1、BEC商务英语（高级）听力模拟试卷 78及答案与解析 一、 PART ONE 0 You will hear the Chief Executive of a steel company talking to shareholders about the companys performance over the last year. As you listen, for questions 1-12, complete the notes, using up to three words or a number. After you have listened once, replay th
2、e recording. ANNUAL REVIEW The years results 1 This years and last years_are the same. 2 In the UK, several new_have been achieved. 3 The_was reduced, resulting in lower labour costs. Problems experienced 4 Export business made difficult by the level of the_ 5 Performance of subsidiary suffered beca
3、use of low_ 6 American joint venture currently running below its_ Measures taken 7 The return on assets now targeted at_ 8 Team set up to examine_ 9 The_to be made more dependable. Technology being used more creatively. The outlook at home and abroad 10 Particular difficulties expected for the_secto
4、rs in the UK. 11 In the US_is expected to remain high. 12 Good prospects for expansion of business in_ 二、 PART TWO 12 You will hear five different people talking about a project they carried out at work, and their experience while carrying it out. For each extract, there are two tasks. For Task One,
5、 choose the purpose of the project from the list A-H. For Task Two, choose the persons experience from the list A-H. After you have listened once, replay the recording. Task One - Purpose of project For questions 13-17, match the extracts with the purpose of the project, listed A-H. For each extract
6、 choose the purpose of the project that the person carried out. Write one letter(A-H)next to the number of the extract. A to make changes to the Marketing Department B to propose changes in managers responsibilities C to implement a programme of redundancies D to automate the production process E to
7、 introduce a staff development system F to improve the companys distribution system G to attract other domestic market segments H to expand the companys geographical coverage 13 _ 14 _ 15 _ 16 _ 17 _ 17 Task Two - Experience of project For questions 18-22, match the extracts with the experience, lis
8、ted A-H. For each extract, choose the experience that the person had while doing the project. Write one letter(A-H)next to the number of the extract. A I felt that other employees didnt co-operate with me. B The documents I wanted didnt exist. C My terms of reference were unclear. D The timescale wa
9、s inadequate. E The project was not adequately funded. F Managers underestimated the difficulties of the project. G My colleagues objected to my being given the project. H I wanted to broaden the focus of the project. 18 _ 19 _ 20 _ 21 _ 22 _ 三、 PART THREE 22 You will hear a Business Studies tutor a
10、nd a student, Martin, discussing Ralcona, a UK-based soft-drinks company. For each question(23-30), mark one letter(A, B or C)for the correct answer. After you have listened once, replay the recording. 23 Why did Ralcona decide to expand their product range? （ A） Demand for their core product was fa
11、lling. （ B） Their competitors were increasing their market share. （ C） They wanted to build on the success of their core product. 24 Ralconas senior management thought that the new product range should be （ A） limited to the European market. （ B） introduced in planned stages. （ C） sold under a diffe
12、rent brand name. 25 What was Ralconas strategy with regard to their new products? （ A） to price them at a higher level than their existing products （ B） to copy their competitors successful products （ C） to target them at the younger end of the market 26 How did Ralcona find designers for the packag
13、ing of the new products? （ A） They headhunted personnel from their competitors. （ B） They recruited newly qualified young designers. （ C） They subcontracted the design to a specialist agency. 27 What unforeseen problem delayed the introduction of the new range? （ A） Ralconas marketing department was
14、 understaffed. （ B） Ralconas competitors introduced a new marketing campaign. （ C） Communication with Ralconas retail outlets was poor. 28 Ralconas executives were surprised to find that the new products were （ A） bought by a wider range of people than expected. （ B） used in more ways than anticipat
15、ed. （ C） more popular than Ralconas core product. 29 How did the success of the new product range affect Ralcona? （ A） The marketing department was restructured. （ B） Employees were rewarded for being more innovative. （ C） The company developed closer links with its retail outlets. 30 According to M
16、artin, what can other businesses learn from studying Ralconas success? （ A） that companies must take risks to beat their competitors （ B） that products can be marketed in different ways to different groups （ C） that ongoing market research is essential to effective selling BEC商务英语（高级）听力模拟试卷 78答案与解析
17、一、 PART ONE 0 【听力原文】 Woman: Ladies and gentlemen, it has been, in general, a good year for the company. Although overall profits are down compared with last year, they are, I am pleased to be able to announce, higher than we expected at this time last year: this years figure is three hundred and fif
18、ty-four million pounds compared with last years figure of four hundred and fifty-one million pounds. The Board is recommending a final dividend of seven pence per share, which makes a total dividend for the year of ten p per share, identical to last year. The profit is mainly thanks to the companys
19、UK plants, which again put in very strong performances, setting a significant number of production records. Deliveries to markets outside Europe were twelve per cent up on the previous year, largely due to economic conditions outside our control. Operating costs, we are pleased to report, were two p
20、er cent lower than in the previous year, due mainly to reduced employment costs, as the workforce was cut from fifty-two thousand to fifty thousand. Now to the less good news: there have been difficulties with our export trade over the last year. The main culprit here has been the strong pound, whic
21、h has reduced profits by approximately five hundred million pounds. Secondly, S. B. Steel, our fifty-one-per-cent-owned German stainless-steel subsidiary, continued to be badly affected by depressed selling prices. Then Huntingdons, our twenty-five-per-cent-owned joint venture in the USA, encountere
22、d technical problems during the year, which mean that it is unlikely to resume operating at capacity again until late this year. Now, faced with these problems, your Board has taken a number of measures, which we believe will be effective within a short timeframe: firstly, we have established a targ
23、et for all our businesses of achieving fifteen-per-cent return on assets. We are streamlining the organisation structures to make them flatter and more responsive to changing needs. We have also established a team to look at our working practices with the aim of improving productivity. We are creati
24、ng a considerably more reliable supplier base; and lastly, we are using information technology more creatively. To turn now to the general outlook in the UK and abroad: the situation is complex. The UK economy is forecast to slow down next year. For the economy as a whole, a recession is not expecte
25、d but, for the manufacturing sectors, there are predictions of, shall we say, unfavourable conditions. Globally, however, demand for steel may well strengthen over the next year, because of improving business confidence. In the US, for instance, analysts think that consumer spending will be maintain
26、ed at high levels. Although we can never be one-hundred-per-cent sure how the markets will develop, we do feel confident that the Middle East offers profitable prospects and we expect some growth opportunities in steel or steel-related businesses in this region. pause Now listen to the recording aga
27、in. pause That is the end of Part One. You now have 20 seconds to check your answers. 1 【正确答案】 (TOTAL)(SHARE)DIVIDEND(S)/ DIVIDEND(S)PER SHARE 2 【正确答案】 (PRODUCTION)RECORDS 3 【正确答案】 WORKFORCE /(NUMBER OF)STAFF 4 【正确答案】 (STRONG)POUND 5 【正确答案】 (SELLING)PRICES 6 【正确答案】 (OPERATING)CAPACITY 7 【正确答案】 15%/F
28、IFTEEN PER CENT/PERCENT 8 【正确答案】 (WORKING)PRACTICES 9 【正确答案】 SUPPLIER BASE/SUPPLIERS 10 【正确答案】 MANUFACTURING 11 【正确答案】 CONSUMER(S)SPENDING / CONSUMER-SPENDING 12 【正确答案】 (THE)MID(DLE)EAST 二、 PART TWO 12 【听力原文】 Speaker One Woman: I worked for a tool manufacturer, which had always targeted the domestic
29、 market, but then the Managing Director realised our product lines would do well abroad, too, and he asked me to look into how best to achieve this. Well, this was a great opportunity for me. I thought it was really important to send our own staff overseas, so they could devote all their time to get
30、ting our products into the markets. But it turned out the boss actually meant I should investigate local companies to use as our agents: he said they would already have information about potential customers. I wish hed spelt this out at the beginning, because at least we could have discussed it. As
31、it was, he ignored most of what I proposed, so Id simply wasted my time. Speaker Two Man: My boss gave me responsibility for this big project once, where I had to plan a strategy for improving the amount of flexibility in our production section. You see, there were people who could operate a specifi
32、c machine, or do a particular part of the process, but if someone was off sick or on holiday, nobody else could take over. It also meant that when people got bored with their job, they tended to leave. So I was supposed to work out how to get everyone familiar with several machines. Well, I didnt kn
33、ow the department very well, so I wanted to discuss my ideas with the shopfloor workers, but morale had got so bad, most of them couldnt be bothered, and in the end, I cant claim I had much success. Speaker Three Woman: We make luxury bags, and were never short of customers. We dont have our own sto
34、res: the bags are sold by retailers, and we work closely with them. They generally have pretty limited storage space, so they cant carry much stock, which means we have to make lots of small deliveries. So I had to do a comparative study of the alternatives. The thing was, though, that I was told ju
35、st to look at getting our finished products from the factory to the outlets, which was straightforward enough, but I soon realised that it would make more sense to look at the whole of the supply chain. Anyway, I managed to solve the immediate problem. Speaker Four Man: The company I worked for merg
36、ed with another one, and I was given the task of evaluating all the senior positions and redefining their roles to fit into the structure of the new company. It was pretty hard, because people were afraid theyd lose their jobs, so the atmosphere was awful. But it also proved very difficult to find o
37、ut exactly how the other company had been operating. It was small, and the directors were basically a group of friends whod set up the business together. Everything was done verbally, and they hadnt bothered to draw up organograms or job descriptions. I had to spend ages talking to all of them, so i
38、t took me a long time to reach the point where I felt confident enough to present my report. Speaker Five Woman: Were a small manufacturer of fashion clothing, targeted at people in their twenties with high disposable incomes. We compete with imported clothing, and only use outlets close by, which k
39、eeps distribution costs down. And then management decided we were too dependent on these customers, and we should aim at a broader age range, and as soon as possible. They considered designing new ranges for other age groups, but we just didnt have the production capacity, so they decided to change
40、the product image, to broaden its appeal. The task of making this happen fell to me. Well, I wish Id refused, because they simply didnt realise that its a very complicated process, and that lots of companies have tried and failed. Instead they blamed me for not being bold enough. pause Now listen to
41、 the recording again. pause That is the end of Part Two. 13 【正确答案】 H 14 【正确答案】 E 15 【正确答案】 F 16 【正确答案】 B 17 【正确答案】 G 18 【正确答案】 C 19 【正确答案】 A 20 【正确答案】 H 21 【正确答案】 B 22 【正确答案】 F 三、 PART THREE 22 【听力原文】 Woman: OK, Martin, I asked you to prepare the case study of Ralcona, the soft-drinks manufacturer.
42、Lets work through the main issues together. Now, I assume youve looked at the background? Can you give me a summary? Man: Erm, yeah, er - well, um, Ralcona are a UK company who had one very famous drink -Jista - which was selling well world-wide. But two years ago, when the new Chairman arrived, he
43、decided to exploit that popularity to expand the product range. Ralcona had introduced Jista into markets in Japan, Australia and several South-East Asian countries. But theres recently been a slide in sales, despite the fact that Jista is still holding up reasonably well against some stiff competit
44、ion from other multinationals. Woman: OK, stop there, because I want to fill you in on the discussions that took place in the planning of this new product range - they were very interesting. Inevitably, the various interested parties in the company all had very different ideas - but they all advocat
45、ed caution. So, for example, the finance department wanted to test the markets closer to home first, while the marketing team were worried any new drinks would dilute the image of the core brand and so were looking at new names. But across the board, the people at the top favoured launching each pro
46、duct separately at different times to get maximum impact for each product. So thats what happened. All right, go on . . . Man: Well, they then had to decide which market to aim for. Did they just replicate other drinks on the market and try to eat into those markets? Should they focus solely on the
47、youth market, which was rapidly expanding? Or should they be daring and go for an older, more sophisticated age group with more expensive products? Riskily, they plumped for the latter. Then, having decided where they were going, the R and D department began developing the products. Woman: Right, an
48、d a key factor here was deciding on the all-important design of the packaging. Now, designers tend to have a track record of success - or not - so the safest option would have been to employ a team of consultants who specialised in this. But, driven by the focus on innovation from the new chairman,
49、they trawled the market for recent graduates, thinking their enthusiasm would make up for their lack of experience. They were also approached by designers from other companies, but thought theyd be too set in their ways. So the industry was waiting eagerly to see what Ralcona had to offer, but at the last minute, the company halted the launch for three months. Why was that? Man: Um . an over-worked marketing department had pulled out
