2015年考研英语阅读理解精读P26—工学类.docVIP

2015考研英语阅读理解精读P26—工学类 　Passage 26 　　Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packards chief executive, came out fighting on November 14th. In a conference call with analysts, she announced better-than-expected quarterly results, even though profits were down. Ms Fiorina also reiterated why she believes her $24 billion plan to acquire Compaq is the best way forward for HP, despite objections by Hewlett and Packard family members. Last week Walter Hewlett, whose father co-founded the company, expressed concern that the merger would increase HPs exposure to the shrinking PC market and would distract managers from the more important task of navigating through the recession. 　　There are two ways to defend the deal. One is to point out its advantages, which is what Ms Fiorina did this week. Merging with Compaq, she said, would enable HP to reach its goals faster than it could on its own. The deal would improve HPs position in key markets such as storage and high-end computing, as well as the economics of its PC business. It would double the size of HPs sales force and broaden its customer base, providing more potential clients for its services and consulting arms. It would improve cashflow, margins and efficiency by adding breadth and depth to HP. Having spent the last several months planning the integration of these two companies, we are even more convinced of the power of this combination, Ms Fiorina concluded. 　　It sounds too good to be true, and it almost certainly is. But the other way to defend the deal is to point out that, even if it was a bad idea to start with, abandoning it could be even worse--a view that, unsurprisingly, Ms Fiorina chose not to advance, but is being quietly put forward by the deals supporters. 　　Scrapping the merger would be extremely painful for a number of reasons. Since the executive teams of both firms have committed themselves to the deal, they would be utterly discredited if it fell apart, and would probably have to go. Under the terms of the merger agr