•Read the article below about losing an accent to achieve success, and the questions on the opposite page.

•Read the article below about losing an accent to achieve success, and the questions on the opposite page.

•For each question 18--18, mark one letter (A, B, C, or D) on your Answer Sheet for the answer you choose.

LOSING AN ACCENT TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS

It was painful for Irwin Layton to warn one of his recently promoted managers that he had to correct his speech--or it could cost him his career.

The word "voltage" came out of Edwin's mouth sounding like "woltage", and "this" sounded like "dis". This often resulted in mistakes being made in the shipments he ordered. "I was really forced into submission. They said, 'Either you improve your accent or your chances of getting promoted to senior management won't be good,'" said Edwin.

Edwin is a junior manager making $ 51,000 a year at a manufacturing company in Mountain View. Despite of mixed feelings, he hired a speech coach to help him out. He is not alone. Accent reduction is rapidly turning into a major business for speech coaches in the Bay Area and other large cities. Young, first-generation foreign professionals in America hoping to improve their careers appear to make up the majority of those paying to get rid of their accents.

"I have people whose command of English is good--they've gone to universities here in the United States, but when they go into the workplace, they are held back," said Arthur Compton, founder of the Institute of Language & Phonology in San Francisco.

Edwin said he was embarrassed and tried to ignore incidents throughout his career when colleagues would point out his accent and do imitations of his pronunciations for fun. Edwin's experiences early in his career made him very sensitive to the problems he faced with his accent, and, like many others, he compensated by pushing himself to great extremes in education.

"I felt that just because I had an accent, some people thought I was stupid," Edwin said. "They lost patience. They did not want to wait to listen for what I was trying to say. It made me feel so bad. I knew I had so much to offer--my primary motive for working there was to do what I could to improve the company. Yet, none of that seemed to matter to them because they didn't have patience."

Speech coaches and many other professionals say that some Americans have a prejudice against those who speak with an accent.

Losing an accent is hard work. Each language has certain sounds, as we can tell from the many different alphabets, that are just not found in other languages. We learn as babies to make these sounds by moving the lips, mouth, and tongue muscles in set patterns. So a speech coach tries and resets these patterns for people who speak other languages.

For 13 weeks, and at a cost of $ 795, Edwin spent an hour each week with a speech instructor, pronouncing, over and over again, compound words such as "zookeeper", preposition phrases such as "in regard to", as well as words such as "this" and "voltage", all the while looking into a mirror at his mouth. Seeing himself allowed him to have a visual image to go along with the sounds he was making.

"When class was over, I was exhausted," he said. But following the long procession of lessons, he improved by 78 percent, received a healthy injection of confidence, and admitted that he should have done it sooner. His boss, Layton, called it a "win-win" situation, and is so enthusiastic that he is sponsoring a second employee in the program.

How did Mr. Edwin's accent bring trouble to his work?

A．He could not get along well with his colleagues.

B．He made mistakes at work just because of his accent.

C．His talent and passion for work were ignored.

D．Both B and Ｃ.

Read the article below about research and development in industry and the questions on the opposite page.

For each question 13— 18, mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet for the answer you choose.

Research and Development in Industry

It is only through innovation that large companies will be able to survive, according to Mark Peter, vice-chairman of UK-owned industrial giant 5P. However, says Peter, it remains difficult to run a truly innovative company. Innovation involves speculation, unproven technologies and unpredictable costs. It takes a lot of managing, because managers really have to be on top of what's happening. In addition, innovation does not fit easily into the orderly kind of organization that company accountants like. Despite this, Peter claims it is an essential policy to pursue.

The 5P group's record of growth aid profitability indicates that it manages the orderly part of the business pretty well. The statistics are big: operations in more than 60 countries, sales in more than 200, around 60, 000 products and 70, 000 employees. But what makes 5P different is its innovative approach to innovation itself. Although it is a massive multi-national with a turnover of $ 15 billion, the whole company is broken down into tiny groups which work together and help each other and are then encouraged to consult internally with the other groups. This positively encourages individual and collaborative research.

A further encouragement is that all research staff world-wide are expected to work on 5P projects for only 85% of their time; for the remaining 15% of time they are free to pursue ideas of their own, using company facilities. In this time they can work on their own or in a group. One hugely successful project that has come out of this 15% rule is the Post-it note. The idea came from an individual inventor and then, using the business skills of a large organization, was rapidly developed into a major product. The success of the Post-it note proves how profitable the innovative 15% rule can be.

Mark Peter says innovation is at the heart of 5P. In 1996, more that 30% of sales were generated by products less than four years old. He says: " We almost always get into new markets through innovation. We're very good at adapting these innovations to lots of different markets so we have a high success rate. We take an idea and see how many applications it's got. Then we try to establish market dominance. We have a tremendous variety of technologies so we can adapt anything but we still need the original ideas to develop."

In the past year 5P has introduced a group-wide program called Pacing Plus. This means that they are still actively seeking new ideas, but with the difference that they hope many of them will eventually lead to the establishment of completely new business. In this way, 5P will be able to invest in a wide range of markets and even create some new ones.

This emphasis on innovation creates unusual stresses and strains and makes a company like 5P a difficult business to manage. Technical people at 5P are given a large degree of intellectual freedom, and the company appears to specifically try to recruit people who think for themselves and who don't necessarily solve things by the traditional routes. The management encourages people to step outside of the security that comes from working in a big, stable group, and then to handle the consequences. So far the mixture of freedom and heavy responsibility seems to work: the 25 research schemes now under review could generate business worth $ 6 billion a year.

5P's approach to innovation is different because it allows researchers to

A．work for more than one company.

B．work on a variety of products.

C．work with groups in other organizations.

D．work alone as well as in a team

•Read the article below about problems in the IT industry, and the questions on the opposite page.

•For each question (13-18), mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet.

Problems in the IT industry

In the information technology industry, it is widely acknowledged that how well IT departments of the future can fulfil their business goals will depend not on the regular updating of technology, which is essential for them to do, but on how well they can hold on to the people skilled at manipulating the newest technology. This is becoming more difficult. Best estimates of the current shortfall In IT staff in the UK are between 30,000 and 50,000, and growing.

And there is no end to the problem in sight. A severe industry-wide lack of investment in training means the long-term skills base is both ageing and shrinking. Employers are chasing experienced staff in ever-decreasing circles, and, according to a recent government report, 250,000 new IT jobs will be created over the next decade.

Most employers are confining themselves to dealing with the immediate problems. There is little evidence, for example, that they are stepping up their intake of raw recruits for in* house training, or retraining existing staff from other functions. This is the course of action recommended by the Computer Software Services Association, but research shows its members are adopting the short-term measure of bringing in more and more consultants on a contract basis. However, this approach is becoming less and less acceptable as the general shortage of skills, coupled with high demand, sends contractor rates soaring. An experienced contract programmer, for example, can now earn at least double the current permanent salary.

With IT professionals increasingly attracted to the financial rewards and flexibility of consultancy work, average staff turnover rates are estimated to be around 15%. While many companies in the financial services sector are managing to contain their losses by offering skilled IT stall 'golden handcuffs' - deferred loyalty bonuses that tie them in until a certain date - other organisations, like local governments, are unable to match the competitive salaries and perks on offer in the private sector and contractor market, and are suffering turnover rates of up to 60% a year.

But while loyalty bonuses have grabbed the headlines, there are other means of holding on to staff. Some companies are doing additional IT pay reviews in the year and paying market premiums. But such measures can create serious employee relations problems among those excluded, both within and outside IT departments. Many Industry experts advise employers to link bonuses to performance wherever possible. However, employers are realising that bonuses will only succeed if they are accompanied by other incentives such as attractive career prospects, training, and challenging work that meets the individual's long-term ambitions.

This means managers need to allocate assignments more strategically and think about advancing their staff as well as their business. Some employers advocate giving key employees projects that would normally be handled by people with slightly more experience or capability. For many employers, however, the urgency of the problem demands a more immediate solution, such as recruiting skilled workers from overseas. But even this is not easy, with strict quotas on the number of work permits issued. In addition, opposition to the recruitment of IT people from other countries is growing, as many professionals believe it will lead to

A．their success at retaining their skilled staff.

B．the extent to which they invest in new technology.

C．their attempts to recruit staff with the necessary skills.

D．the ability of employees to keep up with the latest developments.

•Read the article below about how to avoid working long hours and the questions on the opposite page,

•For each question 13-18, mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet, for the answer you choose.

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 the kind of job where you clock on and off. Those professionals who have managed to limit their hours to what was, 20 years ago, the average 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 realises 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 on their health, relationships and productivity. Professor Cooper is critical of the long-hours culture. He says that while bosses believe long hours lead to greater efficiency, there is no evidence to support this. 'In fact, the evidence shows that long hours make you iii.'

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.' Prioritising work and doing essential tasks first helps, he says. He also thinks it's time to criticise bad employers and unreasonable terms of employment. 'By all means, show commitment 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 that communication is important. Staff need 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 recognises, however, that in many organisations the response might well be, 'If you want more interests outside work, then find another job'.

She believes that senior staff have a duty to set an example. 'I recently worked for a firm of solicitors where the partners started at 7.30am. 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 your computer switched on, even after you have left the building.'

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.

Questions

·Read the article below about service production and the questions on the opposite

page．

·For each question（13-18），mark one letter（A。B，C，or D）on your Answer Sheet．

What is the writer‘s opinion about service retailing? 查看材料

A.Services are ordered by the customer.

B.Service retailing is separated from goods retailing.

C.The retailer produces and sells services.

D.The retailer manufactures products as well.

•Read the article below about the management of original thinkers, and the questions on the opposite page.

•For each question (13-18), 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 could come 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 that companies need creative, innovative people to beat competitors. The reality is that companies 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 organisation. However, the advice from managing director, John Serrano is, 'Get rid of the dull people and encourage the unusual ones'. Essentially, he believes that companies 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 organisation, so they resign, feeling angry and disappointed. It is essential to avoid this.'

You can't recognise original thinkers by the way they look,' says Ian 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 thinkers come 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 organisation, especially given the current management trend for working in teams. The original thinkers them- selves 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 organisation 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-known computer games company has a very inventive approach. 'We encourage our games designers by creating an informal working environment,' says director Lorna Marsh. 'A company cannot punish risk- takers ff 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 organisations, but more traditional organisations 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 fall to meet them, then the game is up. But if they succeed, your organisation sta

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.

?Read the article below about product life cycles and the questions on tile opposite page.

?For each question (13-18), mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet for the answer you choose.

Sales Strategies .Vary with Product Life Cycles

One of the most important concepts in sales management and marketing is that of tile product life cycle. This is a historical record of the life of a product, showing the stage in its life the product has reached at a particular time. By identifying the stage that a product is in or may be heading towards, companies can formulate better marketing plans. All products have 'lives' in as much as they are created, sell with varying profitability over a period of time, and then become obsolete and are replaced or simply no longer produced. A product's sales position and profitability can be expected to fluctuate over time and so, at each successive stage in the product's cycle, it is necessary to adopt different tactics.

The two main features of the product life cycle are unit sales and unit profit. The unit sales figures usually jump on introduction, as a response to heavy advertising and promotion, as customers buy the product experimentally. This is generally followed by a leveling off while it is evaluated -- the length of this period depending on the use to which the product is put. Then, unit sales rise steadily through the growth phase to the maturity phase, when the product is widely accepted, and so on to saturation level. By this time, competitors will have entered the market with their own version and, from this point, the sales team will have to work even harder to win all additional sales. Eventually, the product's sales decline as better versions enter the market and competition becomes too strong.

In retrospect, most firms know what happened to their products from launch to withdrawal. They can compile this information from the records of unit sales.

Unfortunately, unit sales are not the complete story as it is unit profit that is the decisive factor, although this is not always recorded accurately. It is this figure that sales management has to monitor, though, to ensure an effective marketing strategy and to produce effective profits.

At launch, the product is costed accurately on the basis of production costs plus selling costs. Initially these remain fairly stable, but, when the product is proving successful, competitors will bring out their own 'copy-cat' products. With a competitor in the field, the original firm has to respond in order to maintain its market position. It can run special sales promotions, improve deliveries, make more frequent sales calls and so on. Often the extra expenditure is not accurately charged to the product and the result is that, long before unit sales are noticeably falling, the unit profit has already fallen.

The product life cycle, then, presents a picture of what happened in the product's 'lifetime', so how can this be used as all ongoing aid to management decision- making? Every sales manager has a chart on which the progress of sales is plotted and this can be used as a guide to the stage of development each product is currently in. An essential management skill is being able to interpret sales results and draw in the stages as they occur. Deciding where each stage begins and ends can be a random exercise, though usually the stages are based on where the rate of sales growth or decline becomes pronounced.

According to the text, the end of a product's life cycle is marked by

A．a sharp rise in production costs.

B．the product becoming outdated.

C．an increase in customer complaints.

D．less support from sales management.

&8226;Read the article below about service production and the questions on the opposite page.

&8226;For each question 13-18, mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet for the answer you choose.

The importance of satisfaction and morale

Broadly speaking, job satisfaction is the degree of enjoyment that people derive from performing their jobs. If people enjoy their work, they are relatively satisfied; if they do not enjoy their work, they are relatively dissatisfied. In turn, satisfied employees are likely to have high morale -- the overall attitude that employees have toward their workplace. Morale reflects the degree to which they perceive that their needs are being met by their jobs. It is determined by a variety of factors, including job satisfaction and satisfaction with such things as pay benefits, coworkers, and promotion opportunities.

(8) Some large firms, for example, have instituted companywide programs designed specifically to address employees' needs. Employees at SAS institute, a large software development company in North Carolina, enjoy private offices, a free health clinic, two on-site day-care centers, flexible work hours with 35-hour work weeks, a company-subsidized cafeteria, and year-end bonuses and profit sharing. Managers at Hyatt Hotels report that conducting frequent surveys of employee attitudes, soliciting employee input, and -- most important -- acting on that input give their company an edge in recruiting and retaining productive workers. (9) For example, First Tennessee, a midsize regional bank, believes that work and family are so closely related that family considerations should enter into job design. Thus, it offers such benefits as on-site child care.

When workers are satisfied and morale is high, the organization benefits in many ways. Compared with dissatisfied workers, for example; satisfied employees are more committed and loyal. (10) In addition, they tend to have fewer grievances and engage in fewer negative behaviors (complaining, deliberately slowing their work pace, and so forth) than dissatisfied counterparts. Finally, satisfied workers tend not only to come to work every day but also to remain with the organization. By promoting satisfaction and morale, then, management is working to ensure more efficient operations.

Conversely, the costs of dissatisfaction and poor morale are high. Dissatisfied workers are far more likely to be absent for minor illnesses, personal reasons; or a general disinclination to go to work. (11) High levels of turnover have many negative consequences, including the disruption of production schedules, high retraining costs and decreased productivity.

(12) The results of one recent study shows that companies with the highest levels of satisfaction and morale significantly outperformed the 300 largest US companies over both 5 and 10 years. Of course, many other factors contributed to the performance of both sets of companies, but these differences nevertheless can not be ignored.

A Low morale may also result in high turnover -- the ratio of newly hired to currently employed workers.

B In turn, satisfied employees are likely to have high morale -- the overall attitude that employees have toward their workplace.

C In fact, evidence suggests that job satisfaction and employee morale may directly affect a company's performance.

D Such employees are more likely to work hard and to make useful contributions to the organization.

E Managers of smaller businesses realize that the personal touch can reap big benefits in employee morale and even devotion.

F Companies can involve employee morale and job satisfaction in a variety of ways.

G In

?Read the article below about business meetings and the questions on the opposite page.

?For each question 13-18, mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet for the answer you choose.

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-organised 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 need 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 organised 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 organised 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 manufacturing company. 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 strategy, and are based on careful preparation. I draw up the agenda for every meeting and circulate it in advance; those attending 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.

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.

回答题：

·Read the article below about e·mail phone and the questions on the opposite page．

·For each question（13-18），mark one letter（A。B。C，or D）on your Answer Sheet．

Do you send and receive more phones calls or e—mails?If your answer is e—mail．or you wish it were，then a new breed of telecommunication devices called an e—mail phone or Internet phone may soon find its way into your kitchen or living room．Essentially，an e—mail phone，or e—phone for short．is the merger of telephone and computer．With most of these new screen phones，that means being able to read and reply to electronic mall directly from the phone，without starting up（or even owning）a PC．With some，it also means being able to search through the web to make vacation plans or research homework assignments though at slow speeds and on a rather small screen．And you can still make phone calls，too．

No computer experience is required to use an e-phone．Most let you sign up with Internet Service Provider（ISP），which typically charges about$20 per month．Once you’re past tllis tedious work and enter the account information into the phone，you can check your e—mail from either your computer or phone．

To assess your e—mail account from one of these phones，you typically have to select e—mail service from a menu．Phones with touch screens have an icon（图标）for that on the opening screen．For other phones，you press one of the buttons lining the bottom or sides of the display，much as with an ATM machine．The phone then calls your ISP．When the ISP picks up，the phone automatically transfers your account name and password．Once accepted，the ISP will start sending the phone your messages．By touching the item you want to read or hitting a button next to it，the message will be displayed．Once you’ve read it，you can reply to the message，move onto the next one，or，like most phones，delete the message from your account．You can check your e—mail manually，but most e-phones call also be set to check several times a day automatically．In automatic mode，the phone fla．shes to tell you mail is waiting．If you happen to be using the phone when it is scheduled to check for e—mail，the phone will automatically try again when the line is free．

One serious drawback to e—mail by phone is that it cannot receive（or send）attached files。whether they contain documents or graphics．Some phones will attempt to display simple text files as part of the message，but other types of files will appear as gibberish（乱码），or not at all．If you share the e-mail account with a PC and don’t delete the message，however，you can usually retrieve the message and file on your computer．

An e-mail phone is an improved device of telecommunication in that 查看材料

A.it can record a message in the form. of e—mails．

B.it can be used to receive and send e—mails．

C.it can be connected with computers．

D.it can be used to visit websites