1、BEC商务英语（中级）阅读模拟试卷 156及答案与解析 一、 PART ONE 0 Look at the statements below and the article about meetings on the opposite page. Which section(A, B, C or D)does each statement(1-7)refer to? For each statement(1-7), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet. You will need to use some of these lett
2、ers more than once.Example:0 a policy of not allowing people in meetings to become comfortable and relaxed Business MeetingsA Many organisations are developing ways of minimising the time workers spend sitting in meetings in order to give them more hours working at their desks. They realise that red
3、ucing the number of meetings is problematic, but some are using a device called a Meeting Meter to determine how much money is wasted through the widespread practice of over-populated and time-inefficient meetings. A general meeting in a big company can cost 9000 an hour. Even staff in UK government
4、 departments have been told to make less elaborate presentations and to get through them more quickly.B A solution has often been to take things at breakneck speed or abolish meetings altogether. Olivia Dacourt, CEO of a retail chain, makes a point of not letting anyone sit down in her meetings. We
5、cover more material in a 15-minute meeting than youd see in a two-hour sit-down meeting, she says. She drills her employees to shout pass if they have no comment to make, thereby saving a hastily mumbled agreement with the previous speaker. In this way, her last staff meeting clocked in at six minut
6、es.C Website designer Barry Hare has gone so far as to charge his clients a meeting tax. If they ask for a meeting, he doubles his design fee of 85 an hour. Everyone I talk to hates meetings, but they dont know what to do about them/ he says. Well, Ive actually done something. Similarly, at JP Produ
7、cts, managers have instigated a No Meetings Day every Friday. The scheme was devised by in-house industrial psychologist Ada Pearson after hearing employees joke about the need for a meeting-free day.D But abolishing meetings is not as simple as clearing them from your diary. At JP Products some wor
8、kers have felt the need to get round the No Meetings Day directive by holding spontaneous huddles and nice to knows to update each other on progress. After her success in reducing the meetings quota, Pearson is under pressure from meeting-weary managers to implement days that are free of emails and
9、telephone calls. But unfortunately she has other priorities -thanks to a lengthy meeting with the chief executive. 1 a way of ensuring that meetings are less likely to take place 2 the common situation of too many people attending meetings 3 a way of ensuring communication can take place without bre
10、aking company rules 4 a policy discouraging repetition of ideas 5 staff attitudes towards meetings resulting in action to reduce their frequency 6 a policy of cutting down on the amount of detail given in long speeches 7 people who attend meetings requesting limitations on other forms of communicati
11、on 二、 PART TWO 7 Read the article below about working in international teams. Choose the best sentence from the opposite page to fill each of the gaps. For each gap(8-12), mark one letter(A-G)on your Answer Sheet. Do not use any letter more than once. There is an example at the beginning(0). Interna
12、tional teamsAn international team can be defined as a group of people who come from different nationalities and work together towards a common goal.(0)_G_The fact that they are spread out presents a range of opportunities and challenges that teams working in the same place do not experience.One tren
13、d, in particular, which is creating the need for more international teams, is that we are in the middle of a dramatic information revolution.【 P1】 _ Thus, these teams can now spend as much time working apart as together. They can access and share information as never before. Business will increasing
14、ly be done in an information space, with information becoming a product in its own right.【 P2】 _ Doing this through the internet and e-mail is inexpensive and relatively easy, in both technologically developed and developing countries.A question commonly asked by managers is whether these teams actu
15、ally work. Can they deliver improved performance? After a decade of work experience and research with international teams, I believe the answer is positive.【 P3】_ Whats more, many of those companies which have actually introduced international teams have focused only on the performance of the teams,
16、 without taking into account the context in which they are introduced. Context plays a key role in the likelihood of their success.Creating the right context for international teams needs more than a quick fix, though. It requires a long-term commitment.【 P4】 _On the contrary, companies need to focu
17、s on the way they operate, and possibly initiate a complete review of their practices, before introducing an international team.Given these challenges, what should organisations do to make sure that their international teams are successful? Much has been written about effective team processes in gen
18、eral, and the first thing to say is that most of these guidelines apply equally to international teams. Experience has shown that international teams are simply more complex versions of national teams. 【 P5】 _While these elements may have a variety of interpretations in different cultures, they are
19、as important to international teams as they are to national teams.Example: A If an organisation is just beginning to work globally and has only recently created international teams, it often underestimates the level of support needed by teams.B It is now well established that any team will have a gr
20、eater chance of success if it has clear goals, a strong sense of commitment, appropriate leadership and good interpersonal relationships.C The recognition of this has created many more knowledge workers, that is, people who create, exchange and broadcast information as knowledge.D Organisations must
21、 understand that operating globally affects every aspect of business and they cannot simply set up international teams and assume that everything else can remain unchanged.E The first major impact of this is that satellite technology is increasingly allowing team members to participate in discussion
22、s wherever they are, at any time they choose.F Unfortunately, however, few organisations until now have been prepared to make the necessary investment to gain the potential benefits that international teams offer.G Unlike most national teams, international teams often work apart and across cultures
23、and time zones, for extended periods of time. 8 【 P1】 9 【 P2】 10 【 P3】 11 【 P4】 12 【 P5】 三、 PART THREE 12 Read the article below about careers in childrens book publishing and the questions on the opposite page. For each question(13-18), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet. Leading fro
24、m the top Catherine Bauer looks at career development in childrens book publishing To get on in the world of childrens book publishing one needs to be bright, nice and not ambitious. Those are the words of a 37-year-old manager thinking about leaving the industry. Managers in other industries would,
25、 by that age, be striving towards greater leadership challenges and rewards, while Human Resources departments would be doing all they could to prevent hungry competitors from getting hold of experienced and talented employees. Maintaining successful corporations and happy shareholders is, after all
26、, dependent on using the talents and experience of ones staff, not on being nice. Career progression in the childrens sector of publishing seems to be determined almost by luck rather than a proper career structure or assessment of employees competencies. Sarah Carter, for example, started her caree
27、r as an assistant in the customer service department at William Davis Publishing. She only became aware of a vacancy in public relations because her department was on the same floor as the publicity office. I had already been promoted to manager in my department, but realised that any career develop
28、ment there would be limited. I decided to move sideways into PR, which was also where I felt my skills were more suited. I was lucky a position came up within the company. Across the publishing houses, staff training or development is generally dependent on the approach taken by your immediate boss.
29、 Virginia Coutts, editorial director at Prodigy Publications, says, This is fine, if you happen to have one who is effective. When I started at Prodigy I worked for Roger Gibbons. I was in childrens fiction, but he also gave me some work on picture books and non-fiction, and that meant I gained expe
30、rience in a range of areas. He also made sure that new people didnt come in, train and then move on. And it wasnt a question of being here for three years or so before you got promoted. Not everyone has a similar experience with their manager, but this is not surprising when one considers that few m
31、anagers have themselves had any structured training. Mark Harlock, marketing manager at T R Publishers, says, My job change into management was completely unsupported - my requests for training took months, and by the time they were approved the need had passed. Yes, you learn on the job, but how mu
32、ch more constructive for all involved if it happens in a structured way. Surely this would speed up the learning curve? However, there are changes in the air. At Little Feet Publications, Barbara Foster has been overhauling the companys training and career structure so that all employees have regula
33、r appraisals. We are ahead of our competitors here at Little Feet, but even we are only beginning to scratch the surface. So far theres been little opposition to the appraisals, but theres still loads to do and the results will not become clear for a few years yet. Perhaps the industry should consid
34、er itself lucky to have so many dedicated managers who have, through a combination of chance and determination, successfully developed their careers in publishing. Clearly it now needs to review what is being done to develop, train and reward the next generation of bosses. Above all, the industry ha
35、s to find more people with entrepreneurial spirit and push them into demanding roles rather than make them serve their time at a junior level. But such changes can only come from the very top. 13 The writer says that in comparison to publishing, other companies （ A） are more concerned with pleasing
36、their shareholders. （ B） are more focused on achieving their goals. （ C） place greater importance on keeping their best managers. （ D） work harder on interpersonal relationships. 14 Sarah Carter changed her job within William Davis Publishing because （ A） the Public Relations department made it clea
37、r they wanted her. （ B） she saw more long-term potential in public relations. （ C） she did not want to relocate to another floor. （ D） it represented a promotion for her. 15 Virginia Courts says that when she first started at Prodigy Publications （ A） she intended to move on quickly. （ B） she had a
38、wide range of skills. （ C） she had to do too many different jobs. （ D） she had a good line manager. 16 What does Mark Harlock say about formal training? （ A） It is faster than learning on the job. （ B） It should be based on the trainees specific needs. （ C） It is more often approved for managers tha
39、n other employees. （ D） It enables better working relationships to be built. 17 In using the words scratch the surface(line 30), Barbara Foster means that her actions （ A） have started something that will take a lot of work to complete. （ B） have revealed big problems that she could not have foresee
40、n. （ C） may turn out to be unpopular with some employees. （ D） may cause disputes with other publishers. 18 In the final paragraph, the writer recommends that the publishing industry should （ A） encourage managers to delegate minor matters more often. （ B） put pressure on directors to change the way
41、 they work. （ C） look for people with business flair and good ideas. （ D） spend more time training existing managers. 四、 PART FOUR 18 Read the article below about goods returned by customers to mail order companies. Choose the best word or phrase to fill each gap from A, B, C or D on the opposite pa
42、ge. For each question(19-33), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet. There is an example at the beginning(0). Unwanted GoodsIncreased sales is always good news for mail order companies. But more sales also(0)_ A_more items are returned. Most companies have a full returns policy, but as M
43、eg Powell, Managing Director of mail order company Go First, explains, this usually【 C1】 _a lot of extra work. If an item comes back, we have to【 C2】 _with refunds, apology mailings and stock control. This is a complex process and each returned item undergoes close【 C3】_for defects. If goods are in
44、a fit【 C4】 _ for stock, they need repacking and putting back in the warehouse. If not, well look at why. Anything【 C5】 _ to the quality of returned goods is【 C6】 _information. In some instances we can identify a fault in production and do something about it.Estimates of the number of returns for the
45、 sector【 C7】 _ In the 【 C8】 _of Go First, which delivers 100 million packages a year, 26 million come back. Reducing this number is an important【 C9】_for the company. One way it aims to do this is by making the initial order-taking process as accurate as possible, and by closely【 C10】 _ the packing
46、of goods. 【 C11】 _ the reasons for returns also helps. Go First telephones a 【 C12】_of people returning goods to establish their reasons for doing so.Clearly, a customer-focused returns process is essential for fostering trust in the company. It is standard【 C13】 _in this business, says Meg Powell.
47、It attracts customers, gives them a greater【 C14】 _of security and encourages them to buy. We realise that making the return of goods a smooth, fast process can only【 C15】 _customer satisfaction.Example:A means B leads C proposes D gives 19 【 C1】 （ A） contains （ B） includes （ C） concerns （ D） involv
48、es 20 【 C2】 （ A） handle （ B） deal （ C） treat （ D） manage 21 【 C3】 （ A） attention （ B） inquiry （ C） inspection （ D） survey 22 【 C4】 （ A） condition （ B） situation （ C） form （ D） arrangement 23 【 C5】 （ A） combining （ B） affecting （ C） influencing （ D） relating 24 【 C6】 （ A） key （ B） main （ C） central （
49、 D） major 25 【 C7】 （ A） alter （ B） move （ C） disagree （ D） vary 26 【 C8】 （ A） place （ B） state （ C） case （ D） position 27 【 C9】 （ A） objective （ B） purpose （ C） direction （ D） scheme 28 【 C10】 （ A） estimating （ B） monitoring （ C） researching （ D） measuring 29 【 C11】 （ A） Carrying out （ B） Looking into （ C） Getting in （ D） Seeing to 30 【 C12】 （ A） choice （ B） preference （ C） selection （ D） pick 31 【 C13】 （ A） system （ B） practice
