1、BEC商务英语（高级）阅读模拟试卷 90及答案与解析 一、 PART ONE 0 Look at the statements below and the five news items on various companies on the opposite page. Which report(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
2、some of these letters more than once. A New Store Parkins search for a site for its next store has been ended by Marsdens misfortunes, with Parkin agreeing to buy half of the latters Birmingham store for 40m. Parkins main store is in London, but it opened its second, in Birmingham, three years ago,
3、and has been seeking sites in other large cities. There was surprise that the new store, likely to open next year, is so close to the existing one, where profits have so far beaten Parkins sales targets, in case it draws customers away from the existing outlet. B Capacity Cut The packaging industry
4、has typically suffered from a vicious cycle, with rising prices leading to excess capacity, which in turn leads to a collapse in prices, and Johnson Keithley is no exception. The company has been attempting to smooth the boom/bust cycle by better capacity management, but it admitted yesterday that i
5、t has been forced to make significant cuts to capacity because of a surprisingly sharp downturn in demand. The group now expects its second-half results to fall below expectations, and warned of further problems on the horizon. C Hit by Higher Costs Higher raw-material costs have reduced full-year p
6、rofits at Bonners, the plastics manufacturer, with prices of polyethylene, the main component of its business, rising 8% since last year. Profits were also held back by the disposal of its packaging division, which accounted for over half of turnover the previous year. Additional costs were incurred
7、 by relocating the head office from Wrexham to Cardiff, and from reorganisation and redundancy in its plastics business. Bonners said that trading in the current year has started slowly, particularly in its European markets. D Surprise Fall Shares in regional supermarket chain Couldson fell steeply
8、yesterday after the retailer warned of losses at its biggest outlet, in Bristol. The warning was in stark contrast to its trading statement three months ago, which reported a rise in like-for-like sales of 5% in the preceding month. However, trading across the rest of the chain, including seven outl
9、ets bought last year from Luxona, showed a healthy improvement. The company has promised to do all it can to stem the decline of the last four weeks at the Bristol outlet. E Modest Improvement Dorcas Foods has posted a modest rise in interim profits. However, the company says it has had to absorb in
10、creased costs at its Quality Sugar subsidiary and the impact of a margin squeeze at its Australian baking operations. In sugar, the continued strength of sterling has capped profits, and with Dorcass move out of sugar-beet refining, expenditure on redundancy is having a serious impact. At the same t
11、ime, floods in Australia have led to higher wheat prices, which in turn have reduced margins in the companys baking operations. 1 This company reports not being able to pass on higher costs to its customers. 2 The sale of part of a company has had an adverse affect on profits. 3 This companys respon
12、se to fluctuations in sales has not had the desired effect. 4 Jobs have been lost because a company has ended one of its activities. 5 There are fears about the impact of internal competition within the company. 6 This company has reported contrasting results from different parts of its operations.
13、7 This company has spent money on moving part of its operation. 8 Efforts are to be made to turn around sales at a store. 二、 PART TWO 8 Read this text taken from an article about future developments in advertising. Choose the best sentence from the opposite page to fill each of the gaps. For each ga
14、p(9-14), mark one letter(A-H)on your Answer Sheet. Do not mark any letter more than once. There is an example at the beginning(0). Future Developments in Advertising The explosion of new media, ranging from the internet to digital television, means that people working in advertising will have to dev
15、ise more cunning ways to catch the publics attention in the future. The traditional TV advertising campaign will not reach the whole family any more.(0)_H_ The advertising industry will have to work harder and smarter to cut through the clutter and noise of the future with this vast array of new med
16、ia, all competing to catch the consumers eye. People have become more individual in their consumption of advertising.(9)_ New technology has made experimenting with new forms of advertising a possibility. The monologue where the advert tells housewives that this is the washing powder they should buy
17、 is just a cliche now. The internet, for example, has made such ads look old-fashioned. (10)_A much closer relationship with the consumer is gradually being forged. The definition of what constitutes advertising will expand well beyond the conventional mass media. Shopping environments will themselv
18、es become a part of the advertising process. (11)_The aim will be to warm people towards these places so that they will return to purchase goods there again. In spite of these and other changes, it is highly unlikely that TV, print and radio will disappear altogether as advertising media.(12)_ But o
19、ther marketing disciplines, such as public relations and direct marketing, will become as important as advertising. Advertising agencies will have to reinvent themselves. They will no longer be able simply to produce advertisements and then support these through PR, direct marketing or the internet.
20、(13)_ Thus, creativity will be the most valuable commodity in the future.(14)_ It will continue to be so in the future. But there will be an increasing premium on the advertisers ability to be imaginative, and to think laterally about engaging the consumer in a broader variety of media. A On the con
21、trary, there is almost certain to be an increase in every form of advertising in future years. B Increasingly, they will exist not simply to sell goods, but also to entertain people and to make sure that they enjoy their time there. C Originality of thinking has always been in short supply. D There
22、is, consequently, little hope of them surviving for more than another 20 years. E This fragmentation has already shown the need for a more sophisticated understanding of where and how to reach people in the most effective way. F Instead, they will have to change the whole way they look at communicat
23、ion and start thinking about ideas which are not specific to one discipline. G It has made possible a situation in which customers can tell advertisers what they think, and the advertisers can supply information. H No longer will all members be watching the same programme: some will be watching diff
24、erent channels on their own TVs, surfing the net or doing both at the same time. 三、 PART THREE 14 Read the following extract from an article about brand stretching(using an existing brand name on new types of products)and the questions on the opposite page. For each question(15-20), mark one letter(
25、A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet. A manufacturer of sports shoes starts selling consumer electronics. A soft drink lends its name to a range of urban clothing. Whats going on? In simpler times, you knew where you were with brands. One brand name meant good-quality sports shoes, another a soft drink
26、. No confusion. Today, however, big companies try to redefine brands as not so much a product, more a way of life, and stretch them into new areas. In the early years of the consumer society, a brand name on a box simply identified what was inside. People were looking for products that would improve
27、 their quality of life, and chose brands most likely to achieve that purpose. But as people in industrialised nations became more affluent and fulfilled their basic needs, brands acquired other attributes. The functionality of the product was still important, but people also started using brands to
28、say something about themselves, for example, choosing a brand of cosmetics which would suggest that they were sophisticated jet-setters. Now, we have entered a third age of branding, in which so many companies are making roughly the same product at roughly the same price that functionality rarely su
29、cceeds as a point of differentiation. Instead, companies are trying to make their brands stand out by emphasising their emotional aspects, hoping consumers will identify with the set of values the brand represents. One disadvantage of a product-based brand is that if the product goes out of fashion,
30、 the brand goes with it. This is a serious concern for manufacturers of breakfast cereals, who are struggling to counter weak demand for the products that bear their names. So far, their marketing efforts seem to be having little effect. The advantage for emotional brands is that companies can trans
31、fer their brand strength into other areas, increasing revenues and reducing their exposure to the lifespan of a single product. The elasticity of brands seems to be related to their position on a spectrum ranging from those rooted in solid, tangible assets to those with highly intangible, emotional
32、qualities. At the one end, you have train companies that tend to associate themselves with infrastructure and their ability to get you from A to B, and at the other end would be a leisure brand that positions itself on dreams and making people have fun. It is the latter which has the maximum potenti
33、al for stretch. But even emotional brands have a limit to their elasticity. The merchandise has to be consistent with the brand promise. Just to sell merchandise with your logo on it is a short-term, mistaken idea. From this viewpoint, the decision to move from sports shoes into consumer electronics
34、 makes sense. Most items in the range, such as the two-way radio for hikers, are sports-focused, even though the products may be adopted as fashion accessories, and the sports shoe customers will probably snap them up. When the move was made from soft drinks into clothing, however, it left the brand
35、ing consultants cold. It was a difficult mental leap into clothing from the drink so closely associated with that particular brand name. On the other hand, the emotional attributes that youngsters seem to find appealing in the drink, like its heritage and global appeal, are fashionable at the moment
36、, and in fact response to the clothes with the same name has been overwhelming. Maybe this just shows that an inspired move - and by all accounts a snap decision -sometimes pays off against the odds, leaving the manufacturer laughing all the way to the bank. 15 What led to a change in attitudes to b
37、rands? （ A） the influence of consumers on each other （ B） the personal circumstances of consumers （ C） more sophisticated marketing （ D） greater choice of products 16 According to the writer, an attribute of the third age of branding is that （ A） competing products may serve their purpose equally we
38、ll. （ B） the range of products available is too large for all to survive. （ C） consumers are becoming confused about the products available. （ D） price has become a key factor in consumers choice of products. 17 The writer mentions manufacturers of breakfast cereals to illustrate how （ A） competitio
39、n can have an impact on a product. （ B） a brand can lose its popularity despite a strong market for the product. （ C） advertising can affect sales of a product. （ D） changes in the popularity of products can cause difficulties. 18 The writer refers to railways to show that brands like this （ A） do n
40、ot recognise the value of stretching. （ B） suffer from having an unattractive image. （ C） are unlikely to lend themselves to stretching. （ D） are notoriously difficult to advertise. 19 The writer argues that the stretch from sports shoes into consumer electronics is likely to be successful because （
41、 A） existing customers have demanded the new products. （ B） they will be sold in the same outlets. （ C） the new lines will expand the manufacturers market. （ D） there is a connection in the way that the goods can be used. 20 The writer argues that the stretch from soft drinks into clothing （ A） was
42、a gamble which succeeded. （ B） built on the popularity of certain types of clothing. （ C） showed the value of careful planning. （ D） created production problems for the manufacturer. 四、 PART FOUR 20 Read the extract below from a book about corporate planning. Choose the correct word to fill each gap
43、 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. There is an example at the beginning(0). What is corporate planning?Corporate planning may be(0)_as the careful and systematic taking of strategic decisions. In contrast to a short-t
44、erm plan like a budget, a corporate plan is concerned with taking a long-term (21)_of future developments and with designing a strategy so that the organisation can achieve its chosen objectives. Many large companies now recognise the importance of(22)_ a formal approach to developing a corporate pl
45、an. They prepare scenarios or forecasts of future developments in the(23)_in which they wish to operate, in order to examine whether decisions taken in the present will result in success in the future. In recent years, companies have been developing more sophisticated(24)_with which to analyse the r
46、isks involved in such decisions.(25)_, for example, an oil company deciding if it should invest in a new refinery. Faced with this decision, involving the(26)_ of millions of pounds on something which might have a life of 15 years or more, the company must have a sound basis for its decision. In thi
47、s case, it needs to know whether it can be(27)_of a market for the extra volume of its refined products, and it needs to know whether they can be produced profitably. In addition, it is necessary to study the(28)_of crude oil and other supplies needed in the process.Corporate planning, therefore, in
48、volves three main areas:(29)_ the long-term objectives of an organisation, deciding what market (30)_there may be and formulating a product policy to satisfy them.（ A） sight （ B） picture （ C） scene （ D） view （ A） carrying （ B） practising （ C） placing （ D） adopting （ A） element （ B） condition （ C） en
49、vironment （ D） atmosphere （ A） techniques （ B） ideas （ C） styles （ D） ways （ A） Refer （ B） Consider （ C） Think （ D） Suppose （ A） outlay （ B） output （ C） outset （ D） outcome （ A） assured （ B） insured （ C） confirmed （ D） ascertained （ A） utility （ B） availability （ C） attainability （ D） usability （ A） guiding （ B） leading （ C） determining （ D） concluding （ A） chance （ B） potential （ C） room （ D） scope 五、 PART FIVE 30 Read the article below about working abroad for your company.For e
