1、BEC商务英语（中级）阅读模拟试卷 9及答案与解析 一、 PART ONE 1 Look at the sentences below and the information about mergers and takeovers involving four companies on the opposite page. Which company (A, B, C or D) does each sentence 1 - 7 refer to? For each sentence 1 - 7, mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sh
2、eet. You will need to use some of the letters more than once. A Tour operator Jarmin Travel is waiting for its chief executive and finance director to make the final decision before making a formal bid for rival HarmonAir. The two companies tried to merge five years ago, when the deal was blocked by
3、 the competition authorities. Since then the regulator has eased the criteria by which any merger would be judged. Competition lawyers say a tie-up would almost certainly be allowed this time, and industry analysts believe that both companies are eager for a merger. B Bus operator Barkway has been h
4、it by stiff competition and dwindling profitability. As a result the company has been forced to scrap its plans to expand overseas and instead will concentrate on growing its existing business. The continuing decline in the companys share price has led to speculation that it may fall prey to one of
5、its rivals. This may well prove wrong), though, as Barkways founder and chief executive, Kerry Matthews, has persuaded the board to do everything in its power to resist a takeover. C Carolyn Swaine, the former chief executive of coffee shop chain Marshmonts, is trying hard to raise capital for a bid
6、 for her old company. Swaine left last year after a series of disagreements over Marshmonts future direction, and several top managers are expected to leave if she succeeds in buying the chain. Although Marshmonts is profitable, it is too small to stay independent for much longer, and even if Swaine
7、 takes control, the company will soon have to become part of a larger chain. D Keston, the respected maker of television programmes, has announced that it has agreed an outline deal to merge with Stardust TV. A year ago, with its profits plunging, Keston faced a strong takeover bid by another of its
8、 competitors, but fought hard against it, and has since become more profitable. The company is now convinced, however, that its future success lies in being part of a larger organisation. Both Keston and Stardust have a reputation for producing striking television programmes, and a merger is likely
9、to be beneficial, both creatively and financially. 1 This company has changed its attitude towards remaining independent. 2 If this company is taken over, changes are likely to take place in its senior management. 3 This company has renewedits efforts to combine with a competitor. 4 This company wis
10、hes to remain independent. 5 An attempt to buy this company depends on whether enough money is made available. 6 This companys current lack of success means that a competitor may try to take it over 7 This company cannot survive on its own for much longer 二、 PART TWO 8 Read the article on the opposi
11、te page about the marketing guru Theodore Leavitt. Choose the best sentence from below o 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). Did this man invent marketing? For the w
12、orld of management - or the trend-setting part of it which read the Harvard Business Review (HBR) - 1960 was the year that marketing began. Extraordinary as it seems today, until HBR published an article by a German- American academic called Theodore Levitt saying that industry is a customer-satisfy
13、ing process, not a goods-producing process, most managers operated on the principle that people would buy whatever their companies produced, with the aid of a little advertising. (0) It was one where the public was so pleased to have any choice of goods after the barren years of World War II that co
14、nsumer products virtually sold themselves. There might be competition between different makes of soap powder or toothpaste, but no-one in industry seriously considered probing more deeply into what customers wanted, or might want in the future. Levitt changed all that with one article in HBR, entitl
15、ed Marketing Myopia. 【 8】_ His message was very simple. Selling was not marketing, he pointed out. Selling concerns itself with the tricks and techniques of getting people to exchange their cash for your product. 【 9】 _ And it does not, as marketing invariably does, view the entire business process
16、as consisting of a tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse and satisfy customer needs. Selling focuses on the needs of the seller, marketing on the needs of the buyer. Levitt began by explaining that every industry was once a growth industry. But growth will not continue through improv
17、ements in productivity or cost reduction alone. 【 10】_ He cited the Detroit automobile industry as a prime example: ruled by the production ethos, in 1960 it was simply giving the customer what it thought the customer should have. Detroit never really researched the customers wants. It only research
18、ed the kinds of things it had already decided to offer him, Levitt wrote. Eventually, it was punished by the Japanese with their compact cars. 【 11】 _ Industries can die if they dont understand how their markets are changing, Levitt warned, citing his famous horse-whip example: after the automobile
19、killed the horse and carriage as personal transportation, makers of horse-whips could not save themselves by improving the product. 【 12】 _ These days, although Levitt called marketing a stepchild, it has come a long way towards growing up. A. Only a thoroughly customer-oriented management can maint
20、ain it. B. It is such a far-sighted assessment that many companies are still failing it. C. They needed to reinvent their whole business by studying what customers would now want fan belts, say, or air cleaners. D. It is not concerned with the values that the exchange is all about. E. It set him up
21、as the first marketing guru and over the years HBR has sold hundreds of thousands of reprints. F. These were what customers wanted after the oil price shocks of the early 1970s. G. Business in the 1950s had been a complacent, producer-oriented world. 三、 PART THREE 13 Read the article below about “Ch
22、ina Enters Cyberspace“ and the questions. For each question 13-18, mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet for the answer you choose. China Enters Cyberspace Although research into the Internet began in the 1980s in China, it was not until the mid 90s that the country cautiously joined t
23、he information highway. These days however, it seems that China is ready to jump onto the “Net“ with both feet. Personal Computers (PCs) are the hottest selling item on the market in major Chinese cities. At night, hundreds of Chinese who dont own a PC crowd into the now familiar Internet Cafes, whe
24、re Net time costs US $3.60 an hour. Web sites from around the world can be flashing on the screens of most high-tech companies, and many believe the Net is the perfect vehicle to transport China into the through the 21st century. Even though Chinese government officials are somewhat concerned about
25、the Western content on the Internet, it is clear they want to make use of what the superhighway has to offer. The Net is so appealing in improvement-obsessed China that usage is growing more than 40% a year. “Its a daily necessity,“ says a Beijing Foreign Studies University student. “I plan to get o
26、nline soon. I feel like I miss a lot of things and I dont want to lag behind.“ It seems everywhere you go the air is buzzing with talk of how to best use this modern technology. Possibilities The country has 350 million children to educate what better vehicle than interactive televisions. The Financ
27、e Ministry needs to establish bank and savings accounts for Chinas 284 million worker what more effective solution than smart cards? Agricultural planners dream of more productive Chinese farms how easier to send weather and agricultural information to 323 million farmers than over the Web? To tap t
28、hese benefits, China has embarked on a series of nine “golden projects“ that will require state-of-the art technology in everything from health-care to finance. By 2010 hundreds of millions of Chinese will be wired with a golden smart card, all part of health and financial network. This smart card o
29、r identification card, will contain vital statistics about each person, and will automatically take a proportion of that persons salary as government “golden tax“ via a microchip. Bryan Nelson, Microsofts director in the region, says, “China is going to be the ultimate proof of all that the Internet
30、 can do. And the amazing thing is the Chinese seem to understand that better than some people in the West actually.“ The window is still small though only 3,000,000 Chinese have access to the Internet, vs. some 25 million in the U. S. but it is opening quickly. Officials at Chinas Ministry of Posts
31、and Telecommunications say they hope to have 4 million Chinese connected by 2000. At the same time, access to the outside world from China once tightly controlled over a narrow pipeline has quadrupled in 1998, the result of newly liberalized government regulations. As late as 1996, most Net traffic
32、to and from China had to flow through a single 56 kilobit some U.S. homes have more bandwidth than that. Now china has a pipeline a hundred times wider, and the company ATT has just been hired to make it even bigger. Will china really have 4 million citizens on line by 2000? “Try 20 million.“ says I
33、nternet Cafe owner Charles Zhang, who has watched the government exceed growth targets in everything from telephones to agricultural output. The theory behind Chinese leaders enthusiasm is that technology and competitiveness are deeply linked. Obstacles There are plenty Of obstacles to overcome betw
34、een now and 2010. but the two biggest-limited ownership of both personal computers and the telephones are fading. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to growth of computers and the Net in China is that Western-style keyboards arent set up to type Chinese characters. The best system for doing so, the stoke-
35、based input method editor, was devised in the 1960s and involves using complex three and four-key combinations to enter specific characters. Where Westerners can be thought to use a standard in hours, learning to type in Chinese can take months, worse, the Web, which is still largely in English, is
36、inaccessible to the vast majority of Chinese. 13 Chinese government officials are worried about the _ on the Internet. （ A） number of people （ B） university students （ C） children （ D） Western content 14 Research into the Internet in china began in the _. （ A） 1980s （ B） 2000s （ C） Internet Cafes （
37、D） 1990s 15 Smart cards are like _ cards. （ A） Telephone （ B） Identification （ C） Interactive television （ D） Golden tax 16 Interactive television could _ children. （ A） guide （ B） control （ C） entertain （ D） educate 17 Chinese characters need _. （ A） three and four-key combinations （ B） English key
38、boards （ C） different computers （ D） Western-style keyboards 18 Charles Zhang predicts that _ Chinese people will be on line by 2000. （ A） 4 million （ B） 20 million （ C） 2 million （ D） 25 million 四、 PART FOUR 19 Read the article about the cash basic of accounting. Choose the best word to fill each g
39、ap, from A, B, C or D. For each question 19 33, mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet. There is an example at the beginning. Under the cash basis of accounting, a firm recognizes revenues from selling goods and providing Services in the period when it receives cash from customers. It r
40、eports (19)_ in the period when it makes cash expenditures for merchandise, salaries, insurance, taxes, and (20)_ items. To illustrate the measurement of performance under the cash basis of accounting, consider the following example. Donald and Joanne Allens open a hardware store on January 1, Year
41、1. The firm receives $20,000 (21)_ cash from the Aliens and borrows $12,000 from a local bank. It must repay the loan on June 30, Year 1, with interest charged (22)_ the rate of 12 percent per year. The firm rents a store building on January 1, and pays 2 months rent of $4,000 (23)_. On January 1, i
42、t also pays the premium of $ 2,400 for property and liability insurance coverage for the year (24)_ December 31, Year 1. During January it acquires merchandise costing $40,000, (25)_ it purchases $26,000 for cash and $ 14,000 on account. Sales to customers during January total $50,000, of which $34,
43、000 is for (26)_ and $16,000 is on account. The acquisition cost of the merchandise (27)_ during January is $32,000,and various employees receive $5,000 in salaries. Lawyers, accountants, and (28)_ professionals are the principal entities that use the cash basis of ac counting. These professionals h
44、ave (29)_ small investments in multiperiod assets, (30)_ buildings and equipment, and usually collect cash from clients soon after they (31)_ services. Most of these firms actually use a modified cash basis of accounting, under which they (32)_ the costs of buildings, equipment, and similar items as
45、 assets (33)_. Most individuals use the cash basis of accounting for the purpose of computing personal income and person al income taxes. （ A） by using up （ B） expenses （ C） by spending （ D） expense （ A） similar （ B） a lot of （ C） a large number of （ D） different （ A） by means of （ B） on （ C） within
46、 （ D） in （ A） with （ B） by （ C） at （ D） in （ A） in advance of （ B） ahead of （ C） in advance （ D） in front （ A） ended （ B） ending （ C） to end （ D） while ending （ A） of which （ B） in which （ C） with which （ D） of that （ A） expenses （ B） money （ C） rent （ D） cash （ A） sell off （ B） sold （ C） is sold （
47、D） was sold （ A） the same （ B） different （ C） like （ D） other （ A） relatively （ B） relative to （ C） been relative to （ D） in relation to （ A） so that （ B） such that （ C） such as （ D） for the purpose of （ A） render （ B） pay for （ C） put into （ D） bring （ A） treat as （ B） pay for （ C） pay back （ D） tr
48、eat （ A） when purchasing （ B） when purchased （ C） when purchase （ D） which purchased 五、 PART FIVE 34 Read the article on the opposite page about identifying the training needs of staff. In most of the lines 34 - 45 there is one extra word. It is either grammatically incorrect or does not fit in with
49、 the meaning of the text. Some lines, however, are correct. If a line is correct, write CORRECT on your Answer Sheet. If there is an extra word in the line, write the extra word in CAPITAL LETTERS on your Answer Sheet. The exercise begins with two examples, (0) and (00). Identifying training needs The financial benefits of training are sometimes hard to demonstrate, and often the trai
