商務(wù)英語閱讀精選及解析

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BEC閱讀精選及解析1

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.

BEC閱讀精選及解析2

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(biāo)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(jì)放緩。

25題，bring to，使總數(shù)達(dá)到51，這個題怕是要靠語感。put肯定不對，get to到達(dá)，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(jìn)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。

BEC閱讀精選及解析3

Issues in the recruitment world

In the competitive world of investment banking, good senior executives are not easy to find. So what should the industry's hard-pressed directors do when they need to find senior staff? Increasingly, they decide to call in the headhunters. These are busy and profitable times for the recruitment agencies that dominate the world of executive search and selection.

(0) .....They needed new people to revitalise their operations, and the result has been a boom in the recruitment market. Pinnacle, a leading recruitment agency, has helped various UK investment banks to rebuild their entire senior management teams. It is hard to overstate the significance of this. (8)............

But now everything has changed, and Pinnacle is not the only major player in the field. Some analysts believe that rival recruitment specialists ALT Associates has a larger share of the market. However, there is little doubt that over its 13-year history, Pinnacle and its chairman, Matthew Edwards, have built up an impressive reputation.

Edwards estimates that his company controls between 10 and 15 per cent of the headhunting market for senior investment banking jobs in the UK. (9)............Rather, it is the high-calibre jobs and people that Pinnacle deals with that define the company's success. For example, the company was recently commissioned to find a new chairman for NBS Bank, a vacancy that was one of the most talked about in the banking world.

Most HR directors recognise that headhunters such as Pinnacle play a valuable role in the recruitment process.(10)............Some are concerned that a few companies, including Pinnacle, have too much power over high-level recruitment.(11)............As Tim Davidson, HR Director at Cawfield Bank, explains, They can be kingmakers. These are the people who decide who gets a future and who doesn't. If Edwards forms a view about an individual, it can affect their ability to get a particular job. That view could just have been formed on a bad day.' (12)............ Final decisions in the selection process are always taken by his clients, he says, whoever they are.

The role of headhunters should not be exaggerated. Many companies never use them. But as top executives are hard to find, there will always be a role for people like Matthew Edwards.

A Although others may put it lower, it is important to remember that the company's reputation is not based on market share alone.

B Their chief worry is that the headhunters can now make or break managerial careers.

C According to Edwards, this is a further indication that the way Pinnacle searches for a candidate tends to favour a certain type of manager.

D But this acceptance does not mean they are universally happy, either with the state of the market or with Pinnacle's role within it.

E Until a few years ago, even the biggest companies were unlikely to use headhunters to fill more than one or two jobs a year.

F Edwards objects to this suggestion, claiming that all he does is find candidates and encourage them to apply for a particular post.

G A number of big investment banks recently decided to make changes to their management boards after disappointing end-of-year results.

《Issues in the recruitment world》，招聘世界里的話題。圍繞獵頭公司(headhunter)展開，說明了獵頭公司的發(fā)展和重要性，以及用人單位對獵頭公司的一些疑問。第一段引出話題，說現(xiàn)在正是獵頭公司占領(lǐng)市場的時候。接下來幾段順序介紹了獵頭市場的發(fā)展階段，從起步階段(第二段的內(nèi)容)，到逐步發(fā)家(第三段)，當(dāng)中列舉了一個獵頭公司的情況加以說明(第四段)，然后第五段介紹了用人單位對獵頭公司的一些質(zhì)疑。最后一段是總的概括。做這種題一定要理清文章的邏輯順序，從整體上把握文章脈絡(luò)。

第八題，第二段的最后一句。第二段是簡單引出獵頭公司的起步，起步階段并沒有多少公司認(rèn)識到獵頭公司的重要性，就如第八題前面的一句話所說：It is hard to overstate the significance of this。很難高估這個的重要性，也就是說獵頭公司的作用并沒有被完全的認(rèn)識到。后面的空格應(yīng)該相應(yīng)的填入獵頭公司不太被重視的句子。E選項正好滿足這個特點：直到幾年前，甚至最大的公司都不可能一年利用獵頭公司來填補一兩個職位。

第九題，主要是介紹Pinnacle這個獵頭公司的情況。前面說這個公司的市場份額在10%到15%，空格后面一個rather(相反)，說定義公司成功的應(yīng)該是公司所處理的高質(zhì)量的工作和客戶。中間應(yīng)填入一個表轉(zhuǎn)折意思的句子，并且可能和公司的市場份額有關(guān)。A句滿足這個要求：雖然其他人可能把它(指市場份額)估計得更低，但一個公司的名聲不僅僅是建立在市場份額基礎(chǔ)上的。

第五段，集中填入三個句子，所以一定要從意思上進(jìn)行把握。這一段是用人單位對獵頭公司的一些質(zhì)疑，然后獵頭公司Pinnacle的主席Edwards進(jìn)行了一些反駁。

這一段第一句話說人力資源部經(jīng)理認(rèn)為Pinnacle發(fā)揮了很重要的作用，接著空格后面說的是Some are concerned that…也就是一些人提出了擔(dān)心，所以中間的第十題應(yīng)該填入表示轉(zhuǎn)折意思的句子，而且可能是對獵頭公司發(fā)揮的作用的消極看法。D滿足這一要求：但是這種認(rèn)可不代表他們完全的高興。BUT是個關(guān)鍵的信號，acceptance是指代前面人力資源經(jīng)理們對獵頭公司發(fā)揮作用的認(rèn)可。

第十一題，前面的句子是對獵頭公司發(fā)揮作用的擔(dān)心，認(rèn)為它們權(quán)力過大了。這一題后面的句子是引用一個人力資源經(jīng)理的解釋，進(jìn)一步說明獵頭公司的影響力太大。所以十一題也應(yīng)該與此相關(guān)。B符合：他們首要擔(dān)心的是獵頭公司會創(chuàng)造或者破壞管理職業(yè)生涯。Worry是關(guān)鍵詞，同前面的concern相對應(yīng)，make or break managerial careers也就是上下文所說的權(quán)利過大，簡直擁有生殺大權(quán)。

第十二題，理解了前面的，不難做出選擇。這里很明顯就是獵頭公司為自己辯護(hù)。前面指責(zé)獵頭公司的評價會影響個人的選擇。而空格后面是Edwards的解釋，說最終的決定權(quán)是掌握在客戶自己手中。所以這一題很明顯應(yīng)該填入對前面表示反駁的句子，也就是F，object to，非常明顯的信號：Edwards反對這種說法，聲稱他所做的無非就是尋找候選人然后鼓勵他們?nèi)ド暾埬硞€特定的職位。

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