首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
In the first episode of Six Feet Under, a popular American television show aired earlier this decade, a large corporation tries
In the first episode of Six Feet Under, a popular American television show aired earlier this decade, a large corporation tries
admin
2014-12-11
45
问题
In the first episode of Six Feet Under, a popular American television show aired earlier this decade, a large corporation tries to buy a family-owned funeral home (even making overtures at the patriarch’s own burial). The owners of Salem Funerals & Cremations, based in Winston-Salem, can relate to that. In 1991 Service Corporation International (SCI), the largest funeral chain in America, bought their formerly family-owned business, one of the oldest in America. But last year they broke free from SCI and started Salem, which is now using low prices and simple services to wrest market share from their cross-town corporate rival.
Thus continues the unending tug-of-war between corporate and family-owned funeral homes in America. It is a strange industry: more than 85% of funeral homes are still owned by families or independent firms (similar perhaps to dry-cleaning shops but not much else). Just 3,000 of 22,000 funeral homes are owned by big corporations, estimates George Clarke, executive director of an association of independent funeral homes. Houston-based SCI is the biggest of the corporates, claiming a 14% share of revenues from "death care", as they tactfully call their business.
Public death-care companies are not exactly in rude health themselves. SCI’s share price, despite nearly doubling in the past year, stands at less than one-third of its level in the late 1990s; its biggest rival, Stewart Enterprises, is just over $7, down from $28 at its peak in 1998. The trouble was a wave of consolidation during the 1980s and 1990s. Funeral-home companies thought they could grow by acquisition and cut costs through consolidation. But they overpaid amid a scramble to buy independent funeral homes, and found that they could not wring big savings out of them.
Death, although recession-proof, is not a growth business (even though baby boomers are getting on), so SCI is trying to increase its margins. In recent years it has adopted a new strategy, cutting prices for caskets and urns while concentrating on selling bundles of services, says David Hass, a managing director. In 2005-2006, average revenues per funeral service at SCI rose by an impressive 9% (or $394 per service), whereas the number of funeral services performed fell by 5.8%. SCI has also gone for branding. Its chain of "Dignity Memorial" funeral homes offers such services as a "24-hour compassion helpline" and advice on securing bereavement fares from airlines. The company says the brand is doing well; it is rolling out a Hispanic version, Funeraria del Angel, targeted at Latinos, complete with bilingual staff and the option of 24-hour viewing of the deceased.
Independents say that the corporates’ prices are too high, and that their service is too impersonal for such a delicate business. "Everything is bottom-line oriented," complains Jim Weeks, who recently bought back the funeral home once owned by his family in Savannah, Georgia, from SCI.
Whatever the price, both corporates and independents will be troubled by the growing popularity of cremations. These are much less costly than burials. Richard Puryear of Salem Funerals and Cremations estimates that a typical burial costs $6,400, whereas cremations average at best $2,800. In 2005 about 32% of funerals in America were cremations, up from 26% in 2000, according to the Cremation Association of North America. It expects the number to rise to 46% by 2025. SCI is responding by withdrawing from the cheapest cremations and going for more lucrative packages. Already 41% of its business comes from cremations (above the national average because its business is concentrated along the coast, where cremations are especially popular). "We expect it could be 50% in the next five to ten years," if not higher, says Mr. Hass.
Family operators face an extra hurdle. It is hard to persuade young people to get involved in the business, which is not just gloomy but also grueling: undertakers are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Most of the staff of independent funeral homes are 45 or older, says Mr. Puryear. So death could yet be their undoing.
"In rude health" in the first sentence of paragraph 3 probably means
选项
A、in bad health.
B、strong and healthy.
C、profit-making.
D、loss-making.
答案
B
解析
语义理解题。第三段第一句为段落主题句。该段后面通过举SCI、斯图尔特和家庭式殡葬公司的例子说明了他们都面临困难。由此看出,整个殡葬业的情况不容乐观。所以首句要表达的也应该是这一含义。既然are not exactly in rude health意为“情况不好”,那么in rude health就应该表示“情况好”之意。答案为[B]。[C]有一定的干扰性,但该段并没有谈到“盈利”的问题,故不选。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/djdO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Vibrationsinthegroundareapoorlyunderstoodbutprobablywidespreadmeansofcommunicationbetweenanimals.Itseemsun
Whetheryoukeepallthereceiptsinashoeboxoruseonlinebanking,youshouldbeclearabout
HowInterpretersWork?I.UnderstandingA.Aboutwordsandexpressions—(1)_____wordsmaybeleftout:(1)______—Ifnotknowin
ThechiefdemandofthepeasantsduringthePeasantUprisingof1381was______.
DuringwhattimedidthelocationoftheU.S.capitalbechosen?
DuringtheColonialdays,theIroquoishadanagriculturaleconomybasingmainlyoncornwithsupplementarycropsofpumpkins,b
Fundingpublictransitisoneofthebiggestproblemsfacingcitiestoday.Oftenthetroubleisthatafewhigh-cost,low-rider
Universalizationofeducationhasbeenapolicypriority,butitstillremainsanunfulfilleddream.Asaconsequence,thespre
PoliticalchangesinEasternEuropeandtheformerSovietUnionhavereducedthethreatofdirectconfrontationbetweentwoalli
______arethetwopartiesdominatingthepoliticalsceneintheU.S.
随机试题
再社会化又称作【】
控制作为管理的一项重要职能,管理者控制的内容应包括【】
如果企业的经营杠杆系数为3,固定成本为5万元,利息费用为2万元,则企业的已获利息倍数为()
下列哪项不是散发性呆小病的病因
A.五苓散B.五皮散C.实脾散D.真武汤E.十枣汤小便不利,头痛微热,或脐下动悸,或水肿脉浮数者,治疗应选用
缺铁性贫血患者骨髓象检查可出现
金先生与金女士2000年4月自由恋爱结婚。结婚后不久金先生即下岗,获得解除劳动合同补偿费10万元。下岗后金先生与朋友合伙做生意,购买了一套价值50万元的房屋。2002年金先生在生意中认识了钱小姐,并很快发展为情人关系,二人生有一子金泉。2005年金先生的父
抽样检测按抽取样本的个数可分为()。
关于园林的描述,不正确的是()。
设树T的度为4,其中度为1、2、3和4的结点个数分别是4、2、1和1,.则T中叶子结点的个数是【】。
最新回复
(
0
)