【判断题】Accountantsare sometimes forced to trade relevant information for accurate information.

Bribery and Business Ethics

  Students taking business courses are sometimes a little surprised to find that classes on business ethics have been included in their schedule. They often do not realize that bribery in various forms is on the increase in many countries and, in some, has been a way of life for centuries.

  Suppose that during a negotiation with some government officials, the Minister of Trade makes it clear to you that if you offer him a substantial bribe, you will find it much easier to get an import license for your goods, and you are also likely to avoid "procedural delays", as he puts it. Now, the question is: Do you pay up or stand by your principles?

  It is easy to talk about having high moral standards but, in practice, what would one really do in such a situation? Some time ago a British car manufacturer was accused of operating a fund to pay bribes, and of other questionable practices such as paying agents and purchasers an exaggerated commission, offering additional discounts, and making payments to numbered bank accounts in Switzerland. The company rejected these charges and they were later withdrawn. Nevertheless, at that time, there were people in the motor industry in Britain who were prepared to say in private: "Look, we're in a very competitive business. Every year we're selling more than a ￡1billion worth of cars abroad. If we spend a few million pounds to keep some of the buyers happy, who's hurt? If we didn't do it, someone else would."

  It is difficult to resist the impression that bribery and other questionable payments are on the increase. Indeed, they seem to have become a fact of commercial life. To take just one example, the Chrysler Corporation, the third largest of the US car manufacturers, revealed that it made questionable payments of more than $2.5 million between 1971 and 1976． By announcing this, it joined more than 300 other US companies that had admitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that they had made payments of one kind or another—bribes, extra discounts, etc.—in recent years. For discussion purposes, we can divide these payments into three broad categories.

  The first category consists of substantial payments made for political purposes or to secure major contracts. For example, one US corporation offered a large sum of money in support of a US presidential candidate at a time when the company was under investigation for possible violations of US business laws. This same company, it was revealed, was ready to finance secret US efforts to throw out the government of Chile.

  In this category, we may also include large payments made to ruling families or their close advisers in order to secure arms sales or major petroleum or construction contracts. In a court case involving an arms deal with Iran, a witness claimed that ￡1 million had been paid by a British company to a "negotiator" who helped close a deal for the supply of tanks and other military equipment to that country. Other countries have also been known to put pressure on foreign companies to make donations to party bank accounts.

  The second category covers payments made to obtain quicker official approval of some project, to speed up the wheels of government. An interesting example of this kind of payment is provided by the story of a sales manager who had been trying for some months to sell road machinery to the Minister of Works of a Caribbean country. Finally, he hit upon the answer. Discovering that the minister collected rare books, he bought a rare edition of a book, slipped $20,000 within its pages, then presented it to the minister. This man examined its contents, then said, "I understand there is a two-volume edition of this work." The sales manager, who was quick-witted, replied, "My company cannot afford a two-volume edition, sir, but we could offer you a copy with a preface!" A short time later, the deal was approved.

  The third category involves payments made in countries where it is traditional to pay people to help with the passage of a business deal. Some Middle East countries would be included on this list, as well as certain Asian countries. Is it possible to devise a code of rules for companies that would prohibit bribery in all its forms? The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) favors a code of conduct that would ban the giving and seeking of bribes. This code would try to distinguish between commissions paid for real services and exaggerated fees that really amount to bribes. A council has been proposed to manage the code.

  Unfortunately, opinions differ among members of the ICC concerning how to enforce the code. The British members would like the system to have enough legal power to make companies behave themselves. However, the French delegates think it is the business of governments to make and impose law. The job of a business community like the ICC is to say what is right and wrong, but not to impose anything.

  In a well-known British newspaper, a writer argued recently that "industry is caught in a web of bribery" and that everyone is "on the take". This is probably an exaggeration. However, today's businessman, selling in overseas markets, will frequently meet situations where it is difficult to square his business interests with his moral conscience.

【填空题】You are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it．Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived．You may choose a paragraph more than once．Each paragraph is marked with a letter .Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter ． Earthquakes A) An earthquake is one of the most terrifying phenomena that nature can dish up. We generally think of the ground we stand on as “rock-solid” and completely stable. An earthquake can shatter (粉碎)that perception instantly, and often with extreme violence. B) Up until relatively recently, scientists only had unproven guesses as to what actually caused earthquakes. Even today there is still a certain amount of mystery surrounding them, but scientists have a much clearer understanding. There has been enormous progress in the past century. Scientists have identified the forces that cause earthquakes, and developed technology that can tell us an earthquake’s magnitude and origin. The next hurdle is to find a way of predicting earthquakes, so they don’t catch people by surprise. In this article, we’ll find out what causes earthquakes, and we’ll also find out why they can have such a devastating effect on us. C) An earthquake is a vibration that travels through the earth’s crust. Technically, a large truck that rumbles down the street is causing a mini-earthquake, if you feel your house shaking as it goes by; but we tend to think of earthquakes as events that affect a fairly large area, such as an entire city. All kinds of things can cause earthquakes: volcanic eruptions, meteor(流星)impacts, underground explosions (an underground nuclear test, for example), collapsing structures (such as a collapsing mine). But the majority of naturally-occurring earthquakes are caused by movements of the earth’s plates. 　　D) We only hear about earthquakes in the news every once in a while, but they are actually an everyday occurrence on our planet. According to the United States Geological Survey, more than 3 million earthquakes occur every year. That’s about 8,000 a day, or one every 11 seconds! The vast majority of these 3 million quakes are extremely weak. The law of probability also causes a good number of stronger quakes to happen in uninhabited places where no one feels them. It is the big quakes that occur in highly populated areas that get our attention. 　　E) Earthquakes have caused a great deal of property damage over the years, and they have claimed many lives. In the last hundred years alone, there have been more than 1.5 million earthquake-related fatalities. Usually, it’s not the shaking ground itself that claims lives; it’s the associated destruction of man-made structures and other natural disasters it causes, such as tsunamis, avalanches (雪崩)and landslides. 　　F) The biggest scientific breakthrough in the history of seismology—the study of earthquakes—came in the middle of the 20th century, with the development of the theory of plate tectonics(筑造学).Scientists proposed the idea of plate tectonics to explain a number of peculiar phenomena on earth, such as the apparent movement of continents over time, the clustering of volcanic activity in certain areas and the presence of huge ridges at the bottom of the ocean. 　　G) The basic theory is that the surface layer of the earth—the lithosphere—is comprised of many plates that slide over the lubricating asthenosphere layer. At the boundaries between these huge plates of soil and rock, three different things can happen. 　　H) Plates can move apart. If two plates are moving apart from each other, hot, molten rock flows up from the layers of mantle below the lithosphere. This magma (岩浆) comes out on the surface (mostly at the bottom of the ocean), where it is called lava (熔岩).As the lava cools, it hardens to form new lithosphere material, filling in the gap. This is called a divergent plate boundary. 　　I) Plates can push together. If the two plates are moving toward each other, one plate typically pushes under the other one. This plate below sinks into the lower mantle layers, where it melts. At some boundaries where two plates meet, neither plate is in a position to push under the other, so they both push against each other to form mountains. The lines where plates push toward each other are called convergent plate boundaries. 　　J) Plates slide against each other. At other boundaries, plates simply slide by each other—one moves north and one moves south, for example. While the plates don’t drift directly into each other at these transform boundaries, they are pushed tightly together. A great deal of tension builds at the boundary. 　　K) We understand earthquakes a lot better than we did even 50 years ago, but we still can’t do much about them. They are caused by fundamental, powerful geological processes that are far beyond our control. These processes are also fairly unpredictable, so it’s not possible at this time to tell people exactly when an earthquake is going to occur. The first detected earthquake waves will tell us that more powerful vibrations are on their way, but this only gives us a few minutes’ warning, at most. 　　L) So what can we do about earthquakes? The major advances over the past 50 years have been in preparedness, particularly in the field of construction engineering. In 1973, the Uniform Building Code, an international set of standards for building construction,7 added7 specifications7 to7 strengthen7 buildings7 against7 the7 force7 of7 earthquake7 waves.7 This7 includes7 strengthening7 support7 material7 as7 well7 as7 designing buildings so they are flexible enough to absorb vibrations without falling or deteriorating. It’s very important to design structures that can undergo this sort of attack, particularly in earthquake -prone areas. 　　M) Another component of preparedness is educating the public. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other government agencies have produced several brochures explaining the processes involved in an earthquake and giving instructions on how to prepare your house for a possible earthquake, as well as what to do when a quake hits. 　　N) In the future, improvements in prediction and preparedness should further minimize the loss of life and property associated with earthquakes. But it will be a long time, if ever, before we’ll be ready for every substantial earthquake that might occur. Just like severe weather and disease, earthquakes are an unavoidable force generated by the powerful natural processes that shape our planet. All we can do is increase our understanding of the phenomenon and develop better ways to deal with it. 　　1. Earthquake-related fatalities are usually caused by buildings，collapse and other ensuing natural disasters, not by the shaking ground itself. 　　2. Besides movements of the earth’s plates, other forces such as volcanic eruptions, meteor impacts and so on, can also cause earthquakes. 　　3. Earthquakes actually occur every day; most of them are not big enough to get our attention. 　　4. People generally think the ground beneath their feet is completely stable, but earthquakes shatter that idea in no time. 　　5. We cannot prevent earthquakes but we can actively find better ways to face them. 　　6. Earthquakes are hardly predictable, and people cannot be told when an earthquake is going to occur. 　　7. Scientists have found out forces that cause earthquakes through years of efforts. 　　8. Architects now have designed flexible buildings to minimize the damages of earthquakes. 　　9. Scientists use the theory of plate tectonics to explain the apparent movement of continents over time. 10. The convergent plate boundaries refer to the lines where plates push toward each other.

The passage tells us that ______. ( )

A．Americans are forced to be efficient against their will

B．Americans should do what they are willing to do

C．people ought not to work so hard for efficiency

D．Americans are at a loss what to do

In the meantime, consumers are forced tomake a choice betweenjust two US and two UK airlines, which provide 95 percent of transatlantic services from Heathrow.

The Passage tells us that ______

A．Americans are forced to be efficient against their will

B．Americans should do what they are willing to do

C．people ought not to work so hard for efficiency

D．Americans are at a loss what to do

The passage tells US that_________．

A.Americans are forced to beefficient against their will

B.Americans should do whatthey are wiHing to do

C.people ought not to workSO hard for efficiency

D.Americans are at a losswhat to do

Slow weight lifters are required to make each rep .

A．without using any driving force

B．without movement of their body

C．with unbearable iron weights

D．with the feeling of muscle failure