麦当劳的新菜单

在健康饮食当道的今天，快餐行业面临着消费者更加挑剔的眼光。这一次“麦叔叔”能否用菜单的新鲜感，打动消费者的钱包？

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

net income 净收益；收益净额

resurgence 复活；再现[r?'s??d?(?)ns]

phase 时期；相位[fe?z]

nimble 聪明的；敏感的['n?mb(?)l]

franchisee 特许经营人[,fr?nt?a?'zi?]

out of the woods 脱离险境；脱离困境

阅读马上开始，建议您计算一下阅读整篇文章所用的时间，对照下方的参考值就可以评估出您的英文阅读水平。

如果您读完全文用时为： 那么，您的阅读速度相当于 每分钟阅读的英文单词数

2分36秒 母语为英语者的朗读速度 140

1分34秒 母语为英语的中学生的阅读速度 250

1分50秒 母语为英语的大学生的阅读速度 350

0分38秒 母语为英语的速读高手 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.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

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

解释：是因为以为网络红人（coleson）的评论，对于推广全天早餐的赞许。

[2] 答案 B. competition

解释：由文章可以推断，快餐品牌Shake Shack是麦当劳的竞争对手。

[3] 答案 D. all of them

解释：麦当劳首席执行官史蒂夫·伊斯特布鲁克承诺要重振销量。

[4] 答案 D. heavy spending on advertising

解释：尽管销售额有所提升，但是在广告方面的投资也是一笔不小的开支。