1. Shareholders seemed to have a final say in topmanagement.

　　2. This news suggests bitter competition betweencomputer giants.

　　3. Some people would take advantage of this periodof time to make money.

　　4. The man would be detained on a foreign land forsome time.

　　5. The buy-out seemed to benefit both companies.

　　6. The company hadn't entered into the American market before it was merged.

　　7. The change in personnel has boosted shareholders' confidence in the company.

　　A. In a deal valued at more than $ 5 billion, Crown Cork, a leading American packaging companywith little presence in Europe, agreed to buy Camaud Metalbox of France, one of Europe'slargest packagers with little presence in America. A frenzy of dealing sent shares in bothsoaring around 15%.

　　B. Another top French businessman was placed under investigation for corruption. The man isbeing questioned about a 1991 water-supply contract. Meanwhile, a German businessman,who went missing after his property empire collapsed last year, embarrassing the many banksthat had backed him, was arrested in Miami. Extradition could take months.

　　C. Kmart, America's second-largest retailer, is to have a new boss to replace Joseph Antonini,who was forced to step down earlier this year by unhappy shareholders. Shares soared on thenews that Floyd Hall, former chief executive of Target Stores, a rival discounter, is to step intoAntonini's shoes.

　　D. IBM tried to counter the growth of Microsoft, the world's largest software firm, by launchinga $3.3 billion hostile bid for Lotus Development, a software company. The $ 60-a –share offerboosted the price of Lotus shares by 89%. IBM sees Lotus's Notes software as a passport intothe growing market for ‘groupware' programs that help networks of computers talk to eachother.

　　E. The European Commission published a consultative paper on its promise single currency, inwhich it suggested that there would have to be four years between a final decision to launchthe new currency and its arrival in citizens' pockets. It predicted that speculators would usethe interval to make destabilising bets on the final conversion rates of the old currencies. Butthe commission is sticking to its deadline of January 1999 for economic and monetary union.

　　重點單詞

　　conversion[kən'və:ʃən]

　　property['prɔpəti]

　　rival['raivəl]

　　benefit['benifit]

　　interval['intəvəl]

　　personnel[.pə:sə'nel]

　　commission[kə'miʃən]

　　unhappy[ʌn'hæpi]

　　dealing['di:liŋ]

　　extradition[,ekstrə'diʃən]