Passage 2
Donegal is located in the windswept wilderness. It might seem an odd place to find one of Europe’s most dynamic companies. But a small assembly unit making a muscular stimulation product for leisure and healthcare is blazing a trail. BMR Teoranta—the company title in Irish—has quietly established a market for itself, making products for muscular therapy and body toning using the brand name Slendertone which it bought in 1989.
Mr. Kevin McDonnell, the chairman, chief executive and owner of 95 per cent of the company, is a little vague about the source of his success. Part of it, he says, must be the strong work ethic in the area. He points out that half his employees are from Galswegian families with their Scottish attitudes of thrift and industry. Mr. McDonnell bought the company for $300,000 and BMR sales are now growing at around 50-60 per cent a year.
The medical products business, where growth is less dramatic, but margins are attractive, is seen as the source of the company’s future earnings. In the US alone, the market for muscular stimulation products has jumped from $88m to more than $200m this year.
Many BMR products are not available over the counter but through catalogues. The company is looking at special advertising on video shopping channels. In the US companies like BMR are prohibited from selling medical products over the counter. In Europe this situation is slightly different. BMR, for example, is starting to sell its consumer range in Carrefour superstores in France and its range is available in pharmacies. However, under a European Union ruling similar to US laws, companies that sell such products will have to reequip their factories to meet new health standards. “I know it sounds a bit smart, but our products have always been seen as industry standard,” says Mr. Kevin McDonnell.
The company spends ￡1,000,000 a year on research and development, quite a large sum for a company of its size.
47.A big company would normally set its manufacturing site in a more prosperous area than Donegal.
A、True
B、False
【正确答案】：A
【名师解析】:题目中提到Donegal是一个位于风大的荒野地区的地方，而BMR Teoranta是一家在该地区设立了小型装配单元的公司，专门生产用于休闲和医疗保健的肌肉刺激产品。尽管Donegal可能看起来不是设立大型制造企业的典型地点，但BMR Teoranta却在这里取得了成功。然而，题目中并没有明确指出BMR Teoranta是一个"big company"，而是描述了它在Donegal的成功，并且提到了它在医疗产品领域的增长和盈利前景。因此，根据题目内容，选项A "True" 是正确的，因为通常大型公司会选择在更繁荣的地区设立制造基地，而Donegal并不被描述为一个繁荣地区。
