1、BEC商务英语（高级）阅读模拟试卷 39及答案与解析 一、 PART ONE 0 Look at the statements below and the views expressed by five different people about their careers in retailing Which extract(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 wi
2、ll need to use some of these Ietters more than once A CAREER IN RETAILING Keeping the customer satisfied is central to the retail business But how much job satisfaction can workers in the retail trade expect? Five people who work in retailing talk about their careers A Steve Cain is deputy director
3、of trading for a large supermarket He says， “When I moved into the retail sector I found it offered more tangible achievements and rewards than my previous business consultancy work The power base has changed in the industry， and its the retailers who are now driving things forward Before， buyers wa
4、ited for the product to come in and negotiated the price with the manufacturers， but now in food retailing， its the retailers themselves who are developing their own brands and fixing prices， which makes it an exciting field to work in B Virginia Clement is support and development manager for a larg
5、e clothing department store “ This means I am responsible for all the buying and merchandising This demands teamwork。 and for me this is one of the most attractive aspects of work ing at head office You have a lot of contact with people， from shop floor staff to suppl iers We work in a very open env
6、ironment and were very team orientated Each team is responsible for getting a particular product to the store on time and in the right quantities “ C Tim Edlund， who works in buying for a large clothing store， says， “ The buyer has to have some flair for design， but balancing that， you need a strate
7、gic view and business acumen There are numerous factors influencing a buyers choice of product range for each season I have to beware of current trends in the suppliersmarket?competitorsactivity and both local and global customer demand I go all over Britain to keep abreast of this information Worki
8、ng hours are very irregular， so its the complete opposite to a 9 to 5 job It can be extremely exhausting， but I love it “ D Diane Maxwell is buying controller for womens wear for a home shopping catalogue company She says that， despite the hard work， her job remains varied and satisfying “ Ive gaine
9、d a huge range of skills with the company in various fields， both through formal courses and by means of on-the-job training The scope of the buying role is extremely broad Its not just about the product The focus of the job is 0n producing a profitable range and that requires extensive business kno
10、wledge “ E Jan Shaw is personnel director of a supermarket She says “ What we really want to do in our company is taking on people witil a real interest in trade rather than managers who only want to complete a job as fast as possible Our new graduate recruitment programme aims to de exactly that Th
11、e induction programme introduces all aspects of working for our company， giving early responsibility and first-hand experience of the companys working culture Career development within the company is based on general management skills rather than specialisation， so whatever department they are in， e
12、mployees will focus on similar aims 1 The way this market operates has been transformed 2 New employees are given an overview of how the company works 3 Ive increased my business expertise since joining the company 4 I enjoy working in retail more than in my former job 5 Work ing closely with other
13、people is an important feature of this job 6 Company training is organised so that all staff share common goals 7 I need to keep up to date with developments in my field 8 My business would like to employ only people genuinely committed to a career in retailing. 二、 PART TWO 8 Read this text taken fr
14、om an article about how the accountants influence the decisions Choose the best sentence 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 How the Accountants Influence the Decisions Accountants in industry are often asked to e
15、valuate projects In the recording industry this ususlly means working out the effect on comjpany profits of the fine print in a recording contrace Many people think it must be straightforward， but， like many publishing contracts， the devil lies in the detail (9) There is a high level of front-end in
16、vestment in trying to“break” (popularise)an artist which usually comprises a non-returnable advance on royalties， recording costs，promotional costs and tour support costs which sometimes even extend to large“buy-on”fees to support major artists on big tours； i.e.they pay to play Usuallv the first de
17、Partment involved in a decision to sign an artist is the AR (artistes and repertoire)department Sometimes unfairly labeled the Urn Ah department they play a vital role in identifying potential stars About 95 of the artists dont make the grade (10) This financial analysis is called a Deal Memo and it
18、 also assist in the negotiation process When A R have identified a signing then there are a number of key decisions to be made in which the business affairs and finance departments become closely involved (11) Will it be a direct signing， i.e.， will the company be contracting directly with the artis
19、t， or has the artist been savvy enough to incorporate his own company and“loan out” his services to his own company?If the contract is with the artists company then it is vital that the record company get the artist to sign a letter(called an inducement letter)stating that he personally undertakes t
20、o fulfill his contractual obligations should his company be unable to do so； e.g.if it were wound up (12) Pete Watermans PWL with artists such as Kylie Minogue， Jason Donovan and Rick Astley was a good example of a production house Other examples are 1ease-tape deals and RD(pressing and distribution
21、)where the record company does not actually own the product but can sell it under its name for a 1imited period (13) This will largely concentrate on the advances， royaltv rates and contract terms that should be offered to make it attractive to the artist to sign (14) It should be product based， for
22、 example， on the number of albums to be delivered by the artist(known 38 the“minimum commitment”)， rather than time based Ideally the record company would want to sign the artist for just one album with multiple options for further albums at its sole and absolute discretion， so if the artist is a fl
23、op， then the contract is terminated after one album， but if he or she is a success then options are exercised A the term of the contract is very important B Having decided on the form of contract then， the finance department comes int。the Dicture in assessing and analyzing the structure of the deal
24、C Other possible forms of contract that could be considered are production house deals where a specialist company agrees to supply a number of artists to the record company D Firstly， it must be decided what form the contract is going to take E However， for the very few artists that the record compa
25、nies successfully“ break“ then there is big money to be made and it is therefore vital that any proposed deal undergo a through financial analysis to ensure that the company is not over-committed F Contrary to popular myth that it is easy to make money in the music business，most artists actually los
26、e money for the recording companies G Importance should be attached to both the term and form of the contract H In the recording industry this usually means working Out the effect on company profits of the fine print in a recording contract 三、 PART THREE 14 Read the following article about career de
27、velopment and the questions on the opposite page For each question 15-20， mark one letter(A， B， C or D)on your Answer Sheet for the answer you choose How to get to the top Marketing used to be the route to the chief executives chair， but the world has changed Now， says Monika Hamori professor of hum
28、an resources at Instituto de Empresa in Madrid， it is finance chiefs who are most likely to get the top job， though experience in opera-tions-running parts of the companyis also essential CFO Magazine found in 2005 that onefifth of chief ex-ecutives in America were former chief financiaI officers， a
29、lmost double the share of a decade earlier The importance of quarterly financial reporting， and closer scrutiny since the imposition of the Sarbanesoxley corporategovernance act， have put CFOs in the limelightand given them the chance to shine Another factor in reaching the top is whether you stay w
30、ith the company you joined as a youngster Ms Hamoris research looked at companies in the SP 500 and the FTSEurofirst 300 She finds thatlifersget to the top in 22 years in America and 24 years in Europe： Hopperswho jump between four or more companies， by contrast，take at least 26 years on average to
31、become chief executives Insiders get promotions that reflect their potential， because their bosses have enough information to be reasonably confident about their ability When executives switch from one company to another， however， they tend to move less far up the hierarchy， the researchers found Th
32、e time taken to reach the top is falling The average time from first job to chief executive fell from 28 years in 1980 to 24 in 2001 Successful executives are spending less time than they used to in each intermediate joban average of four yearsand they fill five posts on the way up down from six One
33、 reason for this acceleration is that company hierarchies are flatter than they used to be Another important shift is the advent of female chief executives 1n 2001 women accounted for 11%of bosses at leading American companies ac-cording to the Hamori/Cappelli survey； in the early 1980s there were n
34、one America is usually regarded as the home of raw capitalism with youthful managers hopping from firm to firm and pushing their way to the top But the HamorL/Cappelli study and another by Booz Company， a consultancy， show that Europe is a more dynamic and harsher environ-menl than America or Japan
35、for chief executives For a start， European chief executives are younger， with an average age of 54 compared with over 56 in America The Hamor/Cappelli study shows that 26%of American bos-ses were lifers， compared with only 18%in Europe The Europeans also have a harder time once they get to the top.B
36、ooz Companys annual survey of chiefexecutive succession shows that 17.6%of European bosses moved on last year compared with 15%of Americans and 10%of Japanese Chief executives the survey found， last longer in America： the average tenure over the past decade was just over nine years But in Europe the
37、 average tenure over the same period was less than seven years Moreover a whopping 37%of changes at the top in Europe were more or less firings， according to Booz， compared with only 27%in America and 12%in Japan Booz puts this down to the more recent tightening of corporate governance in Europe,Ano
38、ther Booz finding is common to both sides of the Atlantic： looking back over recent years， board disputes and power struggles lie behind a third of chiefexecutive firings In short， shareholder activism is making its presence felt，putting pressure on bosses to perform 15 What is true according to the
39、 first paragraph? （ A） CFOshard work leads to their increasing chances of promotion （ B） CFOs usually have no experience in management （ C） Marketing directors no longer have the chance to get a top position （ D） Chief executives used to be promoted mainly from the marketing department 16 If you are
40、 alifer （ A） you take less time to make it to the top （ B） you have a long list of previous jobs （ C） you tend to move less far up in the company （ D） you keep changing your job all your life 17 What is true according to the third paragraph? （ A） Chief executives spend less time on their jobs than b
41、efore （ B） Career progression is faster than it used to be （ C） Company hierarchies are barriers to career development （ D） There will be more female executives than male executives in the future 18 Compared to America， （ A） there is more competition for chief executives in Europe （ B） lifers in Eur
42、ope have more chances to get to the top （ C） it takes lifers in Europe less time to get to the top （ D） executives in Europe hop less frequently from job to job 19 What is true about European chief executives? （ A） They are dynamic and harsh in management （ B） They will be hard on others once they g
43、et to the top （ C） They have less job security than their American counterparts （ D） They work longer than their American counterparts 20 According to the last paragraph， （ A） employees are more likely to be fired as they get higher in position （ B） executives in Japan are more likely to get fired t
44、han those in America （ C） corporate governance in America and Japan is too loose （ D） shareholders in both America and Europe put great pressure on the management 四、 PART FOUR 20 Read the article below about how to handle work after treatment for cancer Choose the correct word or phrase to till each
45、 gap from A， B， C or D on the opposite page For each question 21-30， mark one letter(A， B， C or D)on your Answer Sheet Continuing to Heal After Returning to Work You are on medical symptom after learning that you have cancer， and you plan to return to work after your treatment Should you return full
46、 time or part time?According to the American Cancer Society， a great number of workers who receive a (21) of cancer do retum to their jobs during or after treatment (22) ， its better to come back in stages rather than all at once Doctors (23) working two or three days the first week and then returni
47、ng to full time from there， (24) ， on the energy level After all， you cant just walk into the office and expect to (25) at the same level you did before treatment Just because you are healthy enough to go back to work doesnt mean you are necessarily ready to work eight hours (26) a roW What if you h
48、ave to come back full time for financial reasons?How do you (27) feeling sick or tired on the job?Youd better be honest about it Talk to your manager， immediate co-workers and people who (28) directly to you about how much work you can handle and what you need to (29) Its also important to communicate to coworkers (30) you need to get through the day-it could be lying down for 20 minutes to regain your strength， or acknowledging that you can no longer work through lunch （ A） symptom （ B） diagnosis （ C） cure （ D） result （ A） Generally （ B） Really （ C） Absolutely （ D） Possibly （ A） demand （ B）
