剑桥商务英语考试BEC中级听力全真试题及答案

BEC中级听力全真试题及答案
BEC中级听力全真试题(附参考答案）
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATIONS SYNDICATE
Examinations in English as a Foreign Language
BUSINESS ENGLISH CERTIFICATE
Test of Listening
PART ONE
Questions 1-12
You will hear three telephone conversations or messages.
Write one or two words or a number in the numbered spaces on the notes or forms below.
You will hear each recording twice.
* Conversation one (Questions 1-4)
Look at note below.
You will hear a man phoning company about an order.
Lewis & Thorn
Printers
Telephone Message
Message for: Mark HansonOliver
Martin rang from (1)_____________________________________. He hasn't received the (2)__________________________________ he ordered for a (3) _____________________________ later this month .Wants to change the quantity to (4) _______________________________ --- to be ready tomorrow. Will fax details if needed.
* Conversation Two (Question 5-8)
Look at the notes below.
You will hear a conversation between two friends about a job vacancy.
Job with Alba as (5)________________________________________
Responsible for (6) ________________________________________
Must have knowledge of (7)__________________________________________________
Apply by (8)______________________________________
* Conversation Three (Questions 9-12)
Look at the notes below.
You will hear a telephone conversation about arranging a meeting.
FINANCE MEETING
Need to discuss (9)__________________________________________.Aim to produce new (10) ______________________________________________.Check that the Sales Co-ordinator and the (11)_______________________________ can come.Arrange for a (12)
__________________________________________ to be available.
PART TWO
Questions 13-22
Section One
(Questions 13-17)
·You will hear five short recordings. Each person is talking on the phone.
·For each recording, decide what is the main topic of their call.
·Write one letter (A-H) next to the number of the recording.
·Do not use any letter more than once.
·You will hear the five recordings twice.
13 ____ 14 ____ 15 ____ 16 ____ 17 ____
A a departmental meeting
B a job interview
C negotiations with buyers
D a visit to a factory
E a shareholders' meeting
F a training session
G a conference
H a visit to trade exhibition
Section Two
(Question 18-22)
•You will hear another five short recordings. Each speaker recently attended an interview. •For each recording, decide what the speaker is saying about the interview they attended. •Write one letter (A-H) next to the number of the recording.
Do not use any letter more than once.
You will hear the five recordings twice.
18 __ 19___ 20___ 21___ 22___
A I didn't express myself well.
B I misunderstood the advertisement.
C It was shorter than I expected.
D I wasn't appropriately dressed.
E It was poorly organized.
F There were too many applicants.
G I did too much preparation.
H One of the questions surprised me.
PART THREE
Questions 23-30
•You will hear a radio interview with Peter Williams about training within small businesses. •For each question 23-30, make one letter (A, B or C) for the correct answer.
•You will hear the recording twice.
23 What was Peter Williams doing immediately before he started his research?
A He was managing the training department of a large company.
B He was running a training programme at a university.
C He was running his own small business.
24 In his research, what did Peter Williams find about training in small firms?
A They spend too little on training.
B They are unaware of their training expenses.
C They receive state subsidies for training.
25 Small firms do not have specific training budgets because
A they do not want to invest in training.
B they do not have time to provide training.
C they do not plan their training.
26 When calculating the cost of in-house training, many small firms do not include
A course fees .
B managers' time.
C accountants' costs.
27 What do the majority of small firms spend on training?
A less than 1% of their payroll.
B 1-5% of their annual payroll.
C more than 10% of their payroll.
28 Peter Williams thinks that the best training involves
A observing an expert do the job
B going on special training courses.
C doing the job under supervision.
29 Above all else, small businesses want training that
A will answer their short-term needs.
B does not require immediate investment.
C will help their planning procedures.
30 The first university courses for small companies will deal with
A business growth.
B computing needs.
C structural change.
You now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to your Answer Sheet.
参考答案及听力材料
LISTENING
1.Worldwide Holidays
2.invitation cards
3.business reception
4.400
5.Marketing Manager
6.Sales Planning
7. foreign languages
8. 3 July
9.rising costs 10. department budgets 11. buildings manager 12. laptop 13. D 14.F 15.C 16.G 17.A 18.C 19.H 20.E 21.A 22.D 23.C 24.B 25.C 26.B 27.B 28.C 29.A 30.B
Transcripts
Part I
1.
F: Good morning, Lewis & Thorn Printers.
M: Hello, it's Oliver Martin here. Can I speak to Mark Hanson?
F: I'm afraid he is not in the office now. Can I take a message?
M: Yes, I'm phoning from Worldwide Holidays. I made an order recently. Mark was dealing with it. There were several things, mainly brochures and pricelists. We've received those and they are fine, but we haven't got the invitation cards that were ordered.
F: When did you order them?
M: It was about a week ago, last Thursday, I think. But it's rather urgent now. They're for a business reception at the end of the month. And they need to be sent to the tour operators and hotel managers.
F: We're quite busy at the moment, but I'm sure he'll get them to you for tomorrow. How is it for? M: It was originally 300, but can you make that 400? We may need more than we thought.
F: Yes. Fine. Has Mark the details?
M: He should have. If there's a problem, I can fax them.
F: Thanks, Mr. Martin. I'll phone you if we need them.
2.
F: Hello, Mike. It's Carrion here. I've just been reading the paper and the job in there with Alba, the publishing group. I think it will be perfect for you.
M: Oh, what's the job?
F: They want a marketing manager. Isn't that the kind of thing you're looking for?
M: Yes. Does it say what the job involves?
F: There's a quite a big job description, but the main thing seems to be that you'll be in charge of sales planning. Sounds quite interesting.
M: Well, it will be better than the administration work I'm doing at the moment. What sort of qualifications are they looking for? I suppose they want you to have an MBA.
F: No, there's nothing here about that. But it does say that they're looking for someone who can
speak foreign languages. Well, that's OK for you because you've lived abroad and you speak German, don't you?
M: Yes, and Spanish, too. When do the applications have to be in by?
F: What's it today? The 9th of June. So you've plenty to time. The 3rd of July is the closing date. Do you want me to fax you the adverts so you can see yourself.
M: Yes. That'll be great. Thanks.
F: OK. I'll do it now.
3.
M: Hello! Mike here.
F: Mike. It's Angela.
M: Oh, Hi.
M: Oh, look, Mike. I'm phoning because I'm quite worried about last month's figures.
M: They don't make pretty reading, do they?
F: No, they don't. I think we need to have a meeting to talk about the rising costs.
M: Sounds like a good idea. When were you thinking of?
F: As soon as possible. I think we should try to put together new department budgets. Each department will then have set limits for their spending.
M: Yes. I'm sure that will help. Who would you specially like to have at the meeting?
F: Well, us, obviously. And can you make sure that the sales coordinator is available. And also the buildings manager? We'll need their input.
M: Sure. I'll get on to them. And I'll book the boardroom.
F: Oh, can you make sure that there'll be a laptop available there on the day. I'd like to show the figures for this year and last year.
M: No problem. I'll get back to you later to confirm the details.
F: Fine. Thanks.
Part II
13. Very useful indeed! The general manager and the research director showed us around their high-tech production unit and there was a presentation of some of the products they're planning. They're certainly coming up with plans for some innovative products. I'm fairly sure we can come to some agreement about working together on at least two of them, though there'll be some hard bargaining, I should think.
14. They were really excellent. The best group I've ever worked with. I was able to cover the theoretical ground very quickly and got to the practical stuff earlier than I'd expected. This meant that they had much more practice than other groups and won't need too much support from us, even in the initial stage of using the program.
15. They weren't easy, Mark. They were not easy! They asked us extremely detailed questions about our products and our ability to meet deadlines. In fact, at one point I thought we're going to have to withdraw because it looked as if we wouldn't be able to meet all their requirements. But then they made a number of concessions. In the end I think we've managed to get a good deal. Certainly it's the biggest contract I've been involved with.
16.The first day was particularly useful because there were some interesting speakers, mainly from big multinationals, talking on such as I'm interested in, like the international aspects of
industrial relations and employment law. Then in the evening I had some extremely interesting conversations with ??? speakers. I hope there'll useful contacts in the future. But other delegates thought it wasn't very well attended, because the organizers ad decided against having an exhibition area so fewer people came.
17. We revealed the month's work and discussed next month's targets. We decided that we definitely need some extra help with the personnel selection because there's just too much for one person. Generally I think we're a pretty good team. Of course there're a few problems now and again, but we always discuss them in a very calm and sensible way and come up with solutions that work, so far, anyway.
18. All I can say is that I'd stood out as the best applicant straight away or they took an instant dislike to me. I'd expected it to last at least 45 minutes, and possibly to involve 2 sessions. But I left I managed to go for a swim and do some shopping before I got back to the office for lunch.
19. I've been over all the obvious things I knew they would ask me with a colleague and I practiced all my answers over and over again. I felt sure I could deal with anything they'd put to me. Well, they started asking me what I though my weaknesses were. I just hadn't prepared for that, but because I had done so much preparation for other questions I managed to come up with a really good answer.
20. Well, I got there and I thought I am really well prepared for this. I was wearing my best suit. I arrived on time and so did the other three applicants. But they kept us waiting for an hour and a half while they tried to sort themselves out. By the time I went I was so patient with the company I didn't want the job any more.
21. It's fine, isn't it. I can do it now. I knew what they were going to ask me. But when you are under all that pressure and all those questions are coming at you, something let you down. And whatever you say, you know you haven't got the message across right and they haven't understood what you really meant. If only could get a second chance.
22. I got home late from the meeting than I before (???) and I was really tired, but I lay awake all night. I guess I should have thought more carefully about wearing the right sort of things. But I was a bit disorganized and rushed out of the flat as if it was just an ordinary day and then felt like an odd one out when I got there and saw everyone else in suits. I was so embarrassed.
Part III
F: With me today is Peter Williams from Kingston University. Welcome! Peter.
M: Thank you.
F: Peter, you recently a large research study on training in small businesses. What made you focus on small businesses? After all, most of your experience has been with the huge multinational Cleantex. And in fact you eventually you ran their training department, didn't you?
M: Well, you are partly right. You see, when I joined the university a year ago they wanted me to start a training program for small businesses. I'd just sold my own small business, which I'd started when I left Cleantex. The 8 years I ran my own business taught me more about training than all
my years with Cleantex. But I felt I couldn't base a training program on my experience alone. So I decided to do research first.
F: And how much training did you find in most small companies. Can they afford to do much training?
M: Well, firstly small businesses are often accused of not doing enough training. But that is the opinion of big businesses of course. It's true that the government is encouraging small firms to increase their training budgets. They're trying to introduce financial assistance for this. But I have to say I find lots of training going on. The real problem is that most small businesses don't always know how much training they're providing or how much it's actually costing them.
F: But surely businesses have budgets and training records.
M: Unfortunately most small companies don't set aside a specific training budget. It's not that they don't want to spend the money but that they operate differently. You see, things change very quickly in small firms and it's impossible to predict the training needs. An employee can be moved to a new project very suddenly and then training has to be organized within days. And most small businesses prefer to use their experienced staff to do any training on the job.
F: Did you manage to work out the costs of training?
M: Well, it took time to work out the indirect costs. You see, most small business managers don't include these costs in their calculations. Most of them keep records of obvious expenses, like, many expenses like external courses, travel, training manual, and videos, etc. But not many firms have specific training accounts and they don't include the time managers spend on training, waste of materials, lost of productivity and so on. I spent hours with company accountants trying to see where these hidden costs were.
F: How much are small firms spending on training?
M: More than half of the businesses I surveyed spent at least 1% of their annual salary bill on training. And some of these spent up to 5% of their pay roll. In fact smaller firms are investing on average over 10% more on training per employee than larger firms.
F: How good is that training?
M: As I said, small firms usually get an experienced employee to show new staff how to do that job. This can be useful if the person is carefully selected and well-trained himself. But it's not really enough. The trainee needs to do the job with the experienced employee on hand for guidance and feedback. This gets trainees much better skills than any packaged courses.
F: And has your study helped you plan new courses for small businesses?
M: Definitely. I now understand what they want and how they want it delivered. I now know that small firms were only investing in training if it immediately helped their enterprise. But most formal training focuses on long-term business needs. Most small businesses can't plan far ahead. They want direct results from training in skills they need now. New technologies and IT skills are identified as a priority by all the firms I surveyed.
F: What is the first course the university offer small businesses?
M: Up till now most of short courses for companies in general have dealt with helping businesses grow. These aren't really appropriate for small companies as growth can be very risky for them. They obviously need to grow but they're afraid of fast growth. I'm going to start with courses on IT and software the small companies are likely to require because of the business growth to come later. And they'll need to be changed to make them more relevant to small businesses.
F: Well, I wish you every success with the course.。