2024年4月26日发(作者：)

BEC商务英语（中级）阅读模拟试卷155

PART ONE

Look at the statements below and the extract on the opposite

page from a report to staff by the Davis Group, a human resources

consultancy in the USA.

Which section(A, B, C or D)does each statement(1-7)refer to?

For each statement(1-7), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your

Answer Sheet.

You will need to use some of these letters more than once.

Example:

0 It is less expensive to maintain the current customer base than

to increase it.

Report for Staff

A It has been a challenging year, with the global economy

contributing to increased market competition. However, the end

results were fairly respectable, especially considering the

industry's generally poor financial results. The Davis Group has

always focused on growing revenue, solving client problems,

identifying new opportunities and winning new clients. Although the

company had to spend more time than usual this year on cost

control, our people continued to listen to their clients and

deliver appropriate consulting solutions.

B Although we have changed our name and introduced a new global

brand, many clients still do not regard us as a broad-based human

resources consultancy. We hope that our new international campaign,

which explains to clients the wide range of services we offer, will

help change that perception. It is significant that 50% of our

revenue this year came from outside the USA, making us a truly

global player. We have enormous growth potential, especially in

emerging markets such as Asia and Latin America.

C These days, most of our clients, even those with operations in

only one country, compete in a global marketplace. As a result,

they see the value of working with us. Our strength on the ground

in many countries has allowed us to share knowledge to develop and

deliver world-class solutions. For those clients who are global

firms, our worldwide presence has allowed us to build international

networks to address their special needs. They appreciate that our

intellectual capital is based on a deep understanding of local

needs and conditions.

D We continually aim to maximise our revenue and enhance

professionalism across the solutions offered by the firm.

Obviously, winning new clients is always important, but we should

remember that it is often easier and more cost-effective to broaden

relationships with existing clients. By providing a wider range of

solutions, we add value, strengthen our clients' view of us as a

trusted advisor and build long-term partnerships. Our success is

based on being known as the most professional and highest quality

firm in the human resources consultancy business.

1． The company has had limited success in convincing customers

that it can offer a variety of human resources solutions.

2． It has been necessary to monitor expenditure carefully.

3． Expertise in different cultures is a major selling point for

the company.

4． The company's performance is strongly linked to its reputation.

5． The company is confident of its ability to expand.

6． The company makes ongoing efforts to improve the standard of

its service provision.

7． Many consulting businesses have performed badly in this period.

PART TWO

Read the article below about professional headhunters.

Choose the best sentence from the opposite page to fill each of

the gaps.

For each gap(8-12), mark one letter(A-G)on your Answer Sheet.

Do not use any letter more than once.

There is an example at the beginning(0).

Attracting the headhunters

Professional headhunters are now key players in many kinds

of recruitment.

But how do you gain their attention? Matthew Lynn

investigates.

In the past, companies would use the services of headhunters to

recruit principally at boardroom level. But these days, they are

also responsible for filling a much wider range of middle

management and specialist posts, and consequently, they have huge

influence in the commercial world.

(0)___G___The first is that economic expansion has, in many

countries, left the labour market tight. In a number of industries,

and in growth sectors such as technology and media, there is now a

severe shortage of skilled and talented has forced

companies to go out and look for the staff they need and not wait

for them to arrive at the door. The second reason is that companies

are now critically dependent on the skills and knowledge of their

key people. They are very aware that having the right staff may

determine their survival in a competitive marketplace.【P1】______.

So, how do you make sure you get noticed by the headhunters? In the

days when jobs were mainly advertised in newspapers, you could

search the appointment pages and apply for anything that interested

you.【P2】______.Unless you are in contact with them, it is

unlikely you will even be considered for a post.

Most headhunters will devote time and energy to tracking down

talented people in large organisations.【P3】______. So, while it

would be nice to think the headhunters will find you, in fact, you

often have to find them. 'Executives must be proactive in the

search process by building on current skills, being fully prepared

for interviews and by keeping CVs up to date,' says Julia

Fernandez, manager of PB Executive Search.

It is also important that you set time aside to talk to

headhunters. At some point, you may be contacted by a headhunter to

recommend someone in a related field or provide a reference for

someone you have dealt with professionally. If you simply deal with

the enquiry as quickly as possible, you may be failing to exploit

the potential benefit to yourself.【P4】______. Fernandez advises

that, 'All contact with headhunters is potentially useful, and you

should have one or two headhunters that you know personally and

make a point of keeping in touch with.

【P5】______.Make sure that the people around you will always be

motivated to say something positive about you if

potential employers are watching you constantly.'

Example:

A But it is hard for them to establish contact unless these skilled

individuals have been brought to their attention.

B They are consequently a lot more willing to turn to headhunters

than in the past.

C Moreover, headhunters are all in the business of having as big a

network as possible and working it to their advantage.

D In addition, the fact that headhunters are always looking for

talent means that great care needs to be taken with the image you

project in the workplace.

E Now, it is only junior or unskilled jobs that are filled this

way; most of the best jobs are filled by headhunters.

F Not making the most of such an approach would definitely be a

mistake.

G There are two reasons for this growing use of headhunters.

8． 【P1】

9． 【P2】

10． 【P3】

11． 【P4】

12． 【P5】

PART THREE

Read the article below about leadership in business and the

questions on the opposite page.

For each question(13-18), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your

Answer Sheet.

THE EFFECTIVE LEADER

From workplace surveys, I have found that most people want to be -

and feel they could be - more effective leaders. Certainly they

want their leaders to be more effective. But what do we mean by

effective leadership in business? It would appear a simple

question. Unfortunately, effectiveness is more easily recognisable

when it is absent. Leaders who attempt to use business jargon and

try out the latest ideas are too often perceived as figures of fun.

Whilst people frequently agree on what ineffective leadership is,

clearly knowing what not to do is hardly helpful in practice.

Huge amounts of research have been done on this very wide

subject. When you look at leadership in different ways, you see

different things. While descriptions of leadership are all

different, they are all true - and this is where disagreement

arises. However, leadership is specific to a given context. The

effectiveness of your actions is assessed in relation to the

context and to the conditions under which you took them.

For a magazine article I wrote recently, I interviewed one

publishing executive, author of several well-known publications,

about what effective leadership is. It was significant that, at

first, he did not mention his own company. He talked at length

about what was happening in the industry - the mergers, take-overs

and global nature of the business. Before he was able to describe

his own objectives for the new publishing organisation he was

setting up, he had to see a clear fit between these proposals and

the larger situation outside. Obvious? Of course. But I have lost

count of the number of leaders I have coached who believed that

their ideas were valid, whatever the situation.

At this point, I should also mention another example, that of a

finance director whose plan of action was not well received. The

company he had joined had grown steadily for twenty years, serving

clients who were in the main distrustful of any product that was

too revolutionary. The finance director saw potential challenges

from competitors and wanted his organisation to move with the

times. Unfortunately, most staff below him were unwilling to

change. I concluded that although there were certainly some

personal skills he could improve upon, what he most needed to do

was to communicate effectively with his subordinates, so that they

all felt at ease with his different approach.

Some effective leaders believe they can control uncertainty

because they know what the organisation should be doing and how to

do it. Within the organisation itself, expertise is usually greatly

valued, and executives are expected, as they rise within the

system, to know more than those beneath them and, therefore, to

manage the operation. A good example of this would be a firm of

accountants I visited. Their business was built on selling reliable

expertise to the client, who naturally wants uncertainty to be

something only other companies have to face. Within this firm,

giving the right answer was greatly valued, and mistakes were

clearly to be avoided.

I am particularly interested in what aims leaders have and what

their role should be in helping the organisation achieve its

strategic aims. Some leaders are highly ineffective when the aim

doesn't fit with the need, such as the manufacturing manager who

was encouraged by her bosses to make revolutionary changes. She

did, and was very successful. However, when she moved to a

different part of the business, she carried on her programme of

change. Unfortunately, this part of the business had already

suffered badly from two mismanaged attempts at change. My point is

that what her people needed at that moment was a steady hand, not

further changes - she should have recognised that. The outcome was

that within six months staff were calling for her resignation.

13． In the first paragraph, the writer says that poor leaders

A．do not want to listen to

criticism.

B．do not deserve to be taken

seriously.

C．are easier to identify than good

ones.

D．are more widespread than people

think.

14． Why does the writer believe there is disagreement about what

effective leadership is?

A．Definitions of successful leadership vary according to the

situation.

B．There are few examples of outstanding leaders available to

study.

C．Leaders are unable to give clear descriptions of their

qualities.

D．The results of research on the subject have concluded

little.

15． The publishing executive's priorities for leadership focused

on

A．significant and long-term

aims.

B．internal organisational

aspects.

C．professional skills and

abilities.

D．overall business contexts.

16． According to the writer, the finance director was unsuccessful

because

A．staff were uncomfortable with his style.

B．existing clients were suspicious of

change.

C．competitors had a more dynamic approach.

D．colleagues gave little support to his

ideas.

17． Staff at the accountancy firm who were promoted were required

to

A．correct mistakes.

B．have a high level of knowledge.

C．maintain discipline within the

organisation.

D．advise clients on responding to

uncertainty.

18． The example of the manager at the manufacturing company is

given to emphasise that

A．managers need support from their employers.

B．leaders should not be afraid of being unpopular.

C．effective leaders must be sensitive to staff needs.

D．managers do not always understand the attitudes of

staff.

PART FOUR

Read the article below about the UK retail sector.

Choose the best word to fill each gap from A, B, C or D on the

opposite page.

For each question(19-33), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your

Answer Sheet.

There is an example at the beginning(0).

The Retail Sector

The retail sector is one of the UK's biggest employment areas,

accounting for one in nine of the(0)______.B______. It is also one

of the fastest growing - more than a fifth of jobs【C1】______last

year were in retail. Such rapid【C2】______in the tightest labour

market for more than a generation should be【C3】______ up wages,

but it is the national【C4】______wage goes up by about

5% a year, in retail it goes up by 3.5%.

The consequences of low wages and far from brilliant conditions is

rapid staff turnover. About half the staff employed in retail leave

every year. This【C5】______ is way above even those sectors such

as nursing, which are said to be in a recruitment 【C6】______.

Part of the problem is that the employers themselves are under

considerable financial【C7】______.Retail is suffering a long-term

slide independent of the【C8】______ and falls of the economy. One

of the reasons for this is consumer expectations. With the growth