最新职称英语复习资料(补全短文讲义)2
PASSAGE 13A Thirsty World
?The world is not only hungry, it is also thirsty for water. This may seem strange to you, since nearly 75% of the earth#39;s surface is covered with water. But about 97% of this huge amount is sea-water, or salt water. Man can only drink and use the other 3% --the fresh water that comes from rivers, lakes, underground, and other sources. ____1____, because some of it is in the form of icebergs and glaciers. Even worse, some of it has been polluted.
At the moment, his small amount of fresh water is still enough for us. However, our need for water is increasing rapidly. Only if we take steps to deal with this problem now, can we avoid a severe worldwide water shortage later on. One of the useful steps we can take is to stop unlimited use of water. ____2____, however, would have a bad effect on agriculture and industry.
In addition to stopping wasting our precious water, one more useful step we should take is to develop ways of reusing it. ____3____, but only on a small scale.
Today, in most large cities, water is used only once and it eventually returns to the sea or runs into underground storage tanks. ____4____ that has been used to a purifying plant. There it can be filtered and treated with chemicals so that it can be used again just as if it were fresh from a spring.
___5____, we still would not have enough. Where could we turn next? To the oceans! All we#39;d have to do to make use of the vast amount of sea-water is -remove the salt. This salt-removing process is already in use in many parts of the world.
So if we take all these steps, we#39;ll be in no danger of drying up!
A. A limited water supply
B. But it is possible to pipe water
C. It is possible to purify large amounts of sea water
D. But even if every large city purified and reused its water
E. And we cannot even use all of that
F. Experiments have already been done in this field
KEYS: EAFBD
PASSAGE 14
Looking to the Future
?When a magazine for high-school students asked its readers what life would be like in twenty years, they said: Machines would be run by solar power. Buildings would rotate so they could follow the sun to take maximum advantage of its light and heat. Walls would "radiate light" and "change color with the push of a button." Food would be replaced by pills. School would be taught "by electrical impulse while we sleep.#39;#39; Cars would have radar. Does this sound like the year 2000? Actually, ________ and the question was, "what will life be like in 1978?"
The future is much too important to simply guess about, the way the high school students did, so experts are regularly asked to predict accurately. By carefully studying the present, skilled businessmen, scientists, and politicians are supposedly able to figure out in advance what will happen. But can they? One expert on cities wrote: _______, but would have space for farms and fields. People would travel to work in "airbuses", large all-weather helicopters carrying up to 200 passengers. When a person left the airbus station he could drive a coin-operated car equipped with radar. The radar equipment of cars would make traffic accidents "almost unheard of". Does that sound familiar? If the expert had been accurate it would, because he was writing in 1957. His subject was "The city of 1982".
If the professionals sometimes sound like high-school students, it#39;s probably because _________. But economic forecasting, or predicting what the economy will do, had been around for a long time. It should be accurate, and generally it is. But there have been some big mistakes in this field, too. In early 1929, most forecasters saw an excellent future for the stock market. In October of that year, _______, ruining thousands of investors who had put their faith in financial foreseers.
One forecaster knew that predictions about the future would always be subject to significant errors. In 1957, H.J. Rand of the Rand Corporation was asked about the year 2000, "Only one thing is certain," he answered. "Children born today _______. "
A. the stock market had its worst losses ever
B. will have reached the age of 43
C. the article was written in 1958
D. Cities of the future would not be crowded
E. the prediction of the future is generally accurate
F. future study is still a new field
Key:CDFAB
PASSAGE 15
Marriage and Children
Many single Americans today are waiting longer to get married. Some women and men are delaying marriages and family ___(1)___; others want to become more established in their chosen profession. Most of people eventually will marry. One survey showed that only 15 percent of all single adults in the United States want to stay single. Some women become more interested in getting married and starting a family as they enter their 30s.
One positive result may come from ___(2)___. People who get married at later ages have fewer divorces. Along with the decision to wait to marry, couples are also waiting longer before they have children, ___(3)___. Rearing a child in the United States is costly.
Some couples today are deciding not to have children at all. In 1955, only one percent of all women expected to have no children. Today more than five percent say they want to remain childless. The ability of a couple to choose ___(4)___ means that more children ___(5)___ are very much wanted and loved.
EXERCISE:
A) whether they will have children
B) sometimes in order to be more firmly established economically
C) no matter how late they marry
D) men and women marrying late
E) who are born in the United States
F) because they want to finish school or start their careers
KEY:F D B A E
PASSAGE 16
Don#39;t Mind if I Smoke
The French surprised even themselves when they banned tobacco ads three years ago, and created smoke-free zones in public spaces. Even then, ___(1)___ seemed a little too American. Now some French lawmakers are preparing to end the act as reform that simply can#39;t work in a country __(2)___.
Law or no law, smokers and nonsmokers mingle __(3)__, whose owners generally ignore requirements to create separate no-smoking sections. French smokers __(4)___, in hospitals and directly under no -smoking signs. There are stiff fines for violating the smoke-free areas, but they are never imposed. "We have more important things to do", says a Paris official.
The 1992 law#39;s most controversial provision is the tobacco-ad ban. An exception has been made for motor sports, which are underwritten by tobacco firms. And fans shouted angrily when French TV blacked out a soccer game from abroad because of "secondary" tobacco and liquor ads at the local stadium. Still, those __(5)___ credit the ad ban for a 15 percent drop in smoking among French teens in the last three years.
EXERCISE:
A) without apparent friction in Paris café and restaurants
B) light up in train stations
C) doing great harm to the smoker#39;s health
D) the attempt to legislate good health
E) who are against smoking
F) that has always aided life#39;s petty vices
KEY:D F A B E
PASSAGE 17
Mergers
The most common kind of consolidation today is the merger. A merger occurs ____(1)____.
With the deregulation of natural gas, the nation#39;s 20 interstate pipeline companies became fearful of cutthroat competition. Some felt that they could increase their efficiency and improve their market flexibility by merging. In 1985 Internorth of Omaha paid $2.3 billion for Houston Natural Gas Corporation, ____(2)____. The system connected markets from coast to coast and raised sales to $10 billion.
On occasion, mergers have occurred between smaller companies in an industry dominated by a few giant firms. These smaller companies claim that they need to merge to become more efficient and effective in competing against the biggest corporations. They maintain that such action increases competition instead of reducing it. The Antitrust Division of the Justice Department has not always agreed with them.
Four major waves of mergers have taken place in this country. The first started in 1887, just prior to the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and ended in 1904. It involved such giants as United States Steel and Standard Oil trying to create monopolies in their industries. From the end of World War I until the 1930s, large firms swallowed smaller firms to create oligopolies. The monopoly had no chance and the oligopoly little chance of succeeding today under present antitrust policy.
The third major merger movement began in the 1960s, reached a peak in 1969, ____(3)____. Many of the acquisitions involved giant firms in one industry buying up large companies in totally unrelated industries. Such mergers are called conglomerate mergers. A classic example is Mobil Oil Corporation#39;s purchase of the huge retail chain Montgomery Ward & Company.
Mergers in the last ten years were in the thousands. More important is the value of the transactions, which has risen sharply. The number of mergers and acquisitions apply ____(4)____. The petroleum industry had mergers and acquisitions valued at closed to $80 billion between 1981 and 1984. Other industries ____(5)____ were banking and finance, insurance, mining and mineral, processed foods.
A thereby gaining control of the world#39;s longest pipeline
B and then gradually declined
C experiencing large takeovers
D resulting in combinations of small firms
E only to those valued at $100 million or more
F when two or more companies get together to form one company
KEYS: FABEC
PASSAGE 18
The Dollar in World Markets
According to a leading German banker, the U.S. dollar is "the most frequently discussed economic phenomenon of our times." He adds, "…the dollar#39;s exchange rate is at present the most important price in the world economy…". Because the dollar acts as a world currency, ___(1)___. The central banks of many countries hold huge reserves of dollars, and over half of all world trade is priced in terms of dollars. Any shift in the dollar#39;s exchange rate will benefit some and hurt others. Some people suggest, therefore, ____(2)___.
The dollar#39;s exchange rate has been too volatile and unpredictable. Several years age the dollar was rapidly declining in value. This made it ___(3)___. The rise in the price of foreign goods made it possible for U.S. businesses to raise the price of competing foods produced here, thus worsening inflation. Foreigners who dealt in dollars or who held dollars as reserves were hurt. People in the United States who had borrowed foreign currencies found that they had to pay back more than they borrowed ___(4)___. The United States lost face in the eyes of the rest of the world.
The dollar went soaring upward, and the situation was reversed. United States exporters found it hard to sell abroad because foreigners would have to pay more for U.S. dollars. People in the United States now bought the relatively cheaper foreign goods, and U.S. manufacturers complained that they could not compete. Job losses were often blamed on the "overvalued" dollar. Poor nations ___(5)___ found it difficult to repay both the loans and the interest because they had to use more and more of their own currencies to obtain dollars. The solution to this problem is to end the system of floating exchange rates and return to fixed rates. We might even return to the gold standard.
Fixed exchange rates did not work in the past. Currency values should be determined by market conditions. A drop in the exchange value of a nation#39;s currency means that it is importing too much, that it is too inefficient to compete in world markets, that it is permitting a high rate of inflation which makes its goods too expensive, that it is going too deeply in debt, or that others have lost confidence in the nation#39;s stability. A nation should bring its exchange rate back up by addressing these problems, not by interfering with the money market.
A. that had borrowed dollars
B. that the dollar#39;s value should be more tightly controlled
C. because the declining dollar would buy fewer units of the foreign money
D. its value affects many nations
E. difficult for Americans to purchase foreign goods and services
F. that have a lot of U.S. dollars
KEY: DBECA
PASSAGE 19
Mobile Phones
Mobile phones should carry a label if they proved to be a dangerous source of radiation, according to Robert Bell, a scientist. And no more mobile phone transmitter towers should be built until the long-term health effects of the electromagnetic radiation they emit is scientifically evaluated, he said. "Nobody#39;s going to drop dead overnight but we should be asking for more scientific information," Robert Bells said at a conference on the health effects of low-level radiation ."If mobile phones are found to be dangerous, ____1____until proper shields can be devised," he said.
A report widely circulated among the public says that up to now scientists do not really know enough to guarantee there are no ill-effects on humans from electromagnetic radiation. According to Robert Bell, there are 3.3 million mobile phones in Australia alone and they are increasing by 2,000 a day. By the year 2000 it is estimated that Australia will have 8 million mobile phones:___2__
As well, there are 2,000 transmitter towers around Australia, many in high density residential areas. For example, Telstra , Optus and Vodaphone build their towers ___3___and disregard the need of the community. The electromagnetic radiation emitted from these towers may have already produced some harmful effects on the health of the residents nearby.
Robert Bell suggests that____4___ the Government should ban construction of phone towers from within a 500 metre radius of school grounds, child care centres, hospitals, sports playing fields and residential areas with a high percentage of children. He says there is emerging evidence that children absorb low-level radiation at a rate more than three times that of adults. He adds that there is also evidence that if cancer sufferers are subjected to electromagnetic waves _____5_____.
Robert Bell calls on the major telephone companies to fund adequate research and urges the Government to set up a wide ranging inquiry into possible health effects.
A. until more research is completed
B. nearly one for every two people
C. they should carry a warning label
D. mobile phones should be radiation-free
E. where it is geographically suitable to them
F. the growth rate of the disease accelerate
key:CDBEAF
PASSAGE 20
Financial Risks
Several types of financial risk are encountered in international marketing; the major problems include commercial, political, and foreign exchange risk.
Commercial risks are handled essentially as normal credit risks encountered in day-to-day business. They include solvency, default, or refusal to pay bills. The major risk,__1__ which can only be dealt with through consistently effective management and marketing. One unique risk encountered by the international marketer involves financial adjustments. Such risk is encountered when a controversy arises about the quality of goods delivered, a dispute over contract terms, or__2__. One company, for example, shipped several hundred tons of dehydrated potatoes to a distributor in Germany. The distributor tested the shipment and declared it to be below acceptable taste and texture standards. The alternatives for the exporter were reducing the price, reselling the potatoes, or shipping them home again, each involving considerable cost.
Political risk relates to the problems of war or revolution, currency inconvertibility, expropriation or expulsion, and restriction or cancellation of import licenses. Political risk is an environmental concern for all businesses. Management information systems and effective decision-making processes are the best defenses against political risk. As many companies have discovered, sometimes there is no way to avoid political risk,__3__.
Exchange-rate fluctuations inevitably cause problems, but for many years, most firms could take protective action to minimize their unfavorable effects. Floating exchange rates of the world#39;s major currencies have forced all marketers __4__. International Business Machine Corporation, for example, reported that exchange losses resulted in a dramatic 21.6 percent drop in their earnings in the third quarter of 1981. __5__, devaluations of major currencies were infrequent and usually could be anticipated, but exchange-rate fluctuations in the float system are daily affairs.
Exercise:
A to be especially aware of exchange-rate fluctuations and the need to compensate for them in their financial planning
B any other disagreement over which payment is withheld
C however, is competition
D so marketers must be prepared to assume them or give up doing business in a particular market
E Before rates were permitted to float
F After serious consideration
Key: CBDAE
PASSAGE 21
Price Planning
A price represents the value of a goods or service for both the seller and the buyer. Price planning is systematic decision making by an organization regarding all aspects of pricing.
The value of a goods or service can involve both tangible and intangible marketing factors. An example of a tangible marketing factor is the cost savings__1__. An example of an intangible marketing factor is a consumer#39;s pride in the ownership of a Lamborghini rather than another brand of automobile. For an example to take place, both the buyer and seller must feel that the price of a goods or service provides an equitable value. To the buyer, the payment of a price reduces purchasing power __2__. To the seller, receipt of a price is a source of revenue and an important determinant of sales and profit levels.
Many words are substitutes for the term price: admission fee, membership fee, rate, tuition, service charge, donation, rent, salary, interest, retainer, and assessment. No matter what it is called,__3__: monetary and non-monetary charges, discounts, handling and shipping fees, credit charges and other forms of interest, and late-payment penalties.
A non-price exchange would be selling a new iron for 10 books of trading stamps or an airline offering tickets as payment for advertising space and time. Monetary and non-monetary exchange may be combined. This is common with automobiles, __4__. This combination allows a reduction in the monetary price.
From a broader perspective, price is the mechanism for allocating goods and services among potential purchasers and for ensuring competition among sellers in an open market economy. If there is an excess of demand over supply, prices are usually bid up by consumers. If there is an excess of supply over demand,__5__.
Exercise:
A a price contains all the terms of purchase
B obtained by the purchase of a new bottling machine by a soda manufacturer
C where the consumer gives the seller money plus a trade-in
D available for other items
E prices are usually reduced by sellers
F price means what one pays for what he wants
key:BDACE
PASSAGE 22
What is a Profit
Entrepreneurship is directly responsible for production. The business person (entrepreneur) takes a cue from consumers in deciding what they want - or, in the case of a new product, __1__.
Profit means different things to different people. According to some public opinion polls, many people are not sure what it is, but they are sure __2__. Workers may look at profit as an unfairly large payment to the entrepreneur that deprives them of a higher wage. The business person thinks of profit __3__. During negotiations before the settlement of the second baseball strike in August, 1985, the Players#39; Association claimed the owners had made profits of $91 million, an accounting firm said owner profits were $43 million, and the owners insisted they had lost $9 million. The truth was that all three were correct. The disparity in the figures was due to the fact that each group was defining profit differently. Let us now see if we can develop a more exact definition of what profit is.
Gross profit is the difference between what a business firm sells its product for and what it costs to produce that product. The merchant buys $200,000 worth of merchandise during the year and sells it for $270,000. His gross profit is $70,000. The percentage difference between his cost and the selling price is 35 percent, and he calls this markup.
Net profit is __4__--rent, wages, and interest-and setting aside money to allow for the loss due to depreciation (wearing out) of capital. Our merchant has to subtract from his gross profit his payments for rent ($6,000), wages ($20,000), interest on money borrowed ($1,000), repairs and upkeep ($1,000), taxes ($1,000), electricity and other expenses $1,000. Expenses for operating the business come to $30,000. Gross profit is $70,000, and net profit is $40,000.
Economists have a narrower definition of what constitutes profit. They are concerned with payment for all the resources that have gone into production, __5__, like those listed above, or from inside the business.
Exercise:
A what profit really means
B it is too large and represents too much of the consumer#39;s dollar
C whether they come from outside the business
D as the difference between total revenue and total cost
E what the business person has left after paying expenses
F what they might want
Key: DBECA
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