In more than a century of hand-to-hand combat in shops, supermarket aisles, restaurants and bars around the world, Coca-Cola has

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问题     In more than a century of hand-to-hand combat in shops, supermarket aisles, restaurants and bars around the world, Coca-Cola has nearly always been in the lead and Pepsi in second place. When Warren Buffett, Coke’s long-time investor, told the board that he had visited a pizza parlor in Omaha, Nebraska , with his grandson only to discover it served nothing but Pepsi, Coke’s bosses acted swiftly to remove their arch-rival from the menu and replace it with Coke.
    If only the Atlanta-based company had moved determinedly in response to changing consumer tastes, it might have avoided a humiliating reversal in fortunes. On December 12th PepsiCo overtook Coca-Cola in market capitalization for the first time. With PepsiCo’s share price having risen by 14% this year, its stock market value reached $ 98. 4 billion, compared with $ 97.9 billion for Coca-Cola, which has seen its shares decline by 1.2% in the same period.
    Pepsi is powered not by its traditional fizzy drinks—sales of those are flat—but such products as Gatorade, a sports drink that has seen sales grow by more than 30%. Gatorade also represents a broader diversification by PepsiCo away from a reliance on sugary colas and into other products. PepsiCo now reportedly gets around 20% of its revenue from soft drinks, unlike Coca-Cola, where they account for some 80%.
    Many of the brands that PepsiCo has been acquiring and promoting appeal to consumers’ concerns about their health. PepsiCo’s latest advertising program promotes a new "Smart Spot" symbol, which allows people to identify healthier products. The spots are being attached to Gatorade and other PepsiCo brands such as Tropicana orange juice, Aquarian water, baked Lay’s crisps and Quaker Granola Bars.
    Coca-Cola will now try to regain the crown. Having endured various troubles and two chief executives since the death in 1997 of Roberto Goizueta, a much-admired boss, Coke brought a veteran, Neville Isdell, out of retirement last year to reinvigorate the company. Mr. Isdell knows a thing or two about being in second place. In the 1980s he took Coke from the number two spot in the Philippines to move ahead of Pepsi.
    Mr. Isdell has Coke’s own sports drink, Powerade, in his portfolio—but he could have had Gato-rade. Five years ago another fizzy drink (champagne) was on ice, to celebrate Coca-Cola’s $ 15. 8 billion takeover of Quaker Oats, then owner of Gatorade. This takeover was supposed to lead Coke into what looked to be a hot new market for health drinks. But the "Sage of Omaha" , as Mr. Buffett is known, blocked the deal, in part because it would have diluted the value of Coke’s shares. Pepsi took over Quaker Oats instead—a memory that must leave Mr. Buffett and other Coke shareholders with a bitter taste in their mouths.
Mr. Buffett is noted to suggest that______.

选项 A、Mr. Buffett is the investor of Coca-Cola
B、Pepsi is served in the pizza parlor
C、Coke is overtaken by Pepsi in some sphere
D、Coke used to win the battle against Pepsi

答案D

解析 局部主题题(例证题)。首先利用题干中的“Buffett”定位文章第一段。第一段首先提到:在一个多世纪的针锋相对的竞争中,可口可乐公司几乎总是处于领先地位,接着讲巴菲特的遭遇,第二段介绍了百事可乐公司实现逆转的情况。故D为正确选项。A和B是就事论事,不是例子要说明的主题;C属于结论对应错误,D则符合题意。
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