Unit 3
Since the start of the year the price of sugar futures has almost doubled. This is welcome news for Brazil, the world’s largest producer of the stuff. The price spike is mainly explained by unfavourable weather—too little rain in India and too much in Brazil. India’s sugar production fell by almost half last year, turning the country from the second-biggest producer to the biggest importer. For Brazil’s big sugar companies the timing is perfect: the credit crunch set off a wave of consolidation in an industry that had been resistant to it. The firms that have survived now have more scale and lots of cash.
Louis Dreyfus, a French commodities giant, bought Santelisa Vale, a large processor of sugar cane, in April. Santelisa had expanded fast and taken on too much debt, a common mistake in an industry that had the highest levels of investment of any industry in Brazil before the crunch. Dreyfus, which already trades sugar, soya beans and other Brazilian agricultural goods, wanted to bolster its position. At the other end of the spectrum is Copersucar, a giant cooperative that unites lots of small growers in Sao Paulo state.
The biggest of the lot is Cosan, which alone produces 2.5% of the world’s sugar. Last year it bought Exon Mobil’s distribution and retailing business in Brazil to help it sell its ethanol. This year it bought Nova America, a smaller sugar company. Like many of Brazil’s big companies Cosan mixes family ownership with capital from BNDES, Brazil’s government-owned development bank. And like many other Brazilian giants, it has suffered a vicious feud within the founding family over who should run the business.
Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello fought the other members of his family for ten years in Brazil’s courts before winning control of Cosan. In 2007 he strengthened his grip by setting up Cosan Limited, a company with a dual share structure that accords some of Mr Mello’s shares ten times the voting weight of ordinary ones. To do this, he listed Cosan Limited on the New York Stock Exchange, since Brazil’s Novo Mercado, where Cosan was listed at the time, does not allow such arrangements.
Mr Mello, who is splendidly forthright, did not let the subsequent controversy bother him overly. “You’re pissing on sludge and you don’t know what’s under your feet,” he once told Dilma Rousseff, one of the front-runners for next year’s presidential election, during a discussion of the government’s energy policy. Marcos Lutz, an executive at Cosan, argues that the fuss about corporate governance is a distraction. The firm is professionally managed, he insists, and it was no surprise to shareholders that Mr Mello wanted to preserve an outsize say in the firm’s strategy.
The market for ethanol has been growing at 17% a year, much faster than that for sugar, points out Luiz Pereira de Araújo of ETH Bioenergia, another fast-growing sugar firm. Such growth is likely to persist, thanks to increased sales of flex-fuel cars, which can run on petrol or ethanol. What is more, the Brazilian sugar-cane growers’ association is optimistic that Europe and America will eventually reduce tariffs on Brazilian ethanol. If that happens, Brazil’s growers, crushers and distillers will be even happier than they are already.
注（1）：本文选自Economist；
注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1题模仿2006年真题Text 1第4题，第2题模仿2014年真题Text 3第4题，第3题模仿2013年真题Text 1第3题，第4题模仿2014年真题Text 2第2题，第5题模仿2013年真题Text 2第5题。
1. The main reason for the boom of sugar futures in Brazil is ______.
A) India’s withdrawal from the market
B) the credit crunch
C) the irregular global distribution of rain
D) the industrial consolidation
2. Which of the following is NOT a similarity between Cosan and other companies?
A) state-owned
B) family conflict
C) initially private ownership
D) including state capital
3. The word “feud” (Line 5, Paragraph 3) in the article most probably means ______.
A) relationship
B) fault
C) circle
D) hostility
4. Which of the following problems may exert the most negative influence on Cosan?
A) The dual share structure is not permitted by Brazil’s Novo Mercado.
B) The fight for an absolute control of the company.
C) The switch to ethanol falls short of strategic foresight.
D) The controversy concerning Cosan Limited’s listing in New York Stock Exchange.
5. Toward the prospect of Brazil’s sugar industry in the foreseeable future, the writer’s attitude can be said to be ______.
A) indifferent
B) doubtful
C) objective
D) optimistic
篇章剖析
本篇文章介绍了巴西白糖业的发展现状，重点放在该国最大的白糖生产集团Cosan公司。第一、二段总体介绍了白糖业的生产现状以及企业活动；第三至五段具体介绍Cosan公司及其现任掌门人梅洛先生的状况，尤其强调了公司内部的斗争、股权政策调整等问题；最后一段进行了总结，指出巴西白糖业的前景是十分乐观的。
词汇注释
futures /ˈfjuːtʃə(r)z/ n. 期货
spike /spaɪk/ n. （价格、音量等）突然飙升，激增，猛涨
crunch /krʌntʃ/ n. 财政困难，货币紧缺，信贷严重不足
bolster /ˈbəʊlstə/ v. 支撑，加固
spectrum /ˈspektrəm/ n. 范围，幅度
ethanol /ˈeθənɒl/ n. 乙醇
forthright /fɔːθˈraɪt/ adj. 直率的；直截了当的
fuss /fʌs/ n. 异议，抱怨
outsize /ˈaʊtsaɪz/ adj. 较大的，超出一般的
难句突破
In 2007 he strengthened his grip by setting up Cosan Limited, a company with a dual share structure that accords some of Mr Mello’s shares ten times the voting weight of ordinary ones.
主体句式：he strengthened his grip...
结构分析：本句的主干为he strengthened his grip...，其后的a company with a dual share structure作句子宾语Cosan Limited的同位语。其后又带有一个由that引导的定语从句，来修饰先行词share structure。
句子译文：2007年，他通过成立Cosan有限公司进一步加强了个人势力，这家公司采用双重股权模式，规定梅洛先生持有的一些股票的权重是普通股的十倍。
题目分析
1. C 细节题。文章第一段提及“The price spike is mainly explained by unfavourable weather”，接着又具体说明了印度降雨太少，而巴西降雨太多。因此，白糖期货价格激增是由全球降雨量分布不均导致的。
2. A 细节题。文章第三段最后两句话讨论了Cosan公司与其他公司的相似点“就像巴西的许多大公司一样，Cosan公司的股本结构包括家族股份和国有股份——来自巴西国有开发银行BNDES的持股。同时也像巴西其他大公司一样，该公司的家族成员们也为了公司的管理权而争得你死我活。”虽然有国有资本的参与，但该公司并不属于国有，因此A不正确。
3. D 语义题。feud这个词的意思是“部落或家属间的世仇”，即使不知道这个意思也可以根据上下文来猜测：文章第四段紧接着就说梅洛先生跟家族成员打了十年官司才赢得对公司的管理权，可见家族矛盾非常大，彼此之间因为经济利益而充满敌意，因此D正确。
4. B 细节题。根据文章第五段，公司管理的纷争使企业失去了凝聚力，因此这是一个最大的问题，故B正确。A表述符合文章内容，但是这并不是一个问题，梅洛先生转而将Cosan有限公司在纽约上市，而且这一做法并不违法，D也不正确。C属于无中生有，在文章中没有体现。
5. D 情感态度题。作者在最后一段中指出，乙醇销量增长极快，同时种植商协会也认为欧美国家将最终降低对巴西乙醇的进口关税，这些都大大有利于巴西白糖业的发展。可见作者对于巴西白糖业的未来是持乐观态度的。
参考译文
自今年年初以来，白糖的期货价格几乎翻了一倍，这对于巴西这个世界上最大的白糖生产国来说无疑是一个好消息。白糖价格飙升主要与今年天气不利有关——印度的降雨过少，巴西则降雨过多。与去年相比，印度的白糖产量几乎下降了一半，这使该国从世界第二大白糖生产国转变为最大的白糖进口国。这对于巴西的大型白糖生产公司来说是一个绝佳时机：尽管白糖业向来抵制公司合并，但信贷紧缩仍然引发了合并潮。而渡过了这一难关并生存下来的公司，不仅规模变得更大，同时也持有了大量现金。
法国商品生产巨头路易斯·德赖弗斯于四月份收购了一家大型甘蔗加工厂Santelisa Vale。Santelisa Vale由于扩张过快而负债累累，这是在巴西信贷紧缩发生前，任何企业在某一行业中达到最高投资水平时的通病。德赖弗斯早前就与巴西开展了白糖、大豆和其他农产品的贸易往来，希望能够巩固其地位。另一种做法的典型代表是由圣保罗州的许多小型农场联合组建的一家大型合作社Copersucar。
而规模最大的要数Cosan，该公司生产的白糖占到了全世界白糖产量的2.5%。去年，该公司收购了埃克森·美孚公司在巴西的分销和零售业务，以更好地销售乙醇。今年Cosan又收购了一家规模更小的制糖公司Nova America。就像巴西的许多大公司一样，Cosan公司的股本结构包括家族股份和国有股份——来自巴西国有开发银行BNDES的持股。同时也像巴西其他大公司一样，该公司的家族成员们也为了公司的管理权而争得你死我活。
鲁宾斯·奥米特·西尔弗伊亚·梅洛与他的家族成员们在巴西法庭上斗了十年才赢得了对Cosan的控制权。2007年，他通过成立Cosan有限公司进一步加强了个人势力，这家公司采用双重股权模式，规定梅洛先生持有的一些股票的权重是普通股的十倍。为了实现这一目的，他让Cosan有限公司在纽约证券交易所上市，因为当时Cosan公司所在的巴西圣保罗股票交易所不允许这样的安排。
梅洛先生为人非常坦率，他并未让持续不断的争论过度烦扰他。在一次关于政府能源政策的讨论中，他对下一届总统的热门候选人之一迪尔玛·鲁塞夫说：“你在跟烂泥巴生气，但你却不知道你脚下是什么。”Cosan的一位管理人员马科·卢茨认为，关于公司管理的小纷争只是花边新闻。他强调说，这家公司有专业化的管理，但梅洛先生想对公司的战略持有绝对的话语权，这对股东们来说并不足为奇。
另一个快速成长的糖业公司ETH Bioenergia的路易斯·佩雷拉·德阿劳约说，市场对于乙醇的需求量在过去的一年中增长了17%，比糖的增长要快得多。并且，多亏灵活燃料型汽车的销量上涨，这类汽车既可用汽油也可用乙醇驱动，这一增长仍将持续。不仅如此，巴西的糖甘蔗种植商协会乐观地认为欧美国家将最终降低对巴西乙醇的进口关税，如果这种情况发生，那么巴西的种植商、压榨商及蒸馏商将更加喜上眉梢。
