考研
Text 4A writer said yesterday that Richard M. Scrushy, the former chief executive of HealthSouth, paid her through a public relations firm to produce several favorable articles for an Alabama newspaper that he reviewed before publication during his fraud
题目
Text 4A writer said yesterday that Richard M. Scrushy, the former chief executive of HealthSouth, paid her through a public relations firm to produce several favorable articles for an Alabama newspaper that he reviewed before publication during his fraud trial last year.
The articles appeared in The Birmingham Times, a black-owned weekly in Birmingham, Ala. Mr. Scrushy was acquitted in June in a six-month trial there on all 36 counts against him, despite testimony from former HealthSouth executives who said he presided over a huge accounting fraud. "I sat in that courtroom for six months, and I did every thing possible to advocate for his cause," Audrey Lewis, the author of the articles, said in a telephone interview. She said she received $10,000 from Mr. Scrushy through the Lewis Group, a public relations firm, and another $1,000 to help buy a computer. "Scrushy promised me a lot more than what I got," she said.
Charles A. Russell, a spokesman for Mr. Scrushy, said he was not aware of an explicit agreement for the Lewis Group to pay Ms. Lewis. The payments to Ms. Lewis were first reported by The Associated Press yesterday. "There's nothing there I think Richard would have any part of," Mr. Russell said.
Mr. Russell said that Mr. Scrushy reviewed the articles before they were published. "Richard thought she was doing a little, 'F.Y.I., here's what I'm writing,' " Mr. Russell said. Ms. Lewis said that Mr. Russell, a prominent Denver-based crisis communications consultant, was also involved in providing her with financial compensation. She said Mr. Russell wrote her a $2,500 personal check at the end of May 2005; Mr. Russell said that was true. "She was looking for freelance community-relations work after the trial," Mr. Russell said.
Ms. Lewis came into Mr. Scrushy's sphere through Believers Temple Church; she attends services and works as an administrator there. She and Rev. Herman Henderson, the pastor, were part of a group that appeared in court with Mr. Scrushy and often prayed with him during breaks. Before and during the trial, in which 11 of the 18 jurors were black, Mr. Scrushy, who is white, forged ties with Birmingham's African-American population. He joined a predominantly black church, and his foundation donated to it and other black congregations.
Mr. Henderson also said he received payments from Mr. Scrushy in exchange for building support for him among blacks. Mr. Scrushy said in a statement yesterday that his foundation donated money to Mr. Henderson's church, but said the payments were unrelated to his case. "My foundation donated to his church building fund and to a Katrina relief effort that his church sponsored," Mr. Scrushy said. "That's it. Period."
Ms. Lewis, 31, said she was disclosing details about the financial arrangement because Mr. Scrushy still owes her and Mr. Henderson a significant amount of money. Ms. Lewis provided copies of a retainer agreement that Mr. Scrushy signed last April with the Lewis Group, a public relations firm controlled by Jesse J. Lewis Sr., 82 the founder of The Birmingham Times, and a check issued to her in May from the Lewis Group. (Ms Lewis and Mr. Lewis are not related.)
第36题：The word \\\"acquitted\\\" (Line 2, Para. 2) probably means ________.
A. discharged
B. arrested
C. quitted
D. punished
相似问题和答案
第1题：
Toward the new business wave, the writer\'s attitude can be said to be _______ .
A optimistic
B objective
C pessimistic
D biased
第2题：
3 At a recent international meeting of business leaders, Seamus O’Brien said that multi-jurisdictional attempts to
regulate corporate governance were futile because of differences in national culture. He drew particular attention to
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and International Corporate Governance
Network (ICGN) codes, saying that they were, ‘silly attempts to harmonise practice’. He said that in some countries,
for example, there were ‘family reasons’ for making the chairman and chief executive the same person. In other
countries, he said, the separation of these roles seemed to work. Another delegate, Alliya Yongvanich, said that the
roles of chief executive and chairman should always be separated because of what she called ‘accountability to
shareholders’.
One delegate, Vincent Viola, said that the right approach was to allow each country to set up its own corporate
governance provisions. He said that it was suitable for some countries to produce and abide by their own ‘very
structured’ corporate governance provisions, but in some other parts of the world, the local culture was to allow what
he called, ‘local interpretation of the rules’. He said that some cultures valued highly structured governance systems
while others do not care as much.
Required:
(a) Explain the roles of the chairman in corporate governance. (5 marks)
(a) Roles of the chairman in corporate governance
The chairman is the leader of the board of directors in a private or public company although other organisations are often run
on similar governance lines. In this role, he or she is responsible for ensuring the board’s effectiveness as a unit, in the service
of the shareholders. This means agreeing and, if necessary, setting the board’s agenda and ensuring that board meetings
take place on a regular basis.
The chairman represents the company to investors and other outside stakeholders/constituents. He or she is often the
‘public face’ of the organisation, especially if the organisation must account for itself in a public manner. Linked to this,
the chairman’s roles include communication with shareholders. This occurs in a statutory sense in the annual report
(where, in many jurisdictions, the chairman must write to shareholders each year in the form. of a chairman’s statement)
and at annual and extraordinary general meetings.
Internally, the chairman ensures that directors receive relevant information in advance of board meetings so that all
discussions and decisions are made by directors fully apprised of the situation under discussion. Finally, his or her role
extends to co-ordinating the contributions of non-executive directors (NEDs) and facilitating good relationships between
executive and non-executive directors.
第3题：
yesterday we visited John．He said his health was _________ (改善，提高)．
improving
第4题：
此题为判断题(对，错)。
第5题：
The middle-aged lady surrounded by the mass is said_______.
A. to be main
B. being main
C. to be chief
D. being chief
参考译文：被群众包围的中年女人据说是领袖。固定句型be said to be，main用作名词时为：主要部分，体力，力量，大陆，要点，干线，与上文无联系。
第6题：
According to the text, the career of Jack Lindsay as a writer can be described as _____.
［A］inventive
［B］productive
［C］reflective
［D］inductive
本题考查推理引申。文章首段提出 “杰克·林德萨有大约四十部小说、一些戏剧、几部诗集、还有历史、评论以及自传作品，同时兼任编辑和翻译家。他是一位非常多产的作家。”原文中的prolific与［B］项中的productive近义，都意为“多产的”。
第7题：
(b) Assess the benefits of the separation of the roles of chief executive and chairman that Alliya Yongvanich
argued for and explain her belief that ‘accountability to shareholders’ is increased by the separation of these
roles. (12 marks)
(b) Separation of the roles of CEO and chairman
Benefits of separation of roles
The separation of the roles of chief executive and chairman was first provided for in the UK by the 1992 Cadbury provisions
although it has been included in all codes since. Most relevant to the case is the terms of the ICGN clause s.11 and OECD
VI (E) both of which provide for the separation of these roles. In the UK it is covered in the combined code section A2.
The separation of roles offers the benefit that it frees up the chief executive to fully concentrate on the management of the
organisation without the necessity to report to shareholders or otherwise become distracted from his or her executive
responsibilities. The arrangement provides a position (that of chairman) that is expected to represent shareholders’ interests
and that is the point of contact into the company for shareholders. Some codes also require the chairman to represent the
interests of other stakeholders such as employees.
Having two people rather than one at the head of a large organisation removes the risks of ‘unfettered powers’ being
concentrated in a single individual and this is an important safeguard for investors concerned with excessive secrecy or
lack of transparency and accountability. The case of Robert Maxwell is a good illustration of a single dominating
executive chairman operating unchallenged and, in so doing, acting illegally. Having the two roles separated reduces
the risk of a conflict of interest in a single person being responsible for company performance whilst also reporting on
that performance to markets. Finally, the chairman provides a conduit for the concerns of non-executive directors who,
in turn, provide an important external representation of external concerns on boards of directors.
Tutorial note: Reference to codes other than the UK is also acceptable. In all cases, detailed (clause number) knowledge
of code provisions is not required.
Accountability and separation of roles
In terms of the separation of roles assisting in the accountability to shareholders, four points can be made.
The chairman scrutinises the chief executive’s management performance on behalf of the shareholders and will be
involved in approving the design of the chief executive’s reward package. It is the responsibility of the chairman to hold
the chief executive to account on shareholders’ behalfs.
Shareholders have an identified person (chairman) to hold accountable for the performance of their investment. Whilst
day-to-day contact will normally be with the investor relations department (or its equivalent) they can ultimately hold
the chairman to account.
The presence of a separate chairman ensures that a system is in place to ensure NEDs have a person to report to outside the
executive structure. This encourages the freedom of expression of NEDs to the chairman and this, in turn, enables issues to
be raised and acted upon when necessary.
The chairman is legally accountable and, in most cases, an experienced person. He/she can be independent and more
dispassionate because he or she is not intimately involved with day-to-day management issues.
第8题：
此题为判断题(对，错)。
第9题：
A dream
B dreamed
C have
D has
第10题：
_____ is that he was blessed with a very good memory.
A:What can be said with certainty of Richard Nixon
B:What of Richard Nixon with certainty can be said
C:What can say with certainty of Richard Nixon
D:What of Richard Nixon with certainty can say