2024年5月12日发(作者：在windows7桌面指的是( ))

剑桥商务英语中级考试真题

BEC真题一

THE ART OF __ION

'Let me send you our brochure' is probably the most commonly used

phrase in business. But all too often, it can spell the end of a customer

enquiry because many brochures appear to be produced not to clarify and

to excite but to confuse. So what goes wrong and how can it be put right?

Too often, businesses fail to ask themselves critical questions like, 'Who will

the brochure be sent to?' 'What do we want to achieve with it?' The truth

is that a brochure has usually been produced for no other reason than that

the competition has one.

However, with a little research, it often transpires that what the client

wants is a mixture: part mail shot, part glossy corporate brochure and part

product catalogue - a combination rarely found. Having said that, the

budget is likely to be finite. There may not be enough money to meet all

three marketing needs, so the first task is to plan the brochure, taking into

account the most significant of these. The other requirements will have to

be met in a different way. After all, introducing the company's product

range to new customers by mail is a different task from selling a new

season's collection to existing customers.

The second task is to get the content right. In 95 per cent of cases, a

company will hire a designer to oversee the layout, so the final product

looks stylish, interesting and professional; but they don't get a copywriter

or someone with the right expertise to produce the text, or at least tidy it

up - and this shows. A bigger failing is to produce a brochure that is not

customer focused. Your brochure should cover areas of interest to the

customer, concentrating on the benefits of buying from you.

Instead, thousands of brochures start with a history lesson, 'Founded

in 1987, we have been selling our products .. I can assure you that

customers are never going to say to themselves, 'They've been around for

20 years - I'll buy from them.' It's not how long you've been in business

that counts, it's what you've done in that time. The important point to get

across at the beginning is that you have a good track record. Once this has

been established, the rest of the brochure should aim to convince

customers that your products are the best on the market.

It is helpful with content to get inside the customer's head. If your

audience is young and trendy, be creative and colourful. As always, create

a list of the benefits that potential customers would gain from doing

business with you, for example, product quality, breadth of range,

expertise of staff and so on. But remember that it is not enough just to

state these; in order to persuade, they need to be spelt out. One possibility

is to quote recommendations from existing customers. This also makes the

brochure personal to you, rather than it simply being a set of suppliers'

photographs with your name on the front.

At the design stage, there are many production features that can

distinguish your brochure from the run of the mill. You may think that

things like cutouts or pop-ups will do this for you and thus make you

stand out, or you may think they just look like designer whims that add

cost. Go through all the options in detail. One of them might be that all-

important magical ingredient.

13 What point does the writer make about brochures in the first

paragraph?

A Customer expectations of them are too high.

B They ought to be more straightforward in design.

C Insufficient thought tends to go into producing them.

D Companies should ensure they use them more widely.

14 The writer's advice to companies in the second paragraph is to

A produce a brochure to advertise new product lines.

B use a brochure to extend the customer base.

C accept that a brochure cannot fulfil every objective.

D aim to get a bigger budget allocation for producing brochures.

15 In the third paragraph, which of the following does the writer say

would improve the majority of brochures?

A better language and expression

B better overall appearance

C more up-to-date content

D more product information

16 In the introduction to a brochure, the writer advises companies to

focus on

A their understanding of the business environment.

B the range of products they offer.

C their unique market position.

D the reputation they have built up.

17 When discussing brochure content in the fifth paragraph, the

writer reminds companies to

A consider old customers as well as new ones.

B provide support for the claims they make.

C avoid using their own photographs.

D include details of quality certification.

18 What does 'run of the mill' in line 67 mean?

A eye-catching

B complicated

C stylish

D ordinary

《The art of persuasion》，劝说的艺术。这里的劝说(persuasion)带点

广告的意思，是指怎么样设计广告手册(brochure)才能吸引顾客，也就是

劝顾客掏钱购买产品。

第一段引出话题，说广告手册常常设计得不合理，会把客户弄糊涂，

从而结束客户的咨询。很多企业并没有思考一些关键性的问题，比如想通

过广告手册达到什么目的。通常企业设计广告手册的原因是竞争对手拥有

它。

13题问第一段中作者对广告手册所做的观点是什么。答案是后面几

句：businesses fail to ask themselves critical questions like。.企业没有问

自己一些关键性的问题。从这段话可以看出，作者认为企业在设计广告手

册时的考虑是不周全的，没有进行深入思考。所以答案是C：设计他们时

考虑得并不充分。A不对，没有提到客户的期望，只是说广告手册可能会

把客户弄糊涂。B也不对，第一段并没有提到design的问题。D在原文中

也没有提到。这题稍微需要理解和概括。

第二段是讲广告手册设计时的一些考量。开头先说客户需要的广告手

册是一个混合体，很难找到。而往往客户手册的预算是有限的，所以设计

时不可能满足所有的市场需要，应该优先考虑最关键的部分。

14题问作者在第二段中对公司的建议是什么。原文说的很明白：

There may not be enough money to meet all three marketing needs, so

the first task is to plan the brochure, taking into account the most

significant of these.不可能满足所有的市场需要，所以优先考虑最关键的

部分，其他的需要用另外的方式来满足。理解了内容不难选出答案是C：

接受一个广告手册不可能满足所有目标的事实。

第三段紧接着第二段所说的首要任务(first task)，提出了次要任务

(second task)：把广告手册的内容找准。在95%的情况下，公司会雇人好

好设计广告手册，但是却不会找有相关技能的广告文字撰稿人制作内容，

或者至少给收拾下。还有一个更大的失败之处在于制作出的广告手册不是

以客户为中心的。广告手册应该涉及到客户感兴趣的领域，集中在从你那

购买所能获得的好处上。

15题问作者在第三段说怎么样才可以改善大部分的广告手册。根据

前面的内容概括，很显然答案在A和D之间。选A是根据题干中的the

majority of brochures来的，原文中提到In 95 per cent of cases, a

company will hire a designer to oversee the layout。.. but they don't get a

copywriter or someone with the right expertise to produce the text.在95%

的情况下公司只注重设计而不注重表述内容，这里的95 per cent of cases

可以对应the majority of brochures。get a copywriter or someone with

the right expertise to produce the text，找一个有相关技能的广告文字撰

稿人来制作文字，也就是A所说的更好的语言和表达。

第四段说明了广告手册刚刚诞生时的一些情况。客户更看重的不是企

业所存在的时间，而是企业的名声和所干的实事。所以在广告手册的起步

阶段，最重要的是企业要拥有一个良好的业绩记录。一旦这些建立起来

了，广告手册就可以致力于让客户相信你的产品是市场上最好的。

16题问在广告手册的引进阶段，作者对公司们的建议是什么。原文

很明确：The important point to get across at the beginning is that you

have a good track record.。通过这一阶段最重要的是你必须有一个良好的

业绩记录。也就是D选项所说的公司要注重他们所建立起来的名声。其

他几个选项都没有提到。第五段说的是广告手册内容的一些注意事项。内

容中要包含与你做生意时可能获得的一些好处。公司要对手册上的声明做

详细说明。还可能引用现存客户的一些建议。这些可以使得广告手册显得

很个人化，而不是堆砌供应商的照片然后把自己的名字印在最前面。

17题问第五段对广告手册内容的讨论中，作者的建议是什么。答案

是原文的这么一句：it is not enough just to state these; in order to

persuade, they need to be spelt out。仅仅只是声明是不够的，为了可以

说服，他们需要被详细说明。也就是B选项所说的为所做的声明提供支

持。A和D没有提到，C不对，不是说避免使用他们的照片，而是说不能

仅仅只呈上他们的照片，还要有别的东西，比如客户的建议。

最后一段是说的设计阶段的注意事项，需要具备哪些特征才能让你的

广告手册脱颖而出。18题要联系上下文进行理解，原文是说“there are

many production features that can distinguish your brochure from the run

of the mill.”有很多生产特征能让你的广告手册区别于其他的，后文有一个

make you stand out，理解这里的含义，就是要和普通的一般的广告手册

相区分。所以选择ordinary。

几个疑似生词：

transpire：When it transpires that something is the case, people

discover that it is the case. 为人所知

spell something out：to explain something clearly and in detail

e.g:The report spelled out in detail what the implications were for

teacher training.

track record:all the past achievements, successes or failures of a

person or an organization 业绩记录

BEC真题二

Finding the right people

When a small company grows, managers must take on many new

roles. Besides the day-to-day running of the business, they find

themselves responsible for, among other things, relations with outside

investors, increased levels of cashflow and, hardest of all, recruitment.

For most managers of small and medium-sized enterprises, the job of

searching for, interviewing and selecting staff is difficult and time-

consuming. (0) ... .G... . Interviewing, for example, is a highly skilled activity

in itself.

'We have found the whole process very hard,' says Dan Baker,

founding partner of a PR company. 'In seven years we have grown from

five to eighteen staff, but we have not found it easy to locate and recruit

the right people.' (8).........As Dan Baker explains, 'We went to one for our

first recruitment drive, but they took a lot of money in advance and didn't

put forward anybody suitable. In the end we had to do it ourselves.'

Most recruitment decisions are based on a pile of CVs, a couple of

short interviews and two cautious references. David Rowe, a business

psychologist, studied how appointments were made in five small

companies. He claims that selection was rarely based on clear criteria.

(9).........This kind of approach to recruitment often has unhappy

consequences for both employers and new recruits.

Small companies often know what kind of person they are looking for.

(10)......... According to David Rowe, this means that small company

managers themselves have to devote more time and energy to

recruitment. It shouldn't be something that is left to the evenings or

weekends.

Many companies start the recruitment process with over-optimistic

ideas about the type of person that will fit into their team. 'It's very easy to

say you must have the best people in the top positions,' says Alex Jones,

managing partner of an executive recruitment company. 'But someone

who is excellent in one company may not do so well in another

environment.(11).........You can never guarantee a successful transfer of

skills.'

Whatever the candidate's qualifications, their personal qualities are

just as important since they will have to integrate with existing members of

staff. This is where, the recruitment industry argues, they can really help.

According to Alex Jones, 'A good recruitment agency will visit your

company and ask a lot of questions. (12).........They can ask applicants all

sorts of questions you don't like to ask and present you with a shortlist of

people who not only have the skills, but who are likely to fit in with your

company's way of doing things.'

A finance director in a big company, for example, will often make a

terrible small company finance director because he or she is used to

having a team doing the day-to-day jobs.

B More often than not, the people making the choice prioritised

different qualities in candidates or relied on guesswork.

C Recruitment would seem an obvious task to outsource, but the

company's experience of recruitment agencies was not encouraging.

D They need paying for that, of course, but you will have them

working for you and not for the candidate.

E They are usually in very specific markets and the problem they face

is that recruitment agencies may not really understand the sector.

F This means that companies cannot spend more than the standard

ten minutes interviewing each applicant.

G Yet few are trained and competent for all aspects of the task.

Finding the right people，寻找合适的人。是说的小公司在起步发展

阶段找到合适人才的难度和重要性。第一段总论小公司的经理们往往身兼

数职，而其中最有难度的，还是招人。文章介绍了找到合适的人应该注意

的问题，并且说招人这种事不可能过度寄希望于招聘机构。

第八题，这一题的前面说招人相当的困难，后面一个as Dan Baker

explains，说曾经找过招聘机构，结果人家要提前收钱并且也没有提供合

适的人，最后还是得靠自己。从这里的as 。explains和后面的解释可以

看出，第八空的内容应该是和招聘机构有关，招聘机构并不能满足公司的

需要。选项C正好满足这一特点：招聘看起来像是个很明显的适合交外办

理的任务，但是这个公司同招聘机构打交道的经历不那么的鼓舞人。was

not encouraging是关键点。

第九题，这一段都是讲招人的决策不够科学。基于简历或者是简短的

面试，很少有明确的准则。第九空的后面是This kind of approach to

recruitment often has unhappy consequences。可见第九空的内容还是和

招聘的方法有关，并且是负面的。B选项符合这一条件：通常(more often

than not是often的意思，插入语)，做决定的人将候选人身上的不同素质

按优先顺序给排好，或者依赖于猜测。

第十题，这一题的后面说this means the small company managers

themselves have to devote more time and energy to recruitment。这意味

着小公司自己要多花时间和精力在招人上。这里的this means的this是个

暗示，可以看出第十题这里应该填入的是一些不太有利的因素，使得公司

只有自己去招人。E选项符合这一要求：他们通常处于一些特殊市场上，

面临的问题是招聘机构并不真正理解这一行业。

第十一题，这一段是讲招的人能否适应公司的环境的问题。这一空前

面说的很明确：But someone who is excellent in one company may not do

so well in another environment。在一个公司出色的人并不一定能在另一

个环境里干的好。这一空的后面一句也是补充说明这一观点的。可见第十

一空的内容仍然是这个，没有转折。A选项填入正好，是举例说明11空

前面的观点：比方说，一个大公司的财务总监在小公司往往会干的很糟

糕，原因是他或她已经习惯有一个团队来进行每日的工作。