商务英语阅读试题Part 3

Part III Reading comprehension Passage 1 Richard Brasher, commercial director of Tesco’s non-food operations, is in the frame for the top job at Boots, where chief executive Steve Russell is to step down. Brasher is understood to be on a shortlist that includes Stuart Rose, the former boss of retailing group Arcadia, the Terry Duddy, chief executive of catalogue retailer Argos. Brasher is viewed as a high-flier within Tesco and is highly rated by the group’s chief executive, Terry Leahy. Boots has been looking for a chief executive and a new chairman since the middle of December, when its current chairman, John McGrath, admitted that the group had not acted fast enough to address strategic issues that were facing it. McGrath is due to step down at the end of his contract in the summer, after overseeing the search for a new chief executive. Boots has been trying to find a way to distinguish itself and its products from the increasing range carried by supermarkets. Last week Sainsbury, the food retailer, said it would be extending its own health and beauty offering after it axed a joint venture trial with Boots. Sainsbury and Boots have been working together since 2001, but Sainsbury now wants to roll out its own programme in about 50 stores. Under the original trial, Boots supplied the products, including exclusive lines, to a specific area within Sainsbury stores at nine out-of-town supermarkets. Although both sides agreed initial targets had been met, they could not agree terms to take the scheme forward. Observers suggested that the two had disagreed over sharing revenues. Boots has confirmed the departure of another senior member of management. Michael Bunting, head of treasury, will leave the company in April. Other senior staff who have left recently include Barry Clare, marketing director, and Ken Piggott, who was managing director of Boots’ core business. Questions 31-35 are based on passage 1 31. Boots, according to the passage, is _______. A. a person B. a supermarket C. a hotel D. a factory 32. Richard Brasher is to ________. A. become chief executive B. be on a shortlist C. be a high-flier D. work within Tesco 33. Brasher is _______. A. scolded badly by Terry Leahy B. highly assessed by Tesco’s chief executive C. valued greatly by Tesco D. understood by Tesco 34. Sainsbury is a ________. A. person who worked with Boots B. business that wants to work with Boots C. supermarket that has developed its own program all the time D. supermarket that stopped cooperation with Boots 35. It seems that ________. A. a lot of people left Boots B. Boots is thriving quickly C. Boots has decided to reform D. Some senior staff have left or will leave Boots Passage 2 Large companies need a way to reach the savings of the public at large. The same problem , on a smaller scale, faces practically every company trying to develop new products and create new jobs. There can be little prospect of raising the sort of sums needed from friends and people we know, and while banks may agree to provide short-term finance, they are generally unwilling to provide money on a permanent basis for long-term projects. So companies turn to the public, inviting people to lend them money, or take a share in the business in exchange for a share in future profits. This they do by issuing stocks and shares in the business through the Stock Exchange. By doing so they can put into circulation the savings of individuals and institutions, both at home and overseas. When the saver needs his money back, he does not have to go to the company with whom he originally placed it. Instead, he sells his shares through a stockbroker to some other saver who is seeking to invest his money. Many of the services needed both by industry and by each of us are provided by the Government or by local authorities. Without hospitals, roads, electricity, telephones, railways, this country could not function. All these require continuous spending on new equipment and new development if they are to serve us properly, requiring more money than is raised through taxes alone. The Government, local authorities, and nationalized industries therefore frequently need to borrow money to finance major capital spending, and they, too, come to the Stock Exchange. There is hardly a man or woman in this country whose job or whose standard of living does not depend on the ability of his or her employers to raise money to finance new development. In one way or another this new money must come from the savings of the country. The Stock Exchange exists to provide a channel through which these savings can reach those who need finance. Questions 36-40 are based on passage 2 36. Almost all companies involved in new production and development must . A. rely on their own financial resources B. persuade the banks to provide long-term finance C. depend on the population as a whole for finance D. borrow large sums of money from friends and people they know 37. The money which enables these companies to go ahead with their projects is . A. repaid to its original owners as soon as possible B. raised by the selling of shares in the companies C. exchanged for part ownership in the Stock Exchange D. invested in different companies on the Stock Exchange 38. When the savers want their money back they . A. ask another company to obtain their money for them B. look for other people to borrow money from C. put their shares in the company back on the market D. transfer their money to a more successful company 39. All the essential services on which we depend are . A. run by the Government or our local authorities B. financed wholly by the rates and taxes C. in constant need of financial support D. unable to provide for the needs of the population 40. The Stock Exchange makes it possible for the Government, local authorities and nationalized industries . A. to borrow as much as they wish B. to make certain everybody saves money C. to raise money to finance new developments D. to make certain everybody lends money to them Passage 3 They are among the 250,000 people under the age of 25 who are out of work in the Netherlands, a group that accounts for 40 percent of the nation’s unemployed. A storm of anger boils up at the government sponsored youth center, even among those who are continuing their studies. “We study for jobs that don’t exist,” Nicollete Steggerda, 23, said. After three decades of prosperity, unemployment among 10 member nations of the European community has exceeded 11 percent, affecting a total of 12.3 million people, and the number is climbing. The bitter disappointment long expressed by British youths is spreading across the continent. The title of a rock song “No Future” can now be seen written on the brick walls of closed factories in Belgium and France. Recent surveys have found that the increasing argument in the last few years over the deployment in Europe of North Atlantic Treaty Organization missiles and the possibility of nuclear war has clouded European youths’ confidence in the future. One form of protest tends to put the responsibility for a country’s economic troubles on the large numbers of “guest workers” from Third World nations, people welcomed in Western Europe in the years of prosperity. Young Europeans, brought up in an extended period of economic success and general stability, seem to resemble Americans more than they do th