Unit 8 Memedes Goes to Motown 1 Warmup

Unit 8 Memedes Goes to Motown

1. Warm-up Questions 2. Text

1. Name a couple of world-famous car manufacturers, their products and their nationalities. 2. Give one or two examples of wellknown mergers that have occurred recently 3. Do you know the likely causes of the mergers?

Chevrolet General Motors Cadillac Buick Ford Lincoln Mercury Grand Marquis Chrysler Cherokee Dodge

Japan Toyota Honda Nissan Lexus Crown Toyota Nissan Bluebird Mitsubishi Mazda

BMW Daimler-Benz: Mercedes-Benz Audi Volkswagens Golf

Citroen Peugeot Renault

Hyundai Daewoo: Prince

Fiat Ferrari Iveco Alfa-Romeo

Rolls-Royce

Volvo

"I want to be the first chairman in the history of Chrysler not to lead the company back from bankruptcy, " declared Robert Eaton after he took charge at America's third-largest car maker in 1993. If fate smiles kindly on Chrysler's merger with Germany's Daimler-Benz, revealed on May 6 th and confirmed the following day, then he will have found an unexpected means to realize his ambition.

officially make a statement, boss, give Jurgen an order, warning etc Along nounwith phrase. Daimler's as an appositive Schrempp, he will also have issued a challenge to the rest of the car industry. Still the symbol of industrial might, car making is suffering from over-capacity, caused largely by a pattern of old-fashioned national ownership that owes more to jingoism than to good sense. Bankruptcies or international car mergers must be the main solutions------ and this deal

以…规模 Not all the mergers will be on such an impressive scale as this one. With total revenues of $130 billion, the deal between Chrysler and Daimler is the largest merger in industrial history and will create the world's fifth-largest car maker. Nor will all future mergers begin with such a fair wind. Daimler's strengths in Europe and in the market for luxury cars complement Chrysler's American base and its reputation for family-carrying minivans and sport-utility vehicles. It is a neat

fit, with little call for sackings (and thus little effect on over-capacity). That will calm the industry's股票上市，挂牌 powerful trade unions. Moreover, Daimler was the first German 交易 company to list its shares in America. Its cosmopolitan culture means that it is better prepared than many of Europe's giants to handle a mixed marriage. As for Chrysler, its past lurches towards near-collapse have long since prepared Americans for the possibility that the company would end up in foreign hands;

Yet the marriage, if it endures, will not be easy. The fate of last year's giant crossborder engagement, between America's MCI and Britain's BT', shows the scope for misunderstanding and recrimination. The fact is likely to that the merged Daimler-Chrysler intends to bring about have two chief executives and two head conflict offices is a promise of conflict. Nevertheless, for other car makers, cross-border deals will be harder still. The partners will often be unwilling and weak. Thousands of jobs will go.

National pride and pet projects will take a battering. Indeed, they must do, inif spite a crossof this； border merger is to work. nevertheless But consolidation will come all the same, thanks to two unceasing pressures. The first is One has to make a lot of fixed costs of technological. The immense carsand so asmanufacturing to make profits vehicles mean developing that making profits from cars goes with making lots of them. In future, each customer will want to drive something that looks unlike the car in front. So the most profitable

be those that satisfy this urge for individualism, but from one basic design. Already, Italy's Fiat plans to build many models from a single chassis and sell them to developing countries from Bolivia to Bangladesh. The second reason to expect consolidation is the industry's persistent and profit-crushing over-capacity. The world's car plants could build perhaps one third more cars than they do. Even before this year's recession, Asia's over-capacity approached

and Latin America are little better. In North America the assembly lines are busy, but cheap imports push down prices. In 1990 it took an American eight and a half months' wages to pay for a car. Today the keys are his after little more than six months' work. Consolidation might have happened long ago, were governments not as transfixed by the prestige of cars as are the people who drive them. So Europe has tried to keep out the Japanese car makers with quotas and

tariffs. Malaysia built a national car, the Proton, using trade barriers and government subsidies. Countries such as France, Spain and Italy have also tried to conceal overcapacity by government schemes to bribe people to buy new cars. Previous attempts to merge across borders have sometimes been frustrated by national rivalries; attempts to cut costs by closing factories, as France's Renault TM did in Belgium, have all too often been hampered by politics.

Where nationalism is muted, the industry has done better. There is less over-capacity in America partly because the government has allowed prices to fall and factories to close (though it is still to end some tariffs on, for example, sport-utility vehicles). Britain has seen one car maker after another pass into foreign hands: barely a complaint greeted the recent planned purchase by Germany's BMW of Rolls Royce, that symbol of John Bull. Yet, although there is no large British-owned car

Britain made almost twice as many B cars last year as it did in 1980 and its share of the West European market has grown by a third to roughly 12, 5%. If a deal between Daimler and Chrysler accelerated the death of the national car company, that will be welcome. Nervous politicians should be comforted that, at a time when cars and components all resemble one another, a national identity has become a vital part of the brand. Those who buy Mercedes

Omission “are buying” buying German engineering and those who buy an Alfa-Romeo Italian design, regardless of where the car is built. The trick of Daimler and Chrysler, and of the mergers to come, will be to throw out the nationalism of car making, while keeping its nationality.

I want to be the first chairman in the history of Chrysler not to lead the company back from bankruptcy. Paraphrase: He would not try to do what other chairman of Chrysler had done: bring back from the brink of bankruptcy, but at the same time he didn’t intend to let it go bankrupt in the first place.

be in charge (of): to be the person who controls or is responsible for a group of people or an activity: Who's in charge around here? the officer in charge of the investigation put sb in charge (of) to give someone complete responsibility over an activity, group of people, organization etc: I've been put in charge of the team.

take charge (of) to take control of a situation, organization, or group of people: Harry will take charge of the department while I'm away.

smile at sb. / sth. give a smile or smiles e. g. : I smiled at the child and said “hello”. smile on sb. / sth. approve of or encourage sb /sth 对某人/物表示赞成或鼓励之意 Fortune smiled on us(=we were successful). The council did not smile on our pan (i. e. rejected it).

merge v. 1. merge with /into sth 2. merge together 3. merge A with B 4. merge A and B together 5. (cause two things to) come together and combine 6. e. g. : We can merge our two small businesses (together) into one large one.

2. merge into sth fade or change gradually into sth else e. g. : Twilight merged into total darkness. merger n. (act of) joining together. e. g. : The two companies are considering merger as a possibility.

revealed on May 6 th and confirmed the following day V-ed phrase as a modifier You can find the same usage on L 10. …caused largely by …

, then he will have found an unexpected means to realize his ambition. He will have found a way to solve the problem with Chrysler ( not through going bankruptcy but ) through international car mergers, which he had not expected.

capacity 1. ability to hold or contain sth. 容纳某事物的能力 e. g. : The seating capacity of this theater is 500. 这座戏院能容纳 500人 2. power to product sth. 生产力 e. g. : We should try to raise productivity and expand capacity. 我们应该努力提高生产率以提高生产力

3. capacity for sth. ability to produce , experience, undertake or learn sth. e. g. : She has an enormous capacity for hard work. 她有苦干的巨大能力 Idiom in one’s capacity as sth. in a certain function or position e. g. : He acts in his capacity as a police officer. 他以警察的身份行事

Exercises: ability to do the work. I don’t doubt your ______ The assembly hall has a capacity ____ of 1500. The essay is a proof of the writer’scapabilit _______ y of using the proper words in the proper place.

owes more to jingoism than to good sense. that results more from national protectionism than from good and practical judgment ( on whether national ownership does good to the industry).

, and this deal will make both of those likelier. other car makers will be more likely to merge or go bankrupt to solve the problem of over-capacity.

Nor will all future mergers begin with such a fair wind 1. Nor is placed at the beginning of the sentence , so there is an inversion. 2. begin with such a fair wind have such a favorable beginning

Nor will all future mergers begin with such a fair wind 1. Nor is placed at the beginning of the sentence , so there is an inversion. 2. begin with such a fair wind have such a favorable beginning

It is a neat fit, with little call for sackings (and thus little effect on over-capacity). They complement each other splendidly, with little need for firing /dismissing their employees.

as for sb. /sth. especially spoken an expression meaning `concerning'; used when you are starting to talk about someone or something new that is connected with what you were talking about before: e. g. : Nick can stay, but as for you, you can get out of my sight.

As for Chrysler, its past lurches towards near-collapse have long since prepared Americans for the possibility that the company would end up in foreign hands as it has come close to the brink of bankruptcy several times recently, Americans are ready for the possibility that the company would pass into the possession of a foreign corporation

collapse 1. (break into pieces and) fall down or in suddenly （破碎并）突然倒塌，坍塌，塌陷 e. g. : The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 2. (of a person) fall down (and usually become unconcious) because of illness, tiredness, etc e. g. : He collapsed in the street and died on the way to hospital.

3. fail suddenly or completely, break down 突然或完全垮下，失败，衰败 e. g. : His health collapsed under the pressure of work 4. (of price, currencies, etc) suddenly decreased in value(指价格，货币等） 突然降价，暴 跌 e. g. : Share prices collapsed after news of poor trading figures.

Noun: sudden fall, failure, breakdown The collapse of buildings trapped thousands of people. That company is close to collapse.

endure vt. to bear, to tolerate vi. to suffer or undergo (sth. Painful or uncomfortable) patiently; to continue in existence; to last e. g. : I can’t endure that noise a moment longer. I can’t endure to see /seeing children suffer.

They had spent three days in the desert without water and could not endure much longer Paris is a city that will endure(=continue to exist) for ever. 辨析：continue last endure persist

辨析：bear， endure， stand， abide， suffer， tolerate These verbs are compared in the sense of withstanding or sustaining what is difficult or painful to undergo. 用于承受痛苦，经历困难时，把这些动 词进行比较：

1. Bear pertains broadly to capacity to withstand: Bear 更多地适用于承受的能力： “Man performs, engenders, so much more than he can or should have to bear. That's how he finds that he can bear anything” (William Faulkner). “人类所做的和引起的事情远远比他能够 或必须承受的要多得多。那就是他如何发 现了他能够忍受一切” （威廉·福克纳）

2. Endure specifies a continuing capacity to face pain or hardship: Endure 尤指长期面对痛苦、艰难的能力： “Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed” (Samuel Johnson). “无论在何处，人类生活总是忍受的苦难多， 享受的欢乐少” （塞缪尔·约翰逊）。

3. Stand implies resoluteness of spirit: Stand 指精神上坚毅，有决心： The pain was too intense to stand. Actors who can't stand criticism shouldn't perform in public. 痛苦强烈得无法承受。受不了批评的演员 不应在公众中演出。

4. Abide and the more emphatic suffer suggest resignation and forbearance: Abide 及语气更强烈的suffer 指顺从、听 任、容忍、自制： She couldn't abide fools. 她最不能与蠢人打交道。 He suffered their insults in silence. 他默默忍受他们所施加的伤害。

5. Tolerate, in its principal application to something other than pain, connotes reluctant acceptance despite reservations: Tolerate 主要用于指除痛苦之外的一些事 情，含有尽管保留但勉强接受之意： “A decent. . . examination of the acts of government should be not only tolerated, but encouraged” (William Henry Harrison). “对 于政府就 作而做的正当检查，我们不仅 应该认可，而且应该鼓励” （威廉·亨利·哈 里森）

Par. 1 -2 The merger between Daimler-Benz and Chrysler. Par. 3 Possible problems with the merger. Par. 4 -5 Two pressures that contribute to consolidation.

scope 1. the opportunity to do or develop something [+ for]: Is there much scope for initiative in this job? 2. the range of things that a subject, activity, book etc deals with: a repertoire of extraordinary scope | beyond/within the scope of: The politics of the country is really beyond the scope of a tourist book like this. | widen/broaden the scope of (=include more things): an attempt to broaden the scope of the inquiry

Alliteration: The title “Mercedes Goes to Motown” is alliterative. Other examples of alliteration: pet project; persistent and profitcrushing over-capacity；from Bolivia to Bangladesh

thanks to sb. /sth. (sometimes ironic 有时作反语）because of sb. /sth. e. g. The play succeeded thanks to fine acting by all the cast. Thanks to the bad weather, the match had been cancelled.

crush v. 1 to press something so hard that it breaks or is damaged: e. g. ：His leg was crushed in the accident. be crushed to death (=die by being crushed): Two people were crushed to death in the rush to escape. 2 to press something in order to break it into very small pieces, or into a powder: e. g. ：Crush two cloves of garlic

3. crush sb's hopes/enthusiasm/confidence etc to make someone lose all hope, confidence etc 4. to make someone feel extremely upset or shocked: e. g. : Sara was crushed by their insults.

Consolidation might have happened long ago, were governments not as transfixed by the prestige of cars as are the people who drive them. Just as ordinary car-owners believe that first-rate cars can give them a power to impress others, so governments believe that a strong car industry can bring impressive power to the countries and as a result they fail to take action properly. Otherwise, cross-border mergers might have happened long ago

Previous attempts to merge across borders have sometimes been frustrated by national rivalries Plans to unite with manufacturers of other countries have met with failure because of competitions between countries. frustrate vt. to prevent (sb. ) from doing or achieving sth. ；to make (efforts, etc. ) useless; to defeat; to upset or discourage (sb. )

In his attempts to escape, the prisoner was frustrated by a watchful guard. The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. Film directors are sometimes frustrated actors. The lack of money and facilities depressed and frustrated him.

Where nationalism is muted, the industry has done better. The industry will prosper if people do not attach too much importance to patriotic feelings associated with nationally made cars

Par. 6: Unfavorable influence of politics. Par. 7: Benefit of muted nationalism. Par. 8 The reason why the nationality of a car can be kept and what mergers should be.

regardless ad. Paying not attention to sb. /sth. ; whatever may happen e. g. : I protested, but she carried on regardless. It was useless, but I talked to her regardless of paying no attention to e. g. : Regardless of danger, he climbed the tower. He continued speaking, regardless of my feeling on the matter.

The trick of Daimler and Chrysler, and of the mergers to come, will be to throw out the nationalism of car making, while keeping its nationality. The best thing for Daimler and Chrysler, and the mergers be to do, will be forget /get rid of nationalism (too great love of and pride in one’s country) in the car industry and at the same time keep the nationalities of the cars to be built.