麥當勞的新菜單

麥當勞的新菜單

在健康飲食當?shù)赖慕裉?，快餐行業(yè)面臨著消費者更加挑剔的眼光。這一次“麥叔叔”能否用菜單的新鮮感，打動消費者的錢包？

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

net income 凈收益；收益凈額

resurgence 復活；再現(xiàn)[r?'s??d?(?)ns]

phase 時期；相位[fe?z]

nimble 聰明的；敏感的['n?mb(?)l]

franchisee 特許經營人[,fr?nt?a?'zi?]

out of the woods 脫離險境；脫離困境

閱讀馬上開始，建議您計算一下閱讀整篇文章所用的時間，對照下方的參考值就可以評估出您的英文閱讀水平。

如果您讀完全文用時為： 那么，您的閱讀速度相當于 每分鐘閱讀的英文單詞數(shù)

2分36秒 母語為英語者的朗讀速度 140

1分34秒 母語為英語的中學生的閱讀速度 250

1分50秒 母語為英語的大學生的閱讀速度 350

0分38秒 母語為英語的速讀高手 1000

Menu change revives McDonald’s US sales （387 words）

By Lindsay Whipp in Chicago

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McDonald’s got a boost this week when @coleson, a 20-year-old YouTube celebrity with more than a million subscribers and nearly 35,000 Twitter followers, tweeted that “McDonald’s all-day breakfast was the best thing to ever happen”.

He has lots of company. The extension of the breakfast menu has powered a revival for the 61-year-old company. US comparable sales rose 5.4 per cent per cent in the first three months of 2016 — marking the third quarter in a row of improvements.

The company on Friday said net income for the quarter jumped 35 per cent to $1.1bn, even though worldwide sales fell 1 per cent to $5.9bn.

“I’m pleased to report that our turnround is taking hold,” said Steve Easterbrook, chief executive.

After years of watching McDonald’s lose ground to fast casual chains such as Panera and Shake Shack, investors have welcomed the resurgence, pushing up the share price to trade around all-time highs above $125.

Many analysts are enthusiastic about Mr Easterbrook, who won the top post last January after reigniting McDonald’s sales in the UK several years ago.

He has promised to revive sales at the world’s largest fast-food chain by simplifying the organisational structure and the menu. It is also using better-quality ingredients and trying to attract more young customers to its 36,000 restaurants.

“This one’s on him. Certainly things were in works before [he] arrived, but he brought a new sense of urgency, so I give him a lot of credit,” says RJ Hottovy, an analyst at Morningstar.

“The all-day breakfast has been a hit and the important thing is that they managed to bring this?.?.?.?from a test phase to market in six months, which shows it’s more nimble,” he added.

Under Mr Easterbrook, the menu improvements have been accompanied by plans to cut $500m in annual costs by 2017. The company is also finding franchisees to open new restaurants in Asia and take over 4,000 of the restaurants it owns. Bringing the ranks of company-owned restaurants down to 5 per cent will cut capital expenditure and operating costs, while pushing up royalty income.

But McDonald’s may not be out of the woods yet in its vital home market. Andy Barish, an analyst at Jefferies, says much of the sales improvement in the US has been driven by heavy spending on advertising.

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內容，完成以下自測題目：

1. What is the reason of McDonald’s boost this week?

A. celebrity’s promotion

B. online advertising on YouTube

C. simplifying the organisational structure

D. good performance in UK

2. What is their relationship between McDonald’s and Shake Shack?

A. cooperation

B. competition

C. supplier

D. the same parent company

3. How to revive sales from Mr. Easterbrook’s promise?

A. simplifying the organisational structure and the menu

B. using better-quality ingredients

C. attracting more young customers

D. all of them

4. What is the reason about “McDonald’s may be still in trouble” from analyst Andy Barish? (last paragraph)

A. insignificant sales improvement

B. finding franchisees

C. take over restaurants it owns

D. heavy spending on advertising

[1] 答案 A. celebrity’s promotion

解釋：是因為以為網(wǎng)絡紅人（coleson）的評論，對于推廣全天早餐的贊許。

[2] 答案 B. competition

解釋：由文章可以推斷，快餐品牌Shake Shack是麥當勞的競爭對手。

[3] 答案 D. all of them

解釋：麥當勞首席執(zhí)行官史蒂夫·伊斯特布魯克承諾要重振銷量。

[4] 答案 D. heavy spending on advertising

解釋：盡管銷售額有所提升，但是在廣告方面的投資也是一筆不小的開支。