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  3. History is more or less nonsense, declared Henry Ford in 1916. However, the company that bears his name is not so dismissive of

History is more or less nonsense, declared Henry Ford in 1916. However, the company that bears his name is not so dismissive of

admin2022-04-20  59
问题     History is more or less nonsense, declared Henry Ford in 1916. However, the company that bears his name is not so dismissive of the past. Ford’s website has a prominent heritage section captioned "Automotive history begins here." And Ford is not alone in seeking to capitalise on its history. Bruce Weindruch, founder of The History Factory, a "heritage management" firm that helps companies to document and exploit their past, says that his firm is growing by 30％～40％ annually.
    Some companies are more creative in their use of history than others. HSBC’s History Wall, a striking art installation at the bank’s London headquarters, is made up of 3743 images drawn from the bank’s archives and arranged in chronological order. Wells Fargo, a bank founded in 1852, plays heavily on its role in the development of the American West. It runs nine free museums that tell the story of its expansion and has a fleet of 21 reproduction stagecoaches that appear in some 900 parades and community events every year.
    The benefits of knowing your corporate history can be very practical. Disney constantly mines its archive of old films. Carmakers have overhauled old designs for the modern era: Volkswagen’s New Beetle and the new Fiat 500 are obvious examples. Stacey Schiesl, director of the Harley-Davidson museum, says designers use the company’s collection of historic bikes as inspiration for new products.
    But the bigger payoff tends to be less tangible—that of forging stronger bonds with customers and employees. Age can by itself confer a sense of trustworthiness: brewers and bankers boast deep roots. Jim Gilmore, co-author of "Authenticity", argues that history is also vital in giving companies a genuine sense of personality. Ritz-Carlton’s use of cobalt-blue glasses in its hotel dining rooms can be traced back to Boston in the 1920s, for example, where window glass that had been imported from Europe and turned blue in the New England air was a symbol of wealth. Rather than commissioning dusty biographies to mark anniversaries, Mr. Gilmore reckons that firms should trawl the archives for symbolic stories of this kind.
    Yet, companies still cannot avoid difficult episodes in their pasts. Transparency is a must. Union Carbide, a chemicals firm, has a link to information on the deadly Bhopal gas leak in India on its home page, for example. Far more truthfully, Coca-Cola does not shy away from the failed introduction of New Coke in 1985. "It’s like kids looking at the dirty words in a dictionary," says Mr. Weindruch. "people will notice if the awkward bits are missing. "
Union Carbide is mentioned in the last paragraph to show that a company________.
选项 A、must make its operation as transparent as possible
B、will get punished if it deliberately avoids its awkward past
C、should face up to and reveal its embarrassing experience
D、may escape public notice if it treats history truthfully
答案C
解析 本题是例证题。末段为总分总结构，前两句为主题句，提出“公司仍然无法避免过去的困难事件，公司的历史必须透明”，接下来所举的Union Carbide以及Coca-Cola的事例都充分论证了这一观点，最后引用韦达卢奇先生的话总结道：“如果一个公司对尴尬的事件只字不提的话，人们反而会越注意到这一点”。浏览各选项，C项“应该正视并揭露它的尴尬经历”与主题句相吻合，故答案选C；其中的should face up to是同义替换原文的cannot avoid；reveal同义替换transparency；embarrassing experience同义替换difficult episodes。A项“必须使其运作尽可能透明”是根据Transparency is a must设置的干扰项，但加了新信息operation，属于无中生有，故排除，B项“如果它故意避免尴尬的过去，就会受到惩罚”属于过度推断，文章末句提到公司回避其尴尬的事件的后果是people will notice，故排除；D项是对文章末句的曲解，原文说“如果一个公司对尴尬的事件只字不提的话，人们反而会越发注意到这一点”，但并不能得出“如果它如实对待历史，可能不会引起公众的注意”，故排除。
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