READING.doc

READING1. C 2. B 3.A 4.B 5.A 6.D 7C 8.F 9.G 10.E 11.B 12.C 13.D 14.G 15.F 16.B 17.C 18.A 19.G 20.E 21.D 22.A 23.C 24.B 25.C 26.D 27.B 28.A 29.B 30.D 31.B 32.A 33.A 34.B 35.D 36.THERE 37.CORRECT 38.ARE 39.CORRECT 40.TO 41.IMPORTANT 42.FIND 43.INCLUDING 44.IS 45.THOROUGHLY WRITING LISTENING1.Worldwide Holidays 2.invitation cards 3.business reception 4.400 5.Marketing Manager 6.Sales Planning 7. foreign languages 8. 3 July 9.rising costs 10. department budgets 11. buildings manager 12. laptop 13. D 14.F 15.C 16.G 17.A 18.C 19.H 20.E 21.A 22.D 23.C 24.B 25.C 26.B 27.B 28.C 29.A 30.BTranscriptsPart I1. F: Good morning, Lewis & Thorn Printers.M: Hello, its Oliver Martin here. Can I speak to Mark Hanson?F: Im afraid he is not in the office now. Can I take a message?M: Yes, Im phoning from Worldwide Holidays. I made an order recently. Mark was dealing with it. There were several things, mainly brochures and pricelists. Weve received those and they are fine, but we havent got the invitation cards that were ordered. F: When did you order them?M: It was about a week ago, last Thursday, I think. But its rather urgent now. Theyre for a business reception at the end of the month. And they need to be sent to the tour operators and hotel managers. F: Were quite busy at the moment, but Im sure hell get them to you for tomorrow. How is it for?M: It was originally 300, but can you make that 400? We may need more than we thought.F: Yes. Fine. Has Mark the details? M: He should have. If theres a problem, I can fax them.F: Thanks, Mr. Martin. Ill phone you if we need them.2. F: Hello, Mike. Its Carrion here. Ive just been reading the paper and the job in there with Alba, the publishing group. I think it will be perfect for you. M: Oh, whats the job? F: They want a marketing manager. Isnt that the kind of thing youre looking for?M: Yes. Does it say what the job involves?F: Theres a quite a big job description, but the main thing seems to be that youll be in charge of sales planning. Sounds quite interesting.M: Well, it will be better than the administration work Im doing at the moment. What sort of qualifications are they looking for? I suppose they want you to have an MBA.F: No, theres nothing here about that. But it does say that theyre looking for someone who can speak foreign languages. Well, thats OK for you because youve lived abroad and you speak German, dont you?M: Yes, and Spanish, too. When do the applications have to be in by?F: Whats it today? The 9th of June. So youve plenty to time. The 3rd of July is the closing date. Do you want me to fax you the adverts so you can see yourself.M: Yes. Thatll be great. Thanks.F: OK. Ill do it now.3.M: Hello! Mike here.F: Mike. Its Angela.M: Oh, Hi.M: Oh, look, Mike. Im phoning because Im quite worried about last months figures.M: They dont make pretty reading, do they?F: No, they dont. I think we need to have a meeting to talk about the rising costs.M: Sounds like a good idea. When were you thinking of?F: As soon as possible. I think we should try to put together new department budgets. Each department will then have set limits for their spending.M: Yes. Im sure that will help. Who would you specially like to have at the meeting?F: Well, us, obviously. And can you make sure that the sales coordinator is available. And also the buildings manager? Well need their input.M: Sure. Ill get on to them. And Ill book the boardroom.F: Oh, can you make sure that therell be a laptop available there on the day. Id like to show the figures for this year and last year.M: No problem. Ill get back to you later to confirm the details.F: Fine. Thanks.Part II13. Very useful indeed! The general manager and the research director showed us around their high-tech production unit and there was a presentation of some of the products theyre planning. Theyre certainly coming up with plans for some innovative products. Im fairly sure we can come to some agreement about working together on at least two of them, though therell be some hard bargaining, I should think.14. They were really excellent. The best group Ive ever worked with. I was able to cover the theoretical ground very quickly and got to the practical stuff earlier than Id expected. This meant that they had much more practice than other groups and wont need too much support from us, even in the initial stage of using the program.15. They werent easy, Mark. They were not easy! They asked us extremely detailed questions about our products and our ability to meet deadlines. In fact, at one point I thought were going to have to withdraw because it looked as if we wouldnt be able to meet all their requirements. But then they made a number of concessions. In the end I think weve managed to get a good deal. Certainly its the biggest contract Ive been involved with.16.The first day was particularly useful because there were some interesting speakers, mainly from big multinationals, talking on such as Im interested in, like the international aspects of industrial relations and employment law. Then in the evening I had some extremely interesting conversations with ? speakers. I hope therell useful contacts in the future. But other delegates thought it wasnt very well attended, because the organizers ad decided against having an exhibition area so fewer people came. 17. We revealed the months work and discussed next months targets. We decided that we definitely need some extra help with the personnel selection because theres just too much for one person. Generally I think were a pretty good team. Of course therere a few problems now and again, but we always discuss them in a very calm and sensible way and come up with solutions that work, so far, anyway.18. All I can say is that Id stood out as the best applicant straight away or they took an instant dislike to me. Id expected it to last at least 45 minutes, and possibly to involve 2 sessions. But I left I managed to go for a swim and do some shopping before I got back to the office for lunch.19. Ive been over all the obvious things I knew they would ask me with a colleague and I practiced all my answers over and over again. I felt sure I could deal with anything theyd put to me. Well, they started asking me what I though my weaknesses were. I just hadnt prepared for that, but because I had done so much preparation for other questions I managed to come up with a really good answer.20. Well, I got there and I thought I am really well prepared for this. I was wearing my best suit. I arrived on time and so did the other three applicants. But they kept us waiting for an hour and a half while they tried to sort themselves out. By the time I went I was so patient with the company I didnt want the job any more. 21. Its fine, isnt it. I can do it now. I knew what they were going to ask me. But when you are under all that pressure and all those questions are coming at you, something let you down. And whatever you say, you know you havent got the message across right and they havent understood what you really meant. If only could get a second chance. 22. I got home late from the meeting than I before (?) and I was really tired, but I lay awake all night. I guess I should have thought more carefully about wearing the right sort of things. But I was a bit disorganized and rushed out of the flat as if it was just an ordinary day and then felt like an odd one out when I got there and saw everyone else in suits. I was so embarrassed.Part IIIF: With me today is Peter Williams from Kingston University. Welcome! Peter.M: Thank you.F: Peter, you recently a large research study on training in small businesses. What made you focus on small businesses? After all, most of your experience has been with the huge multinational Cleantex. And in fact you eventually you ran their training department, didnt you?M: Well, you are partly right. You see, when I joined the university a year ago they wanted me to start a training program for small businesses. Id just sold my own small business, which Id started when I left Cleantex. The 8 years I ran my own business taught me more about training than all my years with Cleantex. But I felt I couldnt base a training program on my experience alone. So I decided to do research first.F: And how much training did you find in most small companies. Can they afford to do much training? M: Well, firstly small businesses are often accused of not doing enough training. But that is the opinion of big businesses of course. Its true that the government is encouraging small firms to increase their training budgets. Theyre trying to introduce financial assistance for this. But I have to say I find lots of training going on. The real problem is that most small businesses dont always know how much training theyre providing or how much its actually costing them. F: But surely businesses have budgets and training records. M: Unfortunately most small companies dont set aside a specific training budget. Its not that they dont want to spend the money but that they operate differently. You see, things change very quickly in small firms and its impossible to predict the training needs. An employee can be moved to a new project very suddenly and then training has to be organized within days. And most small businesses prefer to use their experienced staff to do any training on the job. F: Did you manage to work out the costs of training?M: Well, it took time to work out the indirect costs. You see, most small business managers dont include these costs in their calculations. Most of them keep records of obvious expenses, like, many expenses like external courses, travel, training manual, and videos, etc. But not many firms have specific training accounts and they dont include the time managers spend on training, waste of materials, lost of productivity and so on. I spent hours with company accountants trying to see where these hidden costs were. F: How much are small firms spending on training?M: More than half of the businesses I surveyed spent at least 1% of their annual salary bill on training. And some of these spent up to 5% of their pay roll. In fact smaller firms are investing on average over 10% more on training per employee than larger firms. F: How good is that training?M: As I said, small firms usually get an experienced employee to show new staff how to do that job. This can be useful if the person is carefully selected and well-trained himself. But its not really enough. The trainee needs to do the job with the experienced employee on hand for guidance and feedback. This gets trainees much better skills than any packaged courses. F: And has your study helped you plan new courses for small businesses?M: Definitely. I now understand what they want and how they want it delivered. I now know that small firms were only investing in training if it immediately helped their enterprise. But most formal training focuses on long-term business needs. Most small businesses cant plan far ahead. They want direct results from training in skills they need now. New technologies and IT skills are identified as a priority by all the firms I surveyed. F: What is the first course the university offer small businesses?M: Up till now most of short courses for companies in general have dealt with helping businesses grow. These arent really appropriate for small companies as growth can be very risky for them. They obviously need to grow but theyre afraid of fast growth. Im going to start with courses on IT and software the small companies are likely to require because of the business growth to come later. And theyll need to be changed to make them more relevant to small businesses. F: Well, I wish you every success with the course.窗体顶端窗体底端READING QUESTIONS 1-45 PART ONE Questions 1-7 Look at the sentences below and the job advertisements on the opposite page. Which job does each sentence 1-7 refer to? For each sentence, mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet. You will need to use some of these letters more than once. Example:0 This post involves some secretarial duties. 0 A B C D 1 You will be responsible for the operation of a computer system. 2 You must be able to forecast what people will want to wear. 3 You will be able to work with people from many different countries and backgrounds. 4 You will have a qualification which covers two subject areas. 5 It is necessary to have worked in this sector before. 6 You will need to keep in contact with the headquarters of the organization. 7 The advertisement emphasises the need to have a suitable approach to important people. A BUSINESS MANAGERYou will be responsible for our global business within specific countries and will have a good understanding of international distribution, possibly based on previous experience, plus the ability to work in markets that are highly varied in their culture. You will be fluent in a second language, be willing to travel extensively, and preferably have a degree. B DEPARTMENT STORE BUYERBased at our head office in London, you will select and order stock from our suppliers in Italy. You will need to predict fashion trends and build a strong relationship with our Italian office. You will have gained your buying experience in womens fashion and will hold a degree in design with a business studies component. C LEGAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATORAs head of the legal office, your work will include managing the office IT network, typing reports, diary maintenance and supervision of another staff member. You will need good organizational skills in order to keep ahead of a varied workload. You will be dealing with senior executives and government officials, so a mature and efficient manner is essential. D REGIONAL LEISURE SITES MANAGERYou will be responsible for budgetary planning, contract negotiations, local marketing and effective administration. You will communicate frequently with our main office using the latest technology. Your experience could be from any business sector but you should enjoy outdoor life and will ideally possess an estate management qualification. PART TWO Questions 8-12 Read the extract below from an article about the coffee industry. Choose the best sentence from the list on the opposite page to fill each of the gaps. For each gap 8-12, mark one letter (A-I)on your Answer Sheet. Do not use any letter more than once. Coffee is worth approximately $50-60bn per annum in terms of world sales. It is a truly international commodity, and today more than 50 countries in the world grow coffee beans. (example) _I_. ICO organization helps coffee producers and promotes coffee conumption worldwide.ICO estimates that world production next year will reach 97.5 million bags.11.3 million bags higher than the current year. (8) _. As the largest producing country, Brazil is particularly important in the coffee world. In 1994 Brazil was responsible for 25% of world production, Colombia was next with 13.4%, Indonesia had 7.5%, Mexico 4.7%, Guatemala 3.8% and Ethiopia and Vietnam were equal with 3.4%.Coffee is a tough crop, and can be grown in areas where it is difficult or impossible to grow other crops. (9) However, disease is always problem for coffee production, as we can see in some parts of South America at the moment.ICO is active in educating farmers about avoiding disease and dealing with problems when they occur.The distribution chain varies from country to country, explains Pablo Dubois. In most countries the smaller farmers sell their crop to a local trader, who then sells it on to exporters. There are, however, other distribution systems. (10) _. Some countries, like Vietnam, have special government marketing organizations for coffee.Coffee prices often vary greatly from one year to the next. In 1997, for example, there was a large rise in the world price, which was immediately felt by the consumer. Rising prices always result in a drop in sales, which will have a bad effect on those developing countries, which are highly dependent on foreign exchange from coffee exports. (11)_.In the opinion of Pablo Dubois, the biggest problem for his organisation is to create greater consumer awareness of the different varieties of coffee and different ways of preparing it. (12)_. ICO is therefore concentrating its promotional activities on Russia and China. It is also encouraging environmentally friendly coffee production, and last years seminar on coffee and the environment created a lot of interest.The future looks bright for the coffee industry. It is estimated that consumption over the next few years will continue to rise steadily. New markets like Eastern Europe and China are expected to develop fast. A. As a result, the membership now represents 94% of all exporters and 60% of all importers. B. In some of these countries, this can amount to as much as 50% of all export earning. C. In North America, most consumers already have above average knowledge of the range available. D. For example, frost and wind are particularly damaging to coffee crops. E. Larger coffee growers, for example, frequently export directly. F. The main reason for this is higher Brazilian output as production recovers from weather damage to crops. G. It is cultivated in mountain regions which can only be reached by animal transport, and in other difficult areas where modern agricultural equipment cannot be used. H. This is because there is a demand for coffee in Germany, and it is also sold in the UK and in the US. I. This make the coffee industry fairly universal, according to Pabl