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  3. 　　It was a very good year for the Global 500, new-comers and old-comers alike. But can it last? Think of FORTUNE’s Global 50

　　It was a very good year for the Global 500, new-comers and old-comers alike. But can it last? Think of FORTUNE’s Global 50

admin2010-07-06  45
问题 　　It was a very good year for the Global 500, new-comers and old-comers alike. But can it last?
    Think of FORTUNE’s Global 500 as a candid family portrait, a statistical snapshot of the world’s largest corporations assembled shoulder to shoulder, frozen in time. So it is that this year, in the waning light of the 20th century, our reunion photo captures an optimistic scene: a rosy business landscape populated by jolly corporate giants--healthy, happy, and fat. After stumbling amidst the economic turmoil of 1998, the companies of the Global 500 recovered gracefully in 1999. Their total revenues increased 10.6% the best top-line growth in four years, and profits surged 26%.
      Many of last year’s leaders are once again ahead of the pack. General Motors (No. 1) held tight to its position atop the revenue rankings. (2) But Wal-Mart Stores, fourth last year, rose to No. 2, aided by its $10.7 billion purchase of Britain’s Asda Group (formerly No. 354). Meanwhile, General Electric (No. 9) can still claim the most profits on the planet--S10.7 billion, a 15% increase. Even GE, however, may need to start looking over its shoulder. In 1999,14 corporations earned more than $6 billion, up from seven a year before.
      The rankings make clear that the gulf between denizens of the new economy and those of the old continues to widen. Companies in cutting-edge industries such as telecommunications, computer technology, and pharmaceuticals again trumped those in mature sectors such as steel, chemicals, and autos. "The rapid pace of technological change is forcing a continuous level investment in emerging sectors," says Bruce Steinberg, chief economist at Merrill Lynch. This creates a dilemma for older industries, Steinberg says, because "they don’t have a lot of top--line growth potential." In a dramatic illustration of this gap, the two software companies on the list, Microsoft (No. 235), made a combined $8.2 billion last year. During the same period, the ten metal firms in the Global 500 lost a total of $245 million, one of the worst performances of any industry.  
In the last year’s revenue ranking, which of the following held the first position?
选项 A、General Electric.
B、General Motors.
C、Britain’s Asda Group.
D、Wal-Mart Stores.
答案B
解析
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