Unit 15 Business

Unit 15 BusinessPart A Short ConversationsDirections:In this part, there are 10 short conversations. Listen carefully and choose the right answers to the questions you hear.1. W: I love this room. How much is the rent?M: It’s 40 dollars a week. But if you keep it on a monthly basis, the rent will be 150 dollars a month.Q: How much does the woman have to pay if she rents the room for 3 weeks?2. W: Hey, Harry. I haven’t seen you for ages. It’s said you have earned a big fortune in the stockmarket, right?M: I did last year. But from this May on, I lost all the earnings and I am now losing money every day and my wife almost wants to divorce me.Q: What does the man mean?3. M: Excuse me, where are the restrooms?W: Go straight this way and then turn right. But you’d better wait because restrooms are not available until the plane takes off.Q: What is the woman’s profession?4. W: Why didn’t you wake me up at 7:30 in the morning? I told you I have an important exam at8:45 today.M: I did. But you woke up and said you would sleep five more minutes. But you actually slept fifty more minutes.Q: When did the woman get up in the morning?5. W: Peter, make yourself at home and help yourself to some more fish and vegetable. I thinkyoung people of your age should eat more.M: It’s been a wonderful dinner, but I’m afraid I can’t. If I eat another bite, I think I’ll burst. Q: Why can’t the man eat more?6. W: May I take this book out of the reading room? I need it to work on my paper these days. Ourteacher said we should hand it in next week and many of my classmates have already finished.M: I’m afraid not. We have only one copy here. Unless you have the written permission from the dean, we won’t lend it out.Q: What should the man do to borrow the book?7. W: I have bought some Scotch whiskey for my husband. He likes whisky very much.M: Y ou Americans put ice in everything. But remember, you mustn’t put ice in Scotch whiskey.It may spoil its flavor.Q: What does the man suggest?8. W: At first I thought this dress was blue, but now it looks green to me.M: Y ou were right the first time. It’s the yellow light here that makes everything look different. Q: According to the man, what is the color of the dress?9. W: I have been wondering what clothes we need for our visit. What’s the weather like in yourcountry in May?M: I’m afraid it’s not very pleasant. Generally, there are more rainy days in May than in any other months, but at least it’s not cold then.Q: What does the man say about weather in May in his country?10. W: Have you watched the weather forecast on TV? It seems another storm is coming.M: I have. But if the weather man is as accurate as usual, it will probably be sunny all day.Q: What does the man imply?Part B Long ConversationTelemarketingExercise 1Directions: In this part, you will hear a long conversation. Listen carefully and choose the right answers to the questions given below.Man: Hello.Telemarketer: Good evening, Sir. Is this Mr. Charles Philips?Man: Yes, it is.Telemarketer: Well, Mr. Phillips. This evening, I’m calling to offer you a special discount on . . . Man: Ah, no, let me guess. You want to sell a subscription to the newspaper or a great deal on airfare to Hawaii, right? Or…, you want to offer me an unbelievablebargain on flamenco dance lessons.Telemarketer: N o, no, actually . . . Mr. Jones. Oh, sorry. That was the last guy. We want to offer you a free trial membership to our sports club downtown at the introductory price of$39.95 . . .Man: Thirty-nine ninety-five?!? I thought you said free! Uh, listen. I’m not interested. Telemarketer: Well, it includes unlimited access to all our facilities, including the gym, weight room, racket ball courts, and swimming pool.Man: Again, I’m not interested. I have my own fitness program I do around the house anyway.Telemarketer: Well, this is a once-in-a-lifetime deal.Man: Nah. Like I said, I’ll pass this time. And please put me on your “don’t call” list. Telemarketer: Okay. It’ll take between four and six months before your name will be removed from our database. You might be called by another representative during that time. Man: Ah, man. Ah, great.Telemarketer: Have a nice evening, Mr. Williams.Man: Ah, man.Exercise 2Directions: Listen to the conversation again and fill in the blanks with the missing words.Part C PassagesPassage 1A Good SalesmanDirections: In this part, you will hear a passage. Listen carefully and choose the right answers to the questions given below.Mr. Stevenson was the owner of a general appliance store. He had seen many newly-weds coming into his store to shop for their first refrigerator, washer and dryer, and air-conditioner. Pen and pencil in hand, they would ask him a lot of questions about price, features and after-sale services, but they would usually walk away at the end of their inquiry.The other day a young couple came into his store. They asked him all the usual questions and he answered all of them patiently. But when he suggested an order at the end, they replied firmly, “We’ll have to look around places first.”Although feeling a bit disappointed, Mr. Stevenson did not show it. Instead, he smiled, moved closer and said, “I know you will go to Discount Dan to look at the price tags. That’s perfectly understandable. I do the same. In fact, they sell the same stuff as we do. But if you buy things there, there is something you will not get. And that is me. I come with everything I sell. I’ve been in the business for thirty years and in a few years’ time I’m going to give my store to my daughter and son-in-law. I hope they will carry on the family business. I stand behind everything I sell and I will make sure that you will never regret buying things from me.”After this short speech Mr. Stevenson offered the young couple some ice cream to thank them for their interest.Impressed by his honesty and sincerity, the young couple decided to place an order. Passage 2Work ing in a Big CorporationDirections: In this part you will hear another passage. Listen carefully and answer the following questions.In the center of a big city there are usually dozens of large office buildings that house banks, corporation headquarters, and government agencies. Thousands of people work in these buildings. People who do all the office work are called white-collar workers. Secretaries and receptionists, bookkeepers and computer operators work for many different kinds of companies.Many office workers dream of working their way up to the top, from clerk to president of a corporation. The way lies through middle management. Middle management includes junior executives, who may fill specialized jobs, supervise other workers, recommend action to top management, or see that the company’s policies are being carried out. At the very top are the senior executives. They establish the policies for their companies, especially financ ial matters. The Chief Executive Officer, or CEO, of a large corporation has a great deal of power and influence.It is believed that one can start out at the bottom and go all the way to the top. Because financial matters are so important, some accountants become top executives. In companies where technology is important, people with an engineering background can also rise to the top. Nowadays, however, education plays a central part in the selection of people for management jobs. Universities in many countries offer courses in business administration. The graduates of these courses often start out in middle management jobs. From these, they can easily get promoted if they show the necessary personality and ability.Part D Home ListeningExercise FiveSection ADirections: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A), B), C) and D), and decide which is the best answer.1. M: Would you pass me the Sports Section please?W: Sure, if you give me the Advertisements Section and Local-News Section.Q: What are the speakers doing?2. W: So you’ve finally follow ed your wife’s advice and given up smoking?M: It was my doctor’s advice because I was suffering from coughing every morning after I got up.Q: What do we learn from the conversation?3. M: Look, the view here is fantastic. Could you take a picture for me with the flowers in thebackground?W: I am afraid I am out of film.Q: What do we learn from the conversation?4. W: Joey, look at t he long waiting line. I am glad you’ve made a reservation.M: More and more people enjoy eating out now. Beside, this place is especially popular with the overseas students.Q: Where did the conversation most probably take place?5. W: Have you seen the movie? The plot was so complicated that I really got lost.M: Y eah, I felt the same, but after I saw it a second time, I could put all the pieces together.Q: How did the two speakers find the movie?6. M: Hi, Susie. Have you finished reading the book Prof. Johnson recommended?W: Oh, I haven’t read it through the way I’d read a novel. I just read a few chapters which I found interesting.Q: What does the woman mean?7. W: Having visited so many countries, you must be able to speak several different languages. M: I wish I could. But Japanese and my mother tongue---English are the only languages I can speak.Q: What do we learn from the conversation?8. M: I’m going to drop my Information Processing class. It means too early in the morning.W: Is that really the good reason to drop the class, Mike?Q: What does the woman mean?Now you’ll hear two long conversations.Conversation OneM: Hello! Y ou are Barbara, right? Come on in.W: Yes. I stopped by to see if you were still looking for a roommate to share this apartment.M: Y es. I surely am. Ever since I cut back on my working hours to go to school, I’ve always been worried about the rent things. Now let me show you around the place. Here’s the living room. W: Oh. It looks like you could use a new carpet. This one has a lot of stains on it.M: I know it needs to be cleaned or something, but I just don’t have the money to do it right now. W: I see. What about the kitchen?M: Right this way, please. It’s completely furnished with all the latest appliances, except … Well, the refrigerator door is broken, a little bit … and it won’t shut all the way. It needs fixing, but don’t worry. I’ve pushed a box against it to keep it shut.W: Great! And how about the bathroom? Don’t tell me there is water leaking in it!M: No. Everything works well except another slight problem. The windows. But I’ve put up a board to keep out the rain and snow.W: Well. I think I have seen enough. I can’t believe you’ve survived under these conditions.M: But I did! Y ou see? And you really can’t spot a place like this for $300 a month. Y es, it has problems, but we can fix them.W: I’m afraid this is not what I want. But thank you anyway.Questions 9 to 12 are based on the conversation you have just heard.9. Why does the man need to look for a roommate?10. Which of the following is TRUE about the man’s apartment?11. How could the man keep the refrigerator door shut?12. What will Barbara probably do after she’s seen the apartment?Conversation TwoW: Sir, you’ve been using the online catalogue for quite a while. Is there anything I can do to help you?M: Well, I’ve got to write a paper about Hollywood in the 30s and 40s, and I’m really struggling.There are hundreds of books, and I just don’t know where to begin.W: Y our topic sounds pretty big. Why don’t you narrow it down to something like…uh…the history of the studios during that time?M: Y ou know, I was thinking about doing that, but more than 30 books came up when I typed in “movie studios”.W: Y ou could cut that down even further by listing the specific years you want. Try adding “1930s” or “1940s” or maybe “Golden Age”.M: “Golden Age” is a good idea. Let me type that in…. Hey, look, just 6 books this time. That’s a lot better.W: Oh…another thing you might consider…have you tried looking for any magazine or newspaper articles?M: No, I’ve only been searching for books.W: Well, you can look up magazine articles in the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature. And we do have the Los Angeles Times available over there. Y ou might go through their indexes to see if there’s anything you want.M: Okay. I think I’ll get started with these books and then I’ll go over the magazines.W: If you need any help, I’ll be over at the Reference Desk.M: Great, thanks a lot.Questions 13 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.13. What is the man doing?14. What does the librarian think of the topic the man is working on?15. Where can the man find the relevant magazine articles?Section BDirections: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Passage OneNot everybody reads the daily newspaper. People who don’t read newspaper are sometimes referred to as non-readers. Early research has shown that the non-readers are generally low in education low in income either very young or very old. In addition non-readers are more likely to live in rural areas and have less contact with neighbors and friends. Other studies show that non-readers tend to isolate themselves from the community and less likely to own a home and seldom belong to local voluntary organizations.Why don’t these people read daily paper? They say they don’t have the time they prefer radio or TV they have no interest in reading a tale and besides they think newspapers are too expensive. Recent surveys however, have indicated the portrait of the non-reader is more complicated than first thought. There appears to be a group of non-readers that do not fit the type mentioned above. They are high in income and fall into the age group of 26 to 65. They are far move likely to report that they don’t have the time to read the papers and they have no interest in the content. Editors and publishers are attempting to win them back. First they are also adding news briefs and comprehensive indexes. This will help overcome the time problem. And they are also giving variety to newspaper content to help build the reader’s interest.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16. What is typical of non-readers according to early research?17. What are the finds of recent surveys?18. What are editors and publishers doing to attract the non-readers?Passage T woDid you know that there’s a kind of bird that can sew? This bird, called the tailor bird, uses its mouth as a needle. It sews leaves together in the shape of a cup then it adds a layer of straw to the inside of the cup and lays its eggs there. Each bird species builds its own special kind of nest.The most common materials used for nests are grasses branches and feathers. A bird must weave these materials into a nest. Just imagine building a house without cement or nails to hold together.Another bird is called the weaver bird. The weaver bird builds a nest that looks like a basket. the nest’s shape is like a pear with a hole in the middle. The hole is the door of the nest. A third bird is called the oven bird. The oven bird makes a nest that is very solid. The nest is made of mud. The oven bird forms the mud into the shape of an oven and then let it dry in the sun. The sun bakes the mud making it very hard. Not all birds make their homes in branches. Some birds build their nests on the ground while others bury their eggs under the ground. And some birds do not build nests at all. So when you look for nests and eggs in branches of the trees and bushes remember that some nests may be right your feet.Questions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.19. What does the nest built by tailor bird look like?20. Why is there a hole in the weaver bird’s nest?21. What is the oven bird’s nest made of?22. What might surprise us about birds’ nests according to the speaker?Passage ThreeY ou can tell the age of a tree by counting its rings but these records of trees’ life really say a lot more. Scientists are using tree rings to learn what’s being happening on the sun’s surface for the last ten thousand years. Each ring represents a year of growth. As the tree grows it adds a layer to its trunk taking up chemical elements from the air. By looking up the elements in the rings for a given year scientists can tell what elements were in the air that year. Doctors Stevenson is analyzing one element—carbon-14 in ring from both living and dead trees. Some of the rings go back almost ten thousand years to the end of the Ice Age. When Stevenson followed the carbon-14 trail back in time he found carbon-14 levels change with the intensity of solar burning. Y ou see the sun has cycles. Sometimes it burns fiercely and other times it’s relatively calm. During the sun’s violent periods it throws off charged particles in fast moving strings called solar winds. The particles interfere with the formation of carbon-14 on earth. When there’s more solar wind activity less carbon-14 is produced. Ten thousand years of tree rings show that the carbon-14 level rises and falls about every 420 years. The scientists concluded that the solar wind activity must follow the same cycle.Questions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.23. What is the purpose of the scientists in studying tree rings?24. What affects the amount of carbon-14 on earth?25. What do we learn from the passage about the solar wind activity?Section CDirections:In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 26 to 33 with the exact words you havejust heard. For blanks numbered from 34 to 36 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main point in your own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.Taking advantage of the Internet is a fairly new concept for many individuals since it has only been open to commercial use in the 1990’s; however, for other people, it has been a traditional way of life since the 1970’s. It’s estimated that now about 30 million people access the Internet. With this very large audience, capitalizing on business opportunities via marketing and advertising efforts could have a high potential for substantial financial gain. The information superhighway has an exciting future for business use; however, its success is dependent on various factors related to the Cyberspace environment and how we make use of the these opportunities.Computers have an important role in the operations of almost every business. Computers networking will continue to offer new business opportunities and it will also influence our personal lives. The computer revolution continues to influence society with the information superhighway paving new ways for the future.。