《考研英語(yǔ)閱讀理解100篇 高分版》 Unit 3 - TEXT THREE

Despite bulging order books, the mood at Airbus and Boeing is far from celebratory. Both aviation giants are moaning loudly that their production systems and supply chains are flawed, albeit for ostensibly different reasons. This week Louis Gallois, the boss of EADS, the Franco-German aerospace consortium that owns Airbus, added substance to warnings a week earlier by the planemaker's chief executive, Tom Enders, that the dollar's decline was “life-threatening” for the firm. Mr. Gallois said it was no longer just a possibility that Airbus would have to move a large part of its production to “the dollar zone” or low-cost countries, but a certainty.
Airbus is already in the middle of Power 8, a big restructuring plan that involves the loss of 10,000 jobs and the sale of several plants, which is meant to offset the losses caused by the delays in delivering the A380 superjumbo. But Power 8 assumed that a euro was worth $1.35, not today's $1.47. Mr. Gallois estimates that each 10-cent rise in the euro costs Airbus € 1 billion. At present, Airbus makes 76% of its purchases within Europe, but generates over 60% of its sales elsewhere. It must now shift some production abroad.
Airbus is now likely to forge ahead much further. Mr. Gallois suggests that when the A350 enters service in 2013, 70% of it will have been “purchased” in dollars, against 50% for the A380 and an average 24% of Airbus production today. Because Airbus insists that some of its European suppliers price in dollars that means about 50% of the A350's production will be outsourced. New aircraft, such as the A320's successor, may be made almost entirely outside the euro-zone.
Airbus maintains that exchange rates are not the only reason for outsourcing: it is keen to tap into composite-manufacturing expertise wherever it exists. It also insists that it will not repeat the mistakes Boeing has made with its new 787 Dreamliner, about 80% of which has been outsourced. A few weeks ago Mike Bair, the executive responsible for the 787 programme, who was recently moved sideways after mounting production delays, launched a withering attack on some of the companies recruited to build the plane. He said that in future Boeing would not entrust design work to partners who “proved incapable of doing it”, and would make suppliers build factories close to Boeing's main assembly operation, rather than flying semi-finished sections of the aircraft round the world on huge Dreamlifter transporters.
It is too early to conclude that the two rivals are heading in opposite directions—Boeing renouncing the global supply chain just as Airbus adopts it. Each company has its own axe to grind. Airbus needs greater flexibility, and the weak dollar provides helpful cover as it takes on its grumbling unions. Boeing, for its part, wants to shift the blame for delays to the 787 on to its partners. The logic of global outsourcing in the aerospace industry remains powerful. Whatever they may be saying now, Airbus and Boeing are more likely to converge than to diverge.
1. Airbus carries out Power 8 because _____.
[A] it cannot make up the deficits caused by the delays in delivering A380
[B] it wants to move its production abroad to handle the problem of dollar's decline
[C] it has not predicted the dollar decline at the beginning
[D] it wants to raise money to build new production sector in low-cost countries
2. The lesson Airbus learns from Boeing's case of 787 Dreamliner is that _____.
[A] it should not adopt outsourcing at all given its uncertainty and insecurity
[B] it should not cooperate with partners in designing
[C] it should not waste time in flying the semi-finished sections of the aircraft
[D] it should make use of the local manufacturing expertise instead of international partners
3. According to the passage, the 787 program is delayed probably because _____.
[A] the partners are incapable of building the plane
[B] the suppliers are far away from the main assembly operation
[C] 80% of it has been outsourced to other countries which affected efficiency
[D] the executive is incapable of finding qualified partners
4. The word “converge” (Line 5, Paragraph 5) most probably means _____.
[A] unite
[B] combine
[C] meet
[D] cooperate
5. Why Airbus and Boeing are more likely to converge than to diverge?
[A] Boeing quits the global supply chain while Airbus adopts it.
[B] Both of them need to adopt greater flexibility in the working process.
[C] Both of them need to make their foreign purchases and outsourcing more skillful and powerful.
[D] Both of them have to take measures to deal with problems caused by weak dollar.