商务英语中级阅读指导课时(6)

　　剑桥大学考试委员会设立BEC考试的目的是在全球范围内建立一个测试商界雇员英语水平的统一标准，使BEC证书被跨国公司和非英语国家的大公司用作商务英语测试标准，以评估在真实商务环境下雇员的英语水平，使人力资源部门能准确评估雇员商务英语的运用技能。因此，与我国的四、六级考试相比较，BEC考试更侧重对英语实际运用能力的考查。换句话说，BEC中的考查内容都是可以马上拿到实际工作中去的，不会出现所谓高分低能现象。

　　课时六

　　试题 1

　　PART TWO

　　Questions 8-12

　　1 Read this letter to the editor of The Economist.

　　2 Choose the best sentence from the list A-I to fill each of the blanks.

　　3 For each blandmark one letteron your Answer Sheet.

　　4 Do not mar4 any letter twice.

　　5 One answer has been given as an example.

　　Sir，

　　You state on February 13 th that New Mexico has “few natural resources”， ____ example____ In 1991 New Mexico ranked fourth in the United States in production of natural gas， seventh in oil and tenth in non-fuel minerals ____8____ Non-fuel minerals contributed about $ 1 billion and coal $ 509 million.

　　Taxes from production of fuels and minerals， and lease payments on state lands have been set aside by legislative acts to endow two permanent funds worth about $ 5.65 billion， ____9____ In addition， during fiscal year 1991 ， payments to New Mexico from taxes on federal lands were S 108 million， all earmarked for public education.

　　____10____ About $566 million came from taxes and permanent-fund earnings attributable to oil and gas production. ____11____ Tourism is an important industry in Mew Mexico， yet its economic impact on the public sector is dwarfed by that of mineral production.

　　New Mexico came through the recent recession in much better shape than most other states. It does not have a deficit. ____12____ States that rely primarily on a sales tax or on an income tax have big problems during economic downturns. Income growth per head in New Mexico averaged 6.1/00 in the year to October 1992-one if the fastest growth rates in the United States.

　　Charles Chapin

　　Example： C

　　A. That it has a broadly based tax structure is an important point.

　　B. In 1992 it produced more oil than Colorado and Kansas combined.

　　C. However， the extractive mineral industry in New Mexico is one of the state’s strongest economic forces.

　　D. During fiscal year 1992 New Mexico raised permanent funds worth about $6.1 billion.

　　E. The combined value of oil and gas production was $ 2.8 billion.

　　F. Some 16，000 employees work in the extractive industries and their wages are among the highest of any major industry.

　　G. The $39 million earned by these funds in 1991 was used to finance education and other public services.

　　H. Only S 25 million came from agricultural taxes.

　　I. New Mexico’s extractive mineral industries contribute about a third of the state’s $ 1.9 billion general-fund income in fiscal year 1991.

　　答案：8. E 9. G 10.I 11. F 12. A

　　试题 2

　　PART TWO

　　Questions 8-12

　　1 Read this proposal about the CPT Word Processor.

　　2 Choose the best sentence from the list A-I to fill each of the blanks.

　　3 For each blankmark one letteron your Answer Sheet.

　　4 De not mark any letter twice.

　　5 One answer has been given as an example.

　　15 June 1993

　　Ms. Martha Weston

　　Word Processing Supervisor

　　ABC Company

　　Post Office Box 1072

　　28 King’s Street London

　　Dear Ms. Weston，

　　Performance of the CPT Equipment

　　I’m Pleased to tell you about our experience with the CPT Word Processor as you requested recently____example____ I assume you have looked at several machines and have narrowed down your choices.

　　Here are my observations.

　　An approach to adopting word processors

　　Eighteen months ago we adopted CPT equipment on limited scale with the idea in mind that we could gradually get rid of electric typewriters as we became familiar with the word processor. ____8____ The stations are actually in pairs so each pair can share a common printer ____9____

　　We use the equipment as dedicated word processors， although we do have the ability to link up with our computer installation.

　　The step-at-a-time development of our word-processing center has， we think， saved us money and training time. ____10____

　　Performance

　　In terms of performance， the CPT equipment is excellent. ____11____ Moreover our service contract and warranty have covered all maintenance costs.

　　We have software packages that check spelling and signal when a mistake occurs. ____12____ Using both printers， we recently prepared 1200 individually typed form letter mailings a under four hours. We have no complaint about our preparation of executive reports.

　　Example： I

　　A. So it works very well and has so many different functions.

　　B. Also it has reduced the confusion that exists about buying software packages.

　　C. The train stops at each station for only fifteen minutes.

　　D. We began with two work stations and now have four.

　　E. Our routine letters are prepared from disc-stored masters.

　　F. The Rotary W printer with a speed of 45 characters a second can easily handle two input stations.

　　G. In contrast， its size and weight are ideal for carrying.

　　H. We have not yet experienced mechanical problems so far.

　　I. We are pleased with its performance and multi-functions.

　　答案：8. D 9. F 10.B 11. H 12.

　　Questions 8-12

　　1 Read this text on Dave’s dream.

　　2 Choose the best sentence from the Opposite page 68 to fill each of the gaps.

　　3 For each gap 8-12， mark one letter A - I on your Answer Sheet.

　　4 Do not mark any letter twice.

　　Icon Acoustics： Bypassing Tradition

　　Like most entrepreneurs， Dave Fokos dreams a lot. He imagines customers eagerly phoning Icon Acoustics in Billerica， Massachusetts， to order his latest， custom-made stereo peakers ____example____

　　Like most entrepreneurs， Dave has taken a long time to develop his dream. ________ Dave discovered that he had a strong interest in studio engineering， He took independent-study courses in this area and by graduation had designed and built a pair of marketable stereo speakers. Following graduation， Dave pursued his interest in audio engineering. He landed a job as a loudspeaker designer with Conrad-Johnson， a high-end audio-equipment manufacturer headquarters in Fairfax， Virginia ________

　　Dave identified a market niche that he felt other speaker firms had overlooked ________These affluent， well-educated customers are genuinely obsessed with their stereo equipment. ‘They’d rather buy a new set of speakers than eat，’ Dave observes.

　　Dave faced one major problem---how to distribute Icon’s products. He had learned from experience at Conrad-Johnson that most manufacturers distribute their equipment primarily through stereo dealers. Dave did not hold a high opinion of most such dealers; he felt that they too often played hardball with manufacturers， forcing them to accept thin margins. ________This kept those firms that offered more customized products from gaining access to the market. Perhaps most disturbing， Dave felt that the established dealers often sold not what was best for customers， but whatever they had in inventory that month.

　　Dave dreamed of offering high-end stereo loudspeakers directly to the audio-obsessed， bypassing the established dealer network. ________ “My vision for the future is one where all manufacturers sell their products directly to end user. In this way， even the audiophiles in Dead Horse， Alaska， can have access to all that the audio-manufacturing community has to offer.”

　　Example： I.

　　A. At the age of 28， Dave set out to turn his dreams into reality.

　　B. Furthermore， the dealers concentrated on only a handful of well-known producers

　　C. Who provided mass-produced models.

　　D. The firms tend to plow their money in to developing their products and have little left over to market them.

　　E. Within four years， Dave had designed 13 speaker models and decided to start his own company.

　　F. To serve the audio-addicts segment， Dave offers only the highest-quality speakers.

　　G. It all began while majoring in electrical engineering at Cornell.

　　By going directly to the customers， Dave could avoid the dealer markups and offer top-quality products and service at reasonable price.

　　H. This niche consisted of “audio-addicts”----people who love to listen to music and appreciate first-rate stereo equipment.

　　I. He sees sales climbing ， cash flowing， and hundreds of happy workers

　　Striving to produce top-quality products that delight Icon’s customers.

　　答案：Questions 8 - 12： F， D， H， B， G

　　Questions 8 - 12

　　1 Read this advertisement about business book reviews.

　　2 Choose the best sentence from the opposite page to fill each of the gaps.

　　3 For each gap 8 - 12， mark one letter A - I on your Answer Sheet.

　　Do not mark any letter twice.

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　　A systematic solution：

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　　knowledge of the book’s contents in a fraction of the time. Now you can have that assistant with Executive Book Summaries. Every month， you receive quick-reading， time-saving summaries of the best new business books. ________ . This means that rather than taking five to ten hours to read， it takes just 15 minutes!

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