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  3. Fast food, a mainstay of American eating for decades, may have reached a plateau in the United States as the maturing baby-boom

Fast food, a mainstay of American eating for decades, may have reached a plateau in the United States as the maturing baby-boom

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问题     Fast food, a mainstay of American eating for decades, may have reached a plateau in the United States as the maturing baby-boom generation looks for a more varied menu. Fast food still represents a .$ 102 billion a year industry, but growth has turned sluggish recently amid tough competition from retail food stores and a more affluent population willing to try new things and spend more, analysts say. Signs of trouble in fast food include price-cutting by industry leaders, including efforts by McDonald’s to attract customers with a 55 cent hamburger, and major players pulling out or selling. O’Pepsico, for example, is selling its fast-food restaurant division that includes Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC.
    "It’s becoming harder and harder for these firms to grow," said Jim Brown, a professor of marketing at Virginia Tech University. "I think in the United States fast food has reached a saturation (饱和) point because of the number of competitors and the number of outlets."
    Fast-food restaurant revenues grew 2. 5 percent in 1996, according to industry figures, the slowest since the recession of 1991. That is for cry from(大不相同于)the levels of the 1970s and 1980s. According to the Food Marketing Institute, consumers are using supermarkets for 21 percent of take-home food, nearly double the level of a year ago. While fast-food restaurants still lead, their share slipped significantly, from 48 percent in 1996 to 41 percent in 1997.
    "Consumers have never been more demanding than they are today," said Michael Sansolo, senior vice president of the Supermarket Trade Group. "They are pressed for time. Money is still an issue…but their tastes are increasingly diverse--whether it’s gourmet foods, ethnic foods or organic offerings."
    Meanwhile, the aging of the baby-boom population--and the growth in the number of so-called "empty nesters" with grown children--has meant a surge in the number of people willing to spend more for upscale items. This generation "will have the luxury of being more discriminating" as their children leave home, notes Harry Balzer, vice president of the Chicago-based NPD consulting group. Balzer said some 18 million baby boomers will become empty-nesters in the next l 0 years, leaving them with more disposable income to spend on dining out. "Fast and cheap will still be driving factors.., but our definitions of fast and cheap may be changing."
    Various reports suggest industry leader McDonald’s is struggling, losing market share, with lower same-store sales while cutting back the number of new outlets in the United States, partly due to pressure from franchisers who don’t want to be squeezed. The company replaced the head of its 12,000 US restaurant chain last October amid a slump in US market share.  
What can we learn from the passage?
选项 A、O’Pepsico goes bankrupt.
B、The number of supermarkets doubles.
C、Jim Brown takes a negative attitude towards the development of fast food.
D、McDonald’s survives from the competition with retail food stores.
答案C
解析 本题问“从短文中可以了解到什么”。短文第二段中提到Jim Brown的观点“‘It’s becoming harder and harder for these firms to grow，’said Jim Brown，a professor of marketing at Virginia Tech University．‘I think in the United States fast food has reached a saturation point because of the number of competitors and the number of outlets．”’他认为这些公司的发展很困难，美国的快餐业已经达到饱和状态。也就是说他对快餐业并不看好。因此C“Jim Brown对美国快餐业持不乐观的态度”正确。
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