湖北省赤壁市2016高考英语二轮复习 阅读理解高效练习（6.docVIP

湖北赤壁市2016高考英语阅读理解二轮高效练习（6） Charlie Bell became chief executive of McDonald’s in April. Within a month doctors told him that he had colorectal cancer. After stock market hours on November 22nd, the fast-food firm said he had resigned; it would need a third boss in under a year. Yet when the market opened, its share price barely dipped then edged higher. After all, McDonald’s had, again, shown how to act swiftly and decisively in appointing a new boss. Mr. Bell himself got the top job when Jim Cantalupo died of a heart attack hours before he was due to address a convention of McDonald’s franchisees(获特许经营联营店者). Mr. Cantalupo was a McDonald’s veteran brought out of retirement in January 2003 to help remodel the firm after sales began falling because of dirty restaurants, indifferent service and growing concern about junk food. He devised a recovery plan, backed by massive marketing, and promoted Mr. Bell to chief operating officer. When Mr. Cantalupo died, a rapidly convened(召集) board confirmed Mr. Bell, a 44-year-old Australian already widely seen as his heir apparent, in the top job. The convention got its promised chief executive’s address, from the firm’s first non-American leader. Yet within weeks executives had to think about what to do if Mr. Bell became too ill to continue. Perhaps Mr. Bell had the same thing on his mind: he usually introduced Jim Skinner, the 60-year-old vice-chairman, to visitors as the “steady hand at the wheel”. Now Mr. Skinner, an expert on the firm’s overseas operations, becomes chief executive, and Mike Roberts, head of its American operations, joins the board as chief operating officer. Is Mr. Roberts now the new heir apparent? Maybe. McDonald’s has brought in supposedly healthier choices such as salads and toasted sandwiches worldwide and, instead of relying for most of its growth on opening new restaurants, has turned to upgrading its 31,000 existing ones. America has done best at this; under Mr. Roberts, like-for-like sales there wer