope with the brutal economics of the business, especially the near-doubling of fuel prices in the past 18 months.
(3)Delta and Northwest are not yet in such a hole, but having only recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection themselves, they know that time is not on their side. After a strong recovery by America’s airlines in the past few years, profitability has fallen fast this year. And balance sheets are still weak, even at the big network carriers. IATA, the international organization that represents the industry, observed last September that American carriers were "vulnerable to shocks"—and that was when oil was at $67 a barrel and the credit crunch had yet to bite. Adding to that vulnerability is the realization by America’s airlines that there is little, if any, fat left to trim if they stay as they are. The industry has reduced its workforce by 39%, cut wages by 30% and defaulted on pensions to the tune of $20 billion.
(4)To make matters still worse, as carriers elsewhere in the world ordered around 7,000 new, fuel-efficient aircraft in recent years, those fragile balance sheets meant that American airlines sat on their hands. Delta has 117 McDonnell Douglas MD-88s with an average age of 18 years; Northwest soldiers on with more than 90 DC-9s with an average age nudging 40 years. These planes are up to 40% thirstier man their more modern counterparts, a crippling burden given the price of fuel. They are also more difficult to maintain—as last week’s grounding of American Airlines’ similarly elderly MD-80s highlighted.
(5)Delta and Northwest have little scope to cut front-line staff or replace their ageing fleets any time soon— production lines at Boeing and Airbus are fully booked. But they think they can secure cost reductions of about $1 billion a year by centralizing their back-office operations and cutting management jobs. They also hope to boost revenue by combining route networks and strengthening their appeal to lucrative corporate customers.
(6)Other American network carriers are watching closely. A similar tie-up between United and Continental, the second- and fourth-biggest, is under discussion, and American, the largest carrier, waits menacingly on the sidelines. Northwest’s attempt to merge with Continental was blocked in 1998, but regulatory approval is more likely this time, given the lack of route overlap between Delta and Northwest. The prospect of a union-friendly Democrat in the White House next year is a further spur to getting deals done quickly.
(7)The assumption in the industry is that consolidation will result in stronger airlines. That is probably true, but difficulties remain. As long as the barriers to new entrants remain absurdly low, intense—even suicidal— competition will persist at home. On international routes, "open skies" liberalization is an opportunity, but the superior financial clout and modern planes of the big European network carriers, such as Air France-KLM and Lufthansa, are a threat. For hard-pressed airline managers with the urge to merge, relief is more likely to be fleeting than permanent.
Which of the following sentences does NOT contain a metonymy?
选项
A、Darkening economic clouds, oil at $114 a barrel, cut-throat competition...
B、Delta and Northwest are not yet in such a hole, but having only recently...
C、... that there is little, if any, fat left to trim if they stay as they are.
D、... more modern counterparts, a crippling burden given the price of fuel.
答案
D
解析
metonymy意为“换喻”或“借代”,是指两种不同事物并不相似,但又密不可分,因而常用其中一种事物名称代替另一种。D没有使用换喻,选D。A用clouds指代“形势、境况”;B用hole指代“困难境况”;C用fat指代“利益”,均使用了换喻的修辞手法。
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.kaotiyun.com/show/nTIK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Yoga,theancientpracticeofpostures,breathingandmeditation,isgainingalotofattentionfromthematerialworldthati
Predicatingthefutureisariskybusinessforascientist.Itissafetosay,thattheglobalAIDsepidemicwillgetmuchwors
Predicatingthefutureisariskybusinessforascientist.Itissafetosay,thattheglobalAIDsepidemicwillgetmuchwors
ThehistoryofindigenouseducationprovisionthroughoutAustralia’sremoteareasisrepletewithinstancesofneglect,infras
ThehistoryofindigenouseducationprovisionthroughoutAustralia’sremoteareasisrepletewithinstancesofneglect,infras
Ineveryeconomicsystem,entrepreneursandmanagersbringtogethernaturalresources,labor,andtechnologytoproduceanddi
OnFeb.2,2007,theUnitedNationsscientificpanelstudyingclimatechangedeclaredthattheevidenceofawanningtrendis
(1)Everyoneintoday’ssuperchargedworkplacesexperiencesstress.Yetexecutiveandprofessionalwomenconsistentlyexperience
Arapidmeansoflong-distancetransportationbecameanecessityfortheUnitedStatesassettlementspreadfartherwestward.F
随机试题
计算简答题:根据所给材料回答问题。(需计算后回答的问题,须列出算式;每个问题计算过程中的小数均保留实际位数,计算结果有小数的,小数保留2位。)张某、李某经商议共同创作一部作品《侵权案例分析》,两人约定写作分工,张某负责案情的改写,李某负责案例分析
计算机软件分为系统软件和应用软件。打印机驱动程序属于_______软件。
A.溶酶体B.内质网C.线粒体D.细胞液(2007年第113题)糖异生和三羧酸循环共同的代谢场所是
与眼眶MR扫描方位不符的内容为
对于软塑类黏土及饱和砂质土,当基桩入土深度小于15m时,可采用()。
[背景资料]某施工单位甲承接了一座3×30m预应力混凝土先简支后连续梁桥工程,下部构造为重力式桥台和桩柱式桥墩,总体布置如图28313010一3所示。地质钻探资料揭示,1号、2号墩有厚度5~8m不等的砂卵石覆盖层,其强度大于25MPa
甲企业为增值税一般纳税人,适用的增值税税率为17%。2005年发生如下经济业务:(1)2月2日向乙企业赊销商品一批,该批商品价税合计为234000元。销售成本为160000元。现金折扣条件为:2/10,n/30。另以银行存款代垫运杂费2000元。(2)
根据韦纳的归因理论,“不稳定的外部因素”是指()
删除显示在“开始”菜单上的最频繁使用的程序列表中的快捷方式,并使“电子邮件”和“Internet”不显示在“开始”菜单上。
在窗体上有一个命令按钮Command1和一个文本框Text1,编写事件代码如下PrivateSubCommand1_Click()Dimi,j,xFori=1To20sep2x=0Forj=iTo20step3x=x+1
最新回复
(
0
)