商务英语BEC高级阅读题精讲

商务英语BEC高级阅读题精讲
商务英语BEC高级阅读题精讲(1)
In the last few years, managers throughout industry have seen more changes
than many of them could have expected to see in their entire working lives
having to municate information which often leads to feelings of insecurity
has bee a key activity. From being regarded as relatively unimportant in many
panies , management employee munication has bee a central corporate
need.
Concordia International provides a good exle of a pany that has
adjusted well to the changing needs for munication . since 1995 , Concordia
has been turned inside-out and upside-down, to ensure that it is a marketing
–led, customer-responsive business, one that looks outwards at customers and
petitors, rather than inwards at its own processes and the way things were
done in the past. In the last eight years, Concordia has reduced its workforce
by more than 80.000 people - or 35% -on a voluntary basis, with further
downsizing anticipated.
From being an engineering pany, Concordia is now remaking itself as a
service pany. The role of employee munication in such a context is to
build people’s self-confidence, to persuade them that, although it is inevitable
that the changes will go ahead, they also bring with them new opportunities for
employees. However, this is not an easy task. People tend to be skeptical of
these claims and to feel that they are losing touch with the pany they have
worked for over many years. This is understandable, since many of the old
certainties are being swept away , including the core activities of the pany
they work for. Above all , they have had to face
up to the fact that they no
longer have a job for life.
Research indicates that people respond to this predicament in a variety of
ways. The bulk of employees fall into two main categories in terms of their
response to the new situation: on the one hand there are the “ pragmatists” and
on the other “ the highly anxious” the former
see their job as a means to an end
and have a relatively short-term perspective, with strong loyalty to their local
term , rather than the pany as a whole . The second category, usually the
majority, may respond to threatened changes with a feeling of having been let
down, and even feel anger at the pany for what they see as changing the terms
of their employment.
` The employee munication process needs to be capable of accurately
directing its messages at a variety of employee groups and departments within
the workforce . this is why middle managers and line managers are so key to
munication. They are the people who know about the full rage of concerns
among the workforce. The problem in the past was that this crucial area was
often the responsibility of a separate, relatively isolated unit. Concordia puts
responsibility for munication firmly on line managers. All their research
points to the same conclusion: people prefer to get their information
face-to-face from their line managers. That is the key relationship and where
arguments and hearts and minds –are lost.
The general rule in pany munication is to tell employees as much as
you can as soon as you can. If you can’t provide details, then at least put the
news in context and mit yourself to providing greater detail when it bees
available another rule of pany munication is that there must be a fit
between what the pany is telling its employees and what it is telling its
shareholders.15 In the last eight years, Concordia has
15 A made over 80.000 employees reduncdant
B pleted a period of downsizing
C reduced its workforce of 80.000 by 35%
D given 35% of departing employees voluntary redundancy
16 From Concordia’s point of view, the role of munication is to
A win employee support before going ahead with the changes
B change the pany’s core activities.
C emphasise the positive aspects of the changes
D explain the need for the changes
17 what does research show about most employees’ response to change?
A they expect it to have a bad effect on the pany
B they feel pletely powerless
C they bee less loyal
D they fell they have been treated unfairly
18 Concordia’s munication process mainly relies on
A printed munication
B departmental heads
C personal munication
D a separate, specialized unit
19 According to the writer, what is the guiding principle about giving
information within an organization?
A Never make promises about future developments
B Give people an overall view at the earliest possible stage
C always include plenty of hard information
D Hold back until all the details can be provided
20 which of the following would be the most suitable title for the
article?
A employee attitudes to pany munication
B making pany munication more effective
C Researching pany mmucation
D Making employees feel less powerless
文章取材自一本管理手册，说的是一个组织里的有效沟通问题。

这套题目有些特别，不像之前的阅读的第三局部，六道题目分别依次对应文章的六个段落，这题的答案略微分散了些。

15题，答案很明显，但是选项很有迷惑性。

答案是第二
段的后一句：In the last eight years, Concordia has reduced its workforce by more than 80.000 people - or 35% -on a voluntary basis,
with further downsizing
anticipated.减少了80000员工(或者说减少了35%的员工)，预期还会减少更多。

A选项是对的，made
redundant是前面某套题目阅读的第五局部考过的词组;B 不对，没有完成(pleted)，因为预期还会裁减更多(with further
downsizing anticipatedC也不对，迷惑性，reduced
its workforce of
80.000，用了介词of，所以这句的意思是一共就80000
员工，而实际情况是减少了80000员工;D不对，35%的员工被裁减，都是在自愿的根底上的，而不是分开的人中有35%是自愿的。

16题，问根据此人的观点，沟通的角色是什么。

也就是
问沟通的目的或者作用是什么。

答案在第三段。

沟通是为了帮助人树立自信，说服他们虽然要面临一些变化，但是同样也会拥有一些新的时机。

说白了，就是鼓励这些被裁的人。

答案选C，强调变化的积极方面。

这里的positive
aspects是对前面说的bring with them new opportunities的一个概括。

(想起了电影《在云端》，up in the
air，里面那个老男人的工作就是职业裁员专家，专门对被裁的人说些这样的话。

)
17题，问调查显示大多数人对change的反响是什么。

这题在答案中也很明显，但是选项很纠结。

都有点似是而非。

The second category,
usually the majority, may respond to threatened changes with a feeling of having
been let down.,and even feel anger at the pany for what they see as changing
the terms of their
employment.大多数员工的反响就是很绝望，甚至会很愤怒。

个人觉得这题出的不够严谨，没有哪个选项能严格从原文中提炼出来。

比照下D要好点，因为对公司绝望和愤怒，就是觉得受到了不公正的待遇。

此题有待高手补充更完美的理由。

18题，问沟通过程主要依赖于什么。

答案是第五段的这句：people prefer to get their information
face-to-face from their line managers。

喜欢面对面的从直属经理那里获取信息。

所以选C，个人的交流。

19题，问组织内部提供信息的指导准那么是什么。

后一
段的句就是：The general rule in pany munication is to tell employees as much as you can as soon as you
can。

尽可能的快，尽可能的多。

不能提供细节的，至少给个大致的背景消息(put the news in
context)。

时机成熟了，再告知更多。

选B：在可能的早的阶段让人有个总体的印象。

20题，给文章选标题。

这种题在BEC的阅读里还真不多见。

选标题，就是要挑选文章的主要意思，从整体上把握文章的main
ideas。

这篇文章通篇说的就是munication，前面介绍了沟通的背景：裁员;接着说了员工对裁员的反响;然后后两段，一段说员工喜欢什么样的沟通方式，一段说沟通的原那么是什么。

综合起来，就是关于怎样进展有效沟通的问题。

选B。

A 不对，片面了，只是文中某局部的内容，并且这局部内容是为后面做背景介绍，不是主要的;C不对，不是简单的research，research仅仅是介绍状况，文章还有关于实现措施的。

商务英语BEC高级阅读题精讲(2)
There is a monly held view that the only way to get (0) decent pay
increase is to move on: to go out into the job market and find someone (31) is
prepared to pay you a figure more in line (32) the talents you can offer. Whilst
changing employers from time (33) time is something we probably all need to do
to advance our careers in the directions we want them to take, it is
nevertheless an activity that carries quite definite risks. Irrespective of (34)
well we research prospective employers, a new job is still largely a step into
the unknown . It may turn (35) to be a good move or it could prove to be a
plete disaster : most of us (36) had experience of both. The point here,
though, is that changing employers is not something we want to be doing all the
time and certainly not (37) time we feel the urge for better pa y . We’d (38)
taking more risks than we needed to just to achieve a pay rise. Getting a pay
rise should always be viewed (39) a serious business. There are no quick fixes
or gold methods with “ guaranteed “ results. Quick fixes only serve to
trivialize the issues and could (40) some circumstances get you into very serous
trouble indeed.
答案及解析
关于加薪的文章，教你怎么样实现加薪。

这道题目不难，但是抛开题目，单说文章里谈的加薪的方法，各位还是要辩证的看。

要想人生份工作就找到自己满意的，是挺难，可是以加薪为目的跳槽，也未必是什么明智的好方法。

31题，太明显的定语从句，前面是someone，那么当然填入表示人的关系代词who。

32题，in line
with，和什么一致，固定搭配，在中级的选词版完型里常考到这个词组。

这句的意思是，找个一个愿意给你提供和你才能更加一致的薪水的人。

33题，from time to time，时不时的。

changing employers from time to
time，时不时的换老板。

34题，Irrespective of，同regardless
of一样，后面接让步状语从句，不管我们对可能的雇主研究的多么好，新的工作都是一个未知数。

用how well。

35题，turn out to be，固定用法。

36题，换工作，要么是个好的举措，要么将成为灾难。

而我们大多数人这两种经历都有。

有这种经历，是过去完成时，用have+done。

37题，理解前后文意思。

换老板不是件我们经常愿意做的事情，并且也不是一想要加薪就要换老板。

用every time，表示每次要加薪就准备换老板。

38题，这题有点难度，考验人的语法功底。

首先这个句子是虚拟语气，We’d是we would的缩写，而不是we had。

是表示对将来的假设，我们要承当更多的风险。

所以用would be。

39题，比拟明显的，view as，将什么视作什么。

40题，和circumstance相关的词组，很容易想到under/on some circumstance，在某种情况下。

商务英语BEC高级阅读题精讲(3)
The Stars of the Future
A Existing management research does not tell us much about how to find and
develop high-flyers, those people who have the potential to reach the top of an
organisation. As a result, organisations are left to formulate their own
systems. A more effective overall policy for developing future leaders is
needed, which is why the London Business School has launched the Tomorrow’s
Leaders Research Group (TLRG). The group contains representatives from 20 firms,
and meets regularly to discuss the leadership development of the organisations’
high-flyers.
B TLRG recognises just how significant line managers are in the process of
leadership development. Unfortunately, with today’s flat organisations, where
managers have functional as well as managerial responsibilities, people
development all too often falls victim to heavy workloads. One manager in the
research group was unconvinced by the logic of sending his best people away on
development courses, ’only to see them poached by another department or, worse
still, another firm’. This fear of losing high-flyers runs deep in the
organisations that make up the research group.
C TLRG argues that the task of management is not necessarily about employee
retention, but about creating ’attraction centres’. ’We must help line managers
to realise that if their panies are known as ones that develop their people,
they will have a greater appeal to high-flyers,’ said one advisor. Furthermore,
selecting people for, say, a leadership development programme is a sign of
mitment from management to an individual. Loyalty can then be more easily
demanded in return.
D TLRG has concluded that a pany’s HR specialists need to take action
and engage with line managers individually about their role in the development
of high-flyers. Indeed, in order to benefit fully from training high-flyers as
the senior managers of the future, firms must actually address the development
of all managers who will be supporting the high-flyers. Without this, managers
will not be in a position to give appropriate advice. And when eventually the
high-flyers do move on, new ones will be needed to replace them. The next
challenge will be to find a new generation of
high-flyers.
首先得搞明白的是这篇文章到底讲的什么。

不用看详细内容，有两个地方直接告诉了。

一个是题目说明的句话，另一个是正文的标题。

从这两个地方就可以看出全文讨论的是公司将来接班人——也就是潜力股——的培养问题。

A段讲了TLRG这个贯穿全文的研究组织诞生的原因：现
行的研究满足不了需要，于是大多数公司只能自己探究开掘接班人的形式;(即第五题的答案)
B段讲了直属经理(line managers)对于开掘接班人的重
要性(真是干什么都要从基层抓起)，以及经理们的一些疑虑;
C段讲的是接班人问题对公司的重要性，并且应该让院线
经理们明白这种重要性;
D段是针对前面列出的问题，提出的解决建议，什么专家
协助等等。

整篇文章分为四个局部，层层递进，有很强的逻辑性。

拿
这样的做阅读材料应该是相对容易把握的图中蓝色的线为答案埋伏的地方。

7个题干根本是将原文中的句子用另外的词语和
句型表述出来，所以题干中的【关键词】：^p 都能在正文里
找到与之匹配的，比方第四题题干里的expert对应D段
的specialists,第六题的too busy to对应于B段里的heavy workloads，第七题的interest对应于C段的appeal。

题说“经理们必须采取措施使潜力股们相信他们对公司的
价值”，也就是要让潜力股们对公司忠诚，即C段说的creating “attraction
centres”和loyalty。

第二题说“组织必须把目光投向正在培养中的潜力股以外
的地方”，即D段后两句话所说的寻找新一代的潜力股。

第三题和B段的后一句话完全是一个意思：怕培养潜力股
的投入收不回本钱。

第四题说开发潜力股，经理们需要在公司内部得到专家支持。

答案是D段的句话：公司的人力资专家需要采取行动。

HR specialists就是expert。

第五题说公司如今没有在指导策略的支持下区分潜力股。

也就是说公司是依靠自己来开掘人才的。

答案是A段的句：现行的研究满足不了需要，所以公司只能形成自己的一套体系。

第六题，经理们太忙了，无暇顾及潜力股的开展。

答案是
B段的：Unfortunately, with today’s flat
organisations, where managers have functional as well as managerial
responsibilities, people development all too often falls victim to heavy
workloads.。

不幸落在了高工作负荷的人的肩上。

高工作
负荷，也就是too busy。

第七题，看重作为雇主名声的公司可以吸引潜力股。

答案
是C段的这么一句：if their panies are known as ones
that
develop their people, they will have a greater appeal to
high-flyers。

假如公司是以开发员工而着称的话，将会
对潜力股产生更大的吸引。

以开发员工而着称(known as ones that develop
their people)，名声很好，也就是看重自己作为雇主的
名声。

疑似生词：
1. line managers 直属经理，业务经理
2. flat organization 扁平化的组织，即企业中的单层
管理组织对应的单词hierarchy 等级制的公司
3. poach vt. (侵入别人地界)偷猎(或捕鱼), 水煮，剽窃，挖角
eg: A rival firm poached our best puter programmers.
我公司的竞争对手把我们的计算机程序编制员挖走了。

4. runs deep 纯粹是想说一下那句着名的谚语：Still water runs deep静水流深。

5. fall victim to 成为......的受害者
B段中的原话：People development all too often
falls victim to heavy
workloads.人员开展成为高负荷工作的受害者，也就是说经理们因为太忙而无暇顾及潜力股的培养，即第六题的答案。

6. retention 保存，在文中指留住员工。

是风险管理中常见的专业名词。

商务英语BEC高级阅读题精讲(4)
0 Lack of self-confidence will put you at a disadvantage in a negotiation
.
0 A B C D E
1. This pany has been involved in diversifying its business
activities.
2. Although this pany is doing well, it has a number of internal
difficulties to deal with
3. This pany has reduced the profits it makes on individual items
4. One statistic is a less accurate guide to this pany’s performance
than another
5. The conditions which have helped this pany are likely to be less
favourable in the future
6. This pany’s share price has been extremely volatile over the last
twelve months
7. This pany is likely to be the subject of a takeover bid in the near
future
8. This pany’s performance exemplifies a widely held belief
A Chemical pany
Masterson’s interim pre-tax profits growth of 20% was somewhat inflated as
a result of the ine received from the disposal of several of the pany’s
subsidiaries. The underlying 8% rise in operating profits is a more realistic
gauge of the pany’s true progress. However, Masterson’s impending merger with
Bentley and Knight and its appointment of a new chief executive should mean that
the pany will be able to sustain growth for the foreseeable fut5ure. The
share price has varied little during the course of the year and now stands at ￡
6.75
B Hotel Group
During the past year the Bowden Hotel Group has acquired 77 new properties,
thus doubling in size . last week the group reported pre-tax profits of ￡ 88
million in the first six months of the year, ahead of expectations and helped by
a strong performance from its London-based hotels and newly expanded US
business. However. There is still some way to go. Integration of the new
acquisitions is still not plete and, while the share price has risen
recently, major problems with integration have yet to be solved.
C High-tech pany
This time last year a share in Usertech was worth just over ￡ 1. six months
ago it was worth ￡ 40. today it is priced at under ￡ 8 . if proof were need,
here is an illustration of how much of a lottery the technology market can be.
But some technology panies are fighting back and Usertech is one of them .
What has renewed excitement in the pany is the opening of its new American
offices in Dallas and its ambitious plans to expand its user base in both North
and Latin America.
D Building pany
Renton’s share price has risen gradually over the past year from ￡2.4 to ￡
3.8 . The pany has been successful in choosing prime location for its
buildings and has benefited from the buoyant demand for housing. Whilst this
demand is expected to slow down somewhat during the next year, investors are
encouraged by the pany’s decision to move into building supermarkets. Work
has already begun on two sites in London, and the pany is expected to sign a
contract within the next month for building four large supermarkets in
Scotland.
E Pottery Manufacturer
Milton Dishes has been through a shake-up over the past year. The group,
which has been cutting margins and improving marketing, may post a small profit
this year. The many members of the Milton family, who between them own 58 per
cent of the business, have been watching the share price rise steadily and
several are looking to sell. Trade rival Ruskin has bought up just over 17
percent of the shares and could well be spurred into further action by the signs
of a recovery at the firm.
参考答案: 1-5 DBEAD 6-8 CEC
这种类型的题不过是一个句子换一种说法，关键是看对每一段话的理解。

我们看一下1到8在说什么，然后到A到E中寻找答案。

1.该公司正在对其商业活动进展多样化。

2.尽管该公司业绩不错，内部也有一些困难需要处理。

3.该公司单个产品收益减少
4.一项统计数据对该公司的表现不像另外一个那样有准确的指导作用。

5.曾经帮助过该公司的环境在将来可能就不那么好了。

6.该公司的股票价格在过去的一年里变化很大。

7.该公司将来很可能会被收买。

8.该公司的表现让人很有信心
那么，再读一下A到E表达的什么意思，很容易对号入座。