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　　Tesco is preparing a legal battle to clear its name of involvement in the dairy price-fixing scandal that has cost consumers ?270 million. Failure to prove that it had no part in collusion with other supermarkets and dairy processors may land it with a fine of at least ?80 million. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said yesterday that Asda, Sainsbury’s and the former Safeway, plus the dairy companies Wiseman, Dairy Crest and Cheese Company, had admitted being in a cartel to fix prices for milk, butter and cheese. They were fined a total of just over ?116 million as part of a leniency deal offered by the watchdog to companies that owned up quickly to anti-competitive behaviour.

　　Officials at the OFT admitted privately that they did not think they would ever discover which company or individual had initiated the pricing formula. But the watchdog recognises that at the time supermarkets were under pressure from politicians and farmers to raise the cost of milk to save dairy farming, though it is not certain that money found its way to farmers. The OFT claimed in September that it had found evidence that the retail chains had passed future milk prices to dairy companies, which then reached a fixed price among themselves.

　　The average cost to each household is thought to be ?11.25 over 2002 and 2003. Prices went up an extra 3p on a pint of milk, 15p on a quarter of a pound of butter and 15p on a half pound of cheese. There is no direct recompense for consumers, however, and the money will go to the Treasury. The National Consumer Council gave warning that the admissions would dent consumer confidence in leading high street names and that people would become sceptical of their claims. Farmers For Action, the group of farmers that has led protests over low milk prices since 2000, is seeking legal advice on whether it can now bring a claim for compensation.

　　The OFT investigation is continuing, however, in relation to Tesco, Morrisons and the dairy group Lactalis McLelland, and any legal action is expected to be delayed until that is completed.

　　Tesco was defiant and said that it was preparing a robust defence of its actions. Lucy Neville-Rolfe, its executive director, said: “As we have always said, we acted independently and we did not collude with anyone. Our position is different from our competitors and we are defending our own case vigorously. Our philosophy is to give a good deal to customers.”

　　Morrisons has supported the OFT in inquiries into the former Safeway business that it took over, but in a statement said that it was still making “strong representations” in its defence. A spokeswoman for Lactalis McLelland said that the company was “co-operating” with the OFT. Industry insiders suggested that the three companies were deliberately stalling the OFT investigation.

　　Sainsbury’s admitted yesterday that it had agreed to pay ?26 million in fines, but denied that it had sought to profiteer. Justin King, the chief executive, said he was disappointed that the company had been penalised for actions meant to help farmers but recognised the benefit of a speedy settlement. Asda declined to say how much it would pay in fines and also said that its intention had been to help farmers under severe financial pressure.

　　1. From the first paragraph, we may infer that _____

　　[A] Tesco is the most resolute among all the retailers to defend its reputation.

　　[B] it is already proved that Tesco has colluded with Asda, Wiseman, Dairy Crest and Cheese Company in fixing the dairy price.

　　[C] Tesco is offered a leniency deal of ?80 million because of its quick response to the anti-competitive behaviors

　　[D] Tesco is trying its best to prove its innocence of the scandal.

　　2. Who is most probably the initiator of the pricing formula?

　　[A] Retail chains.

　　[B] Farmers.

　　[C] Dairy companies.

　　[D] Politicians

　　3. The word “defiant” (Line 1, Paragraph 5) most probably means _____.

　　[A] resisiting

　　[B] angry

　　[C] deficient

　　[D] confident

　　4. We may infer from Morrisons’ statement that _____

　　[A] Morrisons turn out to be the most defentive when dealing with OFT.

　　[B] Morrisons is reluctant to support the inquiries into the former Safeway business.

　　[C] industry insiders suggest that Morrisons was trying to delay the OFT investigation with non-cooperation.

　　[D] Morrisons indeed refuses to admit its involvement in the scandal.

　　5. The writer’s attitude to Tesco can be said to be _____

　　[A] biased.

　　[B] objective.

　　[C] sympathetic.

　　[D] optimistic.

　　篇章剖析：

　　本文介紹了目前奶制品公司因內部設定價格而面臨受到的調查和處罰的狀況。第一段由Tesco公司目前正在通過法律解決自己面臨的困境引出本文的話題;第二段是追溯牛奶價格上漲的原因;第三段是講述牛奶價格上漲對消費者的損害;第四段又回到Tesco事件上，描述了其態度;第五段和第六段講述其他相關公司對該事件的看法和態度。

　　詞匯注釋：

　　processor n. 加工者 `cartel n. 卡特爾, 聯合企業, 壟斷集團

　　leniency n. 寬大，慈悲,慈悲寬厚的行為 dent v.使凹下, 凹進, 削弱

　　defiant adj.挑戰的, 挑釁的, 目中無人的 stall v.(使)停轉, (使)停止, 遲延

　　profiteer vi. 牟取暴利

　　難句突破:

　　(1) They were fined a total of just over ?116 million as part of a leniency deal offered by the watchdog to companies that owned up quickly to anti-competitive behaviour.

　　主體句式: They were fined a total of just over ?116 million as part of a leniency deal…

　　結構分析: 這是一個復合句，其成分比較復雜。offered by the watchdog to companies作為一個分詞短語來修飾前面的deal, 而后面that引導的定語從句又修飾companies。

　　句子譯文:他們總共的罰金只有差不多一億一千六百萬，這是監察部門對積極坦白反競爭行為公司的一種寬大處理。

　　(2) The National Consumer Council gave warning that the admissions would dent consumer confidence in leading high street names and that people would become sceptical of their claims.

　　[主體句式] The National Consumer Council gave warning…

　　[結構分析] 這是一個復合句，句子的賓語warning 帶著兩個同位語從句，以that 引導;第一個同位語從句中，confidence in 后面是一個分詞短語作介詞的賓語。

　　[句子譯文]全國消費者委員會警告說長此以往會損害消費者的信心，人們也會逐漸懷疑委員會的聲明。