雅思阅读练习题：Quartz评论中国肯德基事件

　　新东方在线雅思网特为大家准备了雅思阅读练习题：Quartz评论中国肯德基事件，供大家学习参考。雅思阅读备考阶段，同学们需要通过适量的练习题来检测自己的备考效果。希望以下内容能够对大家的雅思备考有所帮助!

　　2012年12月24日雅思阅读精选：Quartz评论中国肯德基事件(From：Quartz)

　　China's food safety campaign against KFC is thereal threat to Yum

　　When Yum Brands announced last month thatit expected KFC-China's fourth-quarter sales todecline 4%, spurring a sharp sell-off in thecompany's stock, CEO David Novak attributed it the slump to "the macros"—meaning, themuch-discussed sputtering of China's economic growth.

　　But that wasn't the whole story. Days before Yum's revised estimate, the Chinese statetelevision network CCTV reported (in Chinese) on KFC's sourcing of "fast-growth chickens,"birds dosed with "toxic" concoctions to shorten their maturation cycle. The Chinese micro-blogosphere promptly freaked out, but the charge didn't stick: Health inspectors cleared the"fast-growth chickens," which turned out to be the overseas industry standard, imported fromthe United States.

　　But CCTV wasn't done. On Tuesday, it ran an investigative piece on large-scale chickenfarmers, highlighting their insouciant way with antibiotics and growth hormones. Though KFCand McDonald's, which was also implicated, both say they haven't sourced from those kinds offarms in months, it matters little to public perception. When it comes to food safety, theseongoing reporting campaigns are fairly common, explains Beijing-based lawyer and blogger StanAbrams:

　　Seems like every other day I'm writing something about a new investigation, enforcementcampaign, or dispute involving a foreign firm here. Some times the criticism turns out to befair, and other times the rumors are unfounded. Occasionally there are witch hunts, where themedia (often, but not always State media) piles on with inflammatory rhetoric, assuming theworst of multinationals and their business practices.

　　In this case, says Abrams, "China's print media seem to be focused not on the farmers ortheir customers as a whole, but rather on KFC and McDonald's." For example, the China Dailyhas now begun rehashing KFC- and McDonald's-related stories with titles like "Multinationalfirms' tricks" and "Some foreign fast food is harder to swallow."

　　This is fairly typical, particularly of CCTV, which sees itself as a consumer watchdog. Whatisn't typical is that the Chinese government is now taking up the cause against Yum and KFC.Earlier today, the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration released (in Chinese) food safetyreports from 2010 and 2011, showing that, of 19 samples from one of the farms profiled byCCTV, 8 failed antibiotics safety tests.

　　"We think Yum Brands should face facts and responsibly publish relevant information,"Shanghai FDA manager Yan Zuqiang told the 21st Century Business Herald. "What is now clearis that we've already had in our hands eight reports of samples that didn't meet standards, andwe immediately informed Yum Brands. Yum Brands should admit to this."

　　Though the report hasn't been widely published in English yet, the stock shed some 4% intrading on Friday. Yum Brands representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

　　It's not clear what the government hoped to clarify by releasing tests that more than ayear old from a farm that KFC no longer uses, particularly when the Shanghai FDA says it willpublish recent test results in a few days. It's possible this signals a prioritization of foodsafety in the new Xi Jinping administration, says Junheng Li, head of research at China-focused research firm JL Warren Capital, though she thinks that KFC-China's real problem haslittle to do with government attention.

　　"KFC-China was successful back in the day because they localized their menu, adapting it tolocal taste," Li told me. "Among younger demographics in first- and second-tier cities, chickenhas been around for too long, so that now, trendy Chinese food concepts are outperformingKFC and other foreign fast foods."

　　Yum's 5,000 restaurants in China are growing revenue faster than the company's largerbase of locations in the US. But shopping centers are no longer discounting rents for KFCs,says Li, meaning that the company is facing 100-250% hikes, wringing margins. Then there'sthe reality that young shoppers are increasingly spending their renminbi online, where e-retailers like Taobao and 360buy.com offer selection, price transparency, and conveniencethat traditional shopping centers struggle to compete with. KFC-China's plan to combatthese trends is to expand in lower-tier cities, where markets are not yet saturated.

　　But Li sees problems with this strategy, a point that gets back to "the macros" that CEONovak believes will support KFC-China's continued growth.

　　"KFC shares the common attitude toward China, saying 'urbanization will drive growth,' andleaving it at that," she says. "Urbanization isn't the driver of economic growth; it's the result ofit. You have to create jobs first. And with the economy so dependent on exports andinvestment, creating overcapacity, the current rate of urbanization is unsustainable."