1、BEC 商务英语（高级）阅读模拟试卷 21 及答案与解析 一、 PART ONE 0 Look at the statements below and description of some of the Europes fast growing companies on the opposite page. Which company (A, B, C, D or E) does each statement 1-8 refer to? For each statement 1-8, mark one letter (A, B, C, D or E ) on your Answer Shee
2、t. You will need to use some of these letters more than once. A City Refrigeration In 1985, Willie Haughey and his wife started a small business providing pubs in northeast England and Scotland with refrigeration and technical services, investing about $100,000 that Willie had made by working for a
3、Carder air-conditioning branch in file scorching Persian Gulf states. Almost two decades latex, the two are running a major company with blue-chip clients from their base hi Glasgow. Willie, who serves as executive chairman, says that City Refrigeration Holdings Ltd., with close to 10, 500 employees
4、, will bring in some 360 million in revenues this year. Earnings before interest and taxes will be an estimated 11 million. B New Wave New Wave Group is riding high these days. The Swedish clothing company sells a mix of moderately priced casual lines, workmens gear, and sportswear in 12 countries f
5、rom China to Switzerland. Sales have been increasing at a 41% annual clip since 1990, and the company is on course to do the same this year. In just the first half of 2004, sales were up 20%, to 117.8 million, while profits grew by the same percentage, to 9.3 million. “Theyve been quite successful a
6、t erecting new markets,“ says Lars Frick, a retail analyst at Kaupthing Bank in Stockholm. C Formula Servizi Formula Servizi, founded in 1975 as a nine-woman cleaning co-op, has seen its revenue grow steadily in the last several years, reaching 27.8 million at the end of 2003, while profits grew fro
7、m 855,000 in 2000 to 3.4 million last year. One of the elements behind the fast growth of Formula Servizi is its cooperative ownership structure. Out of a total of 1,291 employees ms of the end of last year 87% of them women more than haft are part-owners of the company and are invited to participat
8、e in its democratic decision-making process, voting on strategy and investment decisions. This definitely helps motivate workers. D Eurofins Mad cow disease. Genetically altered crops. Food additives. Who knows whats safe to eat and drink these days? Eurofins Scientific does. Based and set up in the
9、 French city of Nantes in 1988, Eurofins is one of the worlds leading bioanalysis groups, testing everything from fruit juice to pharmaceuticals. With profits of 1.6 million last year on revenues of 168.7 million, its riding a surge in demand for biotesting, as governments and industry seek to reass
10、ure the public about the purity and safety of food and drugs. E Arup Group Founded in 1946 by Sir Ore Amp, a British-born engineer who studied in Germany and Denmark, the firm has gone from a small engineering design outfit to a global player with annual sales of 592.8 million. Amps 7,000 employees
11、are mattered across 73 offices in 32 countries. Business has been particularly brisk in recent years because of the firms holistic approach of employing engineers, architects, and ecologists. Sales jumped 44% in the three years to March, 2003. Yet the firm, which is profitable, isnt even considering
12、 an initial public offering. Amps top executives like living without “watching-the-share-price pressure.“ 1 The company has kept a steady high annual sale increase for 15 years. 2 The companys earnings this year are likely to be more than 100 times the amount invested almost 20 years ago. 3 The prod
13、uct of the company sells well in the world at a reasonable price. 4 The reason for the company to grow so successfully is that most employees own it and have the equal right to have their say. 5 It is a transnational company with its business focused on innovative architecture designing. 6 It starte
14、d as a very small company providing cleaning service. 7 The business of the company is in great demand as a result of peoples concern with health. 8 Although its revenue has grown rapidly in recent years, the companys CEO doesnt mean to list it in securities market. 二、 PART TWO 8 Read the article be
15、low about job outlook of financial managers. Choose the best sentence from the opposite page to fill each of the gaps. For each gap 9-14, mark one letter (A-H) on your Answer Sheet. Do not use any letter more than once. Job Outlook of Financial Managers Employment of financial managers is expected t
16、o grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through 2012. Growth is expected to be steady and will increase in line with the growth of the economy as a whole. However, jobseekers are likely to face keen competition for jobs, as the number of job openings is expected to be less than the n
17、umber of applicants Candidates with expertise in accounting and finance, particularly those with a masters degree, should enjoy the best job prospects. Strong computer skills and knowledge of international finance are important; so are excellent communication skills, because financial management job
18、s involve working on strategic planning teams. (9) Over the short term, employment in this occupation is negatively impacted by economic downturns, during which companies are more likely to close departments, or even go out of business- decreasing the need for financial managers. Mergers, acquisitio
19、ns, and corporate downsizing also are likely to adversely affect employment of financial managers. (10) The banking industry, which employs more than I out of 10 financial managers, will continue to consolidate, although at a slower rate than in previous years. In spite of this trend, employment of
20、bank branch managers is expected to increase as banks begin to refocus on the importance of their existing branches and as new branches are created to service a growing population. As banks expand the range of products and services they offer to include insurance and investment products, branch mana
21、gers with knowledge in these areas will be needed. (11) Despite the current downturn in the securities and commodities industry, the long-run prospects for financial managers in that industry should be favorable, as more will be needed to handle increasingly complex financial transactions and manage
22、 a growing amount of investments. (12) Risk managers, who assess risks for insurance and investment purposes, also will be in demand. Some companies may hire financial managers on a temporary basis, to see the organization through a short-term crisis or to offer suggestions for boosting profits. Oth
23、er companies may contract out all accounting and financial operations. (13) Computer technology has reduced the time and staff required to produce financial reports. (14) Financial managers who are familiar with computer software that can assist them in this role will be needed. A Financial managers
24、 also will be needed to handle mergers and acquisitions, raise capital, and assess global financial transactions. B In fact, jobseekers who are experienced in this field will have a good prospect. C However, jobseekers are likely to face keen competition for jobs, as the number of job openings is ex
25、pected to be less than the number of applicants. D As the economy expands, job growth for financial managers will stem from both the expansion of established companies and from the creation of new businesses. E However, the growing need for financial expertise as the economy expands will ensure job
26、growth over the next decade. F As a result, forecasting earnings, profits, and costs, and generating ideas and creative ways to increase profitability will become a major role of corporate financial managers over the next decade. G As a result, candidates who are licensed to sell insurance or securi
27、ties will have the most favorable prospects. H Even in these cases, however, financial managers may be needed to oversee the contracts. 三、 PART THREE 14 Read the following extract from an article about antidumping duties in the EU, and the questions followed. For each question 1520, mark one letter
28、(A, B, C, or D) on your Answer Sheet for the answer you choose. The tariff-jumping motive for FDI is well developed in the literature. The trade-of foreign firms typically face in these models is based on the level of the tariff when exporting versus the boardcest associated with setting up a manufa
29、cturing plant abroad. Other studies compare the effects of tariffs with the effects of quota and voluntary export restraints (VERs) and have shown how the profit gain for foreign firms due to VERs lowers the propensity to engage in FDI. White the use of tariffs, quota and VERs has been reduced as a
30、result of multilateral trade negotiations, the use of other trade policy instruments, notably antidumping, has increased. Recent empirical work has confirmed that the FBI response to antidumping actions is certainly not uncommon, in particular in case of antidumping actions targeting Japanese firms,
31、 in a recent study, analyses duty-jumping FDI by firms based in other countries than Japan. The antidumping jumping FDI is very limited in scale in case firms without international experience based in developing countries are targeted. Given the demonstrated importance of FDI responses to antidumpin
32、g actions, it is surprising that the theoretical literature on the effects of antidumping law have by and large ignored the issue of antidumping jumping. In a symmetric model of two countries considering reciprocal (anti-)dumping and reciprocal FD1, they find that producers in both countries would g
33、ain from the abolition of antidumping law from the WTO statute. This result is driven by the fact that reciprocal antidumping jumping FDI increases competition and reduces profits of domestic firms. All types of international price discrimination with the lower price charged in the EH can classify a
34、s dumping, at least for products for which there are close EU substitutes. We explicitly consider a clause in EU antidumping law that allows the EU administration to settle antidumping actions either by levying duties or by demanding price undertakings from the foreign exporting firms. Our medel sho
35、ws that this decision will depend on the objective function of the EU administration, which may vary between protecting the interests of EH industry only (maximizing producer surplus) and also taking into account the interests of consumers and user industries (maximizing EU social welfare). The form
36、er corresponds to the direct objective of antidumping law. Pursuing the latter is in line with the public interests embedded in EU antidumping law by which the EU Commission is held to consider repercussions on consumers and user industries. A second aspect of EU antidumping incorporated in the mode
37、l is that the level of duties and price undertakings is typically determined by the degree to which foreign firms undercut EU producers prices on the EU market. This rule is applied to ensure that antidumping measures remove the injury to EU industry. The rule limits the discretionary power of the E
38、U administration in determining duty and price undertaking levels. Contrary to the symmetric model of Haland and Wooton, we explicitly take on boardcost asymmetries, viz, a cast advantage of the foreign firm. Such a cost advantage is a most likely reason for price undercutting by foreign exporters r
39、esulting in antidumping actions. We allow cost advantages to ha either firm-specific, in which case they are internationally transferable through FDI, or location specific. We show that the occurrence of duty ,jumping FDI in the EU requires that the foreign firms cost advantage is at least partly fi
40、rm specific. In the next section we present the model for the case of products which are sufficiently close substitutes (like products) and firm-specific cost advantages, assuming that the EU administration is able to commit to antidumping actions before the foreign firms investment decision, and al
41、lowing two alternative policy objectives (producer surplus and social welfare). For this purpose we used a three-stage model. In the first stage, the EU administration decides whether to take antidumping measures, and if so, whether to levy a duty or allow a price undertaking. In the second stage th
42、e foreign firm decides whether to serve the EH market through export or FDI. In the third stage, the foreign firm is engaged in price competition with a local firm on the EU market, which offers close substitute products. Injury arises from a production cost advantage of the foreign firm, which may
43、either be location specific, for example, based on lower foreign wages or firm specific like based on a transferable technological advantage. 15 According to the first paragraph, what does the study about tariff-jumping motive show? （ A） The welfare and strategic effects of antidumping laws under al
44、ternative market structures. （ B） Industries incentives to petition for antidumping. （ C） These studies show under which conditions foreign firms prefer to set up local production units over exporting when serving distant markets. （ D） The potential effect of antidumping measures in strengthening co
45、llusive practices. 16 What does the evidence show in the second paragraph? （ A） The evidence suggests that EU firms show a comparable FDI response if they are targeted by US antidumping actions. （ B） The evidence shows the possibility of a protection building equilibrium. （ C） A foreign firm that in
46、tends to engage in second period FDI increases its first period export in order to increase the level of protection faced by the rival foreign firm. （ D） The evidence implies that they are concerned with the effects of economic integration involving the abolition of antidumping law. 17 After reading
47、 the first three paragraphs, what do you think the two studies deal with? （ A） The two studies examine antidumping jumping FDI in the context of EU antidumping practices. （ B） Two studies deal with the relationship between antidumping and FDI. （ C） They analyze the conditions under which antidumping
48、 jumping FDI occurs. （ D） They explain the output and welfare effects of antidumping actions. 18 What does the writer imply in the fourth paragraph? （ A） An antidumping duty is akin to a tariff. （ B） A price undertaking is a commitment by the foreign firm to raise its price. （ C） The conditions unde
49、r which undertakings are allowed are not well articulated in EU antidumping law. （ D） An EU antidumping case can only be initiated when imports are dumped on the European market and cause material injury. 19 From the fifth paragraph, in the case of cost advantages, what does FDI imply? （ A） It implies that it is often a feature of exporters based in developing countries. （ B） It implies that foreign firms relinquish their cost advantage and produce at the same marginal cost as t
