2020劍橋商務(wù)英語BEC中級精選閱讀材料

2020劍橋商務(wù)英語BEC中級精選閱讀材料

為了讓大家更好的準(zhǔn)備商務(wù)英語BEC中級考試，小編給大家?guī)鞡EC中級閱讀材料,下面小編就和大家分享，來欣賞一下吧。

1.商務(wù)英語中級考試閱讀材料：喝酸奶有益于牙齒健康

Eating yogurt and other foods laden with lactic acid may keep your gums from receding and teeth from falling out, Japanese researchers report.

Dr. Yoshihiro Shimazaki and colleagues found that consuming yogurt and lactic acid drinks was significantly associated with better periodontal health.

"But, milk and cheese were not," Shimazaki said.

Periodontal disease is a chronic bacterial condition associated with receding gums and tooth loss. Outside of regular brushing and flossing, effective measures to allay this disease are limited, Shimazaki, of Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, and colleagues note in the Journal of Periodontology.

Previous research identified a lower occurrence of periodontal disease among people who eat high amounts of dairy products, but did not identify which dairy products were most beneficial, the researchers report.

Shimazaki’s team assessed the severity of periodontal disease in 942 men and women, aged 40 to 79 years, and their intake of milk, cheese, and lactic acid foods.

They found that people with generalized (more advanced) periodontal disease had a lower intake of lactic acid foods than people with localized (less advanced) periodontal disease.

Compared with individuals reporting no lactic acid food intake, those eating 55 grams or more of yogurt (half an 6-ounce carton) or lactic acid drinks a day had significantly fewer markers of severe periodontal disease. The investigators made allowances for factors such as age, gender, smoking, alcohol intake, frequency of tooth brushing, blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

日本研究人員日前稱，吃酸奶等富含乳酸的食物能防止牙齦萎縮和牙齒脫落。

喜田島崎博士及其同事發(fā)現(xiàn)，喝酸奶及其它乳酸飲料能顯著改善牙周健康。

島崎博士說：“但牛奶和乳酪沒有這種功效。”

牙周病是一種慢性細(xì)菌感染性疾病，會引起牙床萎縮和牙齒脫落。日本福岡九州島大學(xué)的島崎教授及其同事在《牙周病學(xué)》期刊中提到，除了勤刷牙和用牙線清潔牙齒外，能夠有效緩解這一疾病的方法比較有限。

研究人員在報告中稱，此前的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，食用大量乳制品的人患牙周病的幾率較低，但未發(fā)現(xiàn)哪種乳制品的作用突出。

島崎教授領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的研究小組對942名年齡在40歲至79歲之間的男性和女性進(jìn)行了調(diào)查，主要對他們所患牙周炎的嚴(yán)重程度以及攝入的牛奶、乳酪和乳酸類食品量進(jìn)行了評估。

他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，彌漫性重度牙周炎患者所攝入的乳酸類食品量比局限性輕度牙周炎患者少。

與自稱從不吃乳酸類食品的人相比，每天攝入酸奶或其它乳酸飲品55克或更多的人有嚴(yán)重牙周病癥狀的明顯較少。研究人員還考慮到了年齡、性別、吸煙、飲酒、刷牙頻率、血糖及膽固醇水平等各項(xiàng)因素。

Vocabulary:

be laden with:富含……

fall out: 脫落

intake:攝入量

make allowances for:考慮到……

2.商務(wù)英語中級考試閱讀材料：投行今年亞太傭金收入

對于投資銀行業(yè)而言，2007年是它們亞洲業(yè)務(wù)利潤為豐厚的一年，但今年卻開局不利。

Investment banks have suffered a poor start to the year in Asia after their most profitable year in the region in 2007.

因敢于在市場動蕩情況下上市的公司數(shù)量減少，投行的股票資本市場收入大幅下降。

Revenues from equity capital markets have fallen sharply as fewer companies have braved turbulent market conditions to go public.

數(shù)據(jù)提供商湯姆森金融(Thomson Financial)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，今年截至上周五，在不包括日本在內(nèi)的亞洲地區(qū)，瑞銀(UBS)、瑞士信貸(Credit Suisse)、摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)和高盛(Goldman Sachs)的傭金收入分別下降了44.1%至70.9%。

UBS, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs saw fees fall between 44.1 per cent and 70.9 per cent in Asia excluding Japan this year up until last Friday, according to Thomson Financial, the data provider.

由于許多公司推遲或取消了首次公開發(fā)行(IPO)計劃，寧愿等待更好的上市時機(jī)，投行今年在亞洲面臨的市況非常艱難。作為亞洲地區(qū)股市表現(xiàn)的衡量指標(biāo)，摩根士丹利資本國際不包括日本的亞太指數(shù)(MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index)今年已下跌約18%。

The region has been a tough market for banks after a large number of companies postponed or cancelled initial public offerings, preferring to wait for better opportunities to sell shares. The MSCI Asia excluding Japan index, a barometer of the region’s stock markets, has fallen about 18 per cent this year.

來自股票和債券資本市場的傭金收入分別下降了15.9%和52.3%。但收購活動仍在繼續(xù)，亞洲并購交易傭金收入為此增長了3.6%，達(dá)到13.8億美元。

Fees earned from equity and debt capital markets fell 15.9 per cent and 52.3 per cent respectively. But continued takeover activity saw fees from Asian mergers and acquisitions increase 3.6 per cent to $1.38bn.

在亞洲傭金總收入排行榜上，包括中國鐵建(China Railway Construction Corp) 54.4億美元IPO在內(nèi)的幾筆大交易，推動中國中信證券(Citic Securities)的排名從去年的第13位上升至第三位。

China’s Citic Securities rose to third in the league table of overall fee revenues in the region, up from number 13 in 2007, thanks to several large deals including the $5.44bn IPO by China Railway Construction Corp.

瑞銀在排行榜上名列榜首，盡管該行今年以來的收入下降了53.3%，從去年的1.71億美元降至8000萬美元。這家瑞士銀行近80%的收入來自并購交易傭金。排名第二和第三的分別是花旗集團(tuán)(Citigroup)和中信證券。名列前五的還有美林(Merrill Lynch)和JP摩根(JPMorgan)。

UBS topped the league table in spite of a 53.3 per cent plunge in revenues from $171m last year to $80m so far this year. The Swiss bank, which derived nearly 80 per cent of fees from M&A, is followed by Citigroup and Citic. Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan took the other top five places.

中信證券收入飆升425.1%，至5590萬美元。在中國鐵建本月在香港和上海的IPO中，中信證券都是保薦人。

Citic, which sponsored both the Hong Kong and Shanghai portions of CRCC’s IPO this month, saw revenues surge 425.1 per cent to $55.9m.

行業(yè)咨詢公司奧緯咨詢(Oliver Wyman)的另一份報告顯示，作為中國的券商之一，中信證券取得成功的背景是：本地公司繼續(xù)主導(dǎo)著亞洲的承銷市場，特別是首次公開發(fā)行市場。

The success of Citic, one of China’s largest brokerages, comes as local firms continue to dominate the underwriting market in Asia, especially in primary offerings, according to a separate report by Oliver Wyman, an industry consultant.

除了香港和新加坡(國際投行在此仍然控制著市場)，其他國家的多數(shù)交易往往都由本地券商安排。奧緯咨詢稱，中國的三大承銷商分別是中信證券、中金公司(CICC)和國泰君安(Guotai Junan)。臺灣5家的承銷商都是本地公司。

Apart from Hong Kong and Singapore, where international investment banks still control the market, local brokerages tend to arrange most deals in other countries. China’s top three underwriters are Citic, CICC and Guotai Junan, said Oliver Wyman. All of the five largest players in Taiwan are local firms.

在湯姆森金融排行榜的前十名中，高盛的傭金收入降幅，達(dá)到70.9%，從9730萬美元降至2830萬美元。投行業(yè)務(wù)傭金總收入較上年同期下降5.4%，從22.2億美元降至21億美元。

3.商務(wù)英語中級考試閱讀材料：快樂可以遺傳

You can’t buy happiness but it looks like you can at least inherit it, British and Australian researchers said.

A study of nearly 1000 pairs of identical and non-identical twins found genes control half the personality traits that make people happy while factors such as relationships, health and careers are responsible for the rest of our well-being.

"We found that around half the differences in happiness were genetic," said Tim Bates, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh who led the study. "It is really quite surprising."

The researchers asked the volunteers – ranging in age from 25 to 75 – a series of questions about their personality, how much they worried and how satisfied they were with their lives.

Because identical twins share the same genes and fraternal twins do not, the researchers could identify common genes that result in certain personality traits and predispose people to happiness.

People who are sociable, active, stable, hardworking and conscientious tend to be happier, the researchers reported in the journal Psychological Science.

"What this study showed was that the identical twins in a family were very similar in personality and in well-being, and by contrast, the fraternal twins were only around half as similar," Bates said. "That strongly implicates genes."

The findings are an important piece of the puzzle for researchers trying to better understand depression and what makes different people happy or unhappy, Bates said.

People with positive inherited personality traits may, in effect, also have a reserve of happiness to draw on in stressful times, he said.

"An important implication is that personality traits of being outgoing, calm and reliable provide a resource, we called it ’affective reserve,’ that drives future happiness" Bates said.

快樂買不到，但英國和澳大利亞的研究人員稱，快樂至少可以遺傳得到。

一項(xiàng)對近千對同卵及異卵雙胞胎開展的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在快樂的性格特征中，有一半是由基因控制的，而另一部分則受到人際關(guān)系、健康、職業(yè)等因素的影響。

研究負(fù)責(zé)人、愛丁堡大學(xué)的蒂姆?貝茨說：“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，研究對象在快樂方面的差異約有一半受到遺傳基因的影響。這個結(jié)果實(shí)在令人驚訝?！?/p>

研究人員向年齡在25歲至75歲之間的志愿者提出了一系列問題，問題涉及他們的性格特點(diǎn)、焦慮程度以及對目前生活的滿意度。

由于同卵雙生的雙胞胎基因完全相同，而異卵雙胞胎不完全相同，所以研究人員可以分辨出決定某些性格特征及使人容易快樂的共同基因。

研究報告在《心理科學(xué)》期刊上發(fā)表。研究人員指出，善于交際、活潑、踏實(shí)、勤奮、有責(zé)任心的人更加快樂。

貝茨說：“該研究表明，同卵雙胞胎的性格特征和快樂程度十分相似，然而，異卵雙胞胎僅有約50%的相似度。這充分說明了基因的作用。”

貝茨說，研究人員一直在努力尋找有關(guān)“人為什么會郁悶”的更為合理的解釋及影響不同的人快樂與否的因素，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)無疑為這一難題提供了一個重要解釋。

他說，具有積極遺傳性格特征的人實(shí)際上同時擁有一種“快樂儲備”，供他們在郁悶的時候“支取”。

貝茨說：“這說明了很重要的一點(diǎn)，外向、冷靜和可靠的性格特點(diǎn)能形成一種“情感儲備”，為將來的快樂提供保障?！?/p>

4.商務(wù)英語中級考試閱讀材料：中國航空貨運(yùn)業(yè)

中國制造業(yè)的顯著增長，促使航空貨運(yùn)公司爭相發(fā)展其在華業(yè)務(wù)。然而，這可能成為一個業(yè)務(wù)規(guī)模擴(kuò)張過大、速度過快的案例。

China’s spectacular manufacturing growth has left air freight carriers scrambling to develop their activities in the country. But it could be a case of too much, too soon.

兩年前，從南京或上海空運(yùn)貨物至歐洲，每公斤運(yùn)費(fèi)高達(dá)4美元;如今的價格約為2.50美元。南京祿口機(jī)場副總經(jīng)理徐勇表示：“在此項(xiàng)業(yè)務(wù)上仍有錢賺的航空公司非常少見。”

Two years ago, flying goods from Nanjing or Shanghai to Europe cost up to $4 a kilogramme; today it the price is about $2.50. “Very few carriers are still making money here,’’ says Xu Yong, vice-president of Nanjing airport.

由于機(jī)隊(duì)擴(kuò)張速度繼續(xù)超出需求，航空公司正加劇中國一些機(jī)場的擁堵問題。徐勇警告稱：“我們現(xiàn)在的飛機(jī)數(shù)量實(shí)在是太多了?！?/p>

As fleet expansion continues to outpace demand, carriers are adding to congestion problems at some Chinese airports. “We have just far too many planes now”Mr Xu warns.

荷蘭航空公司Martinair副總裁弗蘭克?德容(Frank de Jong)表示，中國空運(yùn)貨物出口量正以每年約10%的速度增長，而飛機(jī)貨物運(yùn)力的增幅約為25%。

Frank de Jong, vice-president at Martinair, the Dutch carrier, says the volume of Chinese exports by air is growing by about 10 per cent a year but aircraft cargo capacity is rising by about 25 per cent.

在亞洲，約半數(shù)貨物在運(yùn)輸時都是放在定期客運(yùn)航班的腹艙內(nèi)。例如，在客運(yùn)航空公司中，大韓航空(Korean Airlines)擁有全球規(guī)模的貨運(yùn)業(yè)務(wù)，其28%的收入來自航空貨運(yùn)業(yè)務(wù)。

In Asia, about half of cargo transported is carried in the belly of regular passenger flights. Korean Airlines, for example, has the world’s largest cargo business among passenger airlines, with 28 per cent of its revenue coming from air freight.

在美國，大部分航空貨運(yùn)業(yè)務(wù)由以UPS和聯(lián)邦快遞(FedEx)為首的專業(yè)貨運(yùn)公司負(fù)責(zé)。中國政府近已進(jìn)一步放寬了對上述兩家公司的準(zhǔn)入限制。

In the US, the bulk of air cargo is handled by the specialist freight industry, led by UPS and FedEx. The Chinese government has recently granted greater access to the two companies.

瑞士信貸(Credit Suisse)分析師彼得?希爾頓(Peter Hilton)表示：“美國公司可以向中國體系內(nèi)注入更多運(yùn)力，并承接向來由亞洲航空公司包攬的貨運(yùn)業(yè)務(wù)?！?/p>

Peter Hilton, analyst at Credit Suisse, says: “The Americans are being allowed to inject more capacity into the Chinese system and moving goods that would have traditionally gone to Asian carriers.”

中國政府已加大其發(fā)展國內(nèi)航空貨運(yùn)業(yè)的努力，鼓勵國內(nèi)航空公司與經(jīng)驗(yàn)更為豐富的西方貨運(yùn)公司合作。而就在不久前，中國政府的重點(diǎn)還幾乎全放在航空客運(yùn)業(yè)的改革和擴(kuò)張方面。

Beijing has stepped up its efforts to develop a domestic air freight industry, encouraging its airlines to team up with more experienced Western cargo operators. Until recently, the Chinese government had instead focused almost exclusively on overhauling and expanding the passenger airline industry.

一位香港銀行家表示：“從政治角度來看，運(yùn)送旅客比運(yùn)輸貨物更能建立聲望，但政府已意識到，貨運(yùn)對出口驅(qū)動型的制造業(yè)領(lǐng)域至關(guān)重要?！?/p>

A Hong Kong banker says: “Politically, there’s a lot more prestige in helping move people rather than goods, but the government has woken up to how crucial freight is for an export-led manufacturing sector.”