考研考试

【单选题】Quite apart from any awkwardness in the way he handled the hostile bid by rival Oracle for the firm he was running,CraigConway seems to have been an unpopularCEO of PeopleSoft, a large enterprise-software company. Three managers who reported directly to him were apparently close to resigning in frustration, and the board was unhappy about "mis-statements" he made to analysts. So even though there was no "smoking gun", as the board put it, Mr.Conway was fired on October 1st and replaced by the firm’s founder,DavidDuffiel
D、
Mr.Duffield’s brief is now to address Mr.Conway’s perceived shortcomings and his obsession with fending off the $ 7.7 billion takeover bid from Oracle.At the same time, says Paul Hamerman of Forrester, a research firm, Mr.Conway offered no compelling technological vision for PeopleSoft, and seemed deaf to "quite a noise level of customer complaints". Mr.Conway’s firing prompted much speculation that PeopleSoft might now be more prepared to negotiate with Oracle rather than fight it.But PeopleSoft insists that both Mr.Duffield and the board focus on a long-term strategy for the company, not a quick sale.
On the same day that Mr.Conway was fired, however, Oracle scored another victory whenAmerica’s JusticeDepartment said that it would not appeal against a judge’s decision to allow the takeover on antitrust grounds. So, this week, the battle moved to another courtroom, inDelaware, where both companies are registere
D、In this suit, Oracle is claiming that People. Soft is not properly looking after the interests of its shareholders by using a "poison pill" and a "customer assurance programme" to keep Oracle at bay.
The poison pill is a very common provision, and one that PeopleSoft has had for almost a decade. It floods the market with new shares if a predator buys more than 20% of PeopleSoft’s equity, thus making an acquisition very difficult. The customer-rebate programme, by contrast, was put in place last June. It guarantees that any PeopleSoft client can get a refund for between two and five times its software-licence fee if support for that software is ever cut off. To Oracle, this represents another dirty tactic, since it amounts to a potential liability of more than $ 2 billion. To PeopleSoft, however, it was not only fair but necessary to retain customers, since Oracle said at the time of its bid that it planned to kill PeopleSoft’s products and switch clients to its own. The two companies lawyers are likely to be at it for another few weeks, which could yet see a higher bid from Oracle.
The phrase "smoking gun" in the first paragraph probably means
A、conclusive evidence.

B、unconvincing excuse.
C、fundamental conflict.

D、irresistible cause.
网考网参考答案：A
网考网解析：
本题问第一段中“smoking gun”的意思。文章首段说克雷格·康韦在处理对手甲骨文公司的恶意竞标时十分笨拙；三位直接向他负责的经理几近辞职；而且董事会对他向分析人士所做的“虚假陈述”很不满意。他因此而不受欢迎。但这三件事都不属于确凿的证据。所以即使解雇了康韦先生，董事会也承认他们没有确凿的证据。因此，[A]"确凿的证据"正确。 [B]不能令人信服的借口：与上下文逻辑不符。 [C]基本矛盾：文中讨论的是康韦先生被解职的原因，而不是矛盾的问题。 [D]不可抗拒的原因：文中并非指天灾等不可抗拒的原因，而是说董事会没有特别确凿的证据能够证明康韦先生失职。 document.getElementById("warp").style.display="none"; document.getElementById("content").style.display="block"; 查看试题解析出处>>