商務(wù)英語考試中級聽力課文精選
商務(wù)英語考試中級聽力課文真題
TEST 11
This is the Business English Certificate Higher 4, Listening Test 3.
Part One. Questions 1 to 12
You will hear an adviser giving a talk to a group of purchasing managers about how to make good use of visits to trade fairs.
As you listen, for questions 1 to 12, complete the notes using up to three words or a number.
After you have listened once, replay the recording.
You now have 45 seconds to read through the questions.
[pause]
Now listen, and complete the notes
[pause]
Woman: Good afternoon. My short talk today is about trade fairs: not how to exhibit at them, but how to take best advantage of being a customer - a visitor to the fair. How can you make your visit really cost- and time-efficient
Firstly, an issue which is often overlooked is pre-exhibition preparation. It may be that the fair won’t be helpful, so find out as much as you can before you consider booking. As soon as you know it’s taking place, send off for the publicity folder, for which there is no charge. It contains information which can save you time and money. One particular thing I always advise clients to do is to look over the exhibitor list with great care and talk to line managers and colleagues about it. This will give you the best insight into whether this particular fair is right for your company. If it is, sign up for it.
Then, if you think the fair is for you, do take time to look into hotel arrangements. My advice is that you should try to choose a hotel yourself from the internet rather than selecting one from the trade fair’s recommended list. Trade fairs and exhibitions tend to use large chains because they’re easier to deal with, rather than ones with the most suitable facilities.
In due course, you will receive an enormous amount of trade-fair information - a lot of it you can throw away immediately. But not everything - the hand-outs to hang onto are the finalised list of visitors, and it’s also worth keeping the floor plan. Organisers seldom remember to supply extra copies, and you’ll be stuck if you don’t have one.
Then take a little care with your packing - don’t forget to take a large note-pad (fairs tend to supply tiny ones these days, and your jottings can get lost on small scraps of paper) and, whatever you do, don’t forget to take a good supply of business cards. There’s surely nothing more embarrassing than not being able to produce one on request. One other thing that I pack is a small pile of my own company brochures - not too many, they’d be too heavy - but to give out to selected personnel. Obviously you’re there with a view to buying, but an exchange of information helps everyone.
So now you’ve arrived and you’re standing in the exhibition hall with its bewildering array of people and exhibits. Where do you start Well, my advice is to ignore the people at reception and go straight to the press office. They’ll be a good source of information about the really important events of the day and what the interesting new products and services are. After this, it’s worth taking advantage of what’s sometimes called ‘the Fast-Track Service’. It can be costly, but it is personalised and independent - an adviser discusses your company profile and directs you to suitable stands.
After that, it’s just a case of wandering around, seeing what attracts your eye. And a key piece of advice - have a good look at the stands of small companies. These are often just starting out, and their stands frequently exhibit innovative products.
As you go around, look, listen, discuss, ask questions. Don’t be afraid to enquire about introductory discounts. You may be surprised at what companies are prepared to offer when they’re trying to set up a deal.
Now, obviously, you’ll be aiming to make plenty of contacts, and you should keep an eye on how long it takes the different companies to get back to you - sending the requested literature, quotations and so forth. With today’s communication techniques, you should hear from them within two or three days or even twenty-four hours. Any company that takes longer than a week is not worth pursuing, in my opinion. So, next, I’d like...
Now listen to the recording again.
[pause]
That is the end of Part One. You now have 20 seconds to check your answers.
[pause]
Part Two. Questions 13 to 22.
You will hear five different people talking about a project they carried out at work, and their experience while carrying it out.
For each extract, there are two tasks. Look at Task One. For each question, 13-17, choose the purpose of the project from the list A-H. Now look at Task Two. For each question, 18-22, choose the person’s experience of the project from the list A-H.
After you have listened once, replay the recording.
You now have 30 seconds to read the two lists.
[pause]
Now listen, and do the two tasks.
[pause]
Speaker One
Woman: I worked for a tool manufacturer, which had always targeted the domestic market, but then the Managing Director realised our product lines would do well abroad, too, and he asked me to look into how best to achieve this. Well, this was a great opportunity for me. I thought it was really important to send our own staff overseas, so they could devote all their time to getting our products into the markets. But it turned out the boss actually meant I should investigate local companies to use as our agents: he said they would already have information about potential customers. I wish he’d spelt this out at the beginning, because at least we could have discussed it. As it was, he ignored most of what I proposed, so I’d simply wasted my time.
Speaker Two
Man: My boss gave me responsibility for this big project once, where I had to plan a strategy for improving the amount of flexibility in our production section. You see, there were people who could operate a specific machine, or do a particular part of the process, but if someone was off sick or on holiday, nobody else could take over. It also meant that when people got bored with their job, they tended to leave. So I was supposed to work out how to get everyone familiar with several machines. Well, I didn’t know the department very well, so I wanted to discuss my ideas with the shopfloor workers, but morale had got so bad, most of them couldn’t be bothered, and in the end, I can’t claim I had much success.
Speaker Three
Woman: We make luxury bags, and we’re never short of customers. We don’t have our own stores: the bags are sold by retailers, and we work closely with them. They generally have pretty limited storage space, so they can’t carry much stock, which means we have to make lots of small deliveries. So I had to do a comparative study of the alternatives. The thing was, though, that I was told just to look at getting our finished products from the factory to the outlets, which was straightforward enough, but I soon realised that it would make more sense to look at the whole of the supply chain. Anyway, I managed to solve the immediate problem.
Speaker Four
Man: The company I worked for merged with another one, and I was given the task of evaluating all the senior positions and redefining their roles to fit into the structure of the new company. It was pretty hard, because people were afraid they’d lose their lobs. so the atmosphere was awful. But it also proved very difficult to find out exactly how the other company had been operating. It was small, and the directors were basically a group of friends who’d set up the business together. Everything was done verbally, and they hadn’t bothered to draw up organograms or job descriptions. I had to spend ages talking to all of them, so it took me a long time to reach the point where I felt confident enough to present my report.
Speaker Five
Woman: We’re a small manufacturer of fashion clothing, targeted at people in their twenties with high disposable incomes. We compete with imported clothing, and only use outlets close by, which keeps distribution costs down. And then management decided we were too dependent on these customers, and we should aim at a broader age range, and as soon as possible. They considered designing new ranges for other age groups, but we just didn’t have the production capacity, so they decided to change the product image, to broaden its appeal. The task of making this happen fell to me. Well, I wish I’d refused, because they simply didn’t realise that it’s a very complicated process, and that lots of companies have tried and failed. Instead they blamed me for not being bold enough.
[pause]
Now listen to the recording again.
[pause]
That is the end of Part Two.
[pause]
Part Three. Questions 23 to 30.
You will hear a discussion between two managers, Kathy and Duncan, who work in the Human Resources department of a company.
For each question, 23-30, mark one letter (A, B or C) for the correct answer.
After you have listened once, replay the recording.
You now have 45 seconds to read through the questions.
[pause]
Now listen, and mark A, B or C.
[pause]
Woman: Well, Duncan, I think we can often get a lot out of these informal talks.
Man: I couldn’t agree more, Kathy... the agendas in standard meetings are usually too rigid to allow for real discussion.
Woman: OK, now, you’d like to appoint a new assistant...
Man: Yes, I think it’s important.
Woman: ... because you’re wanting to look at agents and consultants...
Man: Yeah - they’re all stored on computer, but not in a useful way. I want the whole thing revised, so that we can access information in a wide range of clear categories.
Woman: And that’s a separate job.
Man: Quite - and a big one. We need a set-up like the Marketing Department has for clients - user- friendly.
Woman: I can certainly see your case. My only thought is that this person’s role is likely to become more complex.
Man: Oh, sure - these are just my initial thoughts...
Woman: So, you’ll have to make sure you get someone who’s got the right qualifications...
Man: Mm - the right diplomas.
Woman: And will they be going to many meetings
Man: Yeah, but not having to travel there... I mean, they’ll be in-house...
Woman: I see it as a cross-departmental role.
Man: I guess that depends on the Directors. I’d rather keep it within HR.
Woman: Hm, it’s always an issue, isn’t it, how the first idea of the job gets transformed, often neglecting the original need. I’ve sat on plenty of interview panels here, where we’re all doing our utmost to let the candidate give it their best shot...
Man: Oh sure.
Woman: ... and found myself thinking, hang on, too many people have got their hands on this and changed the requirements or desirable qualities since the time we put out the advertisement... I just don’t think all the details should be passed around as they currently are.
Man: I suppose everyone’s a bit desperate and looking for any opportunity to delegate, so if someone new’s coming in, they think, oh, that might help me...
Woman: Only natural.
Man: The new salary scales, welcome though the increases are, don’t address the real problem. And the flexible holiday system hasn’t done anything to reduce the day-to-day pressure.
Woman: I know what you mean, but I do have faith in things getting better, if the current initiatives go ahead.
Man: Hm, I’ll believe them when I see them, especially these glamorous new systems IT are proposing.
Woman: Well, I...
Man: I just wish everything could be as straightforward as the production team manage to make it - what they’re proposing is so practical that it’s bound to go through, while the rest of us are sitting around, considering every possible aspect and application, and drawing up endless finance projections.
Woman: Time will tell... I must say, I’m not entirely happy about the way things are going.
Man: No
Woman: Well, I just don’t think information is being handled very well - it’s a skill that’s neglected here. We have, in theory at least, a good team system, but we still end up running late at crucial stages on many projects simply due to our own over-elaborate processes - which, in terms of quality and efficiency, is clearly far from ideal.
Man: Yeah, well... I think a lot of it is to do with capturing and disseminating information, and whether we do that effectively or not. We’re not alone in encouraging employees to come up with ideas for improvements in procedures, etcetera, particularly those aimed at enhancing customer service levels...
Woman: No...
Man: ... but I’d like to see the outcomes of that publicised internally.., we could have a kind of magazine to supplement the annual report, and it could come out several times a year.
Woman: I guess that could help.
Man: It all ties up with where the company thinks it might be going.
Woman: Yeah, that’s the big issue. I’d say that boils down to identity...
Man: ... which we need to work on developing over the internet.
Woman: Hm, I think that probably comes later… What we need to ask is - and this is surely where we’re heading - is how to build recognition... If you look at who succeeds in selling globally...
Man: … our role models...
Woman: ... being readily identifiable helps companies to sell in on- and off-line environments and cross old-fashioned national boundaries.
Man: It’s certainly quite a challenge...
Woman: ... and one we need to meet.
Man: Anyway, so...
[pause]
Now listen to the recording again.
[pause]
That is the end of Part Three. You now bare ten minutes to transfer your answers to your Answer Sheet.
[pause]
Note: Teacher, stop the recording here and time ten minutes. Remind students when there is one minute remaining.
[pause]
That is the end of the test.
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