1、BEC商务英语（高级）听力模拟试卷 8及答案与解析 一、 PART ONE 1 You will hear the General Manager of Artis Ltd giving her staff instructions about the arrangements for a visit to the company by a group of international agents. As you listen, for questions 1-12, complete the notes using up to three words or a number. After
2、you have listened once, replay the recording. ARTIS LIMITED Arrival Briefing notes for visit of foreign agents 1. The agents will be brought to Artis _ at 9 am. 2. The agents will need to be taken to the _ by 9.30 am. Rest of day 3. The first place for the agents to see is the _ . 4. The second plac
3、e is the _ department. 5. In the cafeteria, a video of the new _ will be shown. 6. The last place they will visit will be the _ Must remember 7. All staff must _ . 8. Its necessary to have two _ available at all times. 9. Each agent must be given an _ before the presentation. 10. The agent from Boli
4、via needs an _ Evening entertainment 11. The latest time to arrive at the restaurant is _ 12. The _ will be at 9 pm. 二、 PART TWO 13 You will hear five different people talking about problems and responses to them in the companies where they work. For each extract there are two tasks. For Task One, d
5、ecide which problem each speaker mentions from the list A-H. For Task Two, decide which response the company made to the problem from the list A-H. After you have listened once, replay the recording. 13 Task One - Problems For questions 13-17, match the extracts with the problems, listed A-H. For ea
6、ch extract, decide which problem for the company is mentioned. Write one letter (A-H) next to the number of the extract. A The directors experience was narrow. B Certain products went out of fashion. C There was a reliance on poor-quality supplies. D There were conflicts between directors. E Too man
7、y new products were launched at the same time. F Reasons for previous success were misunderstood. G There was a failure to understand economic trends. H Some advisors made poor recommendations. 18 Task Two - Responses For questions 18-22, match the extracts with the responses, listed A-H. For each e
8、xtract, decide which response the company made to the problem. Write one letter (A-H) next to the number of the extract. A Large severance payments were made. B New shares were issued. C A takeover bid was accepted. D Low-cost products were introduced. E A partnership abroad was formed. F One divisi
9、on was sold off. G Some products were rebranded. H A cost reduction programme was introduced. 三、 PART THREE 22 You will hear an interview with Steve Marriott, an internal business consultant with Carserve, a vehicle breakdown service. For each question (23-30), mark one letter (A, B or C) for the co
10、rrect answer. After you have listened once, replay the recording. 23 According to Steve Marriott, what problem do some of Carserves remote workers have? （ A） They think that they do not receive enough company information. （ B） They want a greater amount of informal contact with colleagues. （ C） They
11、 feel uncomfortable without a separate office base. 24 According to Steve, some staff believe that （ A） they need to prove that they are working hard. （ B） their breaks should be taken at intervals. （ C） the support they receive from management is inadequate. 25 In Steves opinion, what was the under
12、lying management problem when he joined Carserve? （ A） There was confusion about who gave orders. （ B） Objectives were not made clear to staff. （ C） Long-term planning was not carried out. 26 Steve improved the situation at Carserve by （ A） introducing regular work meetings. （ B） encouraging manager
13、s to trust staff. （ C） modifying the system of supervision. 27 Why have Carserves teams become more effective? （ A） Distance has forced them to become more organised. （ B） They are expected to make decisions quickly. （ C） Their meetings have become more frequent. 28 What does Steve Marriott say abou
14、t staff contacting managers? （ A） Managers sometimes fail to respond promptly. （ B） Managers dont want to be disturbed in their work. （ C） Staff may be uncertain about when it is appropriate to do so. 29 How have managers been affected by the change to remote working? （ A） They now have to deal with
15、 employees personal problems. （ B） They now have to assess staff more regularly. （ C） They now spend more time travelling than talking to staff. 30 To help managers, Carserve is planning training on the subject of （ A） making the best use of technology. （ B） organising remote teams. （ C） reducing ma
16、nagerial control. BEC商务英语（高级）听力模拟试卷 8答案与解析 一、 PART ONE 1 【听力原文】 Woman: Right, if thats everyone . oh, hello Mr Pandon, if youd sit just there . right. Now, as Im sure you all appreciate, its absolutely vital that the visit goes off smoothly. Most of the agents already do good business with us, but t
17、here are several who dont, and Im very keen to secure contact with them. It could open up crucial new markets. Ill go through the day in order. So, theyll be coming here by taxi - Im expecting three vehicles, at least thats what I ordered. They should be here by 9. We need to allow for delays, and s
18、o on, but you need to make sure that you get them to the boardroom before half past, otherwise the whole day will start late. OK, well, after the introductory presentation there, their first port of calls going to be the computer centre. Its the most up-to-date in the region, and should make a good
19、impression. After that well take them to see the quality control division. By then, theyll have been on their feet for quite a while, so itll be over to the cafeteria for refreshments and a showing of the new TV advert on video. Hopefully, theyll be impressed by the image were putting out. Thatll ta
20、ke us to the question and answer session, then lunch. Finally, with all that in mind, theyll be taken down the production line. I think itll be helpful for them to see our products being assembled. Now, there are certain things we must bear in mind during the day. We have to give a really profession
21、al impression, so everybodys got to tidy their desks. I dont want any mess at all. Were going to need two mobile phones/co hand throughout the day. The second one is just in case the first one stops working or runs out of battery time. Information packs - theyre still being printed up, but theyll be
22、 ready tonight. All the agents need to be handed their info packs before the start of the presentation. Language - well, it shouldnt be a problem, except for Mr Gonzalez from Bolivia. He must have the interpreter with him throughout the day. He does speak some English, but its far from perfect, and
23、we dont want him missing important points, or just generally feeling left out. Latin Americas a very exciting market at the moment, and I want us to be right in there. Now, on to the evening. Well, the bookings made, and its all arranged, including Ms Winners special dietary requirements. Weve got t
24、he private function room at the back, which is very comfortable and should fit us all in nicely. Although the food wont be served until 8 oclock, there are drinks and so on, so I want everyone there by half past seven. OK? The last point: the Directors speech will be at 9, so be ready for that - he
25、doesnt want to talk to a lot of people whove got their mouths full! Well, I think thats about all . 1 【正确答案】 in (3) taxis/by taxi 2 【正确答案】 boardroom/board room 3 【正确答案】 computer centre 4 【正确答案】 quality control 5 【正确答案】 TV advert 6 【正确答案】 production line 7 【正确答案】 clear/tidy their desks 8 【正确答案】 mobil
26、e phones 9 【正确答案】 information pack/info pack 10 【正确答案】 interpreter 11 【正确答案】 7.30 p.m./half past seven 12 【正确答案】 directors speech 二、 PART TWO 13 【听力原文】 Speaker One Woman: Well, now its all over, I can only hope weve learnt the right lessons from the experience. Although the consultants at the time u
27、rged caution, the board were sure of the plan - after all, it was the sort of thing theyd pulled off before - and ploughed ahead with the launch of the new division. But the board wouldnt accept that the predicted boom in these new overseas markets was bound to be unstable because of likely fluctuat
28、ions in currency rates and share prices, and thats where it all came unstuck. They reacted sensibly, though, and now we have established a good joint venture there, which is a better bet than going it alone, or slashing costs all over the place and laying people off in a panic. Speaker Two Man: In t
29、he end, youd have to say we had a lucky escape - I mean, it could have been a lot worse. Its very difficult to know where your brand is really positioned, weve always accepted that our research almost inevitably will be running a bit behind. Consumer tastes change so quickly these days, and thats wh
30、ere we suffered, and lost market share. The directors, once it was clear what was happening, attacked the problem and looked at various options. They could have looked to generate revenues with a share issue, but I think they were right to go for clipping back by reducing expenditure wherever possib
31、le - youre better placed to regroup with a tight ship. The plans to develop higher quality products for the future look pretty plausible now. Speaker Three Woman: Well, I now know to take all this talk about the importance of communication skills seriously. I used to think it was all rather woolly,
32、but when youve seen the damage misunderstandings can do. I suppose the board was a grouping of people with such strong backgrounds individually that each of them expected to be top dog, and that it was perhaps inevitable that theyd clash over what direction the company should go in. Anyhow, it looke
33、d very grim for a while but, in the end, two of them took the pretty sizeable payoffs they were offered and moved on. From our point of view, at least it saved us from the prospect of the group being split up and the shares sold off. Speaker Four Man: We were all extremely glad to see the back of th
34、at particular episode in the companys history. I know theres quite a trend to constantly reviewing your sourcing in the search for cost savings, but it was crazy to move over to such an untried firm. The trouble was we were getting nearly all our parts from them, so everything was leaving the factor
35、y here with faulty components, with appalling results. We should have listened to the consultants, but on this one we thought we knew better. It got so bad that predatory offers were being made for the division, and we had to think hard about how to save the brands reputation. Raising fresh capital
36、through new shares was the right way to go and enabled us to cover the losses we made in sales. Speaker Five Woman: I sometimes really do think that the people who know least about a company are the people who run it. thats why theres such an industry in advising on and supplying the skills for mana
37、ging change. We went along assuming that we were selling well because of what we saw as our core qualities - but we were wrong. It was just that we happened to have got our pricing right, so when we changed that, it all started falling apart. Things got decidedly grim for a time, and drastic action
38、was required. A merger was considered, and an aggressive takeover had to be fought off. In the end, it was easier to accept an offer for the Budget Products Division, and avoid major redundancies, than to go on trying to keep the whole thing afloat. 13 【正确答案】 G 14 【正确答案】 B 15 【正确答案】 D 16 【正确答案】 C 17
39、 【正确答案】 F 18 【正确答案】 E 19 【正确答案】 H 20 【正确答案】 A 21 【正确答案】 B 22 【正确答案】 F 三、 PART THREE 22 【听力原文】 Woman: These days, more and more people are employed by a company, but work from home. Theyre sometimes called remote workers. Carserve is a vehicle breakdown company whose phone operators are all based at
40、home. Steve Marriott, an internal business consultant with Carserve, is in the studio today. Steve, do people really enjoy working from home? Man: If you measure enjoyment by staff retention and improved productivity, the answer is definitely yes. But this doesnt happen by itself. In Carserve, we li
41、ke the fact that our staff keep in touch with each other, through personal phone calls and emails. We also use email for company communications, instead of using office notice boards, though of course we cant guarantee that everyone reads them all. But the absence of a sharp division between work an
42、d home sometimes creates a definite sense of insecurity, which we cant always remove. Woman: Wasnt there a risk in introducing remote working? Man: Before it was started, the greatest fear was that, with the change in the support provided, people would be less productive. As its turned out, staff ha
43、ve to be actively encouraged to take short breaks. You see, they tend to feel they have to answer the phone at the first ring, in case their manager thinks theyre sitting around watching TV, even though they know we dont do that kind of checking up. Woman: When you joined Carserve you werent happy w
44、ith the ways things were being run, were you? What was the problem? Man: The management focused on what could be put down on paper, like an organogram showing reporting lines. But they tended to avoid the less concrete issues, like how to ensure the workers knew what they were expected to achieve. S
45、o despite detailed planning and plenty of memos, in reality people were working in a bit of a vacuum. Woman: How did you turn that around? Man: Communication is important, but regular meetings are no substitute for a change of attitude. Managers have to start from the assumption that the remote work
46、ers are doing their job properly, even though they arent being supervised. So thats what I focused on. Woman: You do teamwork, dont you, eventhough the teams arent physically working in the same place. How does that work? Man: Surprisingly, perhaps, it makes them more effective. Because they know th
47、eyre only coming into the office for a team meeting, they plan that meeting much more carefully than perhaps they would do otherwise. And between meetings they communicate by email or phone, and that tends to take the pressure off reaching a decision before thinking it right through. Woman: Earlier,
48、 you mentioned the use of electronic communication internally, like the phone, and computers for emails. Have these replaced face-to-face contact? Man: Not entirely. In fact, managers often work from home too, and staff are sometimes afraid, wrongly in fact, that a phone call will disturb them, or t
49、hat an email wont be read on time. So, we make sure staff can regularly talk to their managers face-to-face. Woman: Doesnt remote working make it difficult for managers to carry out their work? Man: It certainly changes its nature. As part of our performance management process, managers visit staff at home twice a month. When everyone works in one office, you get on with some, and have less rapport with others, and
