BEC商務(wù)英語中級考試真題匯總

為了讓大家更好的學(xué)習(xí)商務(wù)英語BEC考試，小編給大家整理了BEC商務(wù)英語中級考試真題,下面小編就和大家分享，來欣賞一下吧。

BEC真題一

1 the failure of a company to set its prices appropriately

2 a context that makes it difficult to increase prices

3 the consequences of companies trying to conceal their approach to pricing

4 the means by which a company ensured precision in the prices it offered

5 the fact that companies can learn about the effects of a price reduction

6 the first sector to price products according to how much customers were prepared to spend

7 the widespread use of rough guidelines to determine prices

Getting the price right

A、

Chief executives need to pay more attention to pricing, according to Roberto Lippi of the Apex Group, a consultancy that offers advice on pricing strategy. He accepts that low inflation figures in many industrialised countries makes raising prices tough, but argues that this should not necessarily deter companies. He gives the example of the airlines, which, with their minimum stay requirements and massive premiums for flexibility, led the way in sorting customers into categories, based on their willingness to pay.

B、

The key to pricing is to avoid alienating customers. As Lippi points out, once a bad price has been established, it can be very difficult to turn the situation around. He gives the example of a consumer goods company that went bankrupt largely because it did not price its digital cameras properly. In contrast, he cites the case of a Swiss drug company that introduced software for every sales representative's laptop, enabling them to provide consistent and accurate price quotes. To help staff with this innovation, the company also created a new post of director of pricing strategy.

C、

Many of today's managers have the benefit of modern technology to help them with pricing. Supermarket chains, for example, can easily track customers' 'elasticity' - how their buying habits change in response to a price rise or a discount. But although a company can now measure this sort of thing in a more sophisticated way, following basic rules is still the most common way of setting prices. Most bosses still worry more about their costs than the prices they charge; one recent survey found that they spend as little as 2% of their time on pricing.

D、

One popular approach to pricing is illustrated by the car companies that charge extra for product add-ons such as electric windows, instead of offering them as part of the standard price. Although many customers are prepared to pay extra, Lippi recommends that companies make sure that price differences reflect real differences in the product, either in quality or in the extra service on offer. The worst approach is to try to keep the pricing structure secret from customers. Nowadays, that is more likely to lead to lost contracts than large profits.

這篇文章主要是關(guān)于定價(pricing)的。題目算是閱讀第一部分里比較隱晦的了。四個部分分別介紹了影響定價的一些因素。

第一題，公司沒有合理定價。答案是B段引用的一個例子：He gives the example of a consumer goods company that went bankrupt largely because it did not price its digital cameras properly.因為沒有對數(shù)碼相機合理定價，所以一個消費品公司破產(chǎn)了。和第一題吻合。

Consumer goods: goods such as food, clothing, etc. bought and used by individual customers消費品。

第二題，大環(huán)境使得漲價很困難。答案是A段，有點不太明顯，甚至可能需要點經(jīng)濟學(xué)基礎(chǔ)：He accepts that low inflation figures in many industrialised countries makes raising prices tough, but argues that this should not necessarily deter companies。很多工業(yè)國家的低通貨膨脹率使得漲價變得困難。通貨膨脹率是衡量一國宏觀經(jīng)濟的重要指標，也就是這題所說的context。低通貨膨脹率，說明經(jīng)濟不太景氣，漲價會很困難。

deter: to make sb decide not to do sth or continue doing sth阻礙

eg: The price did not deter most customers

第三題，公司隱瞞定價策略的后果。答案是D段的最后一句：The worst approach is to try to keep the pricing structure secret from customers. Nowadays, that is more likely to lead to lost contracts than large profits.最壞的方法是試圖讓定價結(jié)構(gòu)對消費者保密。今天，它更有可能導(dǎo)致失去合同而不是大的利潤。

第四題，一個公司確保定價準確的方式。答案是B段的這么一句：a Swiss drug company that introduced software for every sales representative's laptop, enabling them to provide consistent and accurate price quotes。一個瑞士的醫(yī)藥公司為每一位銷售代表的手提電腦引進了軟件，確保他們提供持續(xù)準確的定價。這里的accurate對應(yīng)于precision，引進的軟件就是方式(means)。

第五題，公司了解降價的后果。答案在C段，但是不那么明顯：Supermarket chains, for example, can easily track customers' 'elasticity' - how their buying habits change in response to a price rise or a discount.大的超市可以輕易追蹤客戶的彈性—他們的購買習(xí)慣是如何對漲價或打折做出反應(yīng)的。這個題需要理解一個常見的經(jīng)濟學(xué)術(shù)語：彈性。

elasticity ：the extent to which people want to buy more or less of a product or service when its price changes。

這個術(shù)語的概念基本吻合第五題所說的。能夠了解客戶的需求彈性，也就了解了漲價或者降價的效果。

第六題，對產(chǎn)品定價首要的是根據(jù)客戶所愿意支付的。答案是A的最后一句：based on their willingness to pay.。集于他們的支付意愿。這里的based on對應(yīng)于the first sector。

第七題，粗糙的定價準則的廣泛應(yīng)用。答案在C段，有點隱晦：But although a company can now measure this sort of thing in a more sophisticated way, following basic rules is still the most common way of setting prices.雖然公司可以用一種更復(fù)雜的方式來衡量，遵守基本的規(guī)則仍然是定價的最普遍的方式。BUT是個信號。rough可以從反面對應(yīng)于sophisticated,,the most common way對應(yīng)于widespread use。

BEC真題二

Lebrun Steel Facing up to Tough Times

0 　After 98 years of trading, the steel manufacturer Lebrun knows from experience as how

00 　difficult fluctuations in the economic cycle can be for suppliers such as themselves.

34 　Since many of the nation's largest production companies which are its customers,

35 　Lebrun is adversely affected by any change for the worse in the economy. Yet Lebrun

36 　has managed to keep on sales steady (in the region of approximately $2.5 billion)

37 　and has recorded only one annual loss during the difficulties of the past five

38 　years, but despite the effects of the ongoing industrial slowdown. James Griffith,

39 　president of Lebrun, now has the task of turning up survival into growth, and

40 　his strategy is already becoming clear to those industry observers. In February of

41 　this year, the company acquired Bronson pic, additionally a one-time competitor.

42 　This merger will greatly expand the size of both Lebrun's labour force, and

43 　Griffith estimates it will boost its revenue by nearly 50%, while too increasing

44 　the number of plants and R&D centres in much a similar way. Griffith is

45 　optimistic that while the steel industry is about to pull out of recession, and he wants Lebrun to be ready for this.

這篇文章是介紹一個生產(chǎn)商面臨的困境及所采取的措施。

34題，這個句子并不是定語從句，主謂賓都很齊全，主語companies，謂語are，賓語its customers.所以which是多余的

35題，正確的

36題，keep on doing繼續(xù)做什么，接名詞的話直接用keep，keep sales steady保持銷售平穩(wěn)，on多余。

37題，正確的

38題，but和despite不能同時使用，必須去掉一個。but后面要接完整的句子，這個后面不是句子，是名詞性成分，所以保留despite，去掉but。

39題，turn… into 變?yōu)椋蔀?。固定詞組。turning survival into growth變生存為增長。Up多余。

40題，句子前后并沒有指代的含義，代詞those多余。

41題，a one-time competitor是修飾前面的Bronson pic ，additionally是另外的，附加的意思，用在這里意思和用法都不通，所以去掉。

42題，both表并列，而這個句子前后是沒有并列的含義的，只說了擴展規(guī)模。所以both多余。

43題，too是副詞，在這里用法不對

44題，in a similar way固定用法，much多余

45題，while用來引導(dǎo)時間狀語從句，而很明顯這個句子并不是，只是由that引導(dǎo)的從句，句子成分很齊全。去掉while。

BEC真題三

Fighting Fit

Fine Fitness, the health and fitness club operator, announced an impressive set of results yesterday: (19) a 38-per-cent jump in annual pre-tax profits, the company claimed that it had (20) none of the problems (21) last week by its rival, Top Fit .According to Samantha Collier,the chief executive, Fine Fitness (22) strong and is on (23) to reach its target of 100 clubs within three years, its strategy unaffected by the apparent (24) down of the economy.

The company opened 12 new clubs in the past year; (25) its total to 51. They have (26) to be highly successful, with people joining in large numbers, especially in the 25-to-40 age range. Even the more (27) clubs are still seeing sales growth, along with rising retention (28) of more than 70 per cent. This can be seen as clear (29) of the appeal of Fine Fitness.

Ms Collier admitted that as there were (30) too many companies competing with one another; there would almost certainly be (31) in the health-and-fitness-club sector of the market She predicted that, within a relatively short time, there might be only about three major companies still in (32).However, she declined to say which these were likely to be.

Profits rose by ￡6.3 million, although there was a fall in gross margins from 31 per cent to 28.6 per cent because of higher insurance premiums, extra management costs and start-up expenses for the company's new (33) in Spain.

19 A Stating B Reporting C Remarking D Informing

20 A taken B felt C experienced D caught

21 A released B issued C opened D revealed

22 A stays B remains C maintains D keeps

23 A track B direction C way D line

24 A falling B breaking C cutting D slowing

25 A bringing B putting C getting D mounting

26 A shown B resulted C proved D demonstrated

27 A installed B formed C established D confirmed

28 A rates B standards C proportions D volumes

29 A witness B sign C display D evidence

30 A purely B merely C simply D barely

31 A union B consolidation C alliance D combination

32 A trade B office C commerce D business

33 A trial B venture C proposal D speculation

文章介紹了一個經(jīng)營健康俱樂部的公司的情況，依舊是形勢喜人。

19題，一句話包含三個空，聯(lián)系在一起做。昨天開會，宣布了一系列結(jié)果。報告稅前收益增長了38%，公司并沒有經(jīng)歷它的競爭對手所暴露的問題。19題選report，20題experienced，21題，revealed by its rival，被競爭對手暴露的問題。

22題，remains strong保持強勁;單看單詞的意思，貌似keep也可以(不過說實話，如果不是有同學(xué)提醒，我壓根想不到會填keep)聯(lián)系此句上下文，提到了在對手出現(xiàn)問題時這個公司表現(xiàn)依然強勁remain在英文詞典的解釋是：continue to exist, especially after other similar or related people or things have ceased to exist 在相似或者相關(guān)人和事出現(xiàn)狀況時仍然存在，所以，remain更符合這個題目的條件

23題，on track 步入正軌。公司正在實現(xiàn)目標的正道上。這個詞在其他完型也出現(xiàn)過，不過不是正確答案。

24題，slow down放緩，固定用法。經(jīng)濟放緩。

25題，bring to，使總數(shù)達到51，這個題怕是要靠語感。put肯定不對，get to到達，mount在這里用法不對。

26題，proved to be證明是，固定用法

27題，這里填入的詞要和前文對照，前面說新開了12家新的俱樂部，這里的空格前有個even和more，所以應(yīng)該是填入與new相對應(yīng)的詞。established是已確立的(If you use established to describe something such as an organization, you mean that it is officially recognized or generally approved of because it has existed for a long time. )

28題，retention rate保留率，專有名詞(Retained earnings divided by total after-tax earnings, expressed as a percentage)，指公司稅后收益所保留的那一部分。

29題，公司吸引力的證據(jù)。clear evidence明顯的證據(jù)。不選sign，sign只是跡象。

30題，simply修飾too many從用法和意思上都對，在這里就是表強調(diào)的，意思是公司太多了。

31題，consolidation強化、合并(To consolidate a number of small groups or firms means to make them into one large organization.)，有很多的公司相互競爭，所以需要進行一個整合。這是商英里的固定說法。

32題，in business在經(jīng)營。是說很快這個市場上的公司會淘汰的只剩下三個。

33題，理解了venture的意思就不難做出選擇，在這里是指商業(yè)冒險，也是商英地道說法。公司要在西班牙進行一些投機活動，因此增加了額外的管理費用。

BEC真題四

Critical Path

When David Hayden realised his company was heading for trouble, he took drastic measures to get it back on track

David Hayden founded his company, Critical Path, an email provider, in 1997 to take advantage of the boom in email traffic. Critical Path became a public company two years later, and Hayden took the opportunity to step down from his executive position in order to work on personal projects. At the same time, he agreed to stay with the company as Chairman, but the business was put in the hands of new managers by its investors. With sector-leading products and an expanding market, the company seemed to be on the up and up. However, by early 2001, it was in trouble. Shares that had been worth $26 in 1999, when they were first sold, were down to a mere 24 cents.

Called in by a panicking board, Hayden found himself back in charge as Executive Chairman, trying desperately to rescue what he could. The 1,100 staff had lost confidence in the company and did not know what was going to happen to them. And, as Hayden discovered, the management team was incompetent. Those guys didn't understand the product or the sector,' says Hayden. The heads of department didn't communicate and they didn't lead.' But what was worse, Critical Path had lost the goodwill of its investors.

Hayden knew that bringing the figures under control would be a vital step in the company's turnaround. 'You've got to sort out the finances. For me, that meant getting back the goodwill of the investors. That was tough, after what had happened. But although they were angry with the company, they didn't have bad feelings about me. I told them that I knew I could get the company on its feet again.' He was authorised to make whatever changes were required, and his first act was to find people within the company he could trust and put them in charge.

The next thing Hayden had to tackle was morale. 'Everyone left the office at five on the dot - they couldn't get away quickly enough. To get the buzz back and win the staff over, I had to prove my own commitment and put in the extra hours with them.' In return, it was assumed that nobody would ask for overtime pay until the company was on its feet again. Contrary to normal practice, Hayden was reluctant to lay people off, and apart from not replacing people as they reached retirement age, he left the workforce largely unchanged, although he did identify key people throughout the company who were given more responsibility.

But, as Hayden insists, before a company reaches such a crisis, there are warning signs that any financial director or accountant should take note of. 'A business that has an unrealistic pricing policy or has to negotiate extended credit with its suppliers is in trouble,' is his message. 'Or if you often have to apply for your overdraft limit to be raised or have trouble paying tax on time, something needs to be done.'

By 2003, the company was healthy again, with reasonably stable finances and a modest but steady share price of $1.60. 'One thing that helped save us was that our technology worked,' says Hayden. 'With 20 million email accounts, we never lost a single major client because the product kept on working.' With ideas for a fresh venture demanding his attention elsewhere, Hayden has moved on. 'It was time to go,' he says. 'I'm not a turnaround specialist. I prefer start-ups.'

13 What event coincided with Critical Path becoming a public company?

A Hayden became the Executive Director of Critical Path.

B Investors hired a replacement team to run Critical Path.

C Critical Path launched a successful new product on the market.

D Critical Path was floated on the Stock Exchange at 24 cents per share.

14 Which of the following situations did Hayden face at Critical Path in 2001?

A The employees were worried about job security.

B The investors were calling for changes to the company structure.

C The management was misleading the staff about the company's position.

D The board of directors did not realise the scale of the company's problems.

15 One reason Hayden was able to turn Critical Path around was that

A he managed to find new investors.

B the financial situation was not as bad as he had thought.

C he had built up a good relationship with the management team.

D he was given the support that he needed.

16 What was Hayden's policy regarding the staff of Critical Path?

A He paid overtime to everybody who worked outside office hours.

B He reduced the workforce by operating an early retirement scheme.

C He gave key staff the opportunity to help him set goals for the company.

D He restored motivation by showing willingness to work alongside staff.

17 According to Hayden, what could indicate that a business is in trouble?

A problems keeping accounts up to date

B suppliers refusing to offer new credit terms

C a frequent need to increase the amount borrowed

D difficulties in getting payment from customers on time

18 Hayden left Critical Path after he had rescued the company because

A he wanted to develop the technology for a new internet service.

B he wanted to concentrate on founding a new enterprise.

C he had been offered a job with a major internet company.

D he decided to go into partnership with a major client.

這篇文章名為《Critical Path》，字面上理解是關(guān)鍵路徑，但在此文中是指一個公司的名字。整篇文章都是圍繞這個公司遭遇的困境，以及這個公司的執(zhí)行主席是如何力挽狂瀾、扭轉(zhuǎn)乾坤的。BEC考試閱讀文章的一大特點是邏輯性強，層次分明，讀完不會有找不著北的感覺。

13題，題目問當Critical Path成為上市公司時還發(fā)生了什么事。

A不對，原文說的很明白：Hayden took the opportunity to step down from his executive position。抓住機會從總裁的位置上退下來。

B項正確。原文說the business was put in the hands of new managers by its investors。業(yè)務(wù)被投資者交給了新的經(jīng)理。和B選項的“投資者雇傭了一個替代團隊來運營Critical Path”說的是一個意思。

C不對，原文說的是sector-leading products，行業(yè)領(lǐng)先的產(chǎn)品，的確是C選項所說的successful，但是new不對。

D不對，首先時間上不吻合，不是Critical Path成為上市公司時的事，其次這一句的描述也不對，只是說股價跌倒了24美分，不是float。

Public company：a company whose shares can be bought and sold on the stock market, etc.上市公司。

14題，題目問在2001年的Critical Path,這個Hayden面臨著什么樣的情況。答案在第二段找。

A段說員工們擔心工作保障。原文中說“The 1,100 staff had lost confidence in the company and did not know what was going to happen to them”，1100號員工對公司失去了信心，不知道將會發(fā)生什么。和A的意思吻合。

B、C、D在原文中都沒有提到。

這個題目關(guān)鍵是能理解job security的意思，它是商務(wù)英語里地道常見的用法(同樣的還有employment security)：

job security：a situation where a job is likely to last for a long time and you will keep the job if you do what you are expected to

eg: Consumers have cut back on their spending because of worries about job security.

常見搭配(完形填空可能會遇到)

a high/low level of job security to have/improve/increase/provide job security

15題，題目問Hayden能夠扭轉(zhuǎn)局面的一個原因。答案在第三段找，并不很直接，需要一點概括。這一段先說了下公司的一些難處，比如投資人很生氣，后果很嚴重。所幸的是投資人對Hayden并不反感：He was authorised to make whatever changes were required，他被授權(quán)進行一切需要的改變，也就是D選項所說的得到了需要的支持。

A不對，不需要找新的投資者，原文說的是“getting back the goodwill of the investors”，挽回投資人的好感。

B不對，財政狀況的確很壞。

C在原文沒有提到。原文的最后一句說在公司尋找可以信賴的人并讓他們負責，不是說和管理層建立好關(guān)系。

16題，問針對Critical Path的員工采取的政策是什么。答案是第四段的第一句話：The next thing Hayden had to tackle was morale。需要解決的是士氣問題。也就是D段所說的restored motivation。這一段是講Hayden如何與員工站在一起。

A不對，原文說的很清楚：it was assumed that nobody would ask for overtime pay until the company was on its feet again。任何人不得索取加班補償。

B不對，原文是apart from not replacing people as they reached retirement age。

C也不對，原文是who were given more responsibility，被賦予了更多的責任，不是“help him set goals”。17題，題目問什么可以表明一個公司陷入了困境。答案是第五段的這么一句：A business that has an unrealistic pricing policy or has to negotiate extended credit with its suppliers is in trouble。有一個不現(xiàn)實的定價政策或者需要和供貨商談判提高貸款。

Credit是很眼熟的單詞，用法很多，讓人暈頭轉(zhuǎn)向。這里的意思是：

money that financial institutions lend to businesses, governments and people

eg：It is unlikely that the bank will extend additional credit to the firm.

18題，題目問扮演了救世主角色之后的Hayden為什么選擇離開。

答案是最后一段：“With ideas for a fresh venture demanding his attention elsewhere”和“I'm not a turnaround specialist. I prefer start-ups.”需要一個嶄新的需要他的注意力的企業(yè)。也就是B選項所說的想要一個新的企業(yè)。