听力文本

Unit2 Part 3Sun Long: Are you coming to the Company Party tonight?Sarah：Is it necessary for me to come?Sun Long：Well, the point is to make business contacts and develop relationships with current or potential clients.Sarah：I see. But I am still not used to this kind of event.Sun Long：What's the problem?Sarah：I am not good at making conversation.Sun Long：Well, you can prepare your conversation starters ahead of time. Sarah：How can I prepare my conversation starters?Sun Long：Find out who will be there and find out as much as you can about the guests. The more information you have about them and their business, the easier it will be to talk to them.Sarah: I heard our client, Mr. Wood was invited.Sun Long：I happen to know that Mr. Wood loves airplanes.Sarah：Oh, I love airplanes too and I collect airplane models.Sun Long：Well, see, you have something in common so you shouldn't have any problems talking to him.Sarah：What about other people?Sun Long：Be ready to ask people about themselves. Start your conversations with open-ended questions.Sarah：What are Open-ended questions?Sun Long：Those are questions that begin with "how" and "why" , the kinds of questions that people almost have to answer with more than one word.Sarah：I can make conversations simply by asking questions?Sun Long：Oh, people like to talk about themselves so long as you continue to listen and act interested, they will continue to talk.Sarah：I think I can be a good listener.Sun Long：All you really need to do is to repeat or comment on something the other person has said. Like with Mr. Wood, you could ask how many planes he has. Sarah：If he says 14？Sun Long：Then you respond, "So you have 14 of your own airplanes? That‟s interesting. Tell me about them." And he'll continue to talk.Sarah：Good idea. I‟ll try.Unit 3 Part4Alice tells the new secretary Linda how to take meeting minutes.Alice: Knowing how to take meeting minutes accurately and communicate them quickly is an invaluable skill.Linda: Are minutes an outline of the meeting?Alice: No, minutes are an official written record of what happened at a meeting. Without minutes, many hours will be lost when people try to remember who agreed todo what at the meeting.Linda: What should I prepare before a meeting if I am to be the minute-taker? Alice: You should look over the meeting agenda and any background documents to be discussed during the meeting. Use the meeting agenda as an outline for the minutes. And don‟t forget to ask for the minutes from the last meeting for reference.Linda: I see. Go to the meeting with a copy of the agenda and the minutes from the last meeting.Do I write the minutes during the meeting?Alice: No. You take notes during the meeting and write the minute according to the notes after the meeting.Linda: I think it is difficult to take complete notes of the meeting.Alice: Don't try to write down everything. Focus on recording general ideas. Linda: What should I pay attention to?Alice: Focus on the issues discussed and the major points raised. During the meeting, the group should decide what actions should be taken and who is responsible for each task. Write down what decisions were made, and who is going to carry out activities. Linda: I get it. Emphasize major points and action steps. What if I miss one or two points in my notes?Alice: You may want to use a tape recorder during the meeting as a back up to your notes.Linda: That‟s a good idea.Alice: After the Meeting, write up the minutes as soon as possible, while everything is still fresh in your mind.Linda: What should I bear in mind when writing the minute after the meeting? Alice: Remember in the minutes you should include the date, time, place the names of the attendees and type of the meeting.Linda: What does “type of the meeting” mean?Alice: Meeting types include weekly meeting, monthly meeting, and meeting for special purpose, and so on.Linda: I see.Alice: In the minutes, you should write down items in the order they are discussed and give each item a separate heading.Linda: Who should I give the minutes to after I finish it?Alice: Once the minutes have been drafted, ask the chairperson to check them. Then copy and distribute the minutes to the participants and others who were unable to attend. Don‟t forget to save a record of the minutes and keep all meeting minutes together in a folder or computer folder.Unit 4 Part2Although we get many orders and we are profitable, we are having cash flow problems. I think it is necessary for you to understand the situation and coordinate toimprove the situation.Let‟s take a look at the cash flow in the latest two months.When a customer places an order, the company receives a 10 percent down payment of the total sales price. The customer is then billed for the remainder of the sale after the product is completed and delivered. But before we get the payment we have to pay our staff and supplier.The graph shows the cash flow situation after we received an order two months ago. You can see how much we received or paid, you can also see cumulative cash flow that is what we received minus what we paid.On Day 1, we got an order for indoor fitness equipment with the total sales price of 80,000 yuan.We received 8,000 yuan as down payment and order the material. The material arrived at Day 3 and we began production. The material needed for this job is priced at 32,000 yuan. This supplier offers a 2 percent early payment discount. In order to increase our margin, we always take advantage of the discount. On Day 7, we paid the supplier 31,360 yuan. Day 12 is the day we pay our employees and the payroll is35,500 yuan. After 25 days, production completed; we delivered the equipment and install them with direct labor costs of 2500 yuan. We then billed the customer for remainder and on Day 55 we received the final payment of 72,000.From the graph you can see the cash flow gap opens on day 7 when the company pays for the supplies; it widens by day 12 and day 25. This means the company has to finance and possibly pay interest on, the 61360 yuan for 30 days until we receive the final payment.Unit 12 Part1Successful businesses work hard to keep their customers satisfied. Although prevention is better than cure, it is almost inevitable that at some stage you will receive a customer complaint.Don't presume a customer complaint is a negative experience because, if handled well, it can be a valuable learning tool.Effective complaints handling is essential to your business.Your business can benefit in several ways:improved product quality and servicebetter understanding of customers' needsgreater customer loyaltymore customers through word of mouth advertising from satisfied clientsimproved business reputationTherefore when your customers make complaints, thank them for bringing it to your attention.Many times, an unhappy customer doesn‟t let you know. They just change brands and tell their friends of the dissatisfaction. That is not the type of word-of-mouth advertising you want.We want to hear when the customers aren‟t happy. Moreover, we make sure the process for making complaints is easy for the customers. We arrange a dedicated phone line for complaints, and include a customer feedback option on our website. Complaints should not be seen as the responsibility of the customer service department only.Everyone in the company needs to contribute to handling them effectively; learning the lessons from them; and improving performance.Unit 13 Part2“The eyes are the mirror of the soul.” Good eye contact leads to a relaxed conversation. Hence, making and keeping good eye contact with others is an important habit.Certain situations demand different uses of the eyes.When you are talking to a group, it is great to have direct contact with your listeners. Please focus on a different member of the group with every new sentence. In this way you can keep them all interested.It is great to maintain eye contact when you are t alking to an individual. But the stare may make them feel uncomfortable. So don‟t forget to break eye contact every 5 seconds or so. You can look up or to the side as if you are remembering something. The …triangle‟ technique is useful when you are listening to someone. This is when you look at one eye for about 5 seconds, look at the other eye for 5 seconds and then look at the mouth for 5 seconds. The nodding and agreement words such as …yes‟, …Uh –huh‟ …mm‟ etc is a great way to keep the talker talking, and to show them you are interested in what they are saying.Don‟t look away when you are arguing with someone. Staying silent and staring at someone is also an affective way to win an argument without saying a word.Unit15 Part4The American style is very direct. Americans tend to make concessions throughout the negotiations. Americans do prefer speedy negotiations and get annoyed with too much extraneous socializing or postponement. Americans make decisions based upon the bottom line and on cold, hard facts. They do not play favorites. Economics and performance count, not people.German negotiators are known for very thorough preparation. They are also well known for sticking steadfastly to their negotiating positions in the face of pressure tactics. Germans frown on workaholics. Personal lives are kept separate from business. Avoid asking or talking about one‟s personal home life.The British are old hands at international business. They may put a wide safety margin in their opening position so as to leave room for substantial concessions. Britain is an orderly society and punctuality is mandatory. Arrange appointments in advance and present an agenda as early as possible. The business lunch has been institutionalized in Britain. Much negotiation will be done with knife and fork inhand.Russians arrive at the table with clear objectives and make few concessions early in the discussions. They adopt a tough, sometimes confrontational approach, possibly punctuated with table-pounding, loud threats and walkouts. Counter these tactics by staying calm. The Russian decision-making is rather bureaucratic. Even the simplest deals will take a great deal of time when compared to other industrialized powers. Chinese tend to have business negotiations in a rather indirect manner, as opposed to the direct manner of American businessmen. The decision-making process of Chinese companies is considered to be very slow and time-consuming. The Chinese negotiator is distinguished by concern for “face.” The “face” issue is most important. He must not be forced to lose face by having to withdraw from a stance firmly stated during negotiations.。