剑桥商务英语中级分类模拟43 (总分100,考试时间90分钟)
READING
●Read the article below about the management of original thinkers and the questions on the opposite page.
●For each question, mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet.
Sheer Genius — or a Waste of Time?
Encourage your original thinkers and live with their strange habits, says Alan Worthin
If one of your research staff announced that he had worked out a way to propel a vehicle on a cushion of air, would you tell him to concentrate on something practical, or suggest taking it further? If a member of your development team asked if she **e in late because she had her best ideas at 3 am, would you insist that she is in the office at 9 am like everyone else?
Current business wisdom is **panies need creative, innovative people to **petitors. The reality is **panies have always needed new ideas to survive and progress, but in the past they weren\"t particularly good at encouraging the people who produced them.
Original thinkers don\"t always fit easily into the framework of an organization. However, the advice from managing director, John Serrano is, \"Get rid of the dull people and encourage the unusual ones\". Essentially, he believes **panies need to learn how to manage their original thinkers in order to ensure that the business profits from their contribution. He also says, \"Original thinkers often find it difficult to drive change within the organization, so they resign, feeling angry and disappointed. It is essential to avoid this.\"
\"You can\"t recognize original thinkers by the way they look,\" says lan Freeman. \"An apparently ordinary exterior can conceal a very creative thinker.\" His consultancy, IBT Personnel, has devised a structured way to identify original thinkers. \"We define employees as champions, free-wheelers, bystanders and weak links, and most original **e into the category of free-wheelers. They may miss deadlines if they become involved in something more interesting. They are passionate and highly motivated but have little or no understanding of business directions and systems.\" Headhunter George Solomon also thinks original thinkers have their disadvantages. \"They may have a bad influence within an organization, especially given the current management trend for working in teams. The original thinkers themselves may be unaware of any problem, but having them around can be disruptive to colleagues, who have to be allowed to point out when they are being, driven crazy by the original thinkers\" behaviour.\" Yet, in his opinion, the dream team\" in
any creative organization consists of a balanced mixture of original thinkers and more practical, realistic people.
So, having identified your original thinkers, how do you handle them? One well-**puter **pany has a very inventive approach. \"We encourage our game designers by creating an informal working environment,\" says director Lorna Marsh. \"A company cannot punish risk-takers if it wants to encourage creativity. Management has to provide support, coaching and advice — and take the risk that new ideas may not work. Our people have flexible working hours and often make no clear distinction between their jobs and their home lives.\"
Original thinkers may fit into the culture of 21st century organizations, but more traditional organizations may have to change their approach. Business psychologist Jean Row believes that the first step is to check that original thinkers are worth the effort. \"Are the benefits they bring worth the confusion they cause? If so, give them what they want, allow plenty of space, but set clear limits. Give them extremely demanding targets. If they fail to meet them, then the game is up. But if they succeed, your organization stands only to gain.\"
1. It is important for a company to encourage original thinkers because ______. A. this allows it to promote innovative products. B. this enables it to stay ahead of its rivals.
C. they are very flexible about their working hours. D. their talents are ideally suited to the market.
2. John Serrano thinks that original thinkers should be ______. A. helped to develop better people management skills B. asked to manage change within the organization C. supported so they can perform well for **pany D. encouraged to **pany procedures
3. What does lan Freeman say about original thinkers? A. They are unenthusiastic and poorly motivated. B. Their work standards are impossibly high. C. Their abilities are hard to recognize.
D. They lack awareness of commercial processes.
4. What problems can be observed when there are original thinkers in the workforce? A. They may have a negative effect on other workers. B. They dislike the concept of teamwork. C. They rush tasks through to completion.
D. They cannot work with less creative colleagues.
5. In what way is the **pany\"s approach to original thinkers special? A. It allows them to work from home whenever they wish. B. It uses different forms of disciplinary action for them. C. It promotes a relaxed atmosphere in the workplace. D. It encourages them to reduce the risks that they take.
6. A traditional organization wishing to employ original thinkers needs to ______. A. provide them with projects they are interested in
B. assess whether their contribution makes up for any problems C. have a flexible approach if goals are not always achieved D. be prepared to handle any negative feedback from colleagues
Getting the Most out of Meetings
One aspect of business life which many managers are unhappy with is the need to attend meetings. Research indicates that managers will spend between a third and a half of their working lives in meetings. Although most managers would agree that it is hard to think of an alternative to meetings, as a means of considering information and making collective decisions, their length and frequency can cause problems with the workload of even the best-organized executives.
Meetings work best if they take place only when necessary and not as a matter of routine. One example of this is the discussion of personal or career matters between members of staff and their line and personnel managers. Another is during the early stages of a project when the team managing it needs to learn to understand and trust one another.
Once it has been decided that a meeting is necessary, decisions need to be taken about who will attend and about the location and length of the meeting. People should only be invited to attend if they are directly involved in the matters under discussion and the agenda should be distributed well in advance. An agenda is vital because it acts as a road map to keep discussion focused and within the time limit allocated. This is also the responsibility of the person chairing the meeting, who should encourage those who say little to speak and stop those who have a great deal to say from talking too much.
At the end of a well organized meeting, people will feel that the meeting has been a success and be pleased they were invited. They will know not only what decisions were made but also the reasons for these decisions. Unfortunately, at the end of a badly organized meeting those present will leave feeling that they have wasted their time and that nothing worthwhile has been achieved.
Much thought has been given over the years to ways of keeping meetings short. One man who has no intention of spending half his working life in meetings is Roland Winterson, chief executive of a large **pany. He believes that meetings should be short, sharp and infrequent. \"I try to hold no more than two or three meetings a week, attended by a maximum of three people for no longer than half an hour,\" he says. \"They are clearly aimed at achieving a specific objective, such as making a decision or planning a statement, and are based on careful preparation. I draw up the agenda for every meeting and circulate it in advance; those amending are expected to study it carefully and should be prepared to both ask and answer questions. Managers are best employed carrying out tasks directly connected with their jobs not attending endless meetings. In business, time is money and spending it in needless meetings that don\"t achieve anything can be very costly. Executives should follow the example of lawyers and put a cost on each hour of their time and then decide whether attending a long meeting really is the best way to spend their time.\" 7. What do most managers think about meetings? A. Meetings take up most of their working life.
B. Meetings allow them to monitor decision-making. C. Meetings prevent them from establishing a routine.
D. Meetings are the only way they know of achieving certain objectives.
8. According to the writer, an example of a valuable meeting is one which ______. A. allows colleagues to achieve a better working relationship B. requires managers to discuss staffing needs with personnel C. selects a suitable group of people to work together as a team
D. encourages staff to present ideas on improvements in management 9. According to the writer, the agenda is important because it ______.
A. is seen by everybody before the meeting B. helps to give direction to the discussions C. contains items of interest to all those present
D. shows who should speak at each stage of the meeting
10. The writer says that people leaving a well organized meeting will understand ______. A. the reason for their invitation to attend
B. how the decisions taken were relevant to them C. the importance of proposals under discussion D. why certain courses of action were agreed upon
11. What does Roland Winterson say about the meetings that he organizes? A. He aims to hold them on a regular basis. B. He ensures they have a definite purpose.
C. He requires his managers to draw up the agenda. D. He uses them to make decisions about strategy.
12. What is Roland Winterson\"s opinion about meetings? A. They can be a bad use of a manager\"s time. B. Their importance is often underestimated. C. They frequently result in wrong decisions.
D. Their effectiveness could be improved with better planning. Morning, Noon and Night The long-hours culture at work
Working an eight-hour day is a luxury for most professional people. Nowadays, the only way to guarantee an eight-hour working day is to have a kind of job where you clock on and off. Those professionals who have managed to limit their hours to what was, 20 years ago, averagely do not wish to identify themselves. \"I can quite easily achieve my work within a normal day, but I don\"t like to draw attention to it,\" says one sales manager. \"People looked at me when I left at 5 o\"clock. Now, I put paperwork in my bag. People assume I\"m doing extra hours at home.\"
But more typical is Mark, who works as an account manager. He says, \"My contract says I work from 9 until 5 with extra hours as necessary. It sounds as if the extra hours are exceptional. In fact, my job would be enough not only for me, but also for someone else part- time. The idea of an eight-hour day makes me laugh!\" He says he has thought about going freelance but realizes that this doesn\"t guarantee better working hours. Professor Cary Cooper, occupational psychologist at the University of Manchester, is the author of the annual Quality of Working Life survey. The most recent survey found that 77% of managers in Britain work more than their contracted hours, and that this is having a damaging effect for their health, relationships and productivity. Professor Cooper is critical of the long-hour culture. He says that while bosses believe long hours lead to greater efficiency, there is no evidence support this. \"In fact, the evidence shows that long hours make you ill.\"
There are, he says, steps that can be taken. One is to accept that the in-tray will never be empty. \"There are always things to do. You just have to make the rule that on certain days you go home early. Prioritizing work and doing essential tasks first helps,\" he says. He also thinks it\"s time to criticize bad employers and unreasonable terms of employment. By all means, **mitment where necessary but when expectations are too high, people have to begin saying openly that they have a life outside of work.
Personal development coach Mo Shapiro agrees **munication is important. Staff needs to talk to managers about the working practices within a company. Both parties should feel that the expectations are realistic and allow them to have responsibilities and interests outside work. She recognizes, however, that in many organizations the response might well be, \"If you want interests outside work, then find another job\".
She believes that senior staff has a duty to set an example. \"I recently worked for a firm of solicitors where the partners started at 7:30 am. What kind of message is that to send to the staff?\" She believes there is no shame in working sensible hours — in fact quite the reverse. \"Some people might be in at 7:30 but will be doing very little. You can work really hard from 9 to 5 and achieve the same. If you find it difficult to achieve an eight-hour day, there is, as a last resort, the old trick of leaving your jacket on your chair and **puter switched on, even after you have left the building.
13. What does the writer say in the first paragraph about people who work an eight-hour day? A. They are reluctant to admit to this. B. They are disliked by their colleagues. C. They are limited to certain professions.
D. They often catch up on work in the evenings. 14. What does Mark say about his work? A. His main concern is job security.
B. Too much of his time at work is wasted. C. The terms of his contract are misleading.
D. He objects to being given other people\"s work.
15. What does Cary Cooper say about recent trends in the workplace? A. He believes that a long working day is counter-productive.
B. He has doubts about the results of the Quality of Working Life survey.
C. He says that employers should accept the link between working hours and safety.
D. He argues that further research is needed into the relationship between work and health. 16. How does Cary Cooper think people should deal with the requirements of the workplace? A. Obtain help in negotiating terms of employment. B. Let people know when demands are unreasonable. C. Delegate the less important work to other staff.
D. Accept that the modern workplace is a competitive place.
17. What does Mo Shapiro see as a problem for employees today? A. They lack **munication skills that modern business requires.
B. Many employers would not regard requests for shorter hours favourably.
C. Most employers do not want to be responsible for the professional development of staff. D. They have difficulties adapting to the rapid changes occurring in working practices. 18. What does Mo Shapiro think about present working hours? A. In many Companies senior staff need to work a long day.
B. The best staff are efficient enough to finish their work within eight hours. C. There are too many staff deceiving employers about their hours of work. D. Top executives should use their influence to change the long-hour culture.
●Read the extract below about a bank\"s human resources policy.
●Choose the best word or phrase to fill each gap from A, B, C or D on the opposite page. ●For each question, mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet.
Human Resources Policy
CBA Bank was the largest financial institution to sign the employers\" \"People Come First\" code of practice in the early 1990s. In doing so, it committed itself to the highest standards in human resources practices such as **munication of company 1 to employees, the setting of individual training and personal 2 plans, and the holding of regular performance 3 for all staff.
Like other organizations, CBA is replacing the traditional hierarchy with a flatter organizational structure which gives employees more broadly defined 4 within **pany. The change is offering employees greater opportunities for work in cross-disciplinary project teams. As a result, interpersonal 5 are extremely important. The policy seems to be working. There is a great deal of goodwill among employees, who 6 the fact that customer satisfaction is the organization\"s chief aim. CBA claims to pursue this aim for its own 7 rather than as a means of earning profits for shareholders.
An ability to relate to all kinds of people is the most important attribute CBA looks for it 8 recruits. Graduates are 9 for a two-year period and exposed to all 10 of retail financial services. By the end of this training period, they will have taken their Institute of Banking examination and, if they have 11 their performance targets, they will have 12 a job at the bank.
\"On the whole, we are not looking for people straight out of college,\" says human resources manager Mary Kemp. \"We would prefer that they had 13 some experience of life and had taken a year out between school and college to travel or do some kind of work.\" **pany has recently introduced a new policy on pay, and it is now 14 to performance through bonus schemes, with the objective being to 15 employees for their achievements and effort. 1.
A. designs B. purposes C. ends D. objectives 2.
A. continuation B. extension C. development D. advancement 3.
A. reviews B. trials C. revisions D. judgements 4.
A. capacities B. parts C. roles D. elements 5.
A. abilities B. talents C. assets D. skills 6.
A. recommend B. honour
C. respect D. obey 7.
A. sake B. reason C. behalf D. cause 8.
A. expected B. intended C. potential D. eventual 9.
A. taken on B. written in C. put on D. drawn in 10.
A. fields B. areas C. regions D. parts 11.
A. arrived B. done C. passed D. met 12.
A. secured B. reached C. confirmed D. fixed 13.
A. gained B. won C. earned D. realised 14.
A. attached B. linked C. combined D. joined 15.
A. return B. reward C. recompense D. refund
Who Benefits Most from Company Training?
According to recent research, the better educated and the higher up the socioeconomic scale you are, the more likely you are to be offered workplace training. And, incidentally, the more likely you are to then turn 16 the offer, pleading family and **mitments or 17 of work. Less qualified staff, on the other hand, are offered fewer training opportunities, but are more eager to 18 them up. In fact, people with few or no educational qualifications are three times more likely to accept training when it is offered.
In the majority of companies, more 19 are allocated to management training than to other areas. Employers 20 their better qualified staff as more important to the business, so they pay them accordingly and invest more in them in 21 of training. This is 22 by the fact that organizations are dependent on properly 23 managers making the right decisions. But this 24 may mean **panies are 25 other parts of the workforce down.
The researchers found a growing demand for training among the lower-skilled. Unfortunately this demand is not being 26 by employers, even though there are strong indications **panies would benefit from doing so. They also discovered that, despite the substantial 27 between the training provided for managers and that offered to other staff, there was still widespread
endorsement of training.
For the purposes of the research, training was defined as any 28 of planned instruction or tuition provided by an employer with the aim of helping employees do their work better. It therefore included a wide variety of approaches. On-the-job and classroom training 29 to be used equally by employers. But learning on the job, which involved observing a certain procedure and then practising it, was easily the most popular method for all categories of employees. While many felt that learning from colleagues was best, very few 30 the internet as an effective way to train. 16.
A. back B. over C. down D. off 17.
A. force B. pressure C. strain D. load 18.
A. pick B. keep C. take D. put 19.
A. means B. reserves C. finances D. resources 20.
A. imagine B. regard C. suppose D. know 21.
A. requirements B. specifications C. states D. terms 22.
A. allowed B. approved C. justified D. accepted 23.
A. understanding B. intelligent C. informed D. knowledgeable 24.
A. stress B. emphasis C. weight D. strength 25.
A. letting B. cutting C. breaking D. setting 26.
A. reached B. achieved C. gained D. met 27.
A. space B. gap C. hole D. room
28.
A. frame B. structure C. form D. order 29.
A. showed B. appeared C. demonstrated D. presented 30.
A. rated B. thought C. marked D. believed Another Successful Year
The UK-based agricultural and garden equipment group PLT has had another successful year and is looking forward to the future with confidence The group, which also has distribution and fuel 31 has enjoyed record profits for the fifth year in a 32 Pre-tax profits for the year 33 March 31 rose by 24 percent to ￡4.2 million. Total group sales 34 by five per cent to ￡155 million, with the agricultural business delivering yet another record 35 despite the somewhat difficult trading 36 in the industry. Sales in the garden equipment 37 were slow in the early months of the year but increased dramatically in the finalquarter.
Chairman Suresh Kumar said, \"It is my 38 that we have continued to grow by 39 our customers well. I am delighted to 40 the continued development of our customer 41 and I would like to thank all our customers for their 42 As well as an increase in customers, our staff numbers also continue to grow. During the year we have taken 43 58 new employees so that our total workforce now numbers in excess of 700. All of the staff deserve my praise for their dedication and continued efforts in 44 these excellent results\".
The group has proposed a final 45 of 9.4p per share, bringing the total to 13p for the year. 31.
A. commitments B. interests C. responsibilities D. benefits 32.
A. row B. series C. line D. sequence 33.
A. completing B. closing C. finalizing D. ending 34.
A. extended B. lifted C. expanded D. climbed 35.
A. display B. production C. performance D. demonstration 36.
A. conditions B. features C. states D. aspects 37.
A. part B. division
C. component D. side 38.
A. certainty B. thought C. belief D. idea 39.
A. caring B. dealing C. providing D. treating 40.
A. inform B. notify C. comment D. report 41.
A. source B. base C. foundation D. origin 42.
A. support B. favour C. assistance D. service 43.
A. up B. back C. on D. over 44.
A. winning B. gaining C. achieving D. earning 45.
A. dividend B. recompense C. return D. interest
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