1、剑桥商务英语中级口语-9 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、SPEAKING(总题数：1，分数：100.00)Darwins Theories Applied to MarketingWhy are General Motors and Ford in trouble? Why did Delta, Northwest, US Airways and United Airlines go bankrupt? Why were C2 and Pepsi Edge such notable failures?One answer might be “divergence.“
2、 Over time, every category breaks up into multiple categories, creating chaos for companies that try to keep their brands in the mainstream of the market.Charles Darwin called divergence the driving force that creates hardy new species. His theory can as easily be applied to marketing as biology.Cha
3、rles DarwinDivergence is the least understood, most powerful force in the universe. In his book The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin called divergence the driving force that creates a new species.In our book The Origin of Brands, we use Darwins concept to describe the process that takes place to cr
4、eate a new category. What starts off as a single category (the mainframe computer, for example) winds up as multiple categoriesmainframes, mid-range, desktops, laptops, handhelds, servers, etc.Each of these developing categories represents an opportunity to build a new brand. Digital, Compaq, Dell a
5、nd Palm, for example.There are two forces at work in nature, according to Darwin. One is a gradual change from an ancestral to a current condition. (A process biologists call “anagenesis“.)DivergenceThe other is divergence, a splitting of the ancestral tree to create new branches. (Biologists call t
6、his “cladogenesis“.)Anagenesis produces strawberries the size of plums. It just wont turn a strawberry into a plum. It takes cladogenesis or divergence to do that.Darwin called the first force “natural selection“, or the survival of the fittest. The competition between individuals improves the speci
7、es.Two hundred years ago, the average American adult male was 5 feet 7 inches tall. Today the average American adult male is 5 feet 9 inches tall. Thats evolution at work.The second force of nature is the principle of “divergence“. Random changes or mutations create an incipient new species and then
8、 the competition between species drives them apart.First Portable ComputerThe first portable computer, introduced in 1982 by Compaq Computer, weighed 18 pounds. Essentially a slimmed-down desktop with a handle, the product was called a “luggable“ computer by many users.Compare todays desktop with to
9、days portable computer (now called a laptop.) On my desk is a Dell computer (29 pounds), a Sony monitor (17 pounds) and a Microsoft keyboard and mouse (3.5 pounds). Total weight: 49.5 pounds.On the road, however, I carry a Toshiba Protege, which weighs just 4.5 pounds. No longer can you put a handle
10、 on a desktop computer and call it a “portable“. The portable or laptop computer has diverged from the desktop computer. The process never stops. Today the laptop category is in the process of dividing into full-featured machines that weigh 6 to 8 pounds and ultralight machines that weigh 3 pounds t
11、o 4 pounds.If youre in the laptop computer business, your instincts might lead you in the opposite direction. If you think of “the“ customer as a single identity, you might try to satisfy the customers every wish.Compromise BrandsAs a result, you might decide that your laptop computer needs to be a
12、compromise. As full featured as possible and as light as possible. In other words, you would put your product right in the middle of the market where there is no market.In Darwins words, “nature favors the extremes“ The “sweet spot“ of a market is an illusion that soon gives way to multiple sweet sp
13、ots. So which spot do you want your brand to occupy?Darwin writes about a human example of the pressure that nature exerts on species to diverge. “As with mariners shipwrecked near a coast, it would have been better for the good swimmers if they had been able to swim still further, whereas it would
14、have been better for the bad swimmers if they had not been able to swim at all and had stuck to the wreck.“If sailors were a species, given enough time and enough shipwrecks, there would eventually be two species of sailors: swimmers and non-swimmers. Again, the mushy middle is the place to avoid.Wa
15、l-Mart vs. SaksLook at department stores. Wal-Mart and Target are doing well at the low end and Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom are doing well at the high end. Its Sears and JC Penney that are caught in the mushy middle.In groceries, Wal-Mart has become the leading chain at the low en
16、d while Whole Foods is rolling along at the high end. Its the supermarket chains in the middle that are having problems. Kroger, the largest pure grocery chain, lost 100 million last year while Whole Foods made 137 million.In automobiles, low-priced brands like Hyundai, Mazda and Kia are doing great
17、 and so are high-priced brands like Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. General Motors and Ford with their mid-priced brands are slowly getting crushed. (Hyundai, Mazda and Kia sold 838, 405 vehicles in the U. S. last year.)In air travel, no-frills airlines like Southwest, Airtran and JetBlue are flying h
18、igh along with NetJets and the corporate jet market at the high end. Its the traditional airlines like American, United and Delta that are suffering in the mushy middle.Cokes C2 DisasterIn carbonated beverages, Coca-Cola (150 calories) and Diet Coke (0 calories) are big successes while its half-and-
19、half brand, C2 (75 calories), has gone nowhere. If you want your company to live a long and happy life, its not enough to “evolve“ your brands to keep up with competition. You also need to look for opportunities to launch new brands to take advantage of diverging categories.Toyota responded to the p
20、ressure to diverge by introducing Lexus, a high-end brand which has become the biggest-selling luxury car in America. Dell is doing the same thing. An enormous success at the low end of the computer market, Dell just announced its XPS brand, a line of desktop and laptop computers to be marketed as l
21、uxury models.In the world of business, you need to practice divergence as well as evolution.（分数：100.00）(1).Answer the following question.Should companies invest heavily in advertising because high-quality advertising can sell almost any product or service?（分数：50.00）_(2).Discuss the following questio
22、ns with your partner.a. Whats the importance of using celebrities to endorse products?b. How the customer base is segmented, how the size and profitability of each segment is changing, and how the companys products and services address the need of each segment?（分数：50.00）_剑桥商务英语中级口语-9 答案解析(总分：100.00，
23、做题时间：90 分钟)一、SPEAKING(总题数：1，分数：100.00)Darwins Theories Applied to MarketingWhy are General Motors and Ford in trouble? Why did Delta, Northwest, US Airways and United Airlines go bankrupt? Why were C2 and Pepsi Edge such notable failures?One answer might be “divergence.“ Over time, every category br
24、eaks up into multiple categories, creating chaos for companies that try to keep their brands in the mainstream of the market.Charles Darwin called divergence the driving force that creates hardy new species. His theory can as easily be applied to marketing as biology.Charles DarwinDivergence is the
25、least understood, most powerful force in the universe. In his book The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin called divergence the driving force that creates a new species.In our book The Origin of Brands, we use Darwins concept to describe the process that takes place to create a new category. What sta
26、rts off as a single category (the mainframe computer, for example) winds up as multiple categoriesmainframes, mid-range, desktops, laptops, handhelds, servers, etc.Each of these developing categories represents an opportunity to build a new brand. Digital, Compaq, Dell and Palm, for example.There ar
27、e two forces at work in nature, according to Darwin. One is a gradual change from an ancestral to a current condition. (A process biologists call “anagenesis“.)DivergenceThe other is divergence, a splitting of the ancestral tree to create new branches. (Biologists call this “cladogenesis“.)Anagenesi
28、s produces strawberries the size of plums. It just wont turn a strawberry into a plum. It takes cladogenesis or divergence to do that.Darwin called the first force “natural selection“, or the survival of the fittest. The competition between individuals improves the species.Two hundred years ago, the
29、 average American adult male was 5 feet 7 inches tall. Today the average American adult male is 5 feet 9 inches tall. Thats evolution at work.The second force of nature is the principle of “divergence“. Random changes or mutations create an incipient new species and then the competition between spec
30、ies drives them apart.First Portable ComputerThe first portable computer, introduced in 1982 by Compaq Computer, weighed 18 pounds. Essentially a slimmed-down desktop with a handle, the product was called a “luggable“ computer by many users.Compare todays desktop with todays portable computer (now c
31、alled a laptop.) On my desk is a Dell computer (29 pounds), a Sony monitor (17 pounds) and a Microsoft keyboard and mouse (3.5 pounds). Total weight: 49.5 pounds.On the road, however, I carry a Toshiba Protege, which weighs just 4.5 pounds. No longer can you put a handle on a desktop computer and ca
32、ll it a “portable“. The portable or laptop computer has diverged from the desktop computer. The process never stops. Today the laptop category is in the process of dividing into full-featured machines that weigh 6 to 8 pounds and ultralight machines that weigh 3 pounds to 4 pounds.If youre in the la
33、ptop computer business, your instincts might lead you in the opposite direction. If you think of “the“ customer as a single identity, you might try to satisfy the customers every wish.Compromise BrandsAs a result, you might decide that your laptop computer needs to be a compromise. As full featured
34、as possible and as light as possible. In other words, you would put your product right in the middle of the market where there is no market.In Darwins words, “nature favors the extremes“ The “sweet spot“ of a market is an illusion that soon gives way to multiple sweet spots. So which spot do you wan
35、t your brand to occupy?Darwin writes about a human example of the pressure that nature exerts on species to diverge. “As with mariners shipwrecked near a coast, it would have been better for the good swimmers if they had been able to swim still further, whereas it would have been better for the bad
36、swimmers if they had not been able to swim at all and had stuck to the wreck.“If sailors were a species, given enough time and enough shipwrecks, there would eventually be two species of sailors: swimmers and non-swimmers. Again, the mushy middle is the place to avoid.Wal-Mart vs. SaksLook at depart
37、ment stores. Wal-Mart and Target are doing well at the low end and Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom are doing well at the high end. Its Sears and JC Penney that are caught in the mushy middle.In groceries, Wal-Mart has become the leading chain at the low end while Whole Foods is rollin
38、g along at the high end. Its the supermarket chains in the middle that are having problems. Kroger, the largest pure grocery chain, lost 100 million last year while Whole Foods made 137 million.In automobiles, low-priced brands like Hyundai, Mazda and Kia are doing great and so are high-priced brand
39、s like Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. General Motors and Ford with their mid-priced brands are slowly getting crushed. (Hyundai, Mazda and Kia sold 838, 405 vehicles in the U. S. last year.)In air travel, no-frills airlines like Southwest, Airtran and JetBlue are flying high along with NetJets and th
40、e corporate jet market at the high end. Its the traditional airlines like American, United and Delta that are suffering in the mushy middle.Cokes C2 DisasterIn carbonated beverages, Coca-Cola (150 calories) and Diet Coke (0 calories) are big successes while its half-and-half brand, C2 (75 calories),
41、 has gone nowhere. If you want your company to live a long and happy life, its not enough to “evolve“ your brands to keep up with competition. You also need to look for opportunities to launch new brands to take advantage of diverging categories.Toyota responded to the pressure to diverge by introdu
42、cing Lexus, a high-end brand which has become the biggest-selling luxury car in America. Dell is doing the same thing. An enormous success at the low end of the computer market, Dell just announced its XPS brand, a line of desktop and laptop computers to be marketed as luxury models.In the world of
43、business, you need to practice divergence as well as evolution.（分数：100.00）(1).Answer the following question.Should companies invest heavily in advertising because high-quality advertising can sell almost any product or service?（分数：50.00）_正确答案：(Not all companies have an equal need to invest heavily i
44、n high-quality advertising. Companies with new products have great utility stand to benefit most from expensive and high-quality advertising. But other companies, especially those whose customers are businesses rather than consumers, would be better off focusing on product quality and reputation, no
45、t on sensational advertising.Certain types of businesses benefit greatly from investing in high-quality advertising. Fledgling companies, for example, may require an extensive top-notch advertising campaign to achieve the name recognition that older competitors already enjoy. Even established compan
46、ies may need an expensive ad campaign when introducing new products or venturing into new markets. Companies selling products with little utilitarian value perhaps stand to gain the most from an extensive high-quality advertising effort. Consider, for example, the kinds of products that are marketed
47、 by means of the most extensive and expensive advertising: beer, cigarettes, soft drinks, and cosmetics. None of these products has any utility. Their success depends on consumers fickle tastes. Their emotions, and their subjective perceptions. Accordingly, influencing consumer attitudes through pop
48、ular and appealing ads is about the only way to increase sales of such products.In some industries, however, substantial investment in high-quality advertising simply does not make sense from a cost-effectiveness viewpoint. Pharmaceutical companies, for instance, might be better off limiting their advertising to specialized publications, and focus instead on other kinds of promotional programs, such as the distribution of free samples. And widespread, flashy advertising would probably have a limited effect on overall sales for companies such as Deere and Caterpillar, whose name recognition
