IV. Oral practice.
请根据下面提出的模拟场景与自己的另一学习伙伴讨论3分钟。
Scenario
Late Payment
The manufacturing company you work for is experiencing cash flow problems due to delays in receiving payments. You have been asked to suggest ways of dealing with the situation.
Discuss the situation together, and decide:
l What would be the best way of approaching the companies who owe your money
l How the company could discourage customers from paying late in future
思路提示：
1. To set up context: what type of the manufacturing company are you working for?
Example:
We are working for a company that manufactures shoes/computer hardware/ cosmetics/ medicine/ lighting equipment/ cameras ……
2. Best ways of approaching the companies who owe money
(1) Modest ways: telephone/ write email/ hold meetings to remind and persuade their owners
(2) Formal ways: bring an action against them to ask for payment and penalty charges
3. Future solutions --- please find answers from unit 3b in the textbook of BEC Vantage and information from a reading passage in lesson 7 of BEC Vantage online course; but do remember to find relevant solutions related to customers not your staff or your suppliers.
· Ask customers for cash on delivery
· Reduce credit terms from 30 to 20 days
· Add penalty charges for late payment: There should be legal penalties for late payment. Late payers should be legally required to pay interest on the debt. To be effective, the interest rate would be high.
· Finally, a system of fines (to be paid in addition to the interest payments) should be introduced.
· Our company should sign contracts with customers to obtain payment for outstanding debts.
V. Business Passage Reading.
Shanghai VW posts first-ever sales drop
Sino-German joint venture blames intense competition and a fierce price war for last year’s slowdown in demand
gVehicles
Mark O’Neill in Shanghai
In the most dramatic evidence of the slowdown in China’s car market, Volkswagen’s pioneer joint venture yesterday announced its first fall in annual sales since it started production in 1985, thanks to growing competition from global rivals and fierce price wars.
Shanghai VW, a joint venture with Shanghai Auto Industry Corp, reported sales last year of 335,000, down from 396,000 in 2003.
“After three years of rapid sales, the market has entered a period of stability. This is normal and part of the cycle of the industry. We remain optimistic for the long-term potential of the market ” a company spokeswoman said.
She said part of the blame for the slowdown lay with the macro-economic measures imposed by Beijing in the spring last year, which were not aimed at the car industry but had affected the power, steel and banking sectors.
A spokesman for VW Group China in Beijing said he had no figures for overall output of VW cars in China last year, up from an actual 698,000 in 2003.
Last year saw a slowing of demand after three boom years. Sales of passenger cars soared from 781,000 in 2001 to 1.13 million in 2002 and nearly two million in 2003. Industry estimates put sales last year at about 2.3 million.
Several factors have contributed to the fall in sales. One is that customers do not want to buy while prices are falling. Another is the ancillary costs, especially in major cities, of buying a parking space, paying insurance and other charges.
A third is the fact that banks have become more cautious in extending loans to purchase cars. According to figures from the National Information Centre, banks have extended 183.3 billion yuan in car loans, more than half of which – about 100 billion yuan worth – are in delinquency.
In expectation of rising demand, global and domestic manufacturers are spending billions of dollars on additional capacity, just as China is slashing car tariffs and eliminating import quotas.
The result is a price war and swelling inventories of new cars. 库存大量增加
The biggest victim has been VW, the first global manufacturer to make a major investment in China, setting up its joint venture in Shanghai 20 years ago with an initial investment of 387 million yuan. In 1991, it set up a second venture in Changchun with First Auto Group.
These two companies made VW the market leader in passenger cars in China for many years, a position now being challenged by General Motors, Honda Motor, Hyundai Motor and Toyota Motor Corp.
VW continues to invest heavily in China and aims to produce about 900,000 vehicles next year, rising to 1.6 million in 2008.
Vocabulary
ancillary adjective
1 ancillary workers/staff etc
workers who provide additional help and services for the people who do the main work in hospitals, schools etc 辅助员工
2 formal connected with or supporting something else, but less important than it 附属的
Agreement was reached on several ancillary matters.
delinquency noun[uncountable and countable]
plural delinquencies
illegal or immoral behaviour or actions, especially by young people犯罪行为，不道德行为
the ever-rising statistics of delinquency and crime
swelling noun
1 [countable] an area of your body that has become larger than normal, because of illness or injury
swelling in/on
a painless swelling in his neck
2 [uncountable] the condition of having swelled
The spider’s bite can cause pain and swelling.
These tablets should reduce the swelling.
VI. Reading Test Part 4
Part Four of the reading test is concerned with your vocabulary and structure skills. You may read a single business-related text of approximately 250 words. You should finish 10 questions with 4 options. Now we look at an example part and see how to solve this kind of question type.
PART FOUR
Questions 21-30
l Read the article below about language learning for the busy executive.
l Choose the best word to fill each gap from A, B, C or D.
l For each question 21-30, mark one letter (A, B, C or D ) on your Answer Sheet.
l There is an example at the beginning, (0):
Language Learning for the Busy Executive
If you’ve ever been told by your boss to improve your knowledge of a foreign language you’ll know that (0)……doesn’t come quickly. It generally takes years to learn another language well and constant (21)…… to maintain the high standards required for frequent business use. Whether you study in a class, with audiocassettes, computers or on your (22)……, sooner or (23)……every language course finishes and you must decide what to do next if you need a foreign language for your career.
Business Audio Magazines is a new product designed to help you continue language study in a way that fits easily into your busy schedule. Each audiocassette (24)……of an hour-long programme packed with business news, features and interviews in the language of your choice. These cassettes won’t teach you how to order meals or ask for directions. It is (25)……that you can do that already. Instead, by giving you an opportunity to hear the language as it’s really spoken, they help you to (26)……your vocabulary and improve your ability to use real language relating to, for example, that all-important marketing trip.
The great advantage of using audio magazines is that they (27)……you to perfect your language skills in ways that suit your lifestyle. For example, you can select a topic and listen in your car or hotel when away on business. No other business course is as (28)…… . And the unique radio-magazine format is as instructive as it is entertaining. In addition to the audiocassette, this package includes a transcript with a business glossary and a study (29)…… . The components are structured so that intermediate and advanced students may use them separately or together, (30)……on their ability.
You are very familiar with such kind of question type. For BEC higher test, you don’t need to think more of the text contents. This part simply tests your ability to use certain vocabulary and structure. The meaning is there. Then you should take the following steps:
1. Read several sentences including the example answer to have a general idea about the topic of the text.
2. Try to find out the meaning of each sentence. If you start to choose the answer, please look at the four choices for a reference.
Analysis:
Example Answer:
If you’ve ever been told by your boss to improve your knowledge of a foreign language you’ll know that (0)…gain…doesn’t come quickly.
From the first sentence of the text, you know the idea about the passage. It is about learning a foreign language.
Question 21
It generally takes years to learn another language well and constant (21)…… to maintain the high standards required for frequent business use.
In order to maintain the standards, you must practice your foreign language. So the answer is C.
Question 22 & 23
Whether you study in a class, with audiocassettes, computers or on your (22)……, sooner or (23)……every language course finishes and you must decide what to do next if you need a foreign language for your career.
In question 22, it is a set phrase, that is, on one’s own. In question 23, it is also another set phrase, that is, sooner or later. So the answers are D and C respectively.
Question 24
Business Audio Magazines is a new product designed to help you continue language study in a way that fits easily into your busy schedule. Each audiocassette (24)……of an hour-long programme packed with business news, features and interviews in the language of your choice.
The meaning of the sentence is that each audiocassette has an hour-long programme. The four answers all have the meaning of “include”. But there is only one word that can collocate with the “of”, that is, consist of. So the answer is A.
Question 25
These cassettes won’t teach you how to order meals or ask for directions. It is (25)……that you can do that already.
In this question, you must first of all understand the meaning of the four choices. Then you should understand the context. The first sentence tells you that the magazine won’t teach you something which you may use in your daily time because they believe that you have already grasped it. So the answer should be D.
Question 26
Instead, by giving you an opportunity to hear the language as it’s really spoken, they help you to (26)……your vocabulary and improve your ability to use real language relating to, for example, that all-important marketing trip.
If you want to have more vocabulary, then you should express it like “extend your vocabulary”. So the answer is B.
Question 27
The great advantage of using audio magazines is that they (27)……you to perfect your language skills in ways that suit your lifestyle. For example, you can select a topic and listen in your car or hotel when away on business.
The meaning of the sentence is to tell you that the magazines can give you the opportunity to perfect your language. besides, we should pay attention to its collocation, allow sb. to do sth. So the answer is A.
Question 28
No other business course is as (28)…… .
The meaning is that the course can be handled at your will. So the course is very flexible. Then the answer is B.
Question 29
And the unique radio-magazine format is as instructive as it is entertaining. In addition to the audiocassette, this package includes a transcript with a business glossary and a study (29)…… .
The magazine will give you not only the audiocassette, but also a transcript and a study supplement. ‘Addition’ and ‘extra’ cannot apply their meaning to the sentence. And manuscript has different meaning. So the answer is B.
Question 30
The components are structured so that intermediate and advanced students may use them separately or together, (30)……on their ability.
The meaning of the sentence is that students can use in different ways which is suitable for their ability. Besides, you should remember the fixed collocation, ‘according to’, ‘depend on’, ‘relate to’, and ‘based on’. So the answer is B.
VII. Homework
On a bicycle made of bamboo
It is used as scaffolding throughout Asia; it is also…(0)…into furniture. You can cook with it; it makes a good water carrier; it can be eaten. Now you can ride it. Bamboo has a wide range of …21… . Quasar Khanh, a Vietnamese designer, has come…22…with the strangest one yet. Khanh is making the “bambooclette” – a bicycle made…23…out of bamboo.
This month, the first shipment of five hundred bicycles is due to leave Khanh’s workshop in Ho Chi Minh City for sale in Europe. “Bamboo is a strong, durable material, able to …24…all weather conditions,” says Khanh. “It is also recyclable. Not everyone will want a bambooclette, but people love a new idea and we think it will…25… .There are plenty of very talented designers in Vietnam, so we did not have too much trouble making a bambooclette prototype. Now we are trying to get a …26…production line going. The good thing is that we needed very little start-up capital as bamboo grows everywhere in Vietnam and is very cheap.”
Not all the bambooclette is bamboo: the wheels and part of the frame are made of metal. Unfortunately, a …27…of local suppliers means that some parts such as brakes and wheels still have to be improved. The first models to be made are for men and women, but production of a children’s model is also in …28… . As for the future? Well, Khanh is excited about the …29…of a mountain bike with a frame made…30…out of thick bamboo!
