1、BEC商务英语（高级）阅读模拟试卷 28及答案与解析 一、 PART ONE 0 Look at the statements below and read the five short passages about taxes. Which short passage (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 Sheet. You will need to use some of the
2、se letters more than once. A Flat Tax Income tax is a direct tax which is levied on the income of private individuals. There are various income tax systems that exist, ranging from a flat tax to an extensive progressive tax system. A flat tax, also called a proportional tax is a system that taxes. U
3、sually the flat tax is proposed to kick in at a certain income level, or to exempt income below that level, so that the lowest-income members of society pay no income tax. Proposed flat taxes usually allow little or no exemption of earned income besides the bottom-level exemption. Advocates of a fla
4、t tax claim that it will end unfair discrimination. They also argue that flat taxes are easier (and cheaper) to administer and comply with than complex, graduated taxes. Most political parties that advocate the introduction of a flat tax are on the right of the political spectrum. B Progressive Tax
5、A progressive tax, or graduated tax, is a tax that is larger as a percentage of income for those with larger incomes. It is usually applied in reference to income taxes, where people with more income pay a higher percentage of it in taxes. The term progressive refers to the way the rate progresses f
6、rom low to high. C Regressive Tax A regressive tax is a tax which takes a larger percentage of income from people whose income is low. A tax which places proportionately more of a burden on those with lower incomes. Regressive taxes, as opposed to progressive taxes, are more burdensome on lower-inco
7、me individuals than on higher-income individuals and corporations. D Tax Deduction Within the United States income tax system, a tax deduction, or “tax-deductible expense“, is an item which is subtracted from gross income in order to arrive at the taxable income. Effectively, the taxpayer pays no in
8、come tax on the amount of money he spent on tax-deductible expenses. For example, if an individual earns $50,000 in a year and gives $5,000 to tax-deductible charities, he will end up paying income tax as though he had earned only $45,000 that year. In this way, the federal and state governments enc
9、ourage certain types of spending. E Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion Tax avoidance is the legal exploitation of the tax regime to ones own advantage, to attempt to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law whilst making a full disclosure of the material information to th
10、e tax authorities. Tax evasion, on the other hand, is a crime. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability, and includes, in particular, dishonest tax reporting, such as under-de
11、clared incomes, profits or gains; or overstated deductions. 1 In the U. S. if you donate 10,000 dollars to some charity organization, you can take that sum away from your total income when you pay income tax. 2 This tax forces lower-income people and corporations to earn more money, because the less
12、 you earn, the more taxes you have to pay. 3 This tax system ensures that the people with the lowest income dont have to pay income tax. 4 The more money you earn, the more taxes you should pay in terms of income tax. 5 You would violate the law if you lie to the tax authorities about the profits th
13、at your company has earned. 6 Most right-wing political parties advocate this tax system. 7 To the lower-income people, this tax is an obligation hard to bear. 8 Many people would try to find ways that observe the law to pay less tax, while at the same time they would give the tax authorities a full
14、 and true report of their income or profits. 二、 PART TWO 8 Read this text about stress free home-office. Choose the best sentence from the sentences that follow 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. Stress Free
15、Home-office Ah, the carefree life of the work-from-home professional no coworkers to interrupt you, no boss looming over your shoulder, no clock to punch. You can come and go as you please, dress however you like, and attend your childs soccer games. A working life without stress. Dream on. Ask anyo
16、ne who works from home, and theyll tell you a different story complete with interruptions from family members and neighbors, no tech support, and the difficulties of keeping to a schedule and maintaining any kind of productivity. (9) . “Many of my clients thought they would be less stressed when the
17、y left the corporate workplace, but the enemy is within,“ says Barbara Reinhold at Smith College. “Its not a function of getting rid of stress. Its a matter of managing stressors. “ (10) . In May, the Harvard School of Public Health released a study that found women in stressful jobs more likely to
18、report poor health than those in relatively undemanding jobs did. Whether you work at home full-time or once in a while, youll be happier and get more done if you follow these precepts. 1. Take Control When you show up for your first day at an office, the tools you need are waiting on your desk. Its
19、 not so easy when you work out of your house. Take time up front to get prepared and organized. “Feeling out of control nothing is as stressful as that,“ Reinhold says. “One of the most important stressors in that regard, research has shown, is a cluttered office. (11) . Were not sure whats under th
20、em, and were not sure we can find something we need. “ 2. Get Comfortable When you are refreshed, you are more productive and less irritable. Too many home professionals ignore this fundamental truth, spending their days working in poor light, seated in an uncomfortable chair at a desk thats too hig
21、h or too low. (12) . A few inexpensive changes can improve your work. 3. Set Boundaries One of the advantages of working from home is spending more time with your family. (13) . “Balancing the increasing demands of work with the pressures of managing family and home can be a challenge,“ acknowledges
22、 Harriet Schechter, author of Conquering Chaos at Work. Dont just ignore that your home and office overlap; create some boundaries that allow for synergy between the two. (14) . A. Stacks and stacks of papers make most of us feel a little subliminally crazy. B. Stress is serious business. C. A home
23、office doesnt eliminate work anxieties; it just reshuffles them. D. Your family is the most important element in your life. E. That way you can take advantage of the best of both worlds. F. That also can be one of the disadvantages. G. You may have converted the babys old room to an office, but have
24、 you done a thorough job? H. A working life without stress. 三、 PART THREE 14 Read the following article about management and quality control and questions that follow. For each Question 15-20, mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet for the answer you choose. Management is the process of
25、 getting things done through people. We know that part of this process is carried out with the development of an organization structure. However, there is more to management than just organizing the people and the work. Objectives must be set, plans formulated, people directed, and operations contro
26、lled. In making the necessary decisions, management must rely on all the skills at its command. As a result, management is both a science and an art. However, quality control is one of the most important factors in management, in this article we are going to learn how the Japanese embraced the idea
27、of quality control by Edwards Deming. It is well known that the father of quality control is the American management authority-Edwards Deming. He despised many aspects of American management. In his view, competition, production quotas and end-of-line inspections, typical business practices in the U
28、SA in the mid-twentieth century, were evils rather than attributes. He believed, and almost religiously so, that quality should he a maxim. Insistence on quotas was no guarantee of quality; nor were end-of-line inspections. To Deming, quality meant prevention of faults by improving the product and t
29、he manufacturing thereof, not post-production cures. His ideas fell on deaf ears in his own culture, but were embraced by the Japanese and most certainly contributed decisively to the rebuilding of their war-damaged nation. The Japanese cultural ethos made it possible for these ideas to work. Kaizen
30、 is a word familiar to all Japanese. It means doing things better, little by little; gradual, incremental growth and improvement. Rather than copy, the Japanese improve upon what they have at their disposal. The Kaizen concept is applied throughout Japanese life to products and to people, to systems
31、 and to services. It is a way of bringing about change by recognition of what is being done, accepting that it can be done better and finding ways to improve. An integral part of the Japanese way of doing things for centuries, Kaizen did not come to the attention of the West until 1985, when Masaaki
32、 Imai introduced the concept to the world. It has since been used widely as a means to obtain and secure competitive advantage within a sector or industry. Hoshin Kanri, which is rather like a set of forms and rules that encourage staff to manage and control the direction or focus of a company, is a
33、nother key concept. It refers to the way company policy is deployed, to the way results are improved by linking activities throughout the organization, to the way in which every single part of an organization contributes to the achievement of objectives. Through Hoshin Kanri, quality management and
34、Kaizen are applied to the whole process of corporate planning. The term Hoshin Kanri was coined in the mid-1960s when a report was published analyzing the Japanese application of Management by Objectives. By 1975 it had become widely accepted in Japan, but did not cross the Pacific for nearly a deca
35、de. The earliest books published in English about it date to the late 1980s. Many companies and organizations have embraced these concepts at all levels. In NASA (the North American Space Agency) statistical quality control has been replaced with new tools to complete tasks, eliminate failure, excha
36、nge and disseminate information and make use of unfiltered, disordered verbal data. The systematic, multidimensional thinking underlying these tools can be and has been used in the development and improvement of systems (especially information systems) and related products. An increasing number of c
37、ase studies have been published and these make it easier to understand how the concepts of Hoshin Kanri and Kaizen are inextricably linked and how they can be effective tools, helping companies to become more competitive. But there is nothing better than firsthand experience. As Edwin B Dean of NASA
38、 says, “Understanding these concepts requires a process of reading as well as doing. “ 15 Edwards Deming believed that business in the USA _ . （ A） was too dependent on quality （ B） was insistent on preventing errors （ C） had few strengths （ D） was too obsessed with competition 16 The Japanese were
39、able to take Demings ideas on board readily because _ . （ A） they needed to rebuild their country （ B） they had been defeated and needed new ideas （ C） their own culture made it easy to identify with his ideas （ D） they were a cultural nation 17 Kaizen _ . （ A） has always existed in Japanese busines
40、s （ B） means copying （ C） is applied by a process of recognition （ D） means growing and improving 18 NASA has adopted these concepts. As a result, they _ . （ A） have improved their information systems （ B） no longer use statistics （ C） have developed multidimensional products （ D） no longer experien
41、ce failure 19 In order to fully understand Hoshin Kanri and Kaizen _ . （ A） you need to understand Japanese culture （ B） you will have to read about experiments （ C） you must read practical case studies about them （ D） you need to see how they are applied in practice in addition to reading about the
42、m 20 The writer wants to demonstrate that _ . （ A） Japan has always practiced the concept of quality control （ B） The concepts underlying quality control are extremely important in management （ C） The United states has been unable to apply the concepts of quality control （ D） It is a coincidence tha
43、t quality control worked in Japan 四、 PART FOUR 20 Read the article below about the relationship between trade and development Choose the best word to fill each gap from A, B, C or D. For each Question 21-30, mark one letter (A, By C or D) on your Answer Sheet. There is no question that the relations
44、hip between trade and development is one of the central policy issue we face today. We live in a world where 50% of humanity lives on less than $2 a day. We live in a world (21) by massive inequality between nations. It is estimated that about 2 billion extra souls will share our crowded planet with
45、in the next 30 years. However, we face a world of incredible (22) and challenges. Trade and trade policy must play their roles as a part of a wider development scenario. And WTO s efforts to push forward this (23) must be strengthened and coordinated at all levels; national, regional, and (24) . 198
46、0s has witnessed the petroleum impact, debts crisis, prices slump, economic (25) in industrial countries and the climax of new policy for trade protection as well. However, in recent years, foreign trade in those developing countries has been back to the right (26) of remarkable increase, an indispe
47、nsable force in leading the global economic growth and trade development. The foreign- (27) trade policy of the developing countries further indicate that they are (28) entering the WTO family on a larger scale than ever before, which helps to protect their interests in WTO and take part in the form
48、ulation of new rules and (29) of WTO. Since 1990s, many developing countries, especially those East Asian and Latin American countries, have become an important force in the global economic (30) . The fact that their economic capacity is gaining more and more strength leads to a more important role-
49、playing in the WTO system. （ A） completely （ B） controlled （ C） characterized （ D） conquered （ A） risks （ B） dangers （ C） opportunities （ D） games （ A） plan （ B） agenda （ C） discussion （ D） product （ A） area （ B） replace （ C） locally （ D） international （ A） recovery （ B） recession （ C） remarkable （ D） regained （ A） traffic （ B） road （ C） way （ D） track （ A） oriented （ B） directed （ C） business （ D） economic （ A） rapidly （ B） hastily （ C） gradually （ D） blindly （ A） su
