商務(wù)英語閱讀練習(xí)題及答案

商務(wù)英語閱讀練習(xí)題及答案

ConcordiaInternationalprovidesagoodexampleofacompanythathasadjustedwelltothechangingneedsforcommunication.since1995,Concordiahasbeenturnedinside-outandupside-down,toensurethatitisamarketing–led,customer-responsivebusiness,onethatlooksoutwardsatcustomersandcompetitors,ratherthaninwardsatitsownprocessesandthewaythingsweredoneinthepast.Inthelasteightyears,Concordiahasreduceditsworkforcebymorethan80.000people-or35%-onavoluntarybasis,withfurtherdownsizinganticipated.

Frombeinganengineeringcompany,Concordiaisnowremakingitselfasaservicecompany.Theroleofemployeecommunicationinsuchacontextistobuildpeople’sself-confidence,topersuadethemthat,althoughitisinevitablethatthechangeswillgoahead,theyalsobringwiththemnewopportunitiesforemployees.However,thisisnotaneasytask.Peopletendtobeskepticaloftheseclaimsandtofeelthattheyarelosingtouchwiththecompanytheyhaveworkedforovermanyyears.Thisisunderstandable,sincemanyoftheoldcertaintiesarebeingsweptaway,includingthecoreactivitiesofthecompanytheyworkfor.Aboveall,theyhavehadtofaceuptothefactthattheynolongerhaveajobforlife.

Researchindicatesthatpeoplerespondtothispredicamentinavarietyofways.Thebulkofemployeesfallintotwomaincategoriesintermsoftheirresponsetothenewsituation:ontheonehandtherearethe“pragmatists”andontheother“thehighlyanxious”theformerseetheirjobasameanstoanendandhavearelativelyshort-termperspective,withstrongloyaltytotheirlocalterm,ratherthanthecompanyasawhole.Thesecondcategory,usuallythemajority,mayrespondtothreatenedchangeswithafeelingofhavingbeenletdown,andevenfeelangeratthecompanyforwhattheyseeaschangingthetermsoftheiremployment.

`?Theemployeecommunicationprocessneedstobecapableofaccuratelydirectingitsmessagesatavarietyofemployeegroupsanddepartmentswithintheworkforce.thisiswhymiddlemanagersandlinemanagersaresokeytocommunication.Theyarethepeoplewhoknowaboutthefullrageofconcernsamongtheworkforce.Theprobleminthepastwasthatthiscrucialareawasoftentheresponsibilityofaseparate,relativelyisolatedunit.Concordiaputsresponsibilityforcommunicationfirmlyonlinemanagers.Alltheirresearchpointstothesameconclusion:peopleprefertogettheirinformationface-to-facefromtheirlinemanagers.Thatisthekeyrelationshipandwhereargumentsandheartsandminds–arelost.

Thegeneralruleincompanycommunicationistotellemployeesasmuchasyoucanassoonasyoucan.Ifyoucan’tprovidedetails,thenatleastputthenewsincontextandcommityourselftoprovidinggreaterdetailwhenitbecomesavailableanotherruleofcompanycommunicationisthattheremustbeafitbetweenwhatthecompanyistellingitsemployeesandwhatitistellingitsshareholders.15Inthelasteightyears,Concordiahas

Amadeover80.000employeesreduncdant

Bcompletedaperiodofdownsizing

Creduceditsworkforceof80.000by35%

Dgiven35%ofdepartingemployeesvoluntaryredundancy

16FromConcordia’spointofview,theroleofcommunicationisto

Awinemployeesupportbeforegoingaheadwiththechanges

Bchangethecompany’scoreactivities.

Cemphasisethepositiveaspectsofthechanges

Dexplaintheneedforthechanges

17whatdoesresearchshowaboutmostemployees’responsetochange?

Atheyexpectittohaveabadeffectonthecompany

Btheyfeelcompletelypowerless

Ctheybecomelessloyal

Dtheyfelltheyhavebeentreatedunfairly

18Concordia’scommunicationprocessmainlyrelieson

Aprintedcommunication

Bdepartmentalheads

Cpersonalcommunication

Daseparate,specializedunit

19Accordingtothewriter,whatistheguidingprincipleaboutgivinginformationwithinanorganization?

ANevermakepromisesaboutfuturedevelopments

BGivepeopleanoverallviewattheearliestpossiblestage

Calwaysincludeplentyofhardinformation

DHoldbackuntilallthedetailscanbeprovided

20whichofthefollowingwouldbethemostsuitabletitleforthearticle?

Aemployeeattitudestocompanycommunication

Bmakingcompanycommunicationmoreeffective

CResearchingcompanycommmucation

DMakingemployeesfeellesspowerless

【答案】

15題，答案很明顯，但是選項(xiàng)很有迷惑性。答案是其次段的最終一句：Inthelasteightyears,Concordiahasreduceditsworkforcebymorethan80.000people?-or35%-onavoluntarybasis,withfurtherdownsizinganticipated.削減了80000員工（或者說削減了35%的員工），預(yù)期還會(huì)削減更多。A選項(xiàng)是對(duì)的，maderedundant是前面某套題目閱讀的第五部分考過的詞組；B不對(duì)，沒有完成（completed），由于預(yù)期還會(huì)裁減更多（withfurtherdownsizinganticipated）；C也不對(duì)，迷惑性最大，reduceditsworkforceof80.000，用了介詞of，所以這句的意思是一共就80000員工，而實(shí)際狀況是削減了80000員工；D不對(duì)，35%的員工被裁減，都是在自愿的基礎(chǔ)上的，而不是離開的人中有35%是自愿的。

16題，問依據(jù)此人的觀點(diǎn)，溝通的角色是什么。也就是問溝通的目的或者作用是什么。答案在第三段。溝通是為了關(guān)心人樹立自信，說服他們雖然要面臨一些變化，但是同樣也會(huì)擁有一些新的機(jī)會(huì)。說白了，就是鼓舞這些被裁的人。答案選C，強(qiáng)調(diào)變化的樂觀方面。這里的positiveaspects是對(duì)前面說的bringwiththemnewopportunities的一個(gè)概括。（想起了電影《在云端》，upintheair，里面那個(gè)老男人的工作就是職業(yè)裁員專家，特地對(duì)被裁的人說些這樣的話。）

17題，問調(diào)查顯示大多數(shù)人對(duì)change的反應(yīng)是什么。這題在答案中也很明顯，但是選項(xiàng)很糾結(jié)。都有點(diǎn)似是而非。Thesecondcategory,usuallythemajority,mayrespondtothreatenedchangeswithafeelingofhavingbeenletdown.,andevenfeelangeratthecompanyforwhattheyseeaschangingthetermsoftheiremployment.大多數(shù)員工的反應(yīng)就是很絕望，甚至?xí)苌鷼?。個(gè)人覺得這題出的不夠嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)，沒有哪個(gè)選項(xiàng)能嚴(yán)格從原文中提煉出來。對(duì)比下D要好點(diǎn)，由于對(duì)公司絕望和生氣，就是覺得受到了不公正的待遇。此題有待高手補(bǔ)充更完善的理由。

18題，問