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
It has been a wretched few weeks for America’s celebrity bosses. AIG’s Maurice Greenberg has been dramatically ousted from the
It has been a wretched few weeks for America’s celebrity bosses. AIG’s Maurice Greenberg has been dramatically ousted from the
admin
2011-03-22
61
问题
It has been a wretched few weeks for America’s celebrity bosses. AIG’s Maurice Greenberg has been dramatically ousted from the firm through which he dominated global insurance for decades. At Morgan Stanley a mutiny is forcing Philip Purcell, a boss used to getting his own way, into an increasingly desperate campaign to save his skin. At Boeing, Harry Stonecipher was called out of retirement to lead the scandal-hit firm and raise ethical standards, only to commit a lapse of his own, being sacked for sending e-mails to a lover who was also an employee. Carly Fiorina was the most powerful woman in corporate America until a few weeks ago, when Hewlett-Packard (HP) sacked her for poor performance. The fate of Bernie Ebbers is much grimmer. The once high-profile boss of World-Corn could well spend the rest of his life behind bars following his conviction last month on fraud charges.
In different ways, each of these examples appears to point to the same, welcome conclusion: that the imbalance in corporate power of the late 1990s, when many bosses were allowed to behave like absolute monarchs, has been corrected. Alas, appearances can be deceptive. While each of these recent tales of chief-executive woe is a sign of progress, none provides much evidence that the crisis in American corporate governance is yet over. In fact, each of these cases is an example of failed, not successful, governance.
At the very least, the boards of both Morgan Stanley and HP were far too slow to address their bosses’ inadequacies. The record of the Boeing board in picking chiefs prone to ethical lapses is too long to be dismissed as mere bad luck. The fall of Messrs Greenberg and Ebbers, meanwhile, highlights the growing role of government—and, in particular, of criminal prosecutors—in holding bosses to account, a development that is, at best, a mixed blessing. The Sarbanes-Oxley act, passed in haste following the Enron and World-Com scandals, is imposing heavy costs on American companies; whether these are exceeded by any benefits is the subject of fierce debate and may not be known for years.
Eliot Spitzer, New York’s attorney-general, is the leading advocate and practitioner of an energetic "law enforcement" approach. He may be right that the recent burst of punitive actions has been good for the economy, even if some of his own decisions have been open to question. Where he is undoubtedly right is in arguing that corporate America has done a lamentable job of governing itself. As he says in an article in the Wall Street Journal this week: "The honour code among CEOs didn’t work. Board oversight didn’t work. Self-regulation was a complete failure. " AIG’s board, for example, did nothing about Mr Greenberg’s use of murky accounting, or the conflicts posed by his use of offshore vehicles, or his constant bullying of his critics—let alone the firm’s alleged participation in bid-rigging—until Mr Spitzer threatened a criminal prosecution that might have destroyed the firm.
What does the author mean by "a mixed blessing" (Line 5, Para. 3)?
选项
A、All kinds of good things
B、Something mixed with confusion
C、Something both good and bad
D、Something mixed with optimistic and pessimistic results
答案
C
解析
本题为语义题,mixed adj. 混合的,混杂的;如:mixed economy兼私有与国有经济的混合经济;blessing幸福,可喜的事情;此处的"a mixed blessing"也即是“好坏参半之事”。
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.kaotiyun.com/show/sQxd777K
本试题收录于:
公共英语四级笔试题库公共英语(PETS)分类
0
公共英语四级笔试
公共英语(PETS)
相关试题推荐
Inthe1950s,thepioneersofartificialintelligence(AI)predictedthat,bytheendofthiscentury,computerswouldbeconver
Mostscientistsblamepeople,atleastinpart,forglobalwarming.Now,someresearcherssaypeoplemaybepartlytoblamefor
Mostscientistsblamepeople,atleastinpart,forglobalwarming.Now,someresearcherssaypeoplemaybepartlytoblamefor
Thespeaker,MargaretSinclair,intheNationalMusicalExcellencySocietyactsas______.
CottonwasnotexportedtoEuropeuntiltheeighthcenturyA.D..ItwasbroughttoSpainthenbytheMoorsofNorthAfrica.The
Weallhavetheexperienceofvisitingbookstoresandbuyingbooks.Howdoyoufeelaboutit?Yourclassisplanningawallpape
______governmentssignedtheProgramofActionofICDC.
What’sthepossiblerelationshipofthetwospeakers?
Althoughtherehadbeenvarioussmallcamerasdeveloped,itwasnotuntilGeorgeEastmanintroducedtheKodakin1888thatt
Peopletravelforalotofreasons.Some-touristsgotoseebattlefieldsofreligiousshrines.Othersarelookingforculture,o
随机试题
R22标准工况下,与t0=(),tk=30℃,相对应的p0=0.303MPa,pk=1.226MPa。
升降式止回阀根据流体方向又可分为直通升降式和()升降式两种。
器件的发展对逻辑设计方法有哪些影响?
A、阵发性剑突下钻顶样疼痛伴呕吐B、突发性上腹剧痛伴腹膜刺激征C、外伤后剧烈腹痛伴休克D、上腹部绞痛伴畏寒、发热E、腹痛呕吐便闭,肠鸣音亢进或消失肝脾破裂()
女性,45岁,诉有下坠感,有尿液漏出。查体宫颈已脱出阴道口,阴道前壁显露于阴道口外。该患者属于()
单糖的吸收速率差异很大,其中吸收较快的有
不属于细菌特殊结构的是
建筑工程概算编制的基本方法有()。
什么是管理?管理有哪些基本职能?
把下面的六个图形分为两类,使每一类图形都有各自的共同特征或规律,分类正确的一项是:
最新回复
(
0
)