兄弟反目，家族或得益 - FT速读测试

速读测试：兄弟反目，家族或得益

本文讨论了家庭内部纷争可能带来的好处——不过这家庭是指所谓的“豪门”。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：
feud	纷争，世仇
tawdry	俗丽而不值钱的
ruthless	无情的, 残忍的
rancorous	充满愤恨的, 仇恨的
aftermath	结局；结束
vitriol	刻薄话
annihilate	消灭，毁灭
awestruck	敬畏的
sheer	纯粹的，完全的

常见问题

阅读FT对你有什么好处？

对于全球的商业精英来说，阅读英国《金融时报》是每天必须进行的修炼。《金融时报》的文章以分析见长，逻辑严密，特别适合准备GRE和GMAT的考生。培生集团推出的PTE考试的阅读题，就是利用了FT的文章来做阅读理解。

阅读速度多快才够用？

在信息爆炸的今天，能够迅速地阅读和理解大量资料，已成为所有人必不可少的技能。对于准备参加各种英语测试的考生来讲，阅读速度可能是决定成绩的关键。要想在GRE和GMAT的考试中拿到高分，你的阅读速度至少要达到每分钟200字。

如何迫使自己提高阅读速度?

我们有一个自动滚屏的工具来帮助你提高速度。点击该按钮后，屏幕就开始滚动，迫使你改掉向回看的习惯，加快速度。默认为每分钟140字（朗读速度）。随着你的技能提升，你可以挑战更高的速度，直到达到1000。

小字速度：+ -

阅读以下文章

<b>A family feud is not always a bad thing</b>

Even if you have only half-heard of Gina Rinehart, you will know that she is a force to be reckoned with. She is the Australian mining magnate who controls Hancock Prospecting, founded by her father. Her aggressive approach to business and family relations has prompted three of her four children to sue her.

The emails and letters in this court battle were released last week. They make for compulsive reading. In brief, the children allege Ms Rinehart gave them one business day to agree to extend her control of a family trust or face “financial ruination”. She, in turn, deems them “manifestly unsuited” to running the trust. Her letter says it is “reasonably arguable” that bankruptcy of the trust might – “personal development-wise” – be in her children’s best interests: it would “force them to go to work and reconsider their holidaying lifestyles and attitudes”.

This would just be a tawdry family spat, bar the fact that Ms Rinehart is already one of the richest people on the planet – and getting richer. Owning a giant iron ore mine at a time of growing Asian demand helps, but I think the ruthless vigour with which she has prosecuted this and other family feuds (she was at acrimonious odds with her father in his later years) is also part of the reason for her success.

It is a staple assumption of the literature on family companies that their owners should avoid feuds at all costs. In-fighting overrides most of the genetic advantages of the family model. Strong corporate cultures, a predisposition towards collaboration and co-operation, and an inherent tendency to favour benevolent long-termism are tossed aside when relatives go to war. Rancorous and debilitating feuds destroy the value in such groups – for heirs and for any outside investors unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire. The aftermath of vicious bouts of intra-familial hair-pulling can last generations and cost billions.

All true. But perhaps academics are underestimating the motivational advantages of familial rivalry. Just occasionally, the vitriol and poison combine to create a rocket fuel that powers certain ruthless, entrepreneurial family members and the companies they head to the top.

This is the sort of drive that could well turn Volkswagen, under Austrian chairman Ferdinand Piëch, into the largest carmaker in the world. Last week, his wife Ursula was nominated to join the VW board. The proposal flouts corporate governance orthodoxy so flagrantly it takes the breath away. But it is also a sign of the determination of Mr Piëch – a grandson of the man who founded Porsche – to dominate and enlarge the family business. His victory over cousin Wolfgang Porsche in a 2009 attempt to fuse the sportscar maker with VW drove the latter to tears.

The Australian mining heiress and the Austrian motor magnate, for all their differences, appear to share similar attitudes to the business legacies they are doing everything to secure. The VW chairman has in the past listed his priorities as “VW, family, money”, while the mining magnate has been quoted as saying: “Whatever I do, the House of Hancock comes first.”

They are not alone. The late Jan Stenbeck, the buccaneering Swedish telecoms and media magnate, consolidated his foothold in the 1980s by defeating two sisters for the right to rule over the family investments, which he then vastly increased in size and scope.

To prosecute such wars without annihilating the inheritance takes a special person, however. Family members who seek to dominate by force must be persistent, thick-skinned – and skilful. According to most accounts, Ms Rinehart and Mr Piëch are coldly effective executives.

Family companies, it is said, usually disintegrate in the third generation, as myriad weak-chinned heirs-of-heirs start to squabble. Disinterested businesspeople can exploit these situations: Bernard Arnault has used such opportunities to add to his LVMH luxury goods empire. But hard-hearted insiders who have already neutralised their less competent, or less ambitious, relatives are proof against the predations of such opportunists.

The dangers of such an uncompromising pursuit of outright victory in a family feud are evident. But while outsiders may pity relatives stuck in the path of such unbridled ambition, it is impossible not to be awestruck by the sheer power unleashed by a business obsession that comes as a birthright.

选择正确答案

According to the passage, Gina Rinehart's children sue her probably for

正确！
根据"Her aggressive approach to business and family relations has prompted three of her four children to sue her."A正确。

her agressive ruling over the family.
her persistent dispute with her father.
she abandoning the control over family trust.
she rising the price of iron ore that exported to asia.

选择正确答案

According to literature mention in the fourth paragraph, which of the following is NOT one of the results of family feud？

正确！根据第三段的内容，D不在其中。

Hatred and rancor between family members were nourished.
Some of family members were excluded from family business.
Family coherence was jeopardized.
Family business was as a result stabilized and prospered.

选择正确答案

According to the author, what is the main way to which family feud benefits family businesses?

正确！
根据"Just occasionally, the vitriol and poison combine to create a rocket fuel that powers certain ruthless, entrepreneurial family members and the companies they head to the top."C正确。

Family feud breaks family businesses into several parts which helps to extend family businesses into different areas of industry.
Family feud gives shrewd outsiders chances to control family businesses.
Family feud clears out those members who are not suit for business and allow those who are ruthless and entrepreneurial to control the businesses.
All of the above.

选择正确答案

According to the passage, which of the following company is NOT an example of family feud prospered family business?

正确！LVMH是家族内部相争、外人得利的例子。

Hancock Prospecting
Volkswagen
The businesses owned by Jan Stenbeck
LVMH

放松与总结

您答对题目数: 0/5 FT中文网用户平均WPM: 3
我们为金融英语速读的用户创建了论坛，大家可以在这里相互交流经验，帮我们把这个栏目办得更好。

下一测试：Libor丑闻继续上演

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<<后退

开始>>

您的正确率太低，在目前这个阶段，对你来说最重要的是提高英文水平和金融专业水平，而不是速度。请您点击后退仔细查看您答错的题目，并和原文对照。对原文中所有不懂的句子和知识点，也请一一查明。建议您：
1. 在进行下一次训练的时候，将滚屏速度保持在100以下。
2. 您可以找一些有声读物，如《经济学人》的audio edition，帮助你提高英文水平。

看得出你是非常认真来进行这次训练的，如果你坚持的话，你会获得非常大的提高。目前你的阅读速度偏低，可能是因为英文不是你的母语。不过，请不要放慢阅读速度。研究表明，阅读速度越快的人，其理解的正确率反而越高。因此，您可以同时提高您的阅读速度和理解能力。给你一点建议：
1. 一定要改掉默念的习惯
2. 不要一个词一个词的看，要学会把一个语义群当作一个整体来看。比如“an emergency $180bn injection of dollar”这个语义群，你要学会把他当作一个整体来看。
3. 看DVD的时候，切换到英文字幕。

用正常语速来朗读一篇文章，平均速度是每分钟140词。这说明你的阅读速度比朗读还要慢。建议您：1. 每一段的第一句话往往是最重要的。
2. “速读”最忌讳的就是“读”，不要一边看一边默念。
3. 在下一个训练中将滚屏速度设为140，迫使自己不能回头去看已经读过的部分。

您的阅读速度已经超过了正常语速，说明你已经开始有些速读的感觉了。美国大学生的最低阅读速度为每分钟250词，加把劲你就可以赶上了。建议您：
1. 养成习惯，读过的部分不要回头去看，这样会影响速读。
2. 加强“扫描”的训练，让自己的眼睛能“一目一行”。

您的阅读速度已经达到了美国大学生的水平，可喜可贺。不过作为金融从业人员，每天需要阅读数不清的中英文研究报告、公司年报、报刊杂志等，您还需要向每分钟350字进军。建议您：
1. 加强“扫描”的训练，让自己的眼睛能“一目两行”。
2. 对中英文的数字，尤其是大数字(million, billion)的转换进行总结和练习。

厉害，您的阅读速度已经超过了美国大学生的水平。不过，要成为巴菲特那样的金融专家，您需要锻炼出“一目十行”的火眼金睛。建议您在每次的训练中注意三个要点：
1. 您已经学会了将文章分成语义群，而非词来阅读，现在，你需要扩大每一个语义群中的词数。
2. 加快阅读每个语义群的速度。
3. 看过的内容尽量不要回看。

这就是传说中的“一目十行”吗？难以置信！

世界纪录才每分钟416,250字，居然被你破了！无语...

讨论和交流 请发表和本次测试相关的内容

讨论和交流请发表和本次测试相关的内容