The bride andgroom, a guitar-wielding rock vixen and a muscle-rippling dragon-slayer, makean odd couple-so it is hardly surprising that nobody expected their marriage.But on December 2nd the video-game companies behind "Guitar Hero" and"World of Warcraft", Activision and Vivendi Games respectively,announced plans for an elaborate merger. Vivendi, a French media group, willpool its games unit, plus $1.7 billion in cash, with Activision; the combinedentity will then offer to buy back shares from Activision shareholders, raisingVivendi’s stake in the resulting firm to as much as 68%.

Activision’s boss, Bobby Kotick, will remainat the helm of the new company, to be known as Activision Blizzard inrecognition of Vivendi’s main gaming asset: its subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment, the firmbehind "World of Warcraft", an online swords-and-sorcery game with9.3m subscribers. The deal was unexpected, but makes excellent strategic sense,says Piers Harding-Rolls of Screen Digest, a consultancy. Activision has longcoveted "World of Warcraft", and Vivendi gets a bigger games divisionand Activision’s talented management team to run it. As well as making sense for bothparties, the $18.9 billion deal-the biggest ever in the video-gamesindustry-says a lot about the trends now shaping the business.

The first isa push into new markets, especially online multiplayer games, which areparticularly popular in Asia, and "casual" games that appeal topeople who do not regard themselves as gamers. "World of Warcraft" isthe world’s most popular online subscription-based game and is hugely lucrative.Blizzard will have revenues of $1.1 billion this year and operating profits of$520m. "World of Warcraft" is really "a social network with manyentertainment components," says Mr Kotick.

Similarly, heargues, "Guitar Hero" and other games that use new kinds ofcontroller, rather than the usual buttons and joysticks, are broadening theappeal of gaming by emphasising its social aspects, since they are easy to pickup and can be played with friends. Social gaming, says Mr Kotick, is "themost powerful trend" building new audiences for the industry. He isclearly excited at the prospect of using Blizzard’s expertise to launch an onlineversion of "Guitar Hero" for Asian markets. Online music games suchas "Audition Online", which started in South Korea, are "massivein Asia," says Mr Harding-Rolls.

A secondtrend is media groups’ increasing interest in gaming. Vivendi owns Universal Music, one of the"big four" record labels. As the record industry’s sales decline, it makes sense tomove into gaming, a younger, faster-growing medium with plenty ofcross-marketing opportunities. (Activision might raid Universal’s back catalogue for material forits music games, for example, which might in turn boost music sales.) Othermedia groups are going the same way. Last year Viacom, an American media giant,acquired Harmonix, the company that originally created "Guitar Hero".It has been promoting its new game, "Rock Band", using its MTV musicchannel. Viacom has also created online virtual worlds that tie in with severalof its television programmes, such as "Laguna Beach" and "PimpMy Ride". Disney bought Club Penguin, a virtual world for children, inAugust. And Time Warner is involved in gaming via its Warner Bros Home Entertainmentdivision, which publishes its own titles and last month bought TT Games, theBritish firm behind the "Lego Star Wars" games.

1. The mergerof these two companies are out of expection because_____.

[A] they aimto design marriage games which sound really weird.

[B] It isdifficult for big companies of two different nations to end up in successfulcooperation.

[C] Theirgames are by no means similar to each other in terms of their styles.

[D] It wouldbe illegal for them to buy back the shares.

2. Why PiersHarding-Rolls thinks this marriage has strategic sense?

[A]Activision has been longing to cooperate with "World of Warcraft".

[B] Vivendicould get bigger portion and better management resources from Activision.

[C] This dealis beneficial to both sides for they can combine their talents to make variousgames.

[D] This dealmake them become decisive factor of this industry’s trend in the future.

3. The word"lucrative" (Line 3, Paragraph 3) most probably means_____.

[A] profitable

[B] luxurious

[C]entertaining

[D] populous

4. The firsttrend shaping the industry is _____.

[A] pushingpeople online to develop their own games.

[B] buildingnew audiences for the new network of games.

[C] promotinggames with new kinds of controller.

[D] expandingthe reign of traditional games and creating new market.

5.From thetwo trends we can infer that_____.

[A] thismerger is a great success because it goes along with both trends.

[B] this dealcan strengthen both parties to surpass the other media giants..

[C] thisallied group is powerful enough to shape the industry’s trends.

[D] it isindeed of strategic sense to have initiate and carry out the merger

篇章剖析：

本篇文章講述了兩個(gè)游戲公司Activision和Vivendi的聯(lián)姻。第一段講述兩個(gè)公司的結(jié)合令人吃驚以及他們的聯(lián)姻方式;第二段講述這次聯(lián)姻具有一定的戰(zhàn)略意義;第三段和第四段講述他們結(jié)合后塑造的第一個(gè)行業(yè)發(fā)展趨勢(shì);第五段講述第二個(gè)發(fā)展趨勢(shì)。

詞匯注釋：

wield v. 操縱，熟練掌握

vixen n. 潑婦, 悍婦, 刁婦

Slayer n. 殺人者, 兇手

stake n. 股份

helm n. 領(lǐng)導(dǎo)或支配地位：

inrecognition of 承認(rèn)...而; 為酬答...而

covert v. 垂涎, 覬覦

lucrativeadj. 獲利的，賺錢的

joystick n. 操縱桿

tie in v.結(jié)合成一體

難句突破：

(1) Activision’s boss, Bobby Kotick, will remain at the helm of the new company, to beknown as Activision Blizzard in recognition of Vivendi’s main gaming asset: itssubsidiary Blizzard Entertainment, the firm behind "World ofWarcraft", an online swords-and-sorcery game with 9.3m subscribers.

[主體句式] Activision’s boss will remain at the helm.

[結(jié)構(gòu)分析]這個(gè)一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單句，具有復(fù)雜的表語(yǔ)。表語(yǔ)是由一個(gè)固定介詞短語(yǔ)充當(dāng)，介詞的賓語(yǔ)比較復(fù)雜，帶有復(fù)雜的修飾成份。to be known as...是做the new company的定語(yǔ)，冒號(hào)后面的成份是用來說明main gaming asset的，可以看作是同位語(yǔ);冒號(hào)后面的成份中，后面兩個(gè)短語(yǔ)都是前面一個(gè)的同位語(yǔ)，用來對(duì)Blizzard Entertainment作進(jìn)一步的解釋。

(2) Similarly, he argues, "Guitar Hero" and other games that use newkinds of controller, rather than the usual buttons and joysticks, arebroadening the appeal of gaming by emphasising its social aspects, since theyare easy to pick up and can be played with friends

[主體句式] He argues, "GuitarHero" and other games are broadening the appeal... since...

[結(jié)構(gòu)分析]這是一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單句，argues后面是賓語(yǔ)從句，結(jié)構(gòu)比較復(fù)雜，帶有原因狀語(yǔ)從句。賓語(yǔ)從句的主語(yǔ)有that引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句，by emphasising its social aspects是方式狀語(yǔ)修飾are broadening ...。

[句子譯文]他說，同樣的，"吉他英雄"和其他游戲也沒有用普通的按鈕和操作桿，而是使用了新式控制器，通過重點(diǎn)強(qiáng)調(diào)其社會(huì)性的特點(diǎn)來增加游戲的吸引力，因?yàn)檫@些游戲很容易就可以開始，而且可以和朋友一起玩。

題目分析：

1. The merger of these two companies are out of expectionbecause_____.1.這兩個(gè)公司的聯(lián)姻出乎人們的意料是因?yàn)開____。

[A] They aim to design marriage games which sound really weird.[A]他們計(jì)劃要設(shè)計(jì)一些結(jié)婚游戲，聽起來非常奇怪。

[B] It is difficult for big companies of two different nations toend up in successful cooperation.[B]兩家屬于不同國(guó)家的公司要成功合作是非常困難的。

[C] Their games are by no means similar to each other in terms ofstyle.[C] 它們研發(fā)的游戲有完全不同的風(fēng)格。

[D] It would be illegal for them to buy back the shares.[D]他們要想買回股票是不可能的。

[答案] C

[難度系數(shù)] ☆

[分析] 細(xì)節(jié)題。文章開頭就用形象的比喻說明這兩家公司的結(jié)合很奇怪，提到的揮舞著吉他的搖滾悍婦和一身肌肉的殺龍者，從下面段落中可以推斷是兩家公司研發(fā)的不同的游戲的風(fēng)格代表，因此是因?yàn)樗麄冄邪l(fā)產(chǎn)品截然不同才令這次聯(lián)合讓人大吃一驚。因此，C為正確答案。A選項(xiàng)有一定的迷惑性，但是要注意到文中第一段的 marriage不是"結(jié)婚"的意思，而是"合并、合作"的意思。B和D選項(xiàng)都與原文意思無關(guān)。

2.Why Piers Harding-Rolls thinks this marriage has strategicsense?2.為什么皮爾斯·哈丁·羅爾斯認(rèn)為這次聯(lián)姻具有戰(zhàn)略意義?

[A] Activision has been longing to cooperate with "World ofWarcraft".[A] Activision公司一直想要和"戰(zhàn)艦世界"合作。

[B] Vivendi could get bigger portion and better management resourcesfrom Activision.[B]Vivendi公司可以從Activision公司那里獲得更大的份額和更好的管理資源。

[C] This deal is beneficial to both sides for they can combine theirtalents to make various games.[C] 這個(gè)交易對(duì)雙方都有益，因?yàn)樗麄兛梢猿浞纸Y(jié)合各自的人才推出更加多種多樣的游戲。

[D] This deal make them become decisive factor of this industry’s trend inthe future.[D]這個(gè)交易使得他們成為本行業(yè)未來發(fā)展趨勢(shì)的決定性力量。

[答案]D

[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆☆來源：考試大

[分析]推理題。皮爾斯認(rèn)為這項(xiàng)交易的達(dá)成有重大的戰(zhàn)略意義，那么應(yīng)該是對(duì)未來有一定的意義。緊接著就說Activision已經(jīng)覬覦"戰(zhàn)艦世界"很久了，而且Vivendi公司也可以獲得對(duì)本公司有利的幫助，而更重要的是它們從此后將對(duì)本行業(yè)發(fā)展潮流有著決定作用。因此，比較而言，答案D最佳。

3. The word "lucrative" (Line 3, Paragraph 3) mostprobably means_____.3."lucrative"這個(gè)詞(第三段第三行)最有可能的意思是_____。

[A] profitable[A] 盈利的

[B] luxurious[B] 奢華的

[C] entertaining[C] 娛樂的

[D] populous[D] 人多的

[答案]A

[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆

[分析] 猜詞題。根據(jù)上下文來判斷該詞的意思，上文是說"戰(zhàn)艦世界"是世界上最流行的網(wǎng)上基于注冊(cè)的游戲，而下文說的是"暴風(fēng)雪"今年可以贏利的數(shù)額，那么可以大致推斷是關(guān)于"戰(zhàn)艦世界"盈利方面的，答案A 最為符合。D選項(xiàng)populous 與 popular意思不同，但從字面上看有一定迷惑定，需要加強(qiáng)對(duì)形似單詞的區(qū)分能力。

4. The first trend shaping the industry is _____.4. 該產(chǎn)業(yè)塑造的第一個(gè)趨勢(shì)是_____。

[A] pushing people online to develop their own games.[A] 促使人們上網(wǎng)來開發(fā)自己的游戲。

[B] building new audiences for the new social network of games.[B] 為了新的社會(huì)交際游戲創(chuàng)造新的玩家。

[C] promoting games with new kinds of controller.[C] 利用新的操作器推展游戲。

[D] expanding the reign of traditional games and creating newmarket.[D] 拓展傳統(tǒng)游戲的范疇并拓展新的市場(chǎng)。

[答案]D

[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆☆

[分析]細(xì)節(jié)題。第三段和第四段講述了塑造該產(chǎn)業(yè)的第一個(gè)趨勢(shì)，其中第三段第一句話就提到了這一點(diǎn)，就是推進(jìn)新的領(lǐng)域，包括傳統(tǒng)的游戲和新開發(fā)的游戲，尤其是多人游戲和休閑游戲。接下來提到的社交性游戲等等都是為了說明這一點(diǎn)，因此，選項(xiàng)D是正確答案。A選項(xiàng)指出讓玩家自己來開發(fā)游戲，這顯然是超出很多人的能力的，因此是不現(xiàn)實(shí)的。B選項(xiàng)表示只是第一個(gè)趨勢(shì)中的部分內(nèi)容，其概述不如D選項(xiàng)更加全面。

5. From the two trends we can infer that_____.5.從這兩個(gè)趨勢(shì)我們可以推斷出_____。

[A] this merger is a great success because it goes along with bothtrends.[A] 這個(gè)聯(lián)盟是一個(gè)成功，因?yàn)樗�同時(shí)符合了兩個(gè)趨勢(shì)。

[B] this deal can strengthen both parties to surpass the other mediagiants.[B] 這個(gè)交易對(duì)雙方都有利，能幫助他們趕超其他的媒體巨頭

[C] this allied group is powerful enough to shape the industry’s trends.[C]新同盟集團(tuán)又足夠的能力來決定該產(chǎn)業(yè)的發(fā)展趨勢(shì)。

[D] it is indeed of strategic sense to initiate and carry out themerger..[D] 發(fā)起和實(shí)施這個(gè)聯(lián)合確實(shí)具有戰(zhàn)略性的意義。

[答案]D

[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆

[分析] 推理題。文章講述了該產(chǎn)業(yè)的兩個(gè)發(fā)展趨勢(shì)，提及這兩個(gè)趨勢(shì)是由皮爾斯的一番話引起的，他認(rèn)為這次聯(lián)姻具有戰(zhàn)略意義，189億美元的成交足可以決定該行業(yè)的新趨勢(shì)。那么緊接這講述這兩個(gè)趨勢(shì)其實(shí)就是事實(shí)上的證明，因此，答案C最符合題意。A選項(xiàng)首先表述錯(cuò)誤，因?yàn)楝F(xiàn)在沒有人能夠預(yù)言這項(xiàng)合作是否是一個(gè)成功。同時(shí)，B和C選項(xiàng)的表述過于夸大，不符合文章的客觀語(yǔ)調(diào)。

參考譯文：

新娘是揮舞著吉他的搖滾悍婦，新郎是一身肌肉的殺龍者，這一對(duì)是在古怪，也怪不得沒有人相信他們能結(jié)合在一起。但是12月2日，"吉他英雄"和"戰(zhàn)艦世界 " 的兩個(gè)視頻游戲公司--Activision和Vivendi公司宣布了他們的精心策劃后的聯(lián)姻。Vivendi是一家法國(guó)媒體公司，它準(zhǔn)備將自己的游戲單元以及17億美元現(xiàn)金注入到Activision公司。聯(lián)合體自后再?gòu)腁ctivision股東那里買回股份，將Vivendi在聯(lián)合公司的股份提到到 68%。

新公司仍由Activision公司老總博比·Kotick來執(zhí)舵，新公司名為"Activision 暴風(fēng)雪"，去這個(gè)名字是為了酬謝Vivendi注入的主要的游戲資產(chǎn)--子公司"暴風(fēng)雪娛樂"，該公司屬于"戰(zhàn)艦世界"，是一個(gè)擁有930萬注冊(cè)者的在線"劍與巫術(shù)"游戲。這筆生意出乎大家意料，但卻有非凡的戰(zhàn)略意義，Screen Digest的顧問皮爾斯·哈丁·羅爾斯這樣說。Activision 對(duì)"戰(zhàn)艦世界"已經(jīng)覬覦很久，而Vivendi公司也因此獲得了更大的游戲份額，擁有Activision公司優(yōu)秀的管理團(tuán)隊(duì)來為之運(yùn)營(yíng)。同樣對(duì)雙方有利的是，189億美元的分量是視頻游戲產(chǎn)業(yè)中最大的，因此其決策將對(duì)未來該產(chǎn)業(yè)的發(fā)展趨勢(shì)起著舉足輕重的作用。

第一個(gè)趨勢(shì)是推進(jìn)新的市場(chǎng)，尤其在風(fēng)靡于亞洲的在線多人游戲領(lǐng)域和"休閑游戲"，這種游戲?qū)δ切┎话炎约寒?dāng)玩游戲的人有吸引力。"戰(zhàn)艦世界"是全球最流行的在線注冊(cè)游戲，盈利巨大。"暴風(fēng)雪"今年收入將達(dá)11億美元，操作利潤(rùn)就有5.2億美元。Kotick 先生評(píng)價(jià)說，"戰(zhàn)艦世界"是真正的"擁有眾多娛樂成份的交際性網(wǎng)絡(luò)"。

他說，同樣的，"吉他英雄"和其他游戲也沒有用普通的按鈕和操作桿，而是使用了新式控制器，通過重點(diǎn)強(qiáng)調(diào)其交際性的特點(diǎn)來增加游戲的吸引力，因?yàn)檫@些游戲很容易就可以開始，而且可以和朋友一起玩。Kotick 先生說，交際游戲是為這個(gè)產(chǎn)業(yè)創(chuàng)造新玩家的"最強(qiáng)大的趨勢(shì)"。很明顯地，他談到利用"暴風(fēng)雪"的技術(shù)來向亞洲市場(chǎng)推行"吉他英雄"在線版的前景時(shí)十分興奮。哈丁·羅爾斯說，象最先開始于韓國(guó)的"在線試聽"這樣的在線音樂游戲"在亞洲是份額很大的"。

第二種趨勢(shì)就是媒體集團(tuán)在游戲方面興趣不斷增加。Vivendi擁有"四大"唱片之一的"全球音樂"。由于唱片行業(yè)銷售衰退，它就轉(zhuǎn)向游戲，這是更為年輕且成長(zhǎng)迅速的一種媒介，擁有很多跨市場(chǎng)型的機(jī)遇。(比如Activision 可能就要從"全球音樂"曲目中為自己的音樂游戲搜索一些素材，而這樣反過來又促進(jìn)了唱片的銷售。)其他的媒體集團(tuán)也大體一樣。去年，美國(guó)媒體巨頭 Viacom收購(gòu)了Harmonix公司，"吉他巨人"最初就是由該公司創(chuàng)造出來的。目前它利用自己的MTV音樂頻道推展新游戲--"搖滾樂隊(duì)"。 Viacom還創(chuàng)造了在線虛擬世界，這個(gè)游戲和幾個(gè)電視頻道如"Laguna Beach"、"Pimp MyRide"取得了聯(lián)合。迪斯尼也于八月份購(gòu)買了"企鵝俱樂部"，這是專門為孩子創(chuàng)造的虛擬世界。華納時(shí)代通過其華納兄弟家庭娛樂公司也涉足游戲業(yè)，該公司出版了自己的名稱，并于上個(gè)月收購(gòu)了TT 游戲公司(該公司為"lego 星際爭(zhēng)霸"游戲旗下的英國(guó)公司。)