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  3. As a giant of the stock market, Apple is unusual. For much of the past 20 years, three companies have alternated in the role of

As a giant of the stock market, Apple is unusual. For much of the past 20 years, three companies have alternated in the role of

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问题     As a giant of the stock market, Apple is unusual. For much of the past 20 years, three companies have alternated in the role of the largest on the American stock market: Exxon Mobil, General Electric and Microsoft. The first two are very big companies by Apple standards. But Apple offers the kind of growth prospects that the shareholders of Exxon Mobil and GE can only dream of. Its sales in the latest quarter were almost double those of the previous year, and forecasts for 2013 revenues are nearly treble those recorded in 2010. It is the epitome of the modern company: short on physical capital but long on brainpower.
    So what does Apple’s dominance reveal about the economy and the stock market? First, it is a powerful reminder that the free market can still be remarkably innovative. In the past 11 years Apple has launched three products—the iPod, iPhone and iPad—that have created brand new markets, fulfilling desires that consumers did not even know they had. It is impossible to imagine any of those designs being dreamed up by a bureaucrat.
    Second, it shows that the internet industry has come of age. The dotcom bubble of the late 1990s featured companies that were heavy on ideas but light on revenues or profits. When the bubble burst a decade ago, it was feared that the internet would savage margins by " commoditizing" devices like phones and personal computers. Apple has so far proved that it is possible to earn high margins with brilliant design and by offering consumers ways to access the internet effortlessly wherever they go. It has made the mobile era its own.
    Third, Apple’s rise shows that, even in a period of austerity, consumers are willing to pay for the must-have gadget. The company is a huge beneficiary of globalization: able not only to source its products at low cost in Asia but to sell the finished goods there as well. A global elite is now willing to pay for the most desirable products, from luxury luggage to premium Scotch. And America’s soft power is still so strong that it can create aspiring brands for that elite.
    But does Apple’s surge to preeminence indicate that the stock market is back to the insane days of the late 1990s? There are certainly warning signs. Brokers are competing to come up with the highest potential price target for Apple’s shares, and the announcement of a share buy-back should remind investors that companies have a tendency to purchase their own equity at market peaks. But when Cisco, a technology giant, was briefly worth more than $500 billion in 2000, its price-earnings ratio was above 100; Apple trades on only 22 times its 2011 profits. Its new dividend yield will be almost as generous as that of the overall market. Even if its shares turn out to be overvalued, this would be more like a pimple than a bubble.
Compared with Exxon Mobil and General Electronics, Apple______.
选项 A、is larger in size and tangible assets
B、is valued lower in stock market
C、is growing at an unprecedented rate
D、is more closely linked with finance market
答案C
解析 文章第一段将苹果公司与美国股市上的巨头美孚和通用进行了对比。这三家公司轮番登上了美国股票市场的头把交椅，因此他们在股票市场上的价值是不分高下的。[B]错误。另外，第一段明确指出，从规模上来讲，苹果公司无法与这两家公司相抗衡“The first two are very big companies by Applestandards”。因此[A]错误。虽然规模不如前两家公司，但是苹果公司的发展前景却是前两家公司无法想象的，“Apple offers the kind of growth prospects that the shareholders of Exxon Mobil and GE can onlydream of”，[C]正确。[D]文中并未提及。
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