剑桥商务英语中级-159及答案解析.doc

1、剑桥商务英语中级-159 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、READING(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、PART ONE(总题数：1，分数：7.00)The Coaching Industry: A Work in ProgressTheres no question that future leaders will need constant coaching and the coaching industry badly needs someone to define the profession. Four experts give their comment

2、s on a survey about coaching industry. A Ram CharanAs the survey results demonstrate, what we think of coaching today is generally a service to middle managers provided by entrepreneurs with a background in consulting, psychology or human resources. This kind of coaching became popular over the past

3、 five years because companies faced a shortage of talent and were concerned about turnover among key employees. Firms wanted to signal their commitment to developing their highpotential executives, so they hired coaches. The kind of coaches I am talking about will do more than influence behaviour; t

4、hey will be an essential part of the leaders learning process, providing knowledge, opinions and judgment in critical areas. B David B. PetersonIn the survey, only 3% of the coaches said they were hired primarily to address non-work issues, yet more than three-quarters of the coaches reported having

5、 gotten into personal territories at some time. It underscores the fact that for most executives, work and life cannot be kept entirely separate. Many of them feel some strain on their personal lives. Not surprisingly, therefore, the more coaches can tap into a leaders motivation to improve his or h

6、er home life, the greater and more lasting the impact of the coaching is likely to be at work. C Michael MaccobyThe survey shows more than half of the coaches think their clients do not become overly dependent, which is, in my view, unrealistic. Coaches have an economic incentive to ignore the probl

7、em of dependency, creating a potential conflict of interest. Its natural for them to want to expand their business, but the best coaches, like the best therapists, put their clients interests first. What this means for the companies is that before they hire a coach, they should ask him how he handle

8、s dependency in relationships. D Anthony M. GrantAccording to the majority of coaches in our survey, coaching differs dramatically from therapy. However, the notion that candidates for coaching are mentally robust flies in the face of academic research. Im not suggesting most executives who engage i

9、n coaching have mental health disorders. But some might, and coaching those who have unrecognised mental health problems can be counterproductive and even dangerous. Firms should require that coaches have some training in mental health issuesfor example, an understanding of when to refer client to p

10、rofessional therapists for help.（分数：7.00）(1).The survey shows that many executive clients have consulted their coaches about personal affairs.（分数：1.00）填空项 1:_(2).Coaches are hired because companies want to keep the capable people from leaving.（分数：1.00）填空项 1:_(3).A coachs psychological background wil

11、l make coaching more effective.（分数：1.00）填空项 1:_(4).A good coach should pay attention to clients self-raliance in relationships.（分数：1.00）填空项 1:_(5).A good coach should give executives useful information in important fields.（分数：1.00）填空项 1:_(6).Coaches might overlook their clients interest for economic

12、 reasons.（分数：1.00）填空项 1:_(7).A good coach should know more about a leaders desire to improve family life.（分数：1.00）填空项 1:_三、PART TWO(总题数：1，分数：5.00)Build a TeamCreating the right team is imperative to your success. A team is comprised of people who can bring necessary skill sets to the venture. A team

13、 is different from partners. Partners are financially and legally tied to the venture while team members are brought in to create and continue the process. Team members can be employees or sub-contactors. These are people you can controlyou get to pick them. You can use their services for as long as

14、 you like. If they dont work out as planned, you can find a different team member or you can find a place on the team where this person can be more effective. Creating the right environment for the team is equally important. (8) .Team members must have the same values as that of the venture and they

15、 must follow the same code of conduct consistent with your desired outcome. They must truly want the venture to be a success and feel that they are a part of that success, and they must work well with others. Differences are encouraged only if they are presented in a positive fashion, recognising th

16、e efforts of the others. (9) .This does not mean extra hours; it means working with heart and soul, working with the creative minds flowing, working with a positive mental attitude, and working together with the others so that all are winners. What ideas do you have that will create a positive, succ

17、essful team? How can you create this team and have each person feel that they are as important a part of the success of the venture as you are? Study successful entities to find out how they treat their team members. Find out what motivates team members in successful entities to keep them successful

18、is it money, power, trust, fear, etc.? (10) . You should write out all the positions of your team and keep updating it as when you grow you will need to change out some positions on your team. This is a big mistake that people make as they grow. They keep the same team members that were effective wh

19、en they were small and they do not re-evaluate the need for replacing members who have not grown to the levels where they are now needed. (11) .Just like upgrading your peer group, always be open to and active in upgrading your team members. If you are just starting out, then make your team as simpl

20、e and complete as possible. Just be sure that your team members are able to excel and have knowledge in the industry and direction you are going in. (12) .If you find you are doing so, you have made a mistake and replace them right away. AThe last thing you want to do is to have to micromanage your

21、team members. BYour team members must be proactive to your needs and outcome. CEach team member must give more than they are asked for in their areas of expertise. DPeople will give their best when they feel that their services are being valued and that they are entrusted with producing a part of th

22、e success of the venture. ETherefore, the overall team growth is limited by the lack of ability of one or more members. FThinking these things out before you create the team will help you in putting together the right team for your venture.（分数：5.00）填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_四、PART THREE(总题数

23、：1，分数：6.00)What Do Customers Really Want?What happens when you combine product design virtuosity, high-powered market research techniques, and copious customer data? Too often, the result is gadgets that suffer from “feature creep“ or the return of billions of dollars worth of merchandise by custome

24、rs who wanted something different at all. That kind of waste is bad enough in normal times. but in a downturn it can take a fearsome toll. The trouble is that most customer-preference rating tools used in product development today are blunt instruments, primarily because customers have a hard time a

25、rticulating their desires. Asked to rate a long list of product attributes on a scale of 1 (completely unimportant) to 10 (extremely important), customers are apt to say they want many or even most of them. To crack that problem, companies need a way to help customers sharpen the distinction between

26、 “nice to have“ and “gotta have“. Some companies are beginning to pierce the fog using a research technique called “Maximum Difference Scaling“. “MaxDiff“ was pioneered in the early 1990s by Jordan Louviere, who is now a professor at the University of Technology, Sydney. (As with most cutting-edge a

27、cademic developments, it took time to translate Louvieres research into practical tools.) MaxDiff requires customers to make a sequence of explicit trade-offs. Researchers begin by amassing a list of product or brand attributestypically from 10 to 40that represents potential benefits. Then they pres

28、ent respondents with sets of four attributes at a time, asking them to select which attribute of each set they prefer most and least. Subsequent rounds of mixed groupings enable the researchers to identify the standing of each attribute relative to all the others by the number of times customers sel

29、ect it as their most or least important consideration. A popular restaurant chain recently used MaxDiff to understand why its expansion efforts were misfiring. In a series of focus groups and preference surveys, consumers agreed about what they wanted: more healthful meal options and updated dcor. B

30、ut when the chains heavily promoted new menu was rolled out, the marketing team was dismayed by the mediocre results. Customers found the complex new choices confusing, and sales were sluggish in the more contemporary new outlets. The companys marketers decided to cast the range of preferences more

31、broadly. Using MaxDiff, they asked customers to compare eight attributes and came to a striking realisation. The results showed that prompt service of hot meals and a convenient location were far more important to customers than healthful items and modern furnishings, which ended up well down on the

32、 list. The best path forward was to improve kitchen service and select restaurant sites based on where customers worked. The ability to predict how customers will behave can be extremely powerfuland not just when budgets are tight. Companies planning cross-border product rollouts need a tool that is

33、 free of cultural bias. And as customer tastes fragment, product development teams need reliable technique for drawing bright lines between customer segments based on the features that matter most to each group. Companies are starting to apply MaxDiff analysis to those issues as well.（分数：6.00）(1).Fr

34、om paragraph one, we can infer that（分数：1.00）A.market research is a waste of money.B.market research must not be used during an economic recession.C.market research doesnt necessarily help companies make products that can meet customers need.D.customers are too hard to please.(2).According to paragra

35、ph two, what should companies do to know customers preference about product features?（分数：1.00）A.to teach customers how to use the rating toolsB.to help customers express their needs clearlyC.to simplify the list of product attributesD.to help customers identify the product features that they value m

36、ost(3).Which statement is not true about MaxDiff?（分数：1.00）A.Using MaxDiff, each product attribute is presented to respondents more than once.B.To use MaxDiff, customers have to trade with the related companies.C.By using MaxDiff, companies know what product attributes are the most important to custo

37、mers.D.MaxDiff is a fairly modern research technique.(4).What do the customers need most about the restaurant chain mentioned in the passage?（分数：1.00）A.more healthful foodB.more food choicesC.better decorationsD.quick service(5).What best describes the restaurant chains expansion efforts?（分数：1.00）A.

38、They were misunderstood by customers.B.They didnt produce the wanted results.C.They had the wrong goals.D.They were mistaken.(6).What cannot be inferred from the last paragraph?（分数：1.00）A.MaxDiff is not reliable enough in analysing customer needs.B.Customers today have more and more different requir

39、ements.C.MaxDiff can help companies know customers reactions beforehand.D.MaxDiff can be used in different cultures.五、PART FOUR(总题数：1，分数：15.00)Planning the Start-up? Seize the DayExecutives who say theyd love to leave the battleship to skipper a nimble start-up fall back on a variety of perfectly le

40、gitimate rationales for why its not yet time: I need to acquire more (19) ,to figure out how financing really (20) , and so on. While they are waiting for everything to fall into (21) ,managers are acquiring big-company habits that can hurt them when they finally make the (22) . Long tenures in corp

41、orate jobs keep executives from becoming the “jack-of-all-trades“ that new ventures generally (23) .They get used to having HR specialists take care of HR issues, finance aces prepare reports, and IT whizzes (24) the company infrastructure. (25) people in big companies are successful “because they c

42、an manage a (26) ,“says Barry Nalls, the founder of Masergy, a Texas-based Telecom. But “in an early-stage company, there is no such thing as a manager. Everyone is a (27) ,including the CEO, “ he says. Entrepreneurs are more effective at building ventures from (28) once they have attained a certain

43、 level of maturity and self-knowledge, but they can achieve that without spending most of their working lives in corporate jobs. In my research on thousands of founders of high-potential ventures that had succeeded in (29) capital from professional investors, 76% had worked for 20 years or less befo

44、re founding their first venturesthey had (30) the leap by the time they were in their early forties. And there is another point in favour (31) leaping sooner rather than later: executives who stay around the corporation until they achieve senior positions may be aging themselves out of what could be

45、 a satisfying life in start-ups. Waiting for the perfect time to jump is usually futile, for there is no moment thats (32) perfect。So even if you are early in your corporate career, when a winning new-business idea comes along and sparks an entrepreneurial (33) in you, carpe diem.（分数：15.00）A.credits

46、B.credentialsC.credibilityD.credulityA.operatesB.worksC.runsD.goesA.placeB.positionC.locationD.partA.actionB.movementC.moveD.stepA.acquireB.askC.inquireD.requireA.keepB.maintainC.sustainD.manageA.SeniorB.OlderC.ElderD.JuniorA.groupB.teamC.companyD.businessA.leaderB.performerC.contributorD.partnerA.b

47、eginningB.startC.zeroD.scratchA.drawingB.attractingC.winningD.raisingA.madeB.achievedC.takenD.doneA.toB.forC.onD.ofA.trulyB.actuallyC.certainlyD.factuallyA.feelingB.emotionC.affectionD.passion六、PART FIVE(总题数：1，分数：12.00)Time Management and Money（分数：12.00）(1).how we “spend“ both time and money, and al

48、so talk about “saving“ time and money.（分数：1.00）填空项 1:_(2).Moreover we usually find that in order to save time, we have to spend money, and（分数：1.00）填空项 1:_(3).vice versa. For example, to save time of cooking, we might buy ready-prepared food.（分数：1.00）填空项 1:_(4).Our decision depends on our circumstances and prioritiessomeone else might as well（分数：1.00）填空项 1:_(5).prefer to save some money and spend more time preparing and cooking a meal.（分数：1.00）填空项 1:_(6).We make these choices all the time and often have no any objective yardstick to show us（分数：1.00）填空项 1:_