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第2篇 war games are commonly used by the military to evaluate strategies, explore scenarios and reveal unexpected weaknesses. american ships and aircraft have just begun two weeks of war games in the gulf, prompting protests from iran, and last week south korea carried out an annual computerised war-game exercise. might war games deserve a GREater role in business? military analogies abound in the corporate world. plenty of bosses look to SUN tzu, an ancient chinese general, for management tips. and in business, as in war, outcomes depend on what others do, as well as one’s own actions. yet many firms fail to think systematically about how rivals will react to their plans—and traditional planning does a poor job of taking competitors’ responses into account, says john mcdermott, head of strategy at xerox, an office-equipment company. corporate war games, which simulate the interactions of multiple actors in a market, provide a better way to do so. such games have two chief characteristics. first, players break into teams and take on the roles of fierce competitors (and sometimes other citizens, such as customers). second, the games involve several turns, allowing competitors not just to draw up their own strategies but to respond to the choices of others. their popularity is rising. booz allen hamilton (bah), a consultancy, is running 100 war games a year, up from around 50 three years ago. open options, a canadian strategy consultancy, has been going since 1996 and its revenue doubled last year./sWoX&VND]\\_^�NEW [此资料转贴于学习网考研一方考研英语 ]http://www.Gzu521.Com/sWoX&VND]\\_^�NEW bah introduces a quantitative element into its games, calculating the effect of each team’s strategy on their company’s profits and stockmarket value at the end of each turn. open options takes a further step. to help xerox understand the market dynamics of the print and copy industry, it ran a one-day workshop in which teams from xerox took the roles of the big companies in the market, itself included. each team identified the things “their” company could do to change its strategy and drew up a list of its desired outcomes; these “preference trees” were shared with the other teams. the results were then pumped into open options’ proprietary software tools, which played out interactions between the companies and produced a range of possible outcomes. mr mcdermott says the game’s predictive power was astonishing: one forecast, that a company would start to acquire a certain group of assets within the industry, came true within six months. by shedding light on areas where companies have different priorities, the concept of preference trees helps to highlight potential trade-offs, as well as competition. open options charges north american clients roughly $100,000 for an engagement. the secret of successful war-gaming does not simply lie in mathematics, however. interaction, not algebra, is the best way to win support for a new strategy. game-players must be senior for the same reason—although having the top boss on a team can stifle feedback. strategies also have to capture competitors’ hard-to-quantify corporate cultures: when designing a game, bah seeks out employees at its clients who have actually worked at competitors for that reason. but perhaps war games’ greatest value lies in the way they encourage managers to think differently about the consequences of their actions. “to know your enemy, you must become your enemy,” as sun tzu would say. 注（1）：本文选自economist, 05/31/2007 注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1题模仿2002年真题text 2第2题和text 5第3题，第3题模仿1995年真题text 2第4题，第4题模仿2000年真题text 4第3题，第5题模仿1998年真题text 2第4题。
1． the expression “abound in” (line 1, paragraph 2) most probably means _______. [a] be limited [b] be appreciated [c] be driven [d] be plentiful
2． according to the text, traditional corporate planning _______. [a] has been completely abandoned. [b] fails to consider rivals’ reactions. [c] includes the detailed analyses of strategies of all rival companies. [d] functions well for the development of most companies.
3． the positive effect of war games owes to the following except_______. [a] the role playing of competitors [b] the composition of several turns [c] the introduction of quantitative factors [d] the rising popularity of the game
4． which of the following is true according to the text? [a] both bah and open options developed their own software tools for data analysis of war games. [b] the war game service expands slowly because of its high fee. [c] “preference trees” refers to desired outcomes of the companies. [d] war game’s predictive ability is not convincing
5． which of the following is not a reason for the success of war games? [a] feedback [b] mathematics [c] interaction [d] consideration of enemy
篇章剖析 本文是一篇说明文，围绕实战演习的商业用途及其价值这个话题进行了分析。第一段先简单介绍了什么是实战演习，第二段则立刻引入话题，指出公司制定战略的传统方式存在的缺点，从而提出本文的主要观点，即公司实战演习能够帮助更好地理解自身与竞争对手的状况。第三段介绍了实战演习的两个特点；第四、五段介绍了两家提供实战演习服务的咨询公司策划的实战演习内容及其效果。最后一段对文章进行了总结，进一步指出了实战演习的重要价值所在。
词汇注释 m7}_? Dw]Y;P;[ 本_资_料_来_源_于_贵_州_学_习_网 考研一方考研英语 Http://wwW.gzU521.coM ) m7}_? Dw]Y;P; scenario [si`nb:ri[u] n. 情景；场面 quantitative [`kwrntitetiv] adj.数量的, 定量的 prompt [prrmpt] v. 激励；刺激 identify [`aifdentifai] vt. 识别, 鉴别 analogy [[`nalegi] n. 类似, 类推 pump [pqmp] v. ]把灌注; 倾注 abound [[`baund] vi. 多, 富于, 充满 proprietary [prr`praieteri] adj. 所有的 stimulate [`stimjuleit] v. 刺激, 激励 astonish [`estrnif] v. 惊奇，惊讶 multiple [`mqltipl] adj. 多样的, 多重的 trade-off n. 交换, 协定, 交易 consultancy [ken`sqltnsi] n. 咨询; 顾问公司 algebra [`aldvibre] n. 代数学 revenue [`revinju:] n. 收入 stifle [`staifl] vt. 使窒息, 抑制
难句突破 mr mcdermott says the game’s predictive power was astonishing: one forecast, that a company would start to acquire a certain group of assets within the industry, came true within six months.
主体句式 mr mcdermott says… 结构分析 这个句子乍一看非常长，但是其结构却相当清楚。主要结构为mr mcdermott says the game’s predictive power was astonishing，后面冒号的作用是举例进一步说明前面提到的结论。冒号后面句子的主体句式为one forecast came true within six months，而that 引导的这个句子是one forecast的具体内容，是一个同位语从句。 句子译文 麦克德莫特先生说这种演习的预测能力是惊人的：其中的一个预测是，一家公司将开始在该产业内得到一组资产，而这在六个月之后竟然真的实现了。
题目分析 1．d. 语义题。根据上下文，讨论了实战演习是否能够用于商界，并谈到许多老板都在向中国古代的著名军事家孙武学习管理技巧。显然，商业人士已经在运用很多军事上的理论。四个选项中，只有d最符合文意。
2．b. 细节题。文章第二段中，正如办公用品公司施乐公司的首席战略官约翰·麦克德莫特指出，“传统的计划方式很少把竞争者的反应考虑在内”，显然答案是b。
3．d. 细节题。从第三段和第四段中，我们可以找到实战演习之所以能够产生积极效果，是因为这种演习拥有两个重要的特点，同时还加入了“quantitative element”。而d选项并不是实战演习积极效果的原因，而是结果。
4．c. 细节题。根据文章第三段第六行，各个团队列出所扮演公司“希望达到的一系列成果”，后面紧跟着的“preference tree”即为上文“desired outcomes”的同义词。
5．a. 细节题。文章最后一段总结说明了实战演习模式之所以能够成功的原因，列举了三点，分别属于b、c、d，而a选项与题意没有任何关系。
参考译文 军队经常会利用实战演习来评估战略、探索各种情景，以发现一些无法预料到的问题。美国的军舰和战机已经在海湾地区开始了为期两周的演习，此举引发了伊朗的抗议，上周韩国也启动了其年度计算化实战演习。 实战演习是否能够在商业中占有一席之地呢？许多军事理论早已经广泛运用到了商业界，许多老板都在向中国古代的著名军事家孙武学习管理技巧。商场如战场，其结果取决于别人和自己分别采取了什么行动。但是，正如办公用品公司施乐公司的首席战略官约翰·麦克德莫特指出的那样，许多公司没有系统地去思考对手会针对他们的计划采取什么措施—传统的计划方式很少把竞争者的反应考虑在内。公司实战演习能够促使参与者在市场中充分互动，从而更好地解决上述问题。o Q .s@Y,ggx`56u"[转 贴 于 我 的 学 习 网 考研一方考研英语 HTtp://wwW.gzU521.coM)o Q .s@Y,ggx`56u" 这种演习有两个特点。首先，参与者原先所在的团队会被拆散，彼此成为激烈的竞争对手（有时候扮演普通市民，诸如顾客之类的角色）。其次，演习包括了好几轮，从而使竞争者们不仅能够策划自己的战略，而且也能够对其他人的选择做出反应。这种演习正在不断普及。booz allen hamilton (bah) 是一家咨询公司，该公司在3年前每年举办50场实战演习，而到现在已经增加到了100场。open option是一家加拿大战略咨询公司，该公司自1996年开始举办实战演习，到去年为止其收入已实现翻倍。 bah把一些定量的元素加入到了演习中，即在每一轮结束的时候计算每个团队的战略对于公司利润以及股票价值的贡献度。open options则采取了更进一步的措施。为了帮助施乐公司更好地理解打印和复印工业的市场活力，open options为其制订了一个为期一天的活动，活动中不同团队扮演市场中的各大公司，当然也包括施乐公司自己。每个团队都为“自己的”公司制定了一系列的措施来改变公司战略，并列出了他们希望达到的一系列成果；这些“偏好表”可以在各个团队之间分享。open options接着把结果都输入到其拥有知识产权的一套软件工具中，从而能够模拟各个公司的互动，并产出一系列的可能结果。 麦克德莫特先生说这种演习的预测能力是惊人的：其中的一个预测是，一家公司将开始在该产业内得到一组资产，六个月后这事竟然真的实现了。通过弄清楚各家公司的重点领域，偏好表这一概念能够帮助人们关注可能的交易和竞争。open options为其每一个北美的客户设计一次演习都要收取高达10万美元的费用。 但是实战演习的成功秘诀不仅仅在于运用了数学知识。互动，而不是代数，才是赢得对新战略支持的最好办法。因为相同的原因，所有的演习参与者都必须是公司的高级经理—尽管在一个团队中有一个最高领导会影响得到更好的反馈。所有的战略也必须抓住竞争者最难定义的公司文化：为此，当设计一个演习的时候，bah经常会找出客户公司中那些曾经为对手公司工作过的雇员。但是实战演习的最大价值有可能在于演习能够鼓励经理们从不同的角度来思考他们的行动可能产生的结果。正如孙武所说的那样，“如果你想了解你的敌人，那么你就必须成为你的敌人”。   |
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