補(bǔ)全短文

Mergers

The most common kind of consolidation today is the merger. A merger occurs ____(1)____.

With the deregulation of natural gas, the nation’s 20 interstate pipeline companies BECame fearful of cutthroat competition. Some felt that they could increase their efficiency and improve their market flexibility by merging. In 1985 Internorth of Omaha paid $2.3 billion for Houston Natural Gas Corporation, ____(2)____. The system connected markets from coast to coast and raised sales to $10 billion.

On occasion, mergers have occurred between smaller companies in an industry dominated by a few giant firms. These smaller companies claim that they need to merge to become more efficient and effective in competing against the biggest corporations. They maintain that such action increases competition instead of reducing it. The Antitrust Division of the Justice Department has not always agreed with them.

Four major waves of mergers have taken place in this country. The first started in 1887, just prior to the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and ended in 1904. It involved such giants as United States Steel and Standard Oil trying to create monopolies in their industries. From the end of World War I until the 1930s, large firms swallowed smaller firms to create oligopolies. The monopoly had no chance and the oligopoly little chance of succeeding today under present antitrust policy.

The third major merger movement began in the 1960s, reached a peak in 1969, ____(3)____. Many of the acquisitions involved giant firms in one industry buying up large companies in totally unrelated industries. Such mergers are called conglomerate mergers. A classic example is Mobil Oil Corporation’s purchase of the huge retail chain Montgomery Ward & Company.

Mergers in the last ten years were in the thousands. More important is the value of the transactions, which has risen sharply. The number of mergers and acquisitions apply ____(4)____. The petroleum industry had mergers and acquisitions valued at closed to $80 billion between 1981 and 1984. Other industries ____(5)____ were banking and finance, insurance, mining and mineral, processed foods.

A thereby gaining control of the world’s longest pipeline

B and then gradually declined

C experiencing large takeovers

D resulting in combinations of small firms

E only to those valued at $100 million or more

F when two or more companies get together to form one company

參考答案：FABEC

編輯推薦：

2015年職稱英語考試綜合類模擬試題十四

2015年職稱英語考試綜合類模擬試題十三

2015年職稱英語考試綜合類模擬試題十二

2015年職稱英語報(bào)名時(shí)間匯總

2015年職稱英語考試網(wǎng)絡(luò)輔導(dǎo)熱招中……

更多關(guān)注：職稱英語教材  職稱英語零基礎(chǔ)通關(guān)  2015年職稱英語報(bào)考條件

（責(zé)任編輯：liushengbao）

共2頁,當(dāng)前第1頁  第一頁  前一頁  下一頁