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The bride and groom, a guitar-wielding rock vixen and a muscle-rippling dragon-slayer, make an 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, will pool its games unit, plus $1.7 billion in cash, with Activision; the combined entity will then offer to buy back shares from Activision shareholders, raising Vivendi's stake in the resulting firm to as much as 68%.
Activision's boss, Bobby Kotick, will remain at the helm of the new company, to be known as Activision Blizzard in recognition of Vivendi's main gaming asset: its subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment, the firm behind “World of Warcraft”, an online swords-and-sorcery game with 9.3m subscribers. The deal was unexpected, but makes excellent strategic sense, says Piers Harding-Rolls of Screen Digest, a consultancy. Activision has long coveted “World of Warcraft”, and Vivendi gets a bigger games division and Activision's talented management team to run it. As well as making sense for both parties, the $18.9 billion deal—the biggest ever in the video-games industry—says a lot about the trends now shaping the business.
The first is a push into new markets, especially online multiplayer games, which are particularly popular in Asia, and “casual” games that appeal to people who do not regard themselves as gamers. “World of Warcraft” is the 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 many entertainment components,” says Mr Kotick.
Similarly, he argues, “Guitar Hero” and other games that use new kinds of controller, rather than the usual buttons and joysticks, are broadening the appeal of gaming by emphasising its social aspects, since they are easy to pick up and can be played with friends. Social gaming, says Mr Kotick, is “the most powerful trend” building new audiences for the industry. He is clearly excited at the prospect of using Blizzard's expertise to launch an online version of “Guitar Hero” for Asian markets. Online music games such as “Audition Online”, which started in South Korea, are “massive in Asia,” says Mr Harding-Rolls.
A second trend 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 to move into gaming, a younger, faster-growing medium with plenty of cross-marketing opportunities. (Activision might raid Universal's back catalogue for material for its music games, for example, which might in turn boost music sales.) Other media 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 music channel. Viacom has also created online virtual worlds that tie in with several of its television programmes, such as “Laguna Beach” and “Pimp My Ride”. Disney bought Club Penguin, a virtual world for children, in August. And Time Warner is involved in gaming via its Warner Bros Home Entertainment division, which publishes its own titles and last month bought TT Games, the British firm behind the “Lego Star Wars” games.
1. The merger of these two companies are out of expection because_____
[A] they aim to design marriage games which sound really weird.
[B] it is difficult for big companies of two different nations to end up in successful cooperation.
[C] their games are by no means similar to each other in terms of their styles.
[D] it would be illegal for them to buy back the shares.
2. Why Piers Harding-Rolls thinks this marriage has strategic sense?
[A] Activision has been longing to cooperate with “World of Warcraft”.
[B] Vivendi could get bigger portion and better management resources from Activision.
[C] This deal is beneficial to both sides for they can combine their talents to make various games.
[D] This deal make 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 first trend shaping the industry is _____
[A] pushing people online to develop their own games.
[B] building new audiences for the new network of games.
[C] promoting games with new kinds of controller.
[D] expanding the reign of traditional games and creating new market.
5.From the two trends we can infer that_____
[A] this merger is a great success because it goes along with both trends.
[B] this deal can strengthen both parties to surpass the other media giants.
[C] this allied group is powerful enough to shape the industry’s trends.
[D] it is indeed of strategic sense to have initiate and carry out the merger.
篇章剖析：
本篇文章讲述了两个游戏公司Activision和Vivendi的“联姻”。第一段讲述两个公司的结合令人吃惊以及他们的联姻方式;第二段讲述这次联姻具有一定的战略意义;第三段和第四段讲述他们结合后塑造的第一个行业发展趋势;第五段讲述第二个发展趋势。
词汇注释：
wield v. 操纵，熟练掌握 vixen n. 泼妇, 悍妇, 刁妇
slayer n. 杀人者, 凶手 stake n. 股份
helm n. 领导或支配地位 in recognition of 承认……而; 为酬答……而
covet v. 垂涎, 觊觎 lucrative adj. 获利的，赚钱的
joystick n. 操纵杆 tie in结合成一体
难句突破：
(1) Activision's boss, Bobby Kotick, will remain at the helm of the new company, to be known as Activision Blizzard in recognition of Vivendi's main gaming asset: its subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment, the firm behind “World of Warcraft”, an online swords-and-sorcery game with 9.3m subscribers.
[主体句式] Activision’s boss will remain at the helm.
[结构分析]这个一个简单句，具有复杂的表语。表语是由一个固定介词短语充当，介词的宾语比较复杂，带有复杂的修饰成分。to be known as…是作the new company的定语，冒号后面的成分是用来说明main gaming asset的，可以看作是同位语;冒号后面的成分中，后面两个短语都是前面一个的同位语，用来对Blizzard Entertainment作进一步的解释。
(2) Similarly, he argues, “Guitar Hero” and other games that use new kinds of controller, rather than the usual buttons and joysticks, are broadening the appeal of gaming by emphasising its social aspects, since they are easy to pick up and can be played with friends.
[主体句式] He argues, “Guitar Hero” and other games are broadening the appeal… since…
[结构分析]这是一个简单句，argues后面是宾语从句，结构比较复杂，带有原因状语从句。宾语从句的主语有that引导的定语从句，by emphasising its social aspects是方式状语修饰are broadening …。
[句子译文]同样的，他说，“吉他英雄”和其他游戏也没有用普通的按钮和操作杆，而是使用了新式控制器，通过重点强调其社会性的特点来增加游戏的吸引力，因为这些游戏很容易就可以开始，而且可以和朋友一起玩。
题目分析：
1. The merger of these two companies are out of expection because_____1.这两个公司的联姻出乎人们的意料是因为_____。
[A] They aim to design marriage games which sound really weird.[A]他们计划要设计一些结婚游戏，听起来非常奇怪。
[B] It is difficult for big companies of two different nations to end up in successful cooperation. [B]两家属于不同国家的公司要成功合作是非常困难的。
[C] Their games are by no means similar to each other in terms of style. [C] 它们研发的游戏有完全不同的风格。
[D] It would be illegal for them to buy back the shares. [D]他们要想买回股票是不合法的。
[答案] C
[难度系数] ☆
[分析] 细节题。文章开头就用形象的比喻说明这两家公司的结合很奇怪，挥舞着吉他的摇滚悍妇和一身肌肉的杀龙者是两家公司研发的不同的游戏的风格代表，因此是因为他们研发产品截然不同才令这次联合让人大吃一惊。因此，C为正确答案。A选项有一定的迷惑性，但是要注意到文中第一段的marriage不是“结婚”的意思，而是“合并、合作”的意思。B和D选项都与原文意思无关。
2.Why Piers Harding-Rolls thinks this marriage has strategic sense?2.为什么Piers Harding-Rolls认为这次联姻具有战略意义?
[A] Activision has been longing to cooperate with “World of Warcraft”.[A] Activision公司一直想要和“战舰世界”合作。
[B] Vivendi could get bigger portion and better management resources from Activision.[B]Vivendi公司可以从Activision公司那里获得更大的份额和更好的管理资源。
[C] This deal is beneficial to both sides for they can combine their talents to make various games.[C] 这个交易对双方都有益，因为他们可以充分结合各自的人才推出更加多种多样的游戏。
[D] This deal make them become decisive factor of this industry’s trend in the future. [D]这个交易使得他们成为本行业未来发展趋势的决定性力量。
[答案]D
[难度系数] ☆☆☆☆
[分析]推理题。Piers认为这项交易的达成有重大的战略意义，那么应该是对未来有一定的意义。紧接着就说Activision已经觊觎“战舰世界”很久了，而且Vivendi公司也可以获得对本公司有利的帮助，而更重要的是它们从此后将对本行业发展潮流有着决定作用。因此，比较而言，答案D最佳。
3. The word “lucrative” (Line 3, Paragraph 3) most probably means_____3.“lucrative”这个词(第三段第三行)最有可能的意思是_____
[A] profitable.[A] 盈利的。
[B] luxurious.[B] 奢华的。
[C] entertaining.[C] 娱乐的。
[D] populous.[D] 人多的。
[答案]A
[难度系数] ☆☆
[分析] 猜词题。根据上下文来判断该词的意思，上文是说“战舰世界”是世界上最流行的基于网上注册的游戏，而下文说的是“暴风雪”今年可以赢利的数额，那么可以大致推断是关于“战舰世界”盈利方面的，答案A 最为符合。D选项populous 与 popular意思不同，但从字面上看有一定迷惑性，需要加强对形似单词的区分能力。
4. The first trend shaping the industry is _____4. 塑造该产业的第一个趋势是_____。
[A] pushing people online to develop their own games.[A] 促使人们上网来开发自己的游戏。
[B] building new audiences for the new social network of games.[B] 为了新的社会交际游戏创造新的玩家。
[C] promoting games with new kinds of controller.[C] 利用新的操作器推出游戏。
[D] expanding the reign of traditional games and creating new market. [D] 拓展传统游戏的范畴并拓展新的市场。
[答案]D
[难度系数] ☆☆☆☆
[分析]细节题。第三段和第四段讲述了塑造该产业的第一个趋势，其中第三段第一句话就提到了这一点，就是推进新的领域，包括传统的游戏和新开发的游戏，尤其是多人游戏和休闲游戏。接下来提到的社交性游戏等等都是为了说明这一点，因此，选项D是正确答案。A选项指出让玩家自己来开发游戏，这显然是超出很多人的能力的，因此是不现实的。B选项表示只是第一个趋势中的部分内容，其概述不如D选项更加全面。
5. From the two trends we can infer that_____5.从这两个趋势我们可以推断出_____
[A] this merger is a great success because it goes along with both trends.[A] 这个联盟是一个成功，因为它同时符合了两个趋势。
[B] this deal can strengthen both parties to surpass the other media giants.[B] 这个交易对双方都有利，能帮助他们赶超其他的媒体巨头
[C] this allied group is powerful enough to shape the industry’s trends. [C]新同盟集团又足够的能力来决定该产业的发展趋势。
[D] it is indeed of strategic sense to initiate and carry out the merger.[D] 发起和实施这个联合确实具有战略性的意义。
[答案]D
[难度系数] ☆☆☆
[分析] 推理题。文章讲述了该产业的两个发展趋势，提及这两个趋势是由皮尔斯的一番话引起的，他认为这次联姻具有战略意义，189亿美元的成交足可以决定该行业的新趋势。那么紧接着讲述这两个趋势其实就是事实上的证明，因此，答案D最符合题意。A选项首先表述错误，因为现在没有人能够预言这项合作是否是一个成功。同时，B和C选项的表述过于夸大，不符合文章的客观语调。
参考译文：
新娘是挥舞着吉他的摇滚悍妇，新郎是一身肌肉的杀龙者，这一对实在古怪，也怪不得没有人相信他们能结合在一起。但是12月2日，“吉他英雄”和“战舰世界” 的两个视频游戏公司——Activision和Vivendi公司宣布了他们的精心策划的联姻。Vivendi是一家法国媒体公司，它准备将自己的游戏单元以及17亿美元现金注入到Activision公司。联合体自后再从Activision股东那里买回股份，将Vivendi在联合公司的股份提到到68%。
新公司仍由Activision公司老总Bobby Kotick来执舵，新公司名为“Activision 暴风雪”，取这个名字是为了酬谢Vivendi注入的主要的游戏资产——子公司“暴风雪娱乐”，该公司属于“战舰世界”，是一个拥有930万注册者的在线“剑与巫术”游戏。这笔生意出乎大家意料，但却有非凡的战略意义，Screen Digest的顾问Piers Harding-Rolls这样说。Activision 对“战舰世界”已经觊觎很久，而Vivendi公司也因此获得了更大的游戏份额，拥有Activision公司优秀的管理团队来为之运营。同样对双方有利的是，189亿美元的交易是视频游戏产业中最大的，因此其决策将对未来该产业的发展趋势起着举足轻重的作用。
第一个趋势是推进新的市场，尤其在风靡于亚洲的在线多人游戏领域和“休闲游戏”，这种游戏对那些不把自己当玩游戏的人有吸引力。“战舰世界”是全球最流行的在线注册游戏，盈利巨大。“暴风雪”今年收入将达11亿美元，操作利润就有5.2亿美元。Kotick 先生评价说，“战舰世界”是真正的“拥有众多娱乐成分的交际性网络”。
同样的，他说， “吉他英雄”和其他游戏也没有用普通的按钮和操作杆，而是使用了新式控制器，通过重点强调其交际性的特点来增加游戏的吸引力，因为这些游戏很容易就可以上手，而且可以和朋友一起玩。Kotick 先生说，交际游戏是为这个产业创造新玩家的“最强大的趋势”。很明显，他谈到利用“暴风雪”的技术来向亚洲市场推行“吉他英雄”在线版的前景时十分兴奋。Harding-Rolls说，像最先开始于韩国的“在线试听”这样的在线音乐游戏“在亚洲占有相当大的份额”。
第二种趋势就是媒体集团在游戏方面兴趣不断增加。Vivendi拥有“四大”唱片之一的“全球音乐”。由于唱片行业销售衰退，它就转向游戏，这是更为年轻且成长迅速的一种媒介，拥有很多跨市场型的机遇。(比如Activision 可能就要从“全球音乐”曲目中为自己的音乐游戏搜索一些素材，而这样反过来又促进了唱片的销售。)其他的媒体集团也大体一样。去年，美国媒体巨头Viacom收购了Harmonix公司——“吉他巨人”最初就是由该公司创造出来的。目前它利用自己的MTV音乐频道推展新游戏——“摇滚乐队”。Viacom还创造了在线虚拟世界，这个游戏和几个电视频道如“Laguna Beach”、“Pimp My Ride”取得了联合。迪斯尼也于八月份购买了“企鹅俱乐部”，这是专门为孩子创造的虚拟世界。华纳时代通过其华纳兄弟家庭娱乐公司也涉足游戏业，该公司出版了自己的名称，并于上个月收购了TT 游戏公司(该公司为“Lego 星际争霸”游戏旗下的英国公司)。
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