Macy’s reported its sales plunged 5.2% in November and December at stores open more than a year, a disappointing holiday season performance that capped a difficult year for a department store chain facing wide-ranging challenges. Its flagship stores in major U.S. cities depend heavily on international tourist spending, which shrank at many retailers due to a strong dollar. Meanwhile, Macy’s has simply struggled to lure consumers who are more interested in spending on travel or dining out than on new clothes or accessories.

    The company blamed much of the poor performance in November and December on unseasonably warm weather. “About 80% of our company’s year-over-year declines in comparable sales can be attributed to shortfalls（短缺）in cold-weather goods,” said chief executive Terry Lundgren in a press release. This prompted the company to cut its forecasts for the full fourth quarter.

    However, it’s clear that Macy’s believes its troubles run deeper than a temporary aberration（偏离）off the thermometer. The retail giant said the poor financial performance this year has pushed it to begin implementing $400 million in cost-cutting measures. The company pledged to cut 600 back-office positions, though some 150 workers in those roles would be reassigned to other jobs. It also plans to offer “voluntary separation” packages to 165 senior executives. It will splash staffing at its fleet of 770 stores, a move affecting some 3,000 employees.

    The retailer also announced the locations of 36 stores it will close in early 2016. The company had previously announced the planned closures, but had not said which locations would be affected. None of the chain’s stores in the Washington metropolitan area are to be closed.

    Macy’s has been moving aggressively to try to remake itself for a new era of shopping. It has plans to open more locations of Macy’s Backstage, a newly-developed off-price concept which might help it better compete with ambitious T.J. Maxx. It’s also pushing ahead in 2016 with an expansion of Bluemercury, the beauty chain it bought last year. At a time when young beauty shoppers are often turning to Sephora or Ulta instead of department store beauty counters, Macy’s hopes Bluemercury will help strengthen its position in the category.

    One relative bright spot for Macy’s during the holiday season was the online channel, where it rang up “double-digit” increases in sales and a 25% increase in the number of orders it filled. That relative strength would be consistent with what was seen in the wider retail industry during the early part of the holiday season. While Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday all saw record spending online, in-store sales plunged over the holiday weekend.

51. A）It is attributable to the rising value of the U.S. dollar.

解析：首先在题目中找到定位词shrinking spending以及international tourists，然后回原文定位至首段第2句。定位句指出，梅西百货在主要城市的旗舰店主要依赖国际游客消费，但是很多零售店旅游消费开始缩水，原因就是美元过于强劲。最后看选项：A）主要由于美元价格的上升，与定位句信息一致，故正确。B）是全球经济衰退的直接结果，定位句未提及，故错误。C）这反映出了游客对消费品兴趣的改变，定位句未提及，故错误。D）这对美国的零售行业是一个潜在的威胁，定位句未提及，故错误。